Feeling sorry for myself because I'm a quiet-loving introvert in a noisy world full of Facebookers commenting on each others status, whatever the hell that means, I googled Introverts Anonymous. Is there such an unlikely group? There is. It put me onto a grand story about Jean Arthur. She belongs here because this blog is mostly about voices, radio, media and such. It was apparently her voice that not only gave her an easy transition from silent films to talkies, but helped to make her a big star. She was terribly shy, tormented, hated the star system, might have been lesbian or bisexual. Said to be more reclusive than Garbo, which I did not know was possible. I don't think I have seen any of her films, not even "Shane." I will get around to it one of these years.
I hope friend Harry Heuser will do something about her if he hasn't already done so. There is no greater tosser of words or turner of phrases and I await what he might make of Jean Arthur, her films and her life.
So, the girl next door preferred to stay there, huh? I didn’t know.
ReplyDeleteThough I have mentioned Jean Arthur only once (in a note on a radio adaptation of Only Angels Have Wings), I have seen—and can recommend to you—a number of the films in which she starred. My favorites are Easy Living and You Can’t Take It With You.
Her voice, as James Harvey writes in Romantic Comedy was indeed “famous”—“a phenomenon people have trouble describing adequately.” As he sums up, it is neither upper nor lower class; it does not sound “actressy.” Instead, it is “both remarkable and ordinary—a paradox that Arthur herself embedded.”
Jean Arthur is really a great actress! I would recommend History is Made at Night. It's not one of her more famous films, but it's wonderful.
ReplyDelete