Veronica Lake sells shoes - Screen Guide March 1942

This ad from Screen Guide, March 1942, is a typical marvel of Hollywood merchandizing.  A photo of Veronica Lake is pasted in the corner of a two-page spread ad for shoes.  The caption indicates she can currently be seen in the movie Sullivan's Travels (which we covered here).  

The shoes have nothing to do with the movie, and neither Veronica Lake nor the movie have anything to do with the shoe company or its products.  But there is an unabashed eye candy element to both.  The stars were used in print ads to sell everything from toothpaste to chocolates, and keeping their names and faces in front of the public as often as possible was good for the studios.  

I would doubt any modern celebrity's image could inspire as much brand loyalty as these deft and casual appearances stars made plopped into the corner of a 1940s movie magazine ad.

Podcast - Discussing THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES

 

A few months ago I had the pleasure of talking about one of my favorite movies -- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) with Paul Francis Sullivan, a.k.a "Sully" for the Movies by Minutes podcast series.  "The Best Minutes Podcast" covers the movie in several increments with different hosts and different guests, each examining a slice of that movie.

Sully and I had two episodes together and it was really one of most enjoyable experiences for me.  As classic film fans, we know how wonderful it is to meet people who not only share our passion for these movies, but who can discuss them with knowledge and insight.  Sully knows the film well, and he knows about the era in which it was produced, so our conversation was a blast from beginning to end.

Divided into two podcast episodes recently posted, here is a link to the first one (Minute 146 - Al Here?)

and the second one, (Minute 129 - I'm Quite Fond of You, Too).

I hope you enjoy listening to them half as much as I did doing the interview.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Memories in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century. Her newspaper column on classic films, Silver Screen, Golden Memories is syndicated nationally.  Her new book, a collection of posts from this blog - Hollywood Fights Fascism - is available here on Amazon.

Bing Crosby & Paul Robeson sing "Ballad for Americans"

 For Independence Day, Bing Crosby and Paul Robeson both give us the "Ballad for Americans" from 1940.  Happy Fourth of July!

Canada Carries On - Proudly She Marches - 1944

For Canada Day today, which celebrates the 1867 founding of the Canadian Confederation, we have a view of Canada's women service personnel during World War II in this National Film Board newsreel Canada Carries On, an episode called "Proudly She Marches" (1944).

It shows the varied duties and training of the women in Canada's different uniformed services, where ex-salesgirls, librarians, teachers, and students helped win the war.  It took everybody to get the job done.

Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north, and thank you to a generation of ladies who kept fascism off our continent.