August Happiness Challenge -- Day 14

My 2024 Happiness Icon

Today's happiness: He/she chemistry.

You know how when you're watching a movie and you simply cannot wait for the leading man to plant one on the leading lady? That's how I felt twice today, watching two different movies starring (wait for it) Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan.

Yeah, I'm shocked, too. Politics aside, I never considered Ronald Reagan an objet de desir. Before today, I only ever saw him in one film, Nine Lives Are Not Enough (1941), and he was funny and comfortable in front of the camera but he was not especially romantic.

I've never been a big Ann Sheridan fan, either. In the 1940s she was considered a glamor girl, but I've always found her too hard-edged, too tough to be tender. 

Yet this morning I finished Kings Row (1942), a highly-regarded period drama that's been taking up space on my DVR. I found it overlong and overwrought, but damn! Rich boy Drake McHugh (Reagan) and the tomboy from the wrong side of the tracks (Sheridan) were charismatic and completely believable as lovers and I couldn't wait for them to live happily ever after.

I texted my friend Will, the moderator of our movie group, and asked him if he knew about this gem. After all, he's always sung Ann Sheridan's praises. He not only knew it, he recounted his favorite scene and recommended Juke Girl, released just months after Kings Row. This time Reagan is Steve, a migrant farmer looking for work and Sheridan is Lola, the girl of the title, who works in a saloon. It's kind of like Grapes of Wrath, if everyone in Grapes of Wrath had great teeth and a standing appointment with a hair stylist. OK, so it's not a great movie. But the romance between worldly wise Lola and idealistic, impetuous Steve* delivers.

Sigh.

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

*Ronald Reagan, Mr. Trickle-Down Economics, as a desperate migrant worker!