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B-Movie Non Sequitur Sunday: Of Unknown Origin

You're damaged merchandise and this is a fire sale!

Today, please enjoy this highlight from Herschell Gordon Lewis' searing indictment of the smut industry, "Scum of the Earth", courtesy of the fine folks at Something Weird. Here we see a sweaty, sweaty man cussing out a teenaged girl for having the gall to be upset about being hoodwinked into posing for nude photos. Let's watch! Thank you.

Adventures in Advance Reader Copies: The Lace Reader

When I was at the Public Library Association Convention in Minneapolis last spring, I was at this one program where the beloved Nancy Pearl, Patron Saint of Librarians everywhere, introduced several different representatives of publishing companies who talked all about upcoming books that they were particularly excited about. One representative from Harper Collins mentioned a book that sounded particularly interesting to me- it was The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. She was particularly excited about this one and mentioned that it was about women in Salem, Massachusetts who practiced a particular skilled art of divination called Lace Reading. I made a note in my little notebook: "Lace Reader, Harper Collins. !!!" A few months later, I got an Advance Reader Copy of The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry as part of a promotion effort from Harper Collins to generate buzz about the book. I was excited to participate and excited to start reading. Here are the first few words of the book: "My name is Towner Whitney. No, that’s not exactly true. My real first name is Sophya. Never believe me. I lie all the time." I read those first few words and I was intrigued. The air of mystery that surrounds everything in this book feels a lot like the best of the Southern Gothic canon, even though it takes place in New England. The sense of family history, the closely guarded secrets, the off center feel of it...it all feels like Pat Conroy and oaks draped in spanish moss. Just switch that feeling to New England and you'll get the idea. The basic setup is that Towner has returned home to Salem for the funeral of her great-aunt Eva, who went missing some time ago. It seems that Towner has some sort of psychological breakdown, underwent electroshock therapy, and fled; when she does return, she finds the ghost of her aunt in the ancestral home and controversy brewing in the town around her family members. You may also be wondering what lace reading means. Reading lace is apparently a method of divination (invented by the author, Brunonia Barry) wherein the Reader holds a piece of lace up like a veil and "sees" images in the lace patterns that tell another person's fortune. The way this was described in the book, I was under the impression that lace reading really existed- it sounded so authentic. In fact, the whole book feels very authentic, which usually does not happen in any work of fiction involving any element of the supernatural or such high family drama. Usually those elements in the hands of a lesser writer feel forced and melodramatic. Not so here. I'll bet that in no time Lace Reading Parlors will be springing up along the coasts of New England.

B-Movie Non Sequitur Sunday: Candy

I Love You, Eric Blore

It's true that Eric Blore is not exactly a household name, so I wouldn't be surprised if you've never heard of him. But if you watch a lot of really old movies, you might recognize him if you see him; especially if you're a fan of those Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals such as "Top Hat" and "Flying Down to Rio" and all that. I'm not necessarily a fan of those musicals, but I happened to be watching "Top Hat" one day and as soon as I saw Eric Blore I was just delighted by him and wound up watching more of those musicals just to see him!

He's a round, smooth, smiling, dark haired little jolly British man who was usually cast in some comic recurring role as a waiter, a doctor, a butler. His facial expressions are always fun, but it's his voice I especially adore. Actually, I didn't know it but I'd already heard that voice in "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" in which he played Mr. J. Thaddeus Toad of Toad Hall. But he has the most delicious way of saying his lines, which are always funny in an odd sideways manner. There's a tiny amount of stuff on YouTube where he's included in a couple of clips, but unfortunately they're really not a good enough example of just how much fun Eric Blore is. Nonetheless, I shall show you the best I could find:

My favorite line of Eric's is from "The Gay Divorcee": "Oh, 'whumsical' is much more whimsical than 'whamsical'!"  I also particularly like a scene of his from a totally corny comedy called "Romance on the High Seas" which takes place mostly on a cruise ship. Eric plays the genial but strangely confused cruise ship doctor who is called in to Doris's cabin to look at her and find out why she's so exhausted or some such thing. He diagnoses her with something like melancholia and when Doris asks him what action he would recommend, he brightens and says excitedly "A sea voyage!!" You had to be there.

I was looking around for more information about Eric Blore and couldn't really find very much except the basics- the best bigraphy is on IMDB. The most colorful anecdote I could find about him was, unfortunately, about his death; seems that Kenneth Tynan wrote in the New Yorker that Eric Blore was dead, then Eric's lawyer fired off an angry letter about it or something and a kefuffle ensued. Then, the night before the New Yorker published an apology and a full retraction, Eric Blore dropped dead of a heart attack. Wow. I'm wondering if they had to publish another retraction, but there's no mention of that.

B-Movie Non Sequitur Sunday: Hysterical