Jun 05 2006
The Birthday Report
I’m pleased to announce that my birthday went according to plan. I’d give it an A. Its improvement since last year is truly remarkable. Birthday, you get an A for effort, too!
There were cards & presents & emails & phone calls & Eggs Florentine & champagne. Also a chocolate cupcake (with candle) and a lemon tart (Mike: does that count as two cupcakes?), served with a chorus of the traditional “Happy birthday” song (this time with feeling)!
Among the most delightful and most useful of the gifts (how often do you get both at once?) was a charming little book called “Pink Drinks” from my fabulous niece, which arrived with one of the coolest birthday cards ever. Now I won’t run out of inspiration for cocktails to go with the Bad Girl Bad Movie shows, and what could be better than pink cocktails?
As for the BGBM, “She Shoulda Said No” (1949), it was hysterical. Chorus girl, played by Lila Leeds (seen here not holding a joint), gets addicted to marijuana after just one puff. You know how that happens all the time, and how you have all those hallucinations, too, here portrayed by weird, out of focus cinematography. Suffice it to say that the evil weed ruins our heroine’s life, as she resorts to selling it to fund her habit. Prison, suicide, and other mayhem follow.
If you think this sounds like a public service announcement, you’re right. Lila Leeds was busted with Robert Mitchum (seen here looking slightly stoned) for possession of the wild weed, and making this movie was part of her community service. Robert Mitchum emerged from jail with his career unscathed, but Lila’s career wasn’t so lucky. She shoulda said no, indeed!
