Contribution to My Film Career: The Girl Who Can Turn the World On With Her Smile

I have opened a new tumblr account that is dedicated to Mary Tyler Moore.

I'm sure you are aware of my obsession with MTM, because, as you should know, she is FREAKTASTICALLY AMAZING.

I want to share something with everyone because it relates to my life, my choice of career, my childhood and Mary Tyler Moore (among other marvelous influences in my life...)

I mentioned Tumblr because I was searching for content about the MTM Show (so that other fans can not only visit my page but also have MTM influence in their blogs/lives) and I came across this video:

Now this video doesn't do much. It's simply a line up of classic television shows, but to me, it is a menu of greatness.

When I was about 2 or 3 years old, I saw what opened my blue eyes to Classic television... the opening credits of Bewitched. I distinctly remember walking up to the television, which was kept in this HUGE brown entertainment center (I loved the glass door that had a "popping-magnet") and looked into the television. I tried to figure out where this was coming from, but couldn't be torn away from the beautiful glory that was Bewitched.

Fast forward to Alexis at age 7. Now, officially a product of the United State Air Force family, a bit strange, but loving television like a loyal friend.

I loved Bewitched. I lived for it. At that young age, I arranged for my bedtime to be pushed back by a half hour in order to stay up and watch. I remember that it was I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, I Love Lucy and then Mary Tyler Moore.-- this changed through out the years, but this year, it was crucial to my lifestyle.

I had to do well in school, stay out of trouble, be nice and share with my sister, get my homework done (which if you ask my mother, in 3rd grade, for some reason, we had a SHIT TON of spelling word homework--yet I still can't spell.) and be quiet during the shows. The quieter I was during my favorite programs, the likelier it was for me to be able to stay up past bedtime and watch the other shows!

The shows altered-- Gilligan's Island was on at one point, Get Smart, The Dick Van Dyke Show... all of which I gazed into, admired and memorized... but there's a key factor here that we forget as we get older... perspective.

Now I see Bewitched as an example of a woman breaking boundaries; mixed marriage, differences, family issues, breaking conventions, etc.
Back then: Bewitched was a pretty lady who was funny, could travel by snapping her fingers, had the world at her finger tips and glamorous clothing.

I thought ...Jeannie was great too-- but not as good (I still hold this opinion high).

I Love Lucy, well, it speaks for itself. It's fantastic- though I never was into it as much-- I've never been very good at going with the majorities' flow...

The point, I guess, to all of this is The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

When I was little, I remember thinking the song was great. I thought she was a pretty lady, with great clothes, a funny friend, a job and an apartment. Nothing really to write home about.

The show was boring to a 7 year old trying to stay up for the next round of classics to be re-run re-runs at 12:30am. Why would we watch a girl who goes to work, then goes home?

Fast forward again-- after all of the papers I managed to crank out in college about women in television... siting Bewitched in immeasurable amounts as well as 30 Rock and SNL, I never, until last year, revisited Mary Tyler Moore.

To a bourgeoning feminist-- this is the Bible. She is Moses... well she's Moses' friend Mary, because we all know that Rhoda would claim herself Moses. This show is the best television writing, the best writers, women and men working in a time of great importance to my generation and making it look so fun and beautiful.

I love these shows. They have been good friends to me. I guess I just wanted to write about it a little.

I'd also like to thank my parents-- because I know that you know that I know you let me stay up and watch these shows-- and yes, it was for my own good. Thank you immensely! I love you for it and other reasons.

Well, I'm going to go absorb some more classic television... thank you Netflix! :)

My First Day of Film School

This is a picture of me on my first day of film school. It resembles the type of picture we used to take every day on the first day of school.

For example, here's one of Julia on her first day of Pre-school (since I don't have any adorable pictures of yours truly. LOL)

It's fun to do these, I recommend it.

On to my day...

I woke up ready to roll. My roommates and I all walked together to our first class, Concepts of Cinematic Production (to which I might refer to as 510). This class is taught by Pablo Frasconi and Tomlison Holman. This class seems like it will teach us all the language of film, production, direction and sound. It involved the entire Spring 2010 class, and we each had to give a 1 minute autobiographical introduction. I almost barfed all over the microphone.

Though I wasn't first or even last, I was incredibly nervous. I am fine with getting in front of people when I'm singing, acting, improvising, giving a speech, answering questions-- sure it makes me nervous, but I get over THAT. This, this was talking about myself!! I can't do that. My statement of purpose took me like 2 months to finally write on paper! I can give you stories about life all day, but if you want me to tell you my accomplishments, I can't just list them... who does that?!

So after my "speech" which involved me plugging my Ingrid Bergman blog and looking like a total idiot in front of everyone (does anyone doubt that I'm the Mary? If you do, feel free to email me because I'd love to hear otherwise. LOL), we watched some film clips and learned some concepts. That was exhausting!

I walked home after class and sat down to eat some lunch, pizza, in front of the television. Now, though this pizza wasn't very good, it was still pizza, which is one of my favorite things on this earth. When I turned the channel, Bewitched was on! Well, what a great way to continue my first day of film school. I'd like to credit Bewitched with my first cognizance of what I wanted to be when I grew up: A witch. Well, once I found out that magic isn't necessarily probable or even possible (and generally creepy) I figured the next best step was learning how to make magic-- aka Film/Television. Signed, sealed, delivered...I'm yours, film.

Watching Bewitched, eating pizza, all after my first film class, could this day get better? Yes.

My other class of the day was a meeting for 507, my Production-1 class. My SA, Dennis, was awesome. He gave us instructions with great detail and was completely on our side. A fantastic reminder of why we pay so much to go here.

The class is filled with people I have come to be friends with and more friends to come. It is also taught by Jim McBride, who is a director and has done many films (if you want to know what, follow the link on his name).

This class was interesting. A little hard to follow at first because Jim is new and we are as well. Once we got going, though, it was fine. It became even better after our 15 minute break. The first film we were analyzing shots of was: Notorious! I was totally geeking out.

This seemed like a sure sign that I am in the right place right now. I mean, for real?!

The day was a great one.

Though I have to end on a sad note. My Aunt Mary passed away last night after a long battle with cancer. Ingrid Bergman once said "Cancer victims who don't accept their own fate, who don't learn to live with it, will only destroy what little time they have left." Aunt Mary wouldn't speak to us about her cancer, she just lived everyday for the best. She was a great supporter of mine and was a huge maternal influence on my Mom and her sisters. We will all miss her very much but it is good to know her suffering is over.

Thank you for reading.

Bewitched is on TV!

I was just perusing the television guide on my parent's Direct TV and found Bewitched on WGN! I am extremely excited because it is my ALL TIME favorite show. It hasn't been on television since I was a freshman in college!
Here's WGN's synopsis:

"Bewitched-The focus of the show (which was based on a satirical short story in Harper's Weekly Magazine, written by a young Norman Mailer and titled The Witch of Westport, according to the A&E Network Biography of Elizabeth Montgomery) is on the mixed marriage of a nose-twitching witch, Samantha Stephens (Montgomery), and her mortal husband, Darrin (originally played by Dick York and later by Dick Sargent). The series, a romantic comedy, shows how true love can endure the most vexing of situations, even between a witch and a human. The series is set in a suburb of New York City, to which Darrin commutes for work."

Elizabeth Montgomery and this show are what originially inspired me to be in film/television. Elizabeth Montgomery was the first person's death I ever cried over, on May 18, 1995 (I was 10) even noting it in my, then, diary. I watched this show EVERY night growing up (when it was on "Nick-at-Nite") and then on TBS in the mornings, summer and sick days were the best!
I've read books about Montgomery and the show, she was an actor/producer and really worked hard to bring this show to the forefront of television.
The show ran for 8 seasons, and I have 4 of them on DVD. I can't wait to collect the rest of them!

For now, I will continue to watch it on WGN and DVD.

If you haven't seen any Bewitched, here's a little taste.

WAIT!

I just looked for something to embed on this post, and found that Bewitched has a CHANNEL on Youtube!!!

Okay-- now here's a taste!

Elizabeth Montgomery: My First Hero in Film/Television

When I was very young, probably 2 or 3, there was a cartoon that caught my eye. It was the opening credits of the 1960s show, Bewitched.

As I grew, so did my attention span and my love for this show. When I was 7-8, we lived at my Grandma and Pa's house for a while. We had just left the Air Force and the transition was, once again, a bit tough. I found that with cable, there came "Nick-at-Nite." This was a completely welcomed gift because as long as my homework was done, I had practiced whatever instrument I was playing at the time, time had been spent outside and I wasn't in trouble for something, I was allowed to watch T.V. I bargained with my parents to push back my bedtime to 9 o'clock because this was when Bewitched ended.
Let let me watch. Pandora's box was opened.
I watched the show and dreamed of someday making magic too. I wanted to be like Samantha, Elizabeth Montgomery's character. Though I didn't have any desire to be stuck inside all day with a dude who comes home to yell at me, I did want to cause/have shenanigans...especially if I could have powers as well. That gave her freedom.
The best time of year to watch Bewitched, summer time. "Nick-at-nite" had this special thing during the summer called "Block Party Summer" and they would play 4 episodes in a row and it was amazing. My Pa hated this. He use to tell me that I could watch it upstairs because he'd already seen this period of time. It makes me laugh now, after he's gone, because I only had to do that one time. He watched it with me all the other times, he just wanted to make an initial point; so him. I watched 60 Minutes with him, he watched Bewitched with me...empathetic.

Elizabeth Montgomery was my hero. I wanted to know everything about the show, her life, how they made the show, what you had to do to be a witch.

As I grew older, around 9 or 10, I knew every trick they used. I learned how the characters changes, who was who, how to "pop" from scene to scene...stop/start camera action!
Summer time became even better, in the morning, Bewitched was on TBS and was in color!! I had only seen the black and white shows and on a rare occasion seen it in color.
My sister and I would watch every weekday morning, loving every moment.
I think my favorite moment in this time, was when I discovered Serina, Samantha's cousin (also played by Elizabeth Montgomery). She was a crazy lady, and that was cool. She was the hipster and the rebel who liked to mess with people. Here's a taste.


On May 18th 1995 I was in the car with my Mom and my sister, Erin, and on the radio they announced that Elizabeth Montgomery had died. I was struck with instantaneous grief. I remember turning to the window and crying. She was the first person in my life to die and bring me to tears. There had been deaths, but I guess I was too young or unaffected, anyway, I was very sad. I wrote it in my little diary that night. I drew a picture and everything. I bought the people magazine with her on the cover and I just remember all of it vividly.

Elizabeth Montgomery, Bewitched, and my family all made me love television and film. I still wish I could have met Ms. Montgomery or been born a person with magical powers (not magic like in Vegas, that's weird, lol). Now I know how to make movie magic and I am living my dreams. Thanks Elizabeth Montgomery, wherever you are.