Saturday 9

Saturday 9: I've Written a Letter to Daddy (1962)

Unfamiliar with this week's featured song? Hear it here.

 

1) This song is from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, which was released on Halloween Day, 1962. Do you like scary movies? Scary, yes. Bloody? No.

 

2) The "Baby Jane" of the title is Baby Jane Hudson. Jane was a child star, singing and dancing in vaudeville. She was so popular that Baby Jane dolls sold well at her shows. Tell us about one of your favorite childhood toys. I loved Lassie like no other. She's still up in my closet somewhere.

 

3) Baby Jane's career hit the skids when she hit her teens and audiences no longer found her cute. Adolescence can be a tough time for many of us. Did you ever go through an awkward phase? Beginning in junior high through high school. I was always OK socially, always had lots of girlfriends, but I never felt pretty. I finally came into my own in my early 20s. Though in my heart, I'm still often that girl.

 

4) Meanwhile, Jane's older sister Blanche blossomed into a beauty and became a major movie actress. Her career was cut short when, at the height of her popularity, her back is broken in a car accident involving a drunken Jane. Most of the movie takes place in the mansion Blanche bought back when she was a star. Blanche is confined to a wheelchair and completely dependent on Jane, who is bitter, jealous, and well, bonkers. Very bad things happen. Can you think of another movie where scary things happen in a big old house? Psycho gave us a two-fer: a scary motel with a big, scary house behind it.

 

Oh, that Norman Bates was one scary dude.

5) As a (crazy) older woman, Jane convinces herself she can relaunch her career and recapture the love of the public. She dresses like she did as a little girl and makes up her face to look like those Baby Jane dolls that were sold long ago at her childhood performances. Then she rehearses this week's song. The result is so memorable that now, more than 60 years later, you can still find "Baby Jane" Halloween costumes online. Tell us about a Halloween costume you really enjoyed wearing. Decades ago I went as Harpo Marx. It was a pretty easy costume: a man's boxy overcoat, a curly blond wig, a hat, and a bike horn. I had such a good time using that horn instead of words! I wonder if anyone today would even know who Harpo was.

 

6) Which kind of spooky movie villain do you find scarier: supernatural monsters (Dracula, Wolfman, ghosts, etc.) or human monsters (Baby Jane, Michael Meyers from the Halloween franchise, etc.)? I'm more afraid of human monsters. 

Questions inspired by Halloween ....

7) Orange and black are the traditional Halloween colors, with orange representing the autumn harvest and black symbolizing all things scary and mysterious. Are you wearing either color as you answer these questions? Nope.

8) Jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland, though instead of pumpkins, they carved gourds. When Irish immigrants arrived in the US, they used pumpkins because they were more readily available. Did you decorate your home with a jack-o-lantern, or anything else, for Halloween? Nope, though if you did, I'm grateful. We sold a lot of Halloween decorations at the card shop where I work.

9) Think back to your trick-or-treating days. Which candy were you happiest to find your bag? Mary Janes! They were very chewy peanut butter and molasses candies. My older sister hated them and so we would trade. Mary Janes are no longer readily available at the checkout counter, which is probably just as well since they would be killer on my dental work.