#tomdrake

[makeyour0wnsunshine]

Days 4 & 5 of my Christmas movie marathon: tonight I’m watching 2 movies (I didn’t watch one yesterday) both from 1944 it’s “Meet Me in St. Louis” starring Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake & Marjorie Main & “I’ll Be Seeing You” starring Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten & Shirley Temple 😊

Since I’ve talked about both movies in the past I’ll give a fun fact about each 😊

Meet Me in St. Louis: the iconic Christmas song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was originally supposed to be a sad and gloomy song with some of the original lyrics being “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, It may be your last, Next year we may all be living in the past” both Judy, Tom and also director Vincente Minnelli criticized the song saying it was too depressing and asked Hugh Martin one of the original writers of the song to change it he resisted at first but gave in after and made several changes to the song to the version we know of today 😊 like instead of “It May Be Your Last, Next year we may all be living in the past” he changed it to what we know now as “Let Your Heart Be Light, Next Year All Our Troubles Will Be Out Of Sight” 😊

I’ll Be Seeing You: Originally Joan Fontaine was considered to play the lead role of Mary in this film but she didn’t like the script, had contract issues with David O. Selznick and also had other commitments along at the time so Ginger ended up getting the role. Also Ginger & Shirley didn’t get along well on set. Shirley wrote in her book “Child Star” that Ginger really disliked her & Ginger actually wanted her removed from the film and she had recast approval in her contract if ever the case may be but both director William Dieterle & Selznick refused to do it and in the end many critics praised Temple’s performance as Barbara in the film 😊

#classicmovienight #christmasmovies #meetmeinstlouis #illbeseeingyou #judygarland #gingerrogers #margaretobrien #josephcotten #maryastor #shirleytemple #lucillebremer #tomdrake #marjoriemain #christmas #classichollywood #oldhollywood #classicmovies

[makeyour0wnsunshine]

#classicmovienight watching the 1944 Technicolor classic “Meet Me in St. Louis” tonight starring Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake & Marjorie Main 😊

This was at the peak of Judy’s career by this time & its probably her most memorable outside of the Wizard of Oz. It’s also her first major role as an adult as she was known for movies as a child/teenage star before this along with Oz such as Babes in Arms, For Me & My Gal & Strike Up The Band 😊

This is also Margaret O’Brien’s breakout role as a child star and she would win the juvenile award at the Oscars later that year & it’s also the directorial breakthrough for Vincente Minnelli during the making of this movie Vincente & Judy would fall in love on set and would get married a year later their marriage lasted for 6 years and they had one child together (who would go on to become a successful star in her own right later in life) Liza Minnelli 😊

This musical is known for such classic songs like Skip To My Lou, The Trolley Song & of course the iconic Christmas classic Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 😊

#judygarland #margaretobrien #maryastor #meetmeinstlouis #tomdrake #lucillebremer #marjoriemain #classichollywood #oldhollywood #classicmovies #musical #MGM

[brooklynbookfestival]

Encrypt the crap out of your life. Why make it easy for the government? Make it as hard as possible.

NSA whistleblower Tom Drake, as quoted in this July New Yorker post.

Drake will be joined by Edwidge Danticat, Francine Prose, Andre Aciman and Leonard Lopate for the festival-day panel "Something to Hide: Writers Against the Surveillance State," a reflection on the dangers surveillance poses to the freedom to think and create. 5 pm at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church.