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Saturday 16 July 2011

Happy birthday to "The Queen"!

Today is the birthday of one of the greatest actresses Hollywood has ever known, the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck. There's no need for me to say how much I admire and love her because it's written all over my blog, but to pay my respects to her on her special day I thought I would share with my readers 6 reasons why she's so splendiferous. I made a "6 Reasons" post for Stany on her birthday last year too - you can check it out here (it was the first "6 Reasons" post I ever made!) - so this time I'll be making the reasons more fun and random ;D

Reason #1 - The G-String Song aka Stany Does the Splits


Reason #2 - Lily Powers



If you haven't seen Baby Face (1933), you should go and watch it immediately. It's one of my favourite pre-codes and Stany is absolutely magnificent as the ambitious Lily Powers who sleeps her way to the top. 

Reason #3 - Her friendship with Joan Crawford


Reason #4 - Her voice. Her GLORIOUS voice


I chose a clip from The Lady Eve (1942) to showcase her voice because A) it's a fantastic film, B) I couldn't embed the clip I wanted to use (it was her acceptance speech for her honorary Oscar which you can watch here), and C) it was already handily on YouTube! ;D

Reason #5 - Yum Yum


Reason #6 - Her humility and huge heart


The photo above is from the end of her Honorary Oscar acceptance speech. I know I already posted the link above, but I'm doing it again because once you've seen it you will see just how humble, loving, and wonderful she really was. 

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Well, there you have 2011's instalment of "6 Reasons I love Stany more than Scarlett thought she loved Ashley". I hope you enjoyed reading, and let me know why you love Stany and what you've done to celebrate her birthday! Ohhh, before I go I just want to share with you all something pretty swell that I was given on my birthday back in April...


Is it amazing or is it amazing?! My Mum asked my cousin, who has a cake making/decorating business, to make it for me. Obviously, my cousin didn't know who Stany was (I wept) so my Mum showed her a copy of the amazing painting by Kate Gabrielle that my parents were giving me for my birthday. I'd asked if I could have a special cake for my 18th birthday because when we were younger, my Mum used to make my brothers and I AMAZING cakes for our birthday pertaining to whatever phase we were going through (cue Mrs. Miniver reference...) but the last few years she's not been able to. I knew I was getting one of my favourite film stars on it, but I wasn't sure which one. I was absolutely thrilled when I saw this :D 

4 comments:

  1. My favourite actress first wowed me as Victoria Barkley on "The Big Valley" when I was growing up in the 60s. I was in Heaven when I discovered her movie career by staying up late on school nights to watch old movies on television.

    How am I celebrating? A glass of wine, "Remember the Night" in the VCR and a good cry.

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  2. I love that photo of Joan and Stany. I didn't know they were friends!

    That cake is SO cool!

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  3. Wow! Your mum sounds like a star :)
    I'm going to have to get a copy of Baby Face - I thought I was a bit of a vintage film know-all, but this one has completely passed me by! Thanks for the tip! Kate x

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  4. If I had to explain pre-Code to the proverbial "man from Mars," I would show the (uncensored) "Baby Face." It's hardly the naughtiest or most risque of pre-Codes, but its sensibility distills everything about the genre.

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