1) Apparently yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Joan Crawford, so this morning I found this enchanting clip of her singing in French, German, and English in 1931’s Possessed. She looks so beautiful and devoted. “Though I taste your kisses, how long will they last?”
1a) This is, of course, completely different from 1947’s Possessed in which she marries Raymond Massey in an effort to make Van Heflin jealous.
2) As I continue to unpack everything from home, a minor tragedy. Mother had a wonderful, ingenious electric knife grinder which i remember using as a child to help out in the kitchen. When packing in March, I put it in a plastic bag. Unwrapping it a day or two ago, it smelt horribly of vinegar! And I remembered reading a news story many years about about “sad dolls,” old dolls made out of plastic that degraded and made the dolls appear as though they were crying. And I thought, “Damn, I’ve just killed this knife grinder.”
3) Mother’s Day is tomorrow, but I am not really feeling fazed by its approach. in my family May 14 was always the big May holiday: my parents’ wedding anniversary and my sister’s birthday (their 11th anniversary gift to each other). So when Mother’s Day fell on May 14 it was like the triple crown.