It’s getting toasty out there. Luckily, July is National Ice Cream Month and we’ve found a few easy-to-follow recipes for ice cold beverages in the circa 1965 Betty Crocker’s New boys and girls cookbook. It includes recipes for such drinks as a Molasses Soda (molasses, milk, vanilla ice cream, and club soda), Choc-o-Nut milk (peanut butter, chocolate syrup, and milk) and Woodsman’s Refresher (milk, maple syrup, and cinnamon).
This is TX652.2 .C76 in Hagley’s Published Collections.
I had a copy of this book as a child. The full-color photography is a buzzkill, but the illustrations and all the simple, two- and three-ink print areas are spectacular examples of beautiful mid-century efficiency.
I made these two posters as a final project for my American lit class. They are posters celebrating the imaginary re-publication of two of Flannery O’Connor’s books: A Good Man is Hard to Find, and Other Stories and The Violent Bear it Away. I chose to make these instead of writing a final paper because I’m sick of writing; unexpectedly, I’m pretty happy with the way these turned out. I was going to do a third poster for O’Connor’s first novel Wise Blood but I ran out of time. Maybe I’ll come back to this project later!
On tuesday night, I watched the 1969 horror film What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, starring Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon. Page played a cruel, spoiled widow, in need of cash, who hired housekeepers only to murder them and steal their money. Ruth Gordon played a housekeeper of Page’s, who went undercover to find out about the murders. I hate a lot about 60s/70s movies—the costumes, the picture quality, the editing, the general vibe—it’s all pretty unappealing. But the acting in this movie was so fantastic I forgot about all the unappealing stuff. Ruth Gordon’s character, especially, was fantastic. She reminded me a lot of my neighbor Donna. The movie’s plot was seriously scary but tastefully done and really enjoyable.
On friday, I watched one of Hitchcock’s pre-Hollywood films, from 1932, Number Seventeen. Except for a train-chase scene at the end, the entire film was shot on one set. The editing was clumsy (lots of sloppy jump cuts), and the story itself had some continuity problems. Leon Lion played a funny old tramp, but characters like that always kinda creep me out. An altogether disappointing movie!
On saturday, I watched a 1933 film The Kennel Murder Case. This was glorious. Even if this movie hadn’t had any plot, it would’ve been worth watching solely for the suits. I could go on and on about men’s suits in the 30s. William Powell, who played the protagonist, Philo Vance, looked totally killer. Suits or not, this was a great little murder mystery. Really inventive camera work: sweeping crane shots of city blocks, split-screen phone call scenes, and peeking-through-the-keyhole shots. The cinematography made this film pleasant to watch. My only complaint is that I’d have liked to see more of Mary Astor. Oh, and the typography in the title sequence was awesome. You can watch the whole film on YouTube. I recommend it.
