Might I suggest a pot of tea and a Joan Crawford double feature on this rainy day

On non-school nights, after reading a bit from The Three Investigators library, Arlo and I usually break out the computer and watch a little something before falling asleep. Seeing as how he’s six, he generally advocates for something involving either monsters or robots, which, for those most part, I’m OK with, as long as it’s not too recent. Lately, though, I’ve been invoking parental privilege and making us watch scenes from early Joan Crawford movies, especially ones that involve her dancing. Last night, between Little Rascals shorts, we watched this scene from 1931’s Dance Fools Dance. [And, yes, before anyone sends me the link, I have read the Onion article, “Cool Dad Raising Daughter On Media That Will Put Her Entirely Out Of Touch With Her Generation.”]

I’ve always been a fan of Crawford’s later work, like Mildred Pierce, which has been one of my favorites since I was a kid, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, but it wasn’t until about a decade ago that I picked up a copy of Grand Hotel and became interested in her early career… an interest which was rekindled recently, when I discovered that Karina Longworth had dedicated six episodes of her incredible “You Must Remember This” podcast to Crawford. And, now, I’m kind of temporarily stuck in a Joan Crawford loop… to the point where, I’m afraid, I might be transferring my obsession onto my six year old son by subliminally working these short video clips into his weekend media diet.

At any rate, I mention this as it’s cold and rainy outside today, and I figure some of you might be looking for a good video or two to watch. If that’s the case, I’m recommending Grand Hotel, followed by Mildred Pierce. [As I’ve seen both dozens of times, I’m thinking about renting 1931’s Possessed with Clark Gable.]