Myrna Loy’s Nose

Catch up with a new original radio play written and directed by Megan McGurk.

Only a mug would bet against the woman he loves.

Myrna Loy’s Nose is a romantic comedy set on a newspaper in 1936.

Listen back to Part One.

Listen back to Part Two.

Listen Back to Part Three.

Starring:

Clara Higgins plays Dot Riordan.

Clara is an Irish artist and writer perhaps better known as her pseudonym Mot Collins. Under this moniker, she creates illustrations, zines, and tattoos. Mot is interested in subversive expressions of femininity, sexuality, occultism, and comedy. She is highly influenced by pulp and punk culture. She can be found on Twitter as @heavydutywoman and @motcollinsart on Instagram.

Olympia Kiriakou plays Fay Bishop.

Dr. Olympia Kiriakou is a film historian based in south Florida. Her research focuses on stardom, gender, and genre in classical Hollywood cinema, as well as contemporary fan cultures. She is
the author of Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy, an exploration of the star persona and career of the late star. Her work has also been published in Transformative Works and Cultures, Journal of Fandom Studies, In Media Res, Film Matters, and Sight and Sound magazine. She has a website and is @thescrewballgrl on Twitter.

You can find Olympia’s book here: Becoming Carole Lombard

Olympia hosts the podcast The Screwball Story @screwballstory, now in its second series.

M. Shawn plays Peaches Carmichael.

M. is a former television news producer, a writer, a researcher, an accidental homemaker, and a full-time Jean Harlow fan. After a year in quarantine, her blood type is banana bread, and if people were allowed to be fictional characters in a past life, she’d be Blondie Johnson.

Savannah Monroe plays Bijou Silk.

Savannah Monroe is a film writer and historian based in Colorado. Her focus is in the films and women of the classical Hollywood period. She has been researching and writing about Anne Bancroft, her life and legacy, since 2018. Her work can be found through her website Garbo Talks (http://garbo-talks.com).

Laura Mawson plays Maude Warren.

Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Laura is now living in the North of England with her beloved husband. She has worked as a ceramics instructor, graphic designer, and in communications. Life-long Old Hollywood fan, going through a Charles Boyer and Veronica Lake phase. Currently learning to play the guitar, badly. On Twitter @Romanpbone1 and Mastodon Romanpbone@masto.ai 

Renee Smith plays Dr Lockhart.

Whenever Renee spent a weekend at her grandmother’s house, Nanna, who was a the best seamstress in town, would call Renee to her side to watch “the black and white movies” and point out all the great style. Renee and her sisters loved to play in Nanna’s closet with its furs, hats, lucite pumps and bejewelled bags. So of course she was drawn to Sass Mouth Dames and became a huge fan. Her mildly sardonic spouse and cheeky kids have accepted her recent insistence on wearing classic hats, big wrap shawls and gloves when she walks their muzzled dog, as she struts through the un-classic streets of her neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada.

Patrick McGurk plays Jim Grady.

Pat is a resident of SWFLA, enjoying the proximity to the Ocean and the Gulf. He has been active in community theatre since high school as an actor, director and producer. Pat’s stage credits include such diverse roles as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show, Bud Frump in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Richard III, and various other parts in Shakespeare. He has also directed over 15 shows from Shakespeare to most recently Private Lives by Noel Coward. When not working on a show, or working, you can find Pat on the water with dive gear or a fishing rod.

Peter Bryant plays Leo Hickey.

Peter’s interest in classic Hollywood started—later in life than he would have liked—with the discovery of Preston Sturges comedies. This soon led to the Astaire-Rogers and Busby Berkeley musicals and much more. His latest avocation is writing about the career of Ida Lupino at his blog Let Yourself Go … To Old Hollywood and is @pmbryant on Twitter and @pmbryant_oldhollywood on Instagram.

Shane McCormack plays Dutch Brennan.

Shane McCormack is a freelance illustrator specializing in movie and pop culture subjects.Recent licensed work includes Halloween and Ghostbusters. When not drawing he collects physical media especially 1930/40s movies and any Barbara Stanwyck film. He also enjoys photography and has a BA in Visual Art.

You can see his work at www.mrharrylime.com

Art Design by Mot Collins.

Sound editing and special effects by Tom O’Mahony.

Written and directed by Megan McGurk.

Megan carries a torch for studio era woman’s pictures. She has been the host of Sass Mouth film club since 2017 and the podcast from 2018. She has written and directed eight original radio plays set in the 1930s (Salon Devine, Mannequins, Stenographers, A Star Was Born, House of the Seven Garbos, Red Gardenia, Hollywood Medusa, Myrna Loy’s Nose). Megan wrote an essay for Criterion on Love Affair. She is on Twitter @MeganMcGurk and @SassMouthDames and sometimes remembers to use Instagram @sassmouthdames.

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 25

Megan McGurk introduces four pre-Code woman’s pictures starring the MGM queens.

Grab a drink at the bar in Brooks Hotel. Popcorn is free!

Tickets available at Eventbrite

Possessed (1931)

Screens 7 September

If Joan Crawford and Clark Gable had lacked discipline, the heat from their illicit affair might have burned Metro to the ground. Luckily, they kept their clothes on long enough to face the camera for the third of eight pictures they made together. Director Clarence Brown builds a kept woman story into a captivating romance during one of the bleakest years of the Depression. Joan plays an earnest factory gal on the hunt for a rich man as if she was a one-woman Lewis and Clark expedition. 

Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise (1931)

Screens 14 September

The picture’s subtitle tells you everything you need to know about the trajectory of woman’s pictures during the 1930s. After Greta Garbo escapes an arranged marriage, she finds refuge with Clark Gable and his German Shepherd. Before long, she’s left high and dry and joins the circus. Then she moves into a Penthouse financed by a sugar daddy politician. Almost every writer in MGM had a crack at the baggy monster of a script which censors found objectionable, but the whole escapade is pure GARBO-going-places.

Riptide (1934)

Screens 21 September

Currently, Norma Shearer enjoys a reputation for being the great lady of MGM. But during the pre-Code era, Norma was targeted by religious groups for making pictures that they felt glorified premarital sex, adultery, and divorce. In Riptide, Norma follows her heart (or her libido) while wearing what is arguably the best wardrobe (by Adrian) of her entire career. Norma would be stuck in hoop skirts and period costume for the next five years. Will Norma choose Herbert Marshall or Robert Montgomery—and does it even matter when she looks so good?

Stamboul Quest (1934)

Screens 28 September

Based on the life of Annemarie Lesser, a famously dissolute spy who was dying in a sanitorium during the film’s production, Stamboul Quest stars Myrna Loy as agent Fräulein Doktor. Myrna is the whole show, playing a character who knows that romance is the Achilles heel for a counter-espionage expert. Myrna has an important job, yet she still falls for soft-spoken George Brent. Gowned to the nines by Dolly Tree, Myrna disproves the old canard about spies darting about incognito in trench coats and anonymous fashion.

Hollywood Medusa

ART DESIGN BY MOT COLLINS

After a film studio boss dies suddenly, his daughter suspects blackmail. Was the mogul carrying on with a star from the lot? Did someone find out and put the bite on him? Private investigator Lou Mulreany takes the case and soon learns everyone has something to hide.

Listen back to the new three-part podcast drama set in 1933.

Hollywood Medusa is written and directed by Megan McGurk.

Listen back:

Part One.

Part Two.

Part Three.

Starring:

Clara Higgins plays Lou Mulreany.

Clara is an Irish artist and writer perhaps better known as her pseudonym Mot Collins. Under this moniker, she creates illustrations, zines, and tattoos. Mot is interested in subversive expressions of femininity, sexuality, occultism, and comedy. She is highly influenced by pulp and punk culture. She can be found on Twitter as @heavydutywoman and @motcollinsart on Instagram.

Art design for Hollywood Medusa is by Mot Collins.

Olympia Kiriakou plays Smitty (Betty Smith)

Dr. Olympia Kiriakou is a film historian based in south Florida. Her research focuses on stardom, gender, and genre in classical Hollywood cinema, as well as contemporary fan cultures. She is
the author of Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy, an exploration of the star persona and career of the late star. Her work has also been published in Transformative Works and Cultures, Journal of Fandom Studies, In Media Res, Film Matters, and Sight and Sound magazine. She has a website and is @thescrewballgrl on Twitter.

You can find Olympia’s book here: Becoming Carole Lombard

Olympia hosts the new podcast The Screwball Story @screwballstory

M. Shawn plays Irene Breyer

M. is a former television news producer, a writer, a researcher, an accidental homemaker, and a full-time Jean Harlow fan.  After a year in quarantine, her blood type is banana bread, and if people were allowed to be fictional characters in a past life, she’d be Blondie Johnson.

Savannah Monroe plays Poppy Jordan.

Savannah Monroe is a film writer and historian based in Colorado. Her focus is in the films and women of the classical Hollywood period. She has been researching and writing about Anne Bancroft, her life and legacy, since 2018. Her work can be found through her website Garbo Talks (http://garbo-talks.com).

Renee Smith plays Gina Gallo.

Whenever Renee spent a weekend at her grandmother’s house, Nanna, who was a the best seamstress in town, would call Renee to her side to watch “the black and white movies” and point out all the great style.  Renee and her sisters loved to play in Nanna’s closet with its furs, hats, lucite pumps and bejewelled bags. So of course she was drawn to Sass Mouth Dames and became a huge fan. Her mildly sardonic spouse and cheeky kids have accepted her recent insistence on wearing classic hats, big wrap shawls and gloves when she walks their muzzled dog, as she struts through the un-classic streets of her neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada.

Laura Mawson plays Kate Lawlor.

Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Laura is now living in the North of England with beloved husband and rescue lurcher, Roman. She has worked as a ceramics instructor, graphic designer, and in communications. Life-long Old Hollywood fan, going through a Charles Boyer and Veronica Lake phase. Currently learning to play the guitar, badly. On Twitter @Romanpbone1 and Mastodon Romanpbone@masto.ai 

Patrick McGurk plays Winston Montgomery.

Pat is a resident of SWFLA, enjoying the proximity to the Ocean and the Gulf. He has been active in community theatre since high school as an actor, director and producer. Pat’s stage credits include such diverse roles as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show, Bud Frump in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Richard III, and various other parts in Shakespeare. He has also directed over 15 shows from Shakespeare to most recently Private Lives by Noel Coward. When not working on a show, or working, you can find Pat on the water with dive gear or a fishing rod.  He is excited to make his debut with the company.

Peter Bryant plays Cyril Hardwicke.

Peter’s interest in classic Hollywood started—later in life than he would have liked—with the discovery of Preston Sturges comedies. This soon led to the Astaire-Rogers and Busby Berkeley musicals and much more. His latest avocation is writing about the career of Ida Lupino at his blog Let Yourself Go … To Old Hollywood and is @pmbryant on Twitter and @pmbryant_oldhollywood on Instagram.

Shane McCormack plays Reggie Fitz.

Shane McCormack is a freelance illustrator specializing in movie and pop culture subjects.Recent licensed work includes Halloween and Ghostbusters. When not drawing he collects physical media especially 1930/40s movies and any Barbara Stanwyck film. He also enjoys photography and has a BA in Visual Art.

You can see his work at www.mrharrylime.com

Megan McGurk plays Madeline Stone.

Megan carries a torch for studio era woman’s pictures. She is the host of Sass Mouth Dames podcast and film club. She has written and directed seven original radio plays set in the 1930s (Salon Devine, Mannequins, Stenographers, A Star Was Born, House of the Seven Garbos, Red Gardenia, Hollywood Medusa). Megan wrote an essay for Criterion on Love Affair. She is on Twitter @MeganMcGurk and @SassMouthDames and sometimes remembers to use Instagram @sassmouthdames

Sound editing and special effects by Thomas O’Mahony.

Thomas O’Mahony is a London based Irish Podcast Producer who specialises in storytelling and audio design. He hosts a tattoo history show called Beneath the Skin, and is passionate about how we can use audio to tell new and innovative stories. 
You can find Thomas on all social media @gotitatguineys or contact him for business related inquiries at thomasomahony.media

Tom’s podcast is here

Sass Mouth Dames Film Club series 24

Megan McGurk introduces a classic woman’s picture each Thursday in May 2023.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite

My Dream Is Yours (1949)

Screens 4 May at 7.00

Michael Curtiz borrows elements from Doris Day’s life story for a snappy look at the climb to stardom. Day started out as a nightclub singer, just like her character on screen. Jack Carson plays an agent who knows right away that she has what it takes, but talent alone isn’t enough for a hit radio show. She needs the right sound. Eve Arden’s gift for scene-stealing is unrivalled.

Born to Be Bad (1950)

Screens 11 May at 7.00

Joan Fontaine plays the butter-wouldn’t-melt blonde who knows exactly what men like and uses it to her own advantage. She’s supposed to be enrolled in business school, but is already an expert in sass mouth economics. Joan Leslie shares her flat without realising that she’s about to lose everything to the soft-spoken Fontaine. Director Nicholas Ray adds Zachary Scott, Robert Ryan, and Mel Ferrar as pawns in the game

Home Before Dark (1958)

Screens 18 May at 7.00

After spending a year in a psychiatric hospital, Jean Simmons returns home to her husband, a cold fish professor played by Dan O’Herlihy. Is Simmon’s character having another nervous breakdown? Or is she being gaslighted? Director Mervyn LeRoy explores the trauma for women who try to be what men want instead of who they really are inside. Rhonda Fleming (in a blonde wig!) stirs up the drama.

Portrait in Black (1960)

Screens 25 May at 7.00

Once again, Lana Turner is up to her neck in trouble and glamour. Trapped in a sexless marriage to a cruel shipping magnate (Lloyd Nolan), she decides she’d rather plan his funeral with help from her lover (Anthony Quinn). Soon they are driven witless by a blackmailer. Lana is also tormented by stepdaughter Sandra Dee, who insists on slumming with a tugboat captain (John Saxon). Virginia Grey and Anna May Wong join an outstanding cast.

Refunds are available up until noon on the day of the screening.

Red Gardenia

Red Gardenia: Your dream is in the cards

Listen back to a new original radio play written and directed by Megan McGurk for Sass Mouth Dames podcast.

Family history collides with Hollywood history.

After their grandmother dies, Brigid Bannon leaves New York and joins her cousins Mary and Tess who tell fortunes for starlets. Are the cousins gifted or are they running a racket?

Brigid is plagued by nightmares once she arrives. Who is the woman in her dream? Will Mary land a radio show? Does Tess have a future with Reggie Fitz, an important director in Paramount? Will Sue and Yvette make good in front of the camera? Will Grace put her husband on a leash?

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Find out in three episodes of a sparkling supernatural mystery!

Starring:

Clara Higgins plays Brigid Bannon.

Clara is an Irish artist and writer perhaps better known as her pseudonym Mot Collins. Under this moniker, she creates illustrations, zines, and tattoos. Mot is interested in subversive expressions of femininity, sexuality, occultism, and comedy. She is highly influenced by pulp and punk culture. She can be found on Twitter as @heavydutywoman and @motcollinsart on Instagram.

Art design for Red Gardenia by Mot Collins.

M. Shawn plays Mary Bannon.

M. is a former television news producer, a writer, a researcher, an accidental homemaker, and a full-time Jean Harlow fan.  After a year in quarantine, her blood type is banana bread, and if people were allowed to be fictional characters in a past life, she’d be Blondie Johnson.

Olympia Kiriakou plays Tess Bannon.

Dr. Olympia Kiriakou is a film historian based in south Florida. Her research focuses on stardom, gender, and genre in classical Hollywood cinema, as well as contemporary fan cultures. She is
the author of Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy, an exploration of the star persona and career of the late star. Her work has also been published in Transformative Works and Cultures, Journal of Fandom Studies, In Media Res, Film Matters, and Sight and Sound magazine. She has a website and is @thescrewballgrl on Twitter.

You can find Olympia’s book here: Becoming Carole Lombard

Olympia hosts the new podcast The Screwball Story @screwballstory

Savannah Monroe plays Sue Rollins.

Savannah Monroe is a film writer and historian based in Colorado. Her focus is in the films and women of the classical Hollywood period. She has been researching and writing about Anne Bancroft, her life and legacy, since 2018. Her work can be found through her website Garbo Talks (http://garbo-talks.com).

Renee Smith plays Yvette Valentine.

Whenever Renee spent a weekend at her grandmother’s house, Nanna, who was a the best seamstress in town, would call Renee to her side to watch “the black and white movies” and point out all the great style.  Renee and her sisters loved to play in Nanna’s closet with its furs, hats, lucite pumps and bejewelled bags. So of course she was drawn to Sass Mouth Dames and became a huge fan. Her mildly sardonic spouse and cheeky kids have accepted her recent insistence on wearing classic hats, big wrap shawls and gloves when she walks their muzzled dog, as she struts through the un-classic streets of her neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada.

Laura Mawson plays Grace Carmody.

Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Laura is now living in the North of England with beloved husband and rescue lurcher, Roman. She has worked as a ceramics instructor, graphic designer, and in communications. Life-long Old Hollywood fan, going through a Charles Boyer and Veronica Lake phase. Currently learning to play the guitar, badly. On Twitter @Romanpbone1 and Mastodon Romanpbone@masto.ai 

Shane McCormack plays Reggie Fitz.

Shane McCormack is a freelance illustrator specializing in movie and pop culture subjects.Recent licensed work includes Halloween and Ghostbusters. When not drawing he collects physical media especially 1930/40s movies and any Barbara Stanwyck film. He also enjoys photography and has a BA in Visual Art.

You can see his work at www.mrharrylime.com

Megan McGurk plays Sharon Mooney.

Megan carries a torch for studio era woman’s pictures. She is the host of Sass Mouth Dames podcast and film club. She has written and directed six original radio plays set in the 1930s (Salon Devine, Mannequins, Stenographers, A Star Was Born, House of the Seven Garbos, Red Gardenia). She wrote the Criterion essay for Love Affair (1939).

Megan is on Twitter @MeganMcGurk and @SassMouthDames and sometimes remembers to use Instagram @sassmouthdames.

SOUND EDITING AND SPECIAL EFFECTS BY THOMAS O’MAHONY

Thomas O’Mahony is a London based Irish Podcast Producer who specialises in storytelling and audio design. He hosts a tattoo history show called Beneath the Skin, and is passionate about how we can use audio to tell new and innovative stories. 
You can find Thomas on all social media @gotitatguineys or contact him for business related inquiries at thomasomahony.media

Tom’s podcast is here.

Thanks for listening!