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Happy birthday, Joan Blondell! Huge post on my site and small thread to follow - I love her so much: sheilaomalley.com/?p=58071
It took me a second to find it but @selfstyledsiren 's 2012 post has a wonderful anecdote about Joan Blondell. And yes, I believe it. selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/2012/06/anecdo…
@selfstyledsiren My first exposure to her was in John Cassavetes' OPENING NIGHT, where she plays the beleaguered playwright, trying to get Gena Rowlands' Mabel to actually SAY THE G.D. LINES AS WRITTEN. 
@selfstyledsiren And then, of course, there's this:
@selfstyledsiren To re-cap: Joan Blondell started out onstage, in the late 20s, dominated Pre-Code films in the early 1930s and ENDED her career with a John Cassavetes film, with a pit-stop doing an Elvis movie along the way. THAT'S a career.
@selfstyledsiren Two anecdotes I love from Matthew Kennedy's book about Joan Blondell. As a librarian's daughter, I approve of this message.
@selfstyledsiren Second: with the outbreak of WWII, Blondell started doing USO tours. She was devoted to her work with the USO, beloved by the soldiers, and eventually made honorary staff sergeant, as well as having multiple tanks named after her.
@selfstyledsiren Here's one of the stories Blondell told about an experience with the USO. She was visiting soldiers in Canada. This makes me laugh out loud.
@selfstyledsiren And might as well throw this in: Here's a piece I wrote detailing the similarities btw Zack Snyder's SUCKER PUNCH and GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933, starring, among many others, Joan Blondell. Made a lot of new friends with THIS one I can tell you that. musings.oscilloscope.net/post/172313358…
@selfstyledsiren One of my favorite gestures in cinema comes in the final moment of "Remember My Forgotten Man", from GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933. Blondell puuuuushes her arms up. It's now a show-bizzy "ta da" arms up. It's HARD to get those arms up. It's 1933, that's why.
@selfstyledsiren To return: here's my big post about Joan Blondell. With clips, pics, discussion. sheilaomalley.com/?p=58071
@selfstyledsiren oops: Gena Rowlands' MYRTLE.
