I Wake Up Screaming

I Wake Up Screaming (1941) with Betty Grable,
Victor Mature, and Laird Cregar.

From February 14 through 21, June and Art is participating in For the Love of Film (Noir):  The Film Preservation Blogathon.  The June and Art letters are still here, but during this week they will be embellished with film noir images and other supplementary material.

Through this blogathon, over 80 bloggers are hoping to raise significant funds to support the work of the Film Noir Foundation and restore The Sound of Fury, a 1950 film noir starring Lloyd Bridges.  Please contribute to the effort by going to this link (if it’s working!) or through the donation buttons on host sites Ferdy on Films and the Self-Styled Siren.

Tuesday, February 15, 1950

46 West 83rd Street, Apt. 7B

New York City, NY

Dear Art,

Expressionist dream scene in
Stranger on the Third Floor (1940).

Art, never again will I let you go home in the snow like that so early.  I had nightmares all night.  You were lying on the road and your mother never called because she thought you were still with me.  I kept imagining you in different accidents and then would wake with a start.

I was awake when Daddy turned on the lights at 4:30 to get me up for the train ride back to the city.  Anyway I made the

The most famous of film noir dream
scenes -- the Salvador Dali-designed
dream scene for Alfred Hitchcock's
Spellbound (1945), starring Gregory
Peck and Ingrid Bergman.

train and arrived in the city at 8 in the morning.  I called Daddy to tell him I arrived all right and asked if he had heard from you or your parents.  Since he hadn’t heard any bad news, I finally felt confident that you had gotten home safely.  I knew your parents would have called if you hadn’t returned home at all.  But Art, darling, never again.  You don’t know how nervous and worried I can get.

Your valentine card came today.  I loved it and you – especially for underlining the love!

Art, dear, please be careful and don’t take your car out too much in this slippery weather.

Love,

June

P.S.  I love this Valentine’s Day holiday that lets me tell you again I love you so much!

(Tomorrow – suspicion falls on Bruno.)

© 2011 Lee Price

The Dark Side of Town

(Cross-posted on the Preserving a Family Collection blog…)

For the next week, February 14 through 21, I’m going to try my hardest to tie the entries on both “June and Art” and “Preserving a Family Collection” to the subject of film noir as part of “For the Love of Film (Noir): The Film Preservation Blogathon.”  Film noir was extremely popular in the post-war years that are remembered on “June and Art.”  As readers of the blog know, June and Art spent many evenings at the movies, often at double features.  Well, many of those movies they were watching would have been film noirs.

The world of film noir is the dark side of the city where femme fatales lure tough guys to their doom.  Some classic examples would be Double Indemnity (1944), Laura (1944), Out of the Past (1947), and The Big Heat (1953).  If you can picture Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, or Humphrey Bogart in a black-and-white drama laced with shadows and betrayals…  that’s noir.  (Note:  A movie like L.A. Confidential might be considered a modern day equivalent of the classic noirs of the 40s and 50s.)

Truthfully, June and Art weren’t film noir people.  Their tastes tended more toward a musical like On the Town (1949) rather than a film noir like The Third Man (1949).  Nevertheless, film noir is a potent part of the 1949-50 atmosphere – and with June living in the classic film noir location of New York City and with their mutual friend Bruno struggling through an archetypal film noir story (love betrayed – car accident – despair), I’d like to think it isn’t that great a stretch to celebrate film noir here on these blogs.

We’ve lost thousands of classic films to neglect over the past hundred years.  A few dedicated organizations, including the Film Noir Foundation, are dedicated to restoring the old deteriorating nitrate film stock of these films to their original silver screen glory.  This year’s “For the Love of Film (Noir): The Film Preservation Blogathon” is dedicated to restoring a nitrate print of The Sound of Fury (1950), starring Lloyd Bridges, Richard Carlson, and Kathleen Ryan.

Our gracious blogathon organizers and hosts are Marilyn Ferdinand of Ferdy on Films and the Self-Styled Siren.  If you love film, especially classic film, definitely check out their sites.

This is a great cause!  Please contribute to the restoration of The Sound of Fury (1950), and enjoy “June and Art” and “Preserving a Family Collection” during this week-long film noir celebration!

(Tomorrow – nightmares disturb June's sleep.)

© 2011 Lee Price

For the Love of Film (Noir)

(Cross-posted on the Preserving a Family Collection blog…)

During the next week, February 14 through 21, both “June and Art” and “Preserving a Family Collection” will be participating in “For the Love of Film (Noir): The Film Preservation Blogathon.”  It will be a bit of a stretch for both blogs, but I love the cause and the time is right – and by that I mean the 1949-1951 period covered by “June and Art” is right smack at the dark heart of film noir’s classic period.  Therefore, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for looking at film noir.  We're talking New York City at night, lonely subway rides, and shootouts viewed from a bus (all of which have been covered in past letters!).

What’s film noir?  Check out this beautiful introduction by Greg Ferrara of Cinema Styles to the blogathon and I expect you’ll recognize film noir when you see it:

The blogathon fun starts tomorrow!

© 2011 Lee Price

The 1950 Holiday Schedule

“Now Shirl and I are sitting here discussing the coming weekend.  Unexpected complications have arisen.  It seems we have Monday off because of Lincoln’s Birthday.”

                                                                        June Anderson

                                                                        Letter to Art Price, Feb. 6, 1950

While Lincoln’s Birthday was never a federal holiday, many states used to formally celebrate it as a holiday on Lincoln’s actual birth date, February 12.  In 1950, Lincoln’s Birthday actually fell on Sunday but June’s school, Traphagen School of Fashion, chose to observe it by closing on Monday, February 13.

Coming right after Lincoln’s Birthday, Valentine’s Day arrived on Tuesday, February 14, 1950.  Valentine’s Day has never been an official holiday either.  It has ancient European roots and seems to be traditionally associated with the February 14 date, with possible references to valentines extending back to before the middle ages.  Hallmark issued the first manufactured Valentine’s Day cards in 1915 and they were a huge hit.  By 1950, there were many greeting card companies publishing Valentine’s Day cards.  June’s card to Art was a Gibson, not a Hallmark.

Screen capture from
Holiday Inn (1942).

Washington’s Birthday is the only federal holiday of the three February dates.  In 1950, it was celebrated on Washington’s actual birth date, February 22 (a Wednesday that year).  The Uniform Monday Holiday Act, passed in 1968, moved the official celebration of Washington’s Birthday to the third Monday in February (where it always falls between Lincoln’s and Washington’s actual birthdays).  While Washington’s Birthday remains the official federal designation, it became more commonly known as Presidents Day over the years, particularly following a heavy advertising push in the mid-1980s.

Getting back to 1950:  For June and Art, the holidays came fast and furious in February.  First, Lincoln’s Birthday on Sunday, February 12, then Valentine’s Day on Tuesday, February 14, and finally Washington’s Birthday on Wednesday, February 22.

(Tomorrow – announcing a week in support of film preservation!)

© 2011 Lee Price

Could It Possibly Be a Date?

Thursday, February 9, 1950

46 West 83rd Street, Apt. 7B

New York City, NY

Dear Art,

Yes, it’s awfully lonely taking the subways by myself.

Shirl slept most of the day, and didn’t even show up at school until 3:30.  Darn her!  She sleeps all the time when she’s home, then comes here and keeps me up late talking.  The late nights are beginning to tell on me.

We saw two movies (double feature) tonight – Sinbad the Sailor and The Spanish Main.  Both were revivals.  You can tell from the names what they were like – but I enjoyed them anyway.

How’s everything and everybody in Southampton?  Don’t forget – your letters are my local newspaper.  Of

course, I don’t want them to be all news and nothing else.  I’m sure you know what I mean, because I feel that way about you, too.

I just told Shirl she should unmake the bed while I finish your letter. She said to write you that.  I don’t know why.

Art, dear, the clock’s just turning midnight and now I’m terribly tired.  I will be seeing you this weekend, won’t I?  Could it possibly be a date?  Until then,

All my love,

June

(On Saturday, Lincoln's Birthday and Valentine's Day.)

© 2011 Lee Price

Art School Assignments in Southampton

Wednesday, February 8, 1950

20 Cooper Street

Southampton, NY

Dear June,

This will be a short letter.  I didn’t do anything today but work and didn’t go anywhere tonight.  I did manage to do some art school homework for Partida.  I plan to go to her class tomorrow.  Tomorrow morning I have off so I should stay up tonight and do some more Partida work – but I think I’ll go to bed instead when I finish this letter.

Partida homework assignments
by Art Price.

I’m thinking of you, darling.  I won’t give up hope for the weekend yet.  If I don’t see you, I’ll call you Sunday around 12:30.

I’m expecting a letter tomorrow.  I’ll be waiting at the door for it tomorrow morning.  I love you sweetheart.  Be good.  Good night for now,

Lots of love,

Art

(Tomorrow – lonely subway trips.)

© 2011 Lee Price

A Convention of "The Boys"

Pencil sketch of a bird
by Art Price.

Tuesday, February 7, 1950

20 Cooper Street

Southampton, NY

Dear June,

Well we had a busy day at Roulston’s today.  I didn’t get there till 9 A.M.  My boss Rod went to lunch from 1 to 2 and then from 3:30 to 5:30 he went with Bruno to the clinic to get the stitches taken out.  They had to wait for the doctor, I guess.  The store looked like a convention from 5:30 to 6.  Bruno, Joe, “Singer,” Farmer (minus appendix), Jack Raynor and I were beside the box, and Rod stood around and talked, mostly kidding Bruno.  Do you remember Jack Raynor?  You met him late one night but you might not remember him.  He was formerly one of the boys (married now).

I didn’t do much of anything this evening.  I read a little, but am having trouble keeping my eyes open.  I guess I’ll go to bed early.  I hope you won’t be lonesome riding the subways alone.  I know you won’t go out at night alone though.

Is Shirl feeling better?  Remember me to her.  If she decides to go home next weekend, don’t be “embarrassed” to tell me.

Don’t forget to write me now.  I miss you very much.  I love you, darling.  Be good and take care of yourself.

Love

Art

(Tomorrow – more homework for Partida.)

© 2011 Lee Price