February | 2013 | dual personalities

February 4, 2013

As Valentine’s Day approaches…

by chuckofish

I recently saw a post on another blog about the best screen kisses. This got me thinking, because, of course, I didn’t agree with the ones they had chosen. I won’t get into that, but I did think it was a good idea for a post, especially with Valentine’s Day fast approaching. You’ll want to line up your DVD viewing for February.

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara about to lock lips in “The Quiet Man”.

So here are the best screen kisses (in my opinion):

“The Adventures of Robin Hood”

The BEST: Errol Flynn and Olivia de Haviland in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). When Robin challenges Marian, “Then you do love me, don’t you? Don’t you?” we are right there with her answering, “You know I do.” It’s been 75 years since this great movie was made, and nothing surpasses it for its romance and handsome leading man and lady! Captain Blood (1935)–also with Errol and Olivia–is equally wonderful, but they only kiss once and she slaps him!

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in “The Quiet Man”

The Quiet Man (1952) actually features several world-class kissing scenes, but John Wayne and Maureen in the rain is pretty special. You can tell they really enjoy kissing each other. John and Maureen were always a good fit.

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

Another kissing-in-the-rain scene, this time with Audrey, George and Cat. Eat your heart out, Ryan Gosling.

“Philadelphia Story”

Jimmy Stewart and Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (1940). Who knew that Jimmy Stewart would steal the sexy-show from co-star Cary Grant? I remember my mother pointed this out to me many years ago–something about his hands and what he was doing with them. Hmmm. It’s always the quiet ones, right?

Honorable mention:

“North By Northwest”

Okay, we’ll give Cary Grant a hat tip for North By Northwest (1959) with Eva Marie Saint. He doesn’t look too uncomfortable in this one.

“Gone With the Wind”

And even though Gone With the Wind (1939) is not one of my favorite movies, who can deny that Clark Gable knew how to kiss? Atlanta is burning and he is parting with Scarlett on the bridge–wow. Back then they really knew how to set up the scene and stage the actors to optimal effect. He looms over her, powerful and manly; they kiss. And then he leaves!

Best acting while kissing:

“Pillow Talk”

Rock Hudson, God love him, and Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959) go away for the weekend–so risque, so great. And then she finds out who he really is. Ooooooh!

So what have I left out?

Because I felt like I should have something since 1961, but nothing came to mind, I decided to check out one of the kisses that was mentioned several times in the comment section of the other blog. The blogger had asked for readers’ suggestions, and several people mentioned North and South. I did some checking and discovered it is a BBC four-part adaption of the 19th century novel by Elizabeth Gaskell (not the Civil War soap opera from the 1980s). I watched it last weekend (4 episodes) and, boy oh boy, what a find!

Hello, Richard Armitage!

Let’s just say he is totally wasted as Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit.

In conclusion, I give you the famous Montage of Kissing Scenes from the wonderful Cinema Paradiso (1988), which includes Errol and Olivia at least twice!

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February 1, 2013

Of intrepid ancestors…part II

by chuckofish

Last week when I blogged about our great, great grandmother I set the stage for a tale of adventure, hard work, and a great deal of woe. Soon after Ann married and delivered her bouncing baby son, Daniel Herbert Hilton Cameron, they joined her husband, Daniel, and his regiment and embarked for Fort Beaufort, South Africa. Today this outpost of the British Empire is a modest spot for the historically minded tourist.

The fort boasted a Martello tower, which was built in the 1830s when such things were popular, though usually for coastal defense (Fort Beaufort lies inland at the confluence of a couple of rivers and not on the coast).

The eastern cape is a beautiful area with spectacular scenery, and by the 1860s it was really quite peaceful. The young family seemed to thrive.

Ann and Daniel had another child, a girl named Ann, but then Daniel fell ill with some sort of stomach ailment exacerbated by a wound received at the Battle of Alma during the Crimean War. Daniel lingered for three painful months before expiring in 1861.

Exactly what happened next is something of a mystery. Ann Hilton Cameron had two more children, Kenneth and Thomas, both born after Daniel’s death, and then she apparently also died. The orphaned children resurfaced in Scotland in 1871. The census identifies Ann, Kenneth, and Thomas, who were born in “the Cape of Good Wood” — presumably an erroneous transcription of the Cape of Good Hope — as minors ages 10, 8, and 6, living with two spinster sisters, Elizabeth and Mary McColl, in Killmallie Argyll. I’m sure of the identification because later letters from Kenneth to my great grandfather identify a brother,Thomas, and sister, Ann. There is also a family connection with Killmallie, which Daniel senior gave as his birth place in his enlistment papers, and of course, the children’s South African origins. But where, you might ask, was our great grandfather, Daniel H.H. Cameron?

As was usual at the time, poor Daniel was deemed too old for the spinster sisters — after all he was a teenaged boy and therefore potentially dangerous. Since he was still too young to be on his own, he was sent to the ‘orphan hospital’ that was part of the St. Cuthbert’s poor house in Edinburgh — an imposing place after the Cape sunshine.

Craigleith poor house in c. 1914

According to a contemporary description of the then new poor house,

The accommodation for the male inmates, which is on the west side of the building, is subdivided into four classes — very decent, decent, depraved, and boys.

The description conjures up dreadful images a la Oliver Twist. I’m not sure how long DHHC was there, but it must have been at least two or three years. I shudder to think. As the oldest child he would have been acutely aware of the loss of both his parents and his siblings as well as his freedom. The military community at Fort Beaufort had probably been close-knit and fairly pleasant for children. How traumatic it must have been to leave everything familiar and undertake a long, uncomfortable journey to cold, unfamiliar Scotland only to be separated from his siblings and stuck in a dingy big-city poor house.

Despite the tremendous challenges, however, Daniel survived and thrived…but that story is for next week. In the meantime, let us remember those who went before us and whose struggles made us possible!

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