Joan Blondell plays a waitress on the hunt for a rich husband. She strikes up a friendship with Melvyn Douglas, a swoon merchant disguised as a stuffed-shirt professor who can’t help giving lessons on how to be a lady. Trying to curb her penchant for accepting gifts from men, he advises that she only accept flowers, fruit, candy, and hospitality. Just how creative can Joan Blondell get with those directions?
The Big Street (1942)
Screens 10 October at 7.00.
Best known for being a comedic powerhouse who invented appointment TV and later bought the studio that once considered her only a second-tier contract player, Lucille Ball proves her dramatic chops in one of the best Broadway fables from Damon Runyon. Lucy plays a hard-boiled canary with a cash register where a heart ought to be. Henry Fonda, a bus boy, worships her from a far and then up close.
Old Acquaintance (1943)
Screens 17 October at 7.00.
Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins play college pals who become rival novelists. Bette is the highbrow author who struggles writing literary fiction. Miriam writes bodice rippers that turn into commercial best sellers. Bette wears jackets and ties; Miriam wears ruffles and lace. Sparks fly whenever they meet, making the love interests with men the least interesting thing about the picture.
Jean Harlow leapt to stardom playing an unabashed gold digger (or a ‘sex pirate’ as screenwriter Anita Loos preferred) who never met a man she couldn’t trim. She turns the tables on her married boss (Chester Morris) who assumes he’s in charge of a little office slap and tickle. Harlow lampoons sexual double standards without missing a beat. Keep an eye out for swoon merchant Charles Boyer as the chauffeur.
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Screens 19 September at 7.00
Director Ernst Lubitsch set the gold standard for sophisticated comedies brimming with style in Depression-era Hollywood. Kay Francis plays an elegant parfumier who gets tangled up with two swindlers, played by Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall. The ‘Lubitsch touch’ is on tap with the moon in champagne, daring jewel robberies, an obscenely expensive handbag, class upheaval, and a scintillating three-cornered romance.
Murder at the Vanities (1934)
Screens 26 September at 7.00
Once Florenz Ziegfeld kicked the bucket in 1932, Earl Carroll became the top chorus line producer on Broadway. Carroll developed the story about a backstage murder mystery and took his showgirls to Hollywood. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, a king of woman’s pictures, and costumed by Travis Banton, the musical revues give Busby Berkeley a run for his money. Not to be missed for the ‘Sweet Marijuana’ number.
In 1933, Betty Compson was robbed at home. The thief stole nearly $50,000 in jewels. She was only one of many stars burgled in a series of Hollywood heists. But by this time in her career, Betty had seen every dirty racket the film colony invented and pledged to get her gems back.
Our new radio play was inspired by a newspaper story.
When women ruled Hollywood, gigolos grew on palm trees.
Betty Compson’s Diamonds is a Sass Mouth Dames production, written and directed by Megan McGurk.
Meet the stars:
Clara Higgins plays Betty Compson.
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. She will make her screen debut starring in the short film Sex Pirates of 1931.
Olympia Kiriakou plays Lila Lee.
Olympia Kiriakou is a film historian specializing in stardom and genre in classical Hollywood. She is the host of “The Screwball Story” podcast, and the author of BECOMING CAROLE LOMBARD: STARDOM, COMEDY, AND LEGACY (Bloomsbury, 2020). She is currently writing VIRGINIA GREY: GOOD LUCK CHARM for the University Press of Kentucky. Visit her website The Screwball Girl and find her on Twitter: @thescrewballgrl and @screwballstory.
M. Shawn plays Sally Eilers.
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 Claudia Dell.
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 and on Twitter as @garbo_talks.
Renee Smith plays Genevieve Tobin.
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.
Shane McCormack plays Finnegan Redmond.
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. He’s on Twitter as @mrharrylime. Shane is in pre-production as cinematographer for the short film Sex Pirates of 1931. You can see his work at www.mrharrylime.com
Patrick McGurk plays Chick Gallagher.
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.
Megan is a writer and director who carries a torch for studio era woman’s pictures. She has hosted Sass Mouth Dames film club in Dublin since 2017 and the podcast from 2018. She has written and directed ten original radio plays set in the 1930s. She wrote an essay for Criterion on Love Affair. She is on Twitter @MeganMcGurk and @SassMouthDames and Instagram @sassmouthdames. Currently, Megan is in pre-production as the writer and director of the short film Sex Pirates of 1931.
Art design for Betty Compson’s Diamonds by Mot Collins.
Sound editing and special effects by Tom 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
Tallulah Bankhead plays an heiress who lives on caviar, champagne, and designs by Adrian. She scoffs at the idea of living on the $400 a week her fiancé Robert Montgomery makes in advertising. After the Wall Street Crash, the best laid plans of sables, diamonds, and Monte Carlo go bust, catapulting our heroine into a rapid downward spiral. Tallulah loses everything—her money, possessions, and self-respect. When she hits rock bottom, will Bob Montgomery stick?
The Richest Girl in the World(1934)
Screens 9 May at 7.00
Miriam Hopkins shares a fizzy rapport with Joel McCrea in a picture that made a bundle at the box office and brought the co-stars together for four more pictures. Playing a savvy scion inspired by Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, Miriam fends off a shower of fortune hunters who toy with her affections. Since she can’t be sure of any man’s intentions, Miriam switches places with her secretary, played by Fay Wray, to discover if Joel is after her heart or her money.
Stella Dallas (1937)
Screens 16 May
Director King Vidor’s classic three-hankie melodrama captures the way society pressures women to conform within traditional roles. Barbara Stanwyck plays a brassy, fun-loving gal from the wrong side of the tracks who catches the eye of the son from a wealthy small-town family. John Boles falls for her unpolished charm, but as soon as they exchange vows, he tries to smooth her rough edges. Their daughter, played by Anne Shirley, inherits her father’s snobbery, and is mortified by her mother’s loud wardrobe. Barbara Stanwyck’s performance is a belter.
Joan Crawford contributed to the script which was loosely based on the life of social-climber and Bugsy Siegel’s main squeeze, Virginia Hill. Joan spends the run-time in a quest for good taste and a life of her own. After leaving a bitter husband in the rear-view, she sells cigars, models clothes, and dallies with important men. Joan becomes the kind of quality dame who matches appropriate flowers for the time of day. In one scene, she scoffs at the flower box in Steve Cochran’s hands: ‘I don’t care for orchids in the afternoon.’
Mister 880 (1950)
Screens 14 March
On one level, the picture adapts a classic New Yorker essay about a counterfeiter who eluded capture for years. In the middle of the manhunt, a sparkling romance develops between Dorothy McGuire and Burt Lancaster. Screenwriter Robert Riskin had been a master of the ‘meet cute’ for nearly twenty years. Looking for any excuse to prolong contact with the broad-shouldered G-man, Dorothy makes herself a suspect in the investigation by learning antiquated forgerer’s slang, such as ‘boodle of queer.’
Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951)
Screens 21 March
Ruth Roman plays a platinum blonde taxi dancer kept under the thumb of a shady police detective. One night in the club, she picks up Steve Cochran, a chaste ex-con who seems like an easy touch for presents. Hardboiled and world-weary, Ruth realises that Steve is as innocent as a polished apple. After the cop is killed in her apartment, she lets Steve think he pulled the trigger. The star-crossed lovers on the run find refuge among farm workers. Can they make a fresh start? Or will the law catch up with them?
Peyton Place (1957)
Screens 28 March
Lana Turner’s star power summoned box office gold and the sole Best Actress nomination that she received during a long career. Lana kept the lights on at Twentieth Century Fox when the studio was almost bankrupt by the competition from television. The lush melodrama was based on the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious, an impoverished young housewife who lived without running water and fed a family of five on $20 a week. Peyton Place stirred controversy with a frank depiction of taboo topics such as rape, incest, and abortion.
Refunds are available until noon on the day of the screening.
