“This Modern Age” on TCM
This Modern Age is going to air on Turner Classic Movies on Thursday, January 9th at 12:00am PST (which is technically Friday).
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TCM continues its tribute to Joan Crawford tomorrow without another round of early titles, including This Modern Age. By 1931, when this film was made, the musical revues that Ann Dvorak had been appearing in as chorus girl had fallen out of vogue. Since MGM didn’t seem to want to elevate Ann’s status on the lot, she was instead relegated to “extra” parts, showing up in the background. This Modern Age is actually one of her more prominent extra parts and she gets a bit of screen time as a party crasher. It’s been years since I watched this one, but I recall liking it well enough.
Rain is also in the line-up at 7:00pm which is a favorite Joan Crawford performance of mine. It’s also worth noting that the role of Sadie Thompson was one Howard Hughes tried hard to get for Ann, but to no avail. While I love Joan, my heart aches thinking about Ann playing a part of that caliber.
A Happy Belated New Year’s to Ann D’s beloved biographer. Have adjusted to visits here without the daily message, but can always search thru the archives when I need an Ann fix. And I trust we will still get the occasional post.
Found the time these past two days to catch up on some dvr’ed Joan Crawford/Ann Dvorak films. “This Modern Age” the highlight for me; it’s not much of a movie, but there were at least 3 scenes featuring our gal. My favorite was the final one, where Ann and her cohorts crash the card game being played by Joan, Neil Hamilton & his upper crust parents. Ann even got the opportunity to say a couple of lines – like asking Joan, off camera, where’s the scotch? I’m glad to know I’m not the only person who can get excited about such a limited appearance.
Thanx again for this site, and the splendid bio.
Thanks Mike! The positive feedback and support is always appreciated. And no, you’ve not heard the last of me on this site!