I grew up with a mother that loved old movies.
Saturdays would always include my mom ironing and watching old movies.
She was also known to bribe us to go to the drug store to get her a hershey bar with almonds.
Did your mom iron all your clothes?
My mom did!
My dad had it made!
My husband...not so much.
I don't even iron my own clothes.... let alone his!
Back to Saturdays and old movies.
I was so enamored by old movies that I was constantly designing clothes in the style of the 20s, 30s and 40s.
I knew what was fashionable before Anthropologie.
Women always seemed more elegant and beautiful in those old black and whites!
I also love Breakfast at Tiffany's, Christmas In Connecticut, Casablanca, On The Waterfront, It's A Wonderful Life...I think you get the picture!
Remember Singin' In The Rain?
I LOVED Gene Kelly!
I really had wished I could marry him.
My name is Jeanne...my husband is Kelly...see how THAT worked out???
Anyone else still wondering what all the hype was about Citizen Kane???
Rosebud!!!!
I have always loved history and that is probably why Gone With The Wind is one of my favorite movies.
I have seen Gone With The Wind more than any other movie.
I know so many of the scenes by heart.
My mom even had the record of the soundtrack.
I would use the record jacket as the walls of my Barbie house.
Nothing like the scene with thousands of confederate soldiers spread across the streets and railroad tracks as the backdrop for Barbie play.
My Barbies always had gowns on and I somehow rigged a hooped skirt for underneath.
I am looking around the house right now trying to see if any of my curtains would make a nice dress!!
What old movies do you love?
I made a hoop skirt for MY Barbie...only she was Baroque...I made an entire little outfit and piled a big braid on top of her head like a powdered wig... My poor Barbies...I was always sticking pins in their heads. Anyway, My Pretty in Pink Barbie is STILL wearing that outfit. I saw her in storage recently...having a grand old time....eating cake. : ) Fun post, Jeanne! : ) I grew up loving old movies too...only for me...it was Fred Astaire...and Cary Grant. Even as a teenager in the 80's I said I'd marry Cary Grant...who was in his 80's...if he had been free. Oh well. Two of my favorite movies are Charade, with CG and Audrey Hepburn, and How to Steal a Million with AH and Peter O'Toole. Oh, and Doris Day movies...how about her clothes! Sweet!
: )
Julie M.
Posted by: Julie M. | August 06, 2009 at 01:52 AM
"gone with the wind" is my all time favorite movie!!! every time i watch it though, i am always hoping that Scarlet will get over her silly Ashley infatuation...but she never does...Vivien Leigh was breathtakingly gorgeous in that film, and i could watch it over and over...other old movies i like: "north by northwest" and "to catch a thief"...Cary Grant...mmm mmm mmm!!!
Posted by: Lori | August 06, 2009 at 04:37 AM
When I was a graduate student in Paris, there was this nice and handsome young Frenchman who worked in the same big lab, and he was a huge old movie buff. I never had the guts to ask him out, all I could muster was to ask to borrow a couple of his movies :)
p.s. I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't iron, Jeanne!
Posted by: Zita - Mlle Magpie | August 06, 2009 at 04:40 AM
I am so with you!! I often think I was meant to be born in another decade. I love how they "dressed up" to go shopping in town. Women seemed to have this "mystique" about them somehow! Perhaps it was those pin curls, impossibly matte red lips and those pumps! :)
Perhaps it was because they kept a bit more to the imagination on screen than our film starlets do today... ;)
I love the old 40's movies and have a cabinet full of them! Among my faves are Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home with Cary Grant & Myrna Loy; Its A Wonderful Life, Christmas In Connecticut,
and of course Bringing Up Baby, and The Bachelor & The Bobby Soxer.... Oh I could go on and on....
I think my love of the 40's is why I was so happy when Olivia wanted "Molly" from the American Girl doll collection. The years she spent playing with that doll are among some of my favorite memories!
Loved this post, girlie! Really, really loved it!
~Ruth
Posted by: The Beautiful Life | August 06, 2009 at 05:33 AM
my dad is an old movie buff, we used to watch them together years ago when i still lived at home. as for the ironing, not my bag either!
Posted by: susan | August 06, 2009 at 06:47 AM
I just love this post. My mom also instilled a love of old movies in me from the start. I remember watching musicals and old romance movies with her all the time.
Now on the ironing, my mom taught me to first start ironing handkerchiefs. I know somewhere in their house is a HUGE pile of nicely pressed handkerchiefs from my childhood. Now I do some ironing but I usually let it pile up until I have a mountain and it takes a few hours to get through it.
Posted by: Bianca Gaspard | August 06, 2009 at 07:08 AM
Ironing what's that? My mother ironed everything including our bras. I didn't know that you married Gene Kelly, so did I!
xo, Michelle
Posted by: Michelle | August 06, 2009 at 07:16 AM
My mom and I loved to watch old movies too. Our favorite was called Three Little Words. I forget the actors names, but it was a really good one.
My husband irons all of his dress shirts every Sunday night. This is one chore I don't have to do, because it's not up to his "standards"!! YAY:) What else can I do poorly...scrub toilets - HA!
Posted by: Becky @ Farmgirl Paints | August 06, 2009 at 07:18 AM
Gone With the Wind is one of my favorites, but I haven't watched it in years! I am going to have to watch in soon!
Posted by: Amy Jo Axe | August 06, 2009 at 07:30 AM
Gone with the Wind is a favorite and I have to catch myself not to quote it all the time! I also love Cheaper by the Dozen and would love to recreate some of the dresses from that one. State Fair is another fav!
Posted by: Kathryn | August 06, 2009 at 07:36 AM
I hate ironing :) I like old movies but the ones i really love are from like the 70's and 80's so not that old I guess. Meryl Streep in Heartburn and Out of Africa....Ordinary People, Kramer vs. Kramer. Also, any Hitchcock is great.
Posted by: Rebekah | August 06, 2009 at 07:56 AM
We are kindred spirits...Gone with the Wind is my favorite movie! I still have not gotten my husband to sit thru the whole thing yet though...what a shame.
:) T
Posted by: tracey | August 06, 2009 at 07:57 AM
A woman after my own heart... Gone with the wind is still my favorite and like you, I've seen it countless times. I did a whole post about it here :http://ruespeanutbutterandjellylife.blogspot.com/2008/05/show-tell-friday-may-2-2008.html
You have my permission to laugh LOL
Oh and ironing... my mom used to iron my jeans in the 70s :)
rue
Posted by: rue | August 06, 2009 at 07:59 AM
The movies of the 40's and 50's are the best! Nothing compares to the elegance and fashion of those days....Doris Day and Betty Hutton are my favorites. I would chose an old movie over anything that is on tv these days. I actually love to sew while watching old movies! My favorites are any movies with Doris Day or Cary Grant. Betty Hutton and Trevor Howard run close seconds.
Posted by: Bluebell | August 06, 2009 at 08:08 AM
Loved, loved watching old movies...I would just swoon over Cary Grant & Gary Cooper! And Katharine Hepburn was {& still is} my favorite actress. Favorite movie? It's A Wonderful Life:)
Posted by: Leah C | August 06, 2009 at 09:05 AM
Right there with ya sister on the ironing! I actually don't have a favorite old movie, but I adore the clothing as well...Love it, try to keep some in my closer and I agree the women always looked so classy and gorgeous! P.S. I always get asked if my name came from Gone with the Wind...Heh!
Posted by: Tara | August 06, 2009 at 09:18 AM
First of all I have to say, I don't iron either. I don't even have an ironing board! Sad, very sad. Next I haven't seen very many old movies. But I have seen It's a wonderful life, MANY times. I sob each and every time. My boys like it too. I think I need to start renting some cause I know I'd like them. I think I will start with Gone with the wind. :) Have a great day!
Posted by: Tricia Whisler | August 06, 2009 at 09:26 AM
I forgot to mention that I used to do that with my barbies too but I used the Grease album cover!
Posted by: Tricia Whisler | August 06, 2009 at 09:27 AM
I love old movies. Gone with the Wind being one of them (just watched it again a couple of weeks ago) - it's just unparalleled. It also was my mother's all time favorite movie! She passed away many years ago and I often think she'd love that I now live in Scarlett O'Hara's neck of the woods... :) Silke
P.S. I learned ironing on our dish towels when I was little. Dish towels!!! When was the last time you ironed a dish towel? Me - never! I barely iron anything...just makes me too hot...and cranky...
Posted by: Silke | August 06, 2009 at 09:34 AM
My grandma ironed everything (sheets and underwear included) and loved doing it while watching tv (I really don't iron, unless it's absolutely necessary, which it rarely is). I LOVE old movies - especially looking at the clothes! I love anything with Cary Grant. I love Grace Kelly. I love old romances and old Hitchcock movies (like Rear Window and To Catch a Thief). My favorite of all time, though is probably Casablanca - the clothes, the romance, the setting - perfect!!
Posted by: Jackie | August 06, 2009 at 10:13 AM
I used to love to watch my Mama iron...begged her to let me try once...while ironing a white shirt one of my little boyfriends came to the screen door to play...I left the iron down on the shirt....YIKES....was I in trouble.
My fav old movie is a Holiday special...It's a Wonderful Life...always!♥
Posted by: Tammy | August 06, 2009 at 10:53 AM
My mom used to iron while watching the Soaps. I remember things like Madge selling Palmolive istead of the old movies....now I wish I saw more. And P.S. Why would anyone iron? If desperate, I find that that wrinkle release spray does they trick. That is what I passed on to my own kids!
Posted by: Beth Gales | August 06, 2009 at 10:55 AM
"Philidelphia Story", "Sabrina", and "Father Goose" :)
Posted by: cathy | August 06, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Casablanca is my favorite - hands down :) LOVe, love, love this film. I own this one - perhaps I will pull it out again soon.
As for the ironing - hahaha - I'm with ya sister. My husband goes to work with slightly wrinkled sleeves and collars. C'est la vie!
Posted by: Alyssa | August 06, 2009 at 02:24 PM
Let me know if you find any curtains for your dress; I want to see that one:) And I love the Gene Kelly play on words! You make me smile!!
Posted by: mkg | August 06, 2009 at 03:13 PM