Surviving A Night of Deprivation

Our local cable system was down last night....aarrghhh!!  No computer and, therefore, no access to the blog.  No television, therefore no St. Louis Cardinals baseball.  (Yes, you can take the girl out of Missouri, but...)  It was all very frustrating.

Fortunately, there were a couple good things about being disconnected from the outside world.  Not being able to watch the Cardinals play, I didn't have to watch them lose their 4th game in a row.  They lost two more today, unfortunately the cable was back up. 

We resorted to watching two DVDs, picked at random. My husband and I are both old movie fans and can find something of interest in most movies.  The first movie was Joan of Paris (1942) starring Michele Morgan and Paul Henreid.  Maltin gives it a ***1/2 rating, we gave it a **1/2.  Tad bit too melodramatic for us, but enjoyed the supporting actors.  The excellent, short-lived actor Laird Cregor plays the evil German "Herr Funk" with relish.  May Robson effortlessly steals her scenes as the heroic teacher/underground leader.  Hans Conried appears briefly as a gestapo agent, he had such a great snarl.  And Alan Ladd, in his last role before hitting it big in This Gun for Hire (1942), plays a wounded pilot named "Baby."  It's always fun to watch future stars as they develop their persona.

The second movie was  Hired Wife (1940) starring Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Virginia Bruce, Robert Benchley and John Carroll who play in order: the sassy secretary; the handsome, clueless boss;  the gold digger; the best friend and inebriated lawyer; and the gigolo.  The cast is much better than the script, makes the movie watchable.

If you made it this far through my ramblings, thanks for the effort.  And since I feel I need to work in at least one photo, this is Aherne, an avid flyer, with his plane in 1934.  He's obviously where he's happy - and without the constraint of his hairpiece.  Besides, it's always the smile that makes the man.