Friday, August 01, 2008

New Top and New Mascots

First, the banner. Eddie took this picture of the Bird's Nest, where the opening ceremonies are. I liked it.
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Now Mascots of the Month. Not Olympians, I don't want to jinx anyone (Rafi didn't win Wimbledon until I stopped posting before he played).
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No the Mascots today are William Powell and Myrna Loy. You may laugh now, but there is a reason. What with marriage in the news, these two come rushing to my mind. Turner Classic Movies is good for old movies, but also for some interesting insights.
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For example, before Powell and Loy, there were almost no happily married couples in the movies (as the center of attention). You see Happily Married ='ed Boring. When the couple got together, the picture was over. People TRIED to be married, but once it happened, things got dull.
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Until Myrna Loy came on the scene with William Powell and gave as good as she got.

Funny enough, Myrna Loy almost didn't get the chance to be Powell's other half. Myrna Loy had always been the "exotic", playing Chinese, Egyptian, harlot, chorus girl - everything but what she was - a comic actress with perfect timing.

To cast her in the Thin Man, William Van Dyke had to agree to shoot the entire picture in 3 weeks! Which he did. Because Myrna was to star in Stamboul Quest after than. Very little is remembered Stamboul Quest (where she played Fraulein Doktor), but The Thin Man was nominated for Best Picture.

They were the first screen married couple that laughed together, played together, even drank together (a big deal in 1934 right after the end of prohibition).

Also, of course, the couple that introduced Asta and Wire Haired Fox Terriers to the world!
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I loved that Powell and Loy played off eachother so perfectly AND for so many years. We actually watched them age, and still they stayed happy, witty and charming. Look at the difference between one of their first stills, and the last Thin Man still (from 1947 Song of the Thin Man).

Maybe marriage doesn't always work. In real life Loy used to joke she had been married 4 times, had no kids and couldn't boil an egg - not a perfect wife in real life! William Powell was married to Carol Lombard for a while and was living with / engaged to Jean Harlow when she died. In the end he married again and retired to Palm Springs (!). Myrna retired to New York City - one of her last film roles was as Burt Reynolds mother in "The End".
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I don't know, but for me they were the blueprint for a good relationship. I have a partner that I love, that I find amazingly attractive and one who makes me think, laugh and work to keep up. Once the terrier was added... magic.