Remember the early days of Twitter when Elizabeth Taylor would write these charming little anecdotes about her day…spreading them out over a million tweets because the word count wouldn’t let her tell them the way she wanted? Simpler times. I miss Twitter Liz. #TCMParty

Some news!

Katharine Hepburn really had two birthdays—the one when she was actually born (today), and her late brother’s, that she adopted as her own. I like to celebrate both as a way to respect everything that Kate was. I always felt so privileged to share the world with her—when she died, it felt surreal.

I had lunch recently w a visual effects coordinator, who said technical depts love working with director Ron Howard, because he respects their expertise and doesn’t muscle in. I think that’s because he’s worked with those departments since childhood. #TheMusicMan #TCMParty @tcmtv.bsky.social

Thank you for your kind words! For costume dramas, WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER is surprisingly great. So is BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK. I’m very partial to BLONDIE OF THE FOLLIES in the sound era, and FIVE AND TEN is an excellent pre-code.

Thanks for picking it up! 📖

103 years ago: The Bride's Play (US) A sweet-natured young Irish woman is courted by a romantic poet and a local country gentleman. Which man will she choose? 1922-01-22 https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/434011

I’m so happy that @tcmtv.bsky.social is giving Marion some love this month. Marion Davies in PEG O’ MY HEART is on TCM today at 2 PM Eastern, 11 Pacific. I have interesting stories about it in the book—the 1933 Long Beach earthquake happened while they were filming this very scene. #TCMParty

What I wrote on IG about the Beach House. It is safe for the time being.

An update on events, as promised. I ended up as the point person for @rudyfan.bsky.social ‘s cat, William H. Powell. After lots of phone calls, we found a neighbor in Donna’s building who loves him and wants to keep him. We did the handoff today and he is now in the car on the way to his new home!

I’ve been up to my ears in obligations (update to come soon), so I haven’t been able to keep up with my millions of social media accounts. It is indeed Marion Davies’s 128th (!) birthday today, and working with her has been the joy of my life. Here is the beginning of CAPTAIN OF HER SOUL.

Happy Birthday Marion Davies (born #onthisday in 1897)! This year's birthday celebration at the Annenberg Community Beach House includes #MarionDavies’ biographer @backlotsfilm.bsky.social & Hollywood historian Marc Wanamaker. #HollywoodHistory Jan 26 -> www.santamonica.gov/events/4pmm3...

Yay!!

Fun fact: Vinton Hayworth is the maternal uncle of Rita Hayworth. His older sister was Rita’s mother, Volga. #TCMParty @tcmtv.bsky.social

Marion Davies is in this! #TCMParty @tcmtv.bsky.social

This is the scene where you can quite literally see them falling in love. It’s easy to write it off as two old pros acting a scene, but there’s something very different here. #TCMParty #WomanOfTheYear

missed YENTL this morning because I was at synagogue 🥴 But happy to be back for MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, my second @tcmtv.bsky.social must-see of the day, even though I’ve quite literally memorized it. #TCMParty

One thing I adore about Barbara Stanwyck is that she cares absolutely ZERO about trying to hide her Brooklyn accent. PHYLLIS: I was born right here in Los Angeles. ALSO PHYLLIS, TO WALTER: "WOUHL-tuh." #TCMParty

This week’s challah, which is coming with me to Shabbat dinner at a friend’s tonight. To give you an idea of how long it takes to make challah, I started making the dough this morning at 8:20, right before my first student of the day. It just came out of the oven at 1:15.

Oh no, I just turned on Black Narcissus at exactly the moment I had hoped I WOULDN’T SEE TONIGHT. #TCMParty

Trying to get used to this newest hellscape—far less of a hellscape than the other one, but I still haven’t figured out Instagram, so… Here is Marion Davies for tax. She would have been mortified by what’s going on right now.

Well, here we go.