Since I like mysteries with amateur detectives and sleuths, it’s surprising that I’ve never read Dashiell Hammet’s The Thin Man. I’m putting it on my list. Back in the age when VCRs were the thing and you actually went to a store and rented VHS tapes for them, Tom and I spied the movie one night, rented it, and fell hard for Nick and Nora Charles (as played by William Powell and Myrna Loy) and their funny dog Asta. In the novel, Asta is a female schnauzer. But when the film was made, the best available actor was a male wire fox terrier (also called a wirehaired terrier) named Skippy. Skippy was hired for the role of Asta and was actually renamed Asta. A relative of Asta’s was hired to play the part in the Thin Man television series. You can learn a lot about Asta’s film career and why the Thin Man films were so popular at the I Love Asta website.
One Christmas I gave this DVD set to Tom, so we can laugh at Asta, drink vicariously, and listen to witty banter anytime we wish. I gave a little nod to the Thin Man franchise in The Deal in a conversation between characters Aaron and Heath.
Wirehairs are a high-energy breed who need good training from a strong human companion. They are super smart and love to perform for praise and rewards. Two of them were reasons why I loved to visit my college roommate Debbie’s parents’ house: Their names were Habebe and Sabe.
Petite Habebe and her son Sabe at full attention because they know Debbie has treats.
They had a wide range of actions they performed, including sit, stay, lie down, roll over, and BANG! which of course meant playing dead, all four paws up in the air.
Payoff!
Sabe would get so greedy for a treat that he’d often run through his entire repertoire without waiting for commands. He also would do this if Habebe was a little more relaxed with her follow-through.
Habebe comes from the Arabic habib, meaning “beloved.”Sabe shows how beloved his mama is.
ETA: I went back and corrected the spellings of the dogs’ names after I asked Debbie about them. She said my memory is pretty accurate. She also recalled that Sabe allowed her to dress him in silly costumes and played hide-and-seek with her.
To kick off its tenth season, Lifetime’s Project Runway put on a fashion show in Times Square. The sixteen designers had to send the show one look each that they felt represented their points of view. After arriving in New York, the designers had one day to create a companion piece that should look like it was part of the same collection.
I decided to go with one of my more glamorous former looks. This blue velvet evening gown enhanced with sequined-flowers was modeled by Noelle in Fall 2010. I created the straps from cobalt blue beads.
The new strapless piece uses the same silhouette and also has a slit up the back, but it’s a spring-friendly gown in lighter-weight, beaded, onyx Dupioni silk.
I couldn’t make it to Times Square, but my model Elke steps onto the Runway Monday set with confidence.
A look at the fabric in natural light.
I also designed Elke’s crystal necklace.
Red-carpet ready for the cameras.
Visitors to the workroom thought Elke looked a lot like PR host Heidi Klum. Here, she poses with mentor Tim Gunn and Heidi so you can see they’re three different blond(e)s.
Hope you’ve enjoyed my Season 10 debut. See you next time on the Runway!
Fabric from High Fashion. Tim Gunn gift of Marika. Necklace beads gift of Mary.
If only Lynne and I weren’t a mere thirty-five years old, we might have spent the Summer of ’69 this way:
We might have stayed up all night secretly talking on the phone by stretching the cords as far as possible toward our bedrooms. I could usually get away with this because of where our second phone was situated, but the princess phone Lynne used had to cross the hall from her parents’ bedroom to hers. The base was stuck in the hall, and the curly cord to the handset snaked under Lynne’s bedroom door. When Elnora (her mother) woke up from her pre-bedtime nap on the couch and walked down the long, dark hallway to go to bed, she’d trip on the phone, cussing as she caught her balance by grabbing the walls, while the handset would be jerked from Lynne’s grip and slam against her closed bedroom door. This was my cue to hang up, sneak our phone back to its stand, and go to bed, while in her house, Lynne would immediately jump into bed and pretend she’d forgotten to hang up the phone before falling asleep hours before. I doubt Elnora was fooled.
Mark Lindsay in the magazine photo I pretended not to be insanely jealous that Lynne owned.
I remember the closet in Lynne’s parents’ bedroom as being huge, and tucked into one corner were several brown grocery bags full of romance novels that Elnora and her friends passed among them. That summer, while Lynne mooned over pictures of Mark Lindsay and his pony tail, I was devouring one or two romance novels a day. If she got bored, Lynne would reread her Archie, Casper, Richie Rich, and Little Lulu comic books. Sometimes she could talk me into walking to town–it wasn’t much of a town, but we still found plenty of mischief to get into.
The one constant was the radio. Whether it was our transistors, my parents’ big console stereo, or the radios in the cars that took us to and from each other’s houses, we always listened to WVOK-AM out of Birmingham. (When it signed off at night, we became contortionists with our transistors to our ears trying to pick up WLS out of Chicago.) Taking a look at the old WVOK Tough Twenty Surveys, the mix of music amazes me. In one afternoon, we might hear the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Herman’s Hermits, Tom Jones, the Grass Roots, the Archies, Dionne Warwick, Ray Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel, the Bee Gees, Henry Mancini, Marvin Gaye–we were the market for the music of anybody we might find on the pages of Tiger Beat, 16 Magazine, and Teen Beat. WVOK’s morning show was hosted by Joe Rumore who played oldies and sometimes music with a country influence between Sweet Sue and Golden Eagle Table Syrup ads. By the time we were fully awake and on the phone or being chauffeured to the swimming pool, Don Keith was DJing, and later in the afternoon, we’d listen to the melodic voice of DJ Dan Brennan.
It was also Dan Brennan who introduced WVOK’s Shower of Stars shows. Every one of these that Lynne and I were taken to by her mother and/or sister in Birmingham, we managed to find someone who could get us backstage. I have so many autographs from those shows. And when Lynne was old enough to drive us herself, we collected a few not-for-the-blog stories along with our autographs. We had a blast. We saw Tony Orlando when Dawn was just hastily assembled backup vocalists so he could tour after his first hit record. We saw Neil Diamond before he was uncool and then cool again. We saw Bobby Sherman, who we cared nothing about, and Pat Paulsen, the first comedian to run a satirical campaign for president (imagine–if he’d beat Nixon–Smothers Brothers in the cabinet instead of those thugs we ended up with!), and the Carpenters–who wouldn’t want to remember getting to hear Karen Carpenter sing in person? Most especially, we saw our favorite bands, Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Grass Roots, which is what branded us teenyboppers by the boys we knew, who were into much cooler music. Whatever. It was all about the crushes, and our walls were plastered with our idols’ faces like the young teens who loved Sinatra and Frankie Avalon before us, Wham!, New Kids on the Block and Hanson after us, and Bieber today. Long may you pop your bubblegum and sing along, ‘tweens and teenyboppers.
Have I shared this button before? It’s part of my collection from when it was first issued–I think in 1980.
I well remember the efforts I made to arrange a social life around watching television’s Dallas. Mother, Terri, and I were all addicted to the show. My favorite character was Sue Ellen Ewing.
I didn’t see the last few years of the show, but I did see all the biggest cliffhangers including Who Shot JR, Bobby in the shower, Pam’s exploding car, dead Kristin in the swimming pool, and the big fire at Southfork.
I was finally able to watch the first two hours of the new TNT Dallas and am looking forward to catching up. These days DVRs and Tivos make television a lot easier–even if I don’t have the busy life I once did.
And all these years later, my girl Sue Ellen appears to remain a force to be reckoned with. Where’s my Sue Ellen for Governor button?
ETA: I’m all caught up now, and I like the new Dallas. That JR is such a rascal.
This is it! The last day of the creativity project. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me with ideas, props, and comments.
Today’s theme from 30 Days of Creativity is “Star.” The Ram directs a lost chapter of the Star Wars movie franchise, Star Wars: Fashionistas Face Off.
Cast:
The Muses (called the “Hangers” by their enemies), led by Top Model Summer
The Monsters (known as the “Posers” by their enemies), led by Nefera de Nile
Yoda
A bunch more characters not pictured
Plot Synopsis: New Muses who haven’t yet appeared on Runway Monday realize the Monsters have attempted a coup, and Summer agrees to lead them in battle. When Yoda becomes aware of a disturbance in the Fashion Force, he arrives to broker a peace accord between the Muses and the Monsters.
Done, I am.
Thanks to Tom for Yoda. Season 10 of Project Runway begins July 19 on Lifetime.
Only one more day to go! Today’s theme from 30 Days of Creativity is “Blocks.”
The Ram directs the Six Merry Murderesses of the Cook County Jail as they sing “The Cell Block Tango” from the movie Chicago. Rumor has it that the shoot went so long that the Monsters sheared him. He had it coming.
Thanks to Lindsey for the movie idea and to Tom for the black duct tape that became “Wardrobe.”
Today’s theme from 30 Days of Creativity is “Notebook.”
The Ram directs a scene from the movie The Rum Diary. He actually thought of renaming the film The Ram Diary, but out of deference to Hunter S. Thompson and Johnny Depp, he restrained himself. And though you can’t really see them, Kemp and Chenault are wearing vintage clothes from the period of the film’s setting. Viva la fashion!
With thanks to Lisa S for the car, and to Tom for moving bins around until he found it for me.
Today’s theme from 30 Days of Creativity is “Aspirin.”
The Ram directs a scene from the movie Author! Author!
I was stumped by the “Aspirin” theme. Should I do a scene from The Hangover? Should I try to reenact that moment in The Birdcage when Agador persuades Albert to take a “pirin?” Those didn’t really inspire me. Then I remembered a favorite scene of mine from 1982’s Author! Author! with Al Pacino (as playwright Ivan) and Dyan Cannon (as actor Alice Detroit). They’ve met at the Plaza so Ivan can talk Alice into appearing in his play, and while they’re sitting there, the waiter sets three glasses of champagne in front of Alice. As they talk, she takes sips of champagne from each glass, followed by a pill. Ivan’s curiosity finally gets the better of him.
Ivan: Why do you take aspirin with champagne?
Alice: Oh, champagne gives me a headache.
By the way, that scene has a blooper. Alice actually takes four pills, although only three were on the table. I’ve opted to go for continuity.
To kick off its tenth season, Lifetime’s 
