Cavalcade

"Dignity, greatness, and peace."-- Robert Marryot in his New Year's toast to the future at the end of the film, Cavalcade

This film was almost impossible to find.  Which is sad because it is actually a fairly decent film.  What makes one decide which films are worth preserving and which should stay lost?  I can't imagine why an Academy Award winning film like this is in serious jeopardy of being forgotten.  Maybe, as Americans, we can't find the desire to save something that is so quintessentially British.  But this film has so much to offer, and while it sometimes suffers from being pompous and overly long, it has much more right to be preserved than, say, The Broadway Melody.


The Plot

Jane and Robert with their children

The film opens on the Marryots, a well-to-do British family about to celebrate the new century, 1900.  Jane and Robert Marryot, played by Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook,  gather their two sons, Joey and Edward, and toast with their servants, parlor maid Ellen Bridges, played by Una O'Conner, and the butler, Albert Bridges, played by Herbert Mundin.  Shortly thereafter, both Albert and Robert go off to fight the bloody Boer War in Africa.  Jane is distraught, hardly comforted by her friend, Margaret, and Margaret's young daughter, Edith.  When they both return, whole and safe, Jane collapses in his arms.  Albert tells his wife that he has bought a pub with Robert's help, and they will now go live there and run it.  Ellen is skeptical, liking her job "in service."  Queen Victoria dies and everyone watches the end of an era.

Albert, Jane, Robert, and Ellen

 It is 1907.  Albert has devolved into a drunken bar owner, and Ellen despairs of him.  She has tea with Jane, where their 8-year-old daughter, Fanny, shows her skills as a dancer.  Just as Jane and a grown up Edward (he appears about 18), are to leave, Albert arrives on the scene, drunk and irrational.  He smashes the new doll Jane gave Fanny, and then chases her as she runs into the street.  Albert is hit by an carriage and killed instantly.

Albert and Fanny

A few years later, Jane meets Ellen again as both families walk along the boardwalk in Brighton.  Ellen shows off the prize Fanny has just won for dancing, and says she is finally profiting from the pub without her husband.  Edith and Edward go off on their own to the beach and profess their love for one another.  Edith stares dreamily off into the water, claiming that she has always longed to go on a ship.

Edith and Edward 

In April of 1912 they are finally married and aboard a ship for their honeymoon.  Edith claims that they are perfect in that moment, but she wonders if anyone can stay happily married, especially with the world changing so quickly.  She loves Edward now, but doesn't know if it will last.  But this, she decides as she kisses him, is their perfect moment that will last forever.  They walk inside from the deck of the ship revealing the ship's name on a life preserver: Titanic.

A few years later the family is celebrating the New Year again.  Edward and Edith have drowned, and the rest of the family are on the brink of World War I.  Joey, who has been something of a careless boy living only for pleasure, tells his father that he would like to join the military and fight in the war.  His father, though retired, plans to join up again as well.  Before Joey is shipped out, he and his friends enjoy a drink at a club.  Soon a beautiful blonde comes out to perform her dance number.  Joey discovers she is Fanny Bridges, and hides in her dressing room, surprising her when she returns.  He tells her he thinks she is beautiful, and the two fall in love.

Over the war Joey writes to Fanny, and visits her as often as he can.  Fanny has become a celebrated singer, dancer, and actress, while Joey has won accolades at war.  Though neither have informed their families, they both confess their love for one another, and Joey proposes.  Fanny is troubled by the difference in their stations and doesn't immediately accept him.  They both plan to discuss the matter after the war is over.  Joey then visits his beloved mother, who is one again upset by the pointless of war.  He visits his father back at the front, who is one of the commanders.  His father informs him the war is months from an armistice.

Fanny and Joey

The armistice is to be declared any day, and Jane waits hopefully for news.  Her now wealthy in her own right, Ellen visits Jane at her home.  While Jane greets her with joy, Ellen treats her stiffly.  She tells Jane that she has discovered a letter from Joey to Fanny, and reveals their relationship.  Jane is obviously distressed when Ellen suggests they marry, but refuses to comment on her son's life.  They begin to argue, when a message arrives declaring Joey dead.  Jane faints dead away as Ellen drops her act of superiority and cares for her.

It is New Year's eve, 1932, and Margaret, Jane, and Robert have all grown old.  Margaret leaves for a date with one of her many beaus, and Jane and Robert toast the New Year, now a family tradition.  They toast to England and hope for peace.  Though they have lost so much to England, they have found solace in each other and their love for their country.  The film ends with a montage of different scenes from the film overlaid with Fanny singing and a field full of crosses.

The History
In 1933, Hollywood was having a difficult time.  The studios had been barely scraping by since the depression, and FDR's bank holiday on March 5th caused even further damage to the largely credit dependent studios.  The labor negotiating department of the Academy formed an Emergency Committee, which then recommended a 50% pay cut for all studio employees for two months.  While this might have worked for Mr. Mayer, the lowly technicians would have had difficulty getting by.  They changed to a sliding pay scale, but even this wasn't good enough for those touchy writers.  They left the Academy and formed the Screen Writers Guild in April of 1933.  When studio heads refused to restore full salaries after two months, several members resigned, including the current president.  By October, the Academy had introduced its new regulatory code, which put a ceiling on the salaries of writers, actors, and directors, but not on those of studio executives.  They also declared that talent agents had to be licensed by the producers they worked with, and that artists could not accept bids from other studios when their contracts were up for renewal until their current studio had decided to pass.  Thus the Screen Actors Guild was born and actors began leaving the Academy in droves.

Despite all the controversy, the 6th Academy Awards were as highly attended as ever.  A decision to have the awards given out by calendar year pushed the ceremony back some, and the ceremony was moved from November to March of 1934.  In a last ditch PR effort, the Academy made the event as fun as possible, encouraging people to dance to Louis Armstrong and his band before settling down to dinner and the awards.    This was also the year that the statuette got its name.  According to legend, Academy librarian Margaret Herrick said upon seeing the statue, "It looks like Uncle Oscar!"  The nickname became a derogatory word for the award until Walt Disney, winning his second consecutive award for "Best Cartoon," respectfully referred to the award as an "Oscar." The nickname took on an entirely new connotation that is still used today.

Cavalcade was originally a play written by Sir Noel Coward who then sold the movie rights to Fox for $100,000.  Veteran Hollywood director Frank Lloyd dove right into the sweeping British epic and Cavalcade was a hit with the critics, although not as much with the box office; people far preferred such apple pie American fare as State Fair.  Nevertheless Cavalcade was nominated for "Best Art Direction," "Best Picture," "Best Director," and "Best Actress," only losing the last category to Katherine Hepburn's performance in Morning Glory.  Diana Wynyard would later be have her footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, in honor of her role. When the Awards host, comedian Will Rogers, announced that the winner of the "Best Director" award went to his friend, Frank, director Frank Capra jumped out of his seat, ran to the stage and waved to the spotlight, shouting "Over here!"  He was left to slink back to his table when the spotlight actually stopped on Frank Lloyd, later calling the moment "the longest, saddest, most shattering walk in my life.  All my friends at my table were crying."

Cavalcade is largely lost to audiences today, dude to its limited availability.  It is remembered as a rousing, emotionally patriotic film that sometimes dips into excessive melodrama.  So few have actually seen the film that it is distinguished as having the least number of votes of any Academy Award winning film on IMDb.

The Verdict?
When I began this project, I made sure that every film was available for viewing in some form.  For both Wings and Cavalcade, I discovered that I was able to watch both on YouTube in 10 minute increments.  Obviously this wasn't ideal, but I thought it added some funny ridiculousness to the project.  Wings was uploaded by several different people with good quality.  For Cavalcade, I found only one.  A Portuguese person by the username of  "pacocasacarra" had uploaded the entire film.  Not only did it have Portuguese subtitles, but each clip simply had the title of Cavalcade, so I had to guess which clip came after another.  I sighed, decided this was part of the adventure, and bookmarked the page.  This past weekend I settled down to make sure I could watch the film, and discovered to my horror that "pacocasacarra" had been banned from YouTube, presumably because he/she was uploading copyrighted material.  Now I was really starting to freak.  Cavalcade is only available on DVD in a Korean version, of all things.  I could buy it used as a VHS on Amazon, but I would have to wait a week to ship and then somehow figure out a way to find a VHS player (not as easy as it would have been 10 years ago).  I frantically googled, hoping someone had uploaded the movie on some of the less reputable video sites.  Nothing.  I was just about to give up hope when I decided to check a torrent site.  I never expected that among all the pirated programs and movies there would be someone who would upload a pirated, torrent version of Cavalcade.  But someone did.  One person.  I personally think it is "pacocasacarra," as I still had to endure the Portuguese subtitles.  I like to think of him as a knight of lost cinema, a renegade film pirate with a mustache who serfs the web and uploads impossible-to-find old movies.  But I digress...

VHS cover of Cavalcade (Robert and Jane)

I enjoyed Cavalcade.  It parades the Marryot family through the most important British events from 1900-1933, and pits them against a rapidly changing world.  Cavalcade endeavors to show the clash between the Victorian attitude of Jane and Robert and the more modern sensibilities of both their children and, to a certain extent, Ellen.  Jane and Robert seem confused by the changes that effect them, but manage to stay cocooned in their bubble of upper class respectability.  And while Edward seems to take for granted the happiness of his future married life, Edith is much less sure.  She questions whether love can last in a marriage, a question that would not have been a consideration for her parents generation. The egocentric reflection of the kind that Edith embarks on is a far more 21st century conversion, so much so that Edward cannot seem to come to grips with it.  Then there is Ellen, who at first is the parody of a dutiful cockney servant, directly apposed to change.  By the end of the film, her daughter is an actress, hobnobbing with the rich while dating her mother's former employer's son.  Ellen herself, all dressed in furs, approaches Jane as an equal to propose the marriage of their children.  It is unclear, however, how much we are meant to sympathize with this new world.  Every person who conforms to the new century dies or comes to a bad end.  In the end, we are left with only Jane and Robert, in their same house, following their same rituals.  All who have followed the future are gone.  And of course, though no one knew it, a new war was about to follow this one.  A war that would be much worse than the last.

Though it sometimes seems like a history lecture, and can be heavy handed when assigning the moral of the film, Cavalcade is not a film to be thrown aside.  It raises important questions, and I hope that it isn't lost forever.  I told a friend tonight that I didn't mind revealing the end of the film, because I knew she would never see it, even if she wanted to. It's so sad to me that that's true.

I saw it and thought...I could do that...Easter Cake!

Happy Easter!  Like a good Catholic (my family is laughing at me right now), I went home and spent Easter Sunday with my family.  My mother put me in charge of the dessert, and I decided that this would be a perfect time to exercise my creative skills.  Searching Tastespotting.com (my new favorite site), I found a picture of a beautiful Easter cake.  According to Amanda's Cookin', she used something called a checkerboard baking set to make this cake.  Unlike Amanda (but probably like the rest of you) I didn't have that set, and I didn't have round cookie cutters.  So I decided to use my own ingenuity in making the cake.  It worked, but maybe next time I'll just make Betty Crocker mix out of a box...

Checkerboard Easter Cake
You'll need:
4 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
8 large egg whites
3 cups sugar
4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
3 different colors of food coloring
3 9-inch round non-stick cake pans of equal or similar shape

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the cake pans and line the bottom of each with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
3. Whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites in another bowl.
4. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and mix them together until the sugar is moist. Add the butter, and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light and fully combined. 
5. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is even, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed.  There will be A LOT of batter.
6. Separate the batter evenly into three separate bowls. Add food coloring into each bowl and wisk thoroughly to combine, scraping at the sides. Repeat for the other two batches. I used Amanda's colors of pink, purple, and green because I thought they were the most Easter appropriate, but you can use really any colors.  Be careful with the dye, you only need a few drops!
7. Pour the differently colored batters into three different pans.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, checking after 25, or until the cakes bounce back rather than jiggle when you touch them- a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes.  Invert and cool to room temperature right side up and peel off the paper liners

The Frosting
I decided that I liked my frosting recipe better than Amanda's.  I made two batches, one that went in between the cake layers, and one that covered the entire cake.


Inner Frosting
You'll Need:
2 sticks of butter
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa power

1. Beat together all the ingredients except the sugar  and cocoa powder until smooth.
2. Combine the sugar and coca powder and then add them in half cup increments, beating after each addition.  This should give you enough frosting for the layers in between the cake. You can add more of any of the ingredients to suite your particular taste or consistency requirements.

Outer Frosting
You'll Need:
2 sticks of butter
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Repeat the instructions above.  This frosting is just a basic vanilla frosting.  If you prefer chocolate, you can add cocoa power or melt 2 cups of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I've also made Bailey's frosting, Oreo frosting, or almond frosting by added almost extract.  It's up to you!

To Make the Cake Look Pretty

Now you could just stack the cakes on top of each other and use the "inner" frosting for in between the layers.  But how fun is that?  I did something much more insane.

When the cakes are cool, slide a long, sharp knife across the top of the cake and cut the tops of each cake off until each cake is flat.

Flip the cakes over (VERY CAREFULLY) and cut them into concentric circles, like the picture above.  I made patterns out of paper and cut around them very carefully with a knife.  After the pieces are cut, move the circles and fill each cake with different colored circles.  Each layer needs to be a different color, otherwise it doesn't work.  Use the "inner" frosting to put frosting in between the circles to hold them together, kind of like glue.  Spread the top of one layer with frosting and then CAREFULLY (all of this needs to be done very slowly) place the next layer of top.  Repeat.

Frost the entire cake with the "outer" frosting.  So you don't rip up the cake, pour all the frosting on top and slowly work your way down.  Wet a napkin to remove excess frosting from the cake.  Because it was Easter, I topped the cake with Malt Ball Easter Eggs.  You're free to add whatever you want!

Would I make this cake again?  Maybe.  It is very labor intensive, but it looked so cool afterward that I didn't regret the work.  I think this only works if you are feeling ambitious, have lots of free time, and have a special occasion to cook for.  For an everyday cake, skip the checkerboard.  I don't really know how this relates to Grand Hotel.  Maybe because it is a fancy cake.  No one really eats in the movie, so I'm willing to call this a hotel cake.  I asked my brother to come up with a connection between German hotels and this cake.  He said, "They both crumble at the hands of the Americans?"  Possibly inappropriate.  But it works...

Grand Hotel

"Grand Hotel... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens." --Doctor Otternschlag, Grand Hotel

This film prescribes to the belief (still prevalent in films today) that if you pack enough stars into one film it will have to be a hit.  Although this is not always the case, with the amount of talent bursting at the seams of this movie, it is impossible for it to fail.  And it doesn't.  Through sometimes plodding in its pace, Grand Hotel weaves an interlocking collection of stories together in unexpected but ultimately satisfying ways.


The Plot

Joan Crawford as Flaemmchen

Greta Garbo as Grusinskaya

Flaemmchen and Preysing

Welcome to The Grand Hotel in Berlin, Germany, home to Europe's rich and famous, and full to bursting with interesting characters.  There is Baron Felix von Geigern, played by John Barrymore, a devil-may-care womanizer and war veteran, who has turned to gambling to increase his seriously depleted funds.  Grusinskaya, played by Greta Garbo, is a spoiled, perennially depressed prima ballerina who is still suffering from her defection from Russia.  Wallace Beery plays an industrial tycoon, General Director Preysing, who married his way into his job but is now trying to push a merger through just to stay afloat.  His newly hired stenographer, Flaemmchen, played by Joan Crawford, pines for the Baron while fending off the advances of Preysing.  Otto Kringelein, played by Lionel Barrymore, is a man who has just discovered he has a terminal disease, and has decided to quit his job as a bookkeeper in one of Preysing's factories and live the remainder of his life in the most extravagant way possible.  Lastly is Dr. Otternschlag, played by Lewis Stone, a disfigured war veteran who hangs around the Hotel, commenting on them all.  Hanging around the fringes are Grusinskaya's many attendants, the head porter whose wife is in labor, Preysing's laywer, and the other hotel guests.

Flaemmchen and the Baron

Preysing is worried.  If his merger doesn't go through, his company is sunk.  But the merger will only come through if "The Manchester Company" agrees to do business with him.  His lawyer hires Flaemmchen, a beautiful stenographer with aspirations to act, to assist him before the meeting.  Kringelein throws a fit because he wants a much better room than he has, and is finally accommodated.  The Baron befriends the hapless Kringelein, and the two of them meet Flaemmchen as she waits outside Preysing's room.  The Baron makes a date with Flaemmchen for the next night at 5pm, while waiting to see if he can catch a glimpse of Grusinskaya, to whom he has been sending frequent gifts.  Grusinskaya has been performing badly, and is suffering from bouts of melancholy that make her unable to sleep or dance, which in turn causes her staff to tear their hair out in frustration.  Returning from an incomplete dancing engagement, she turns everyone out of her room, uttering her famous line, "I want to be alone."  What she doesn't realize is that the Baron, up to his ears in gambling debts, has been coerced into stealing her priceless pearl necklace and is now trapped inside her room.  He reveals himself to her, while confessing that he has also fallen in love with her.  She tries again to send him away by repeating her famous line, but he stays and she finds herself falling for him as well.

Grusinskaya and the Baron

Grusinskaya and the Baron

Preysing stops Flaemmchen and Kringelein

Preysing and Flaemmchen

Preysing meanwhile has received a note that the Manchester deal is not going through.  At his meeting he tries to evade a straight answer, but finally is forced to lie and say he does have the Manchester deal to guarantee his merger.  Grusinskaya and the Baron spend the night together, and the next morning she invites him to travel with her.  The Baron refuses to take her money, but tells her he will find a way to make the money and get on the train with her the next morning.  Grusinskaya is happy once again, and her staff is relieved.  The Baron, however, is depressed.  He keeps his date with Flaemmchen, but tells her he loves another.  She is disappointed, but agrees to dance with the lovable Kringelein.  Preysing, witnessing this, becomes angry and tries to separate them.  Kringelein and Preysing exchange words, but after Flaemmchen finally dances with Kringelein she goes with Preysing up to his room.  She agrees to go with him to Manchester, and to stay with him in his suite at the hotel, though she is clearly repulsed by him.

Flaemmchen witnesses the Baron's death

Kringelein gambling with the Baron and Dr. Otternschlag

Flaemmchen and Kringelein

Increasingly desperate, the Baron tries a number of ways to pay off his debts.  He gets Kringelein to help run a gambling ring from his room, but he goes bust while a drunken Kringelein doubles his money.  Distraught, he tries to steal money from Preysing's room, only to get caught by Preysing himself as Flaemmchen is undressing in the next room.  They struggle, and Preysing hits the Baron over the head, inadvertently killing him.  Preysing tries to get a horrified Flaemmchen to cover for him, but she runs crying to Kringelein, who reports him.  Preysing is carried out in handcuffs and Kringelein and Flaemmchen run off to Paris together.  Fearing another bout of depression, Grusinskaya's staff hide the Baron's death from her, insisting that he will join her on the road.  As she leaves, finally happy, Dr. Otternschlag affirms his opening line, that nothing really happens at the Grand Hotel, although so much has.

The History
Irving Thalberg, "Boy Wonder" and creative mind behind MGM, purchased the rights to Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum and first produced a successful Broadway play before turning it into a film.  Before Grand Hotel, it was considered too costly to have more than one or two big stars per picture.  But Thalberg decided to launch the first "all star" film and choose five top MGM stars to play the major roles.  While both Barrymores agreed, Garbo, Beery, and Crawford all had their doubts.  Greta Garbo thought 27 was too old to play a ballerina, and only agreed after she was given control over who played her love interest in the film.  Beery thought the role would be too unsympathetic and damaging for his image, finally agreeing after Thalberg told him he would be the only one with a German accent.  Lastly, Crawford had to be persuaded into the role, as she thought that most of her scenes would be censored and she would lose screen time.  She wasn't completely wrong; theaters in more conservative states cut her racier scenes.

Flaemmchen and Preysing

When Thalberg eventually got everyone on set, things went a little more smoothly.  The famously reclusive Garbo surprisingly got along well with John Barrymore, even allowing the publicity department to take rare behind-the-scenes photos.  She requested that the love scenes in rehearsal be lit with red lighting so as to be more romantic.  Garbo and Crawford never appeared in the same scene together, so that one wouldn't upstage the other.  The director, Edmund Goulding, did decide to add more Garbo scenes after previewing the film, concerned that Crawford was stealing the show.  All the hard work and risk paid off; after a star-studded opening night, Grand Hotel would turn out to be one of biggest grossing MGM films of all time.  Grand Hotel has the dubious honor of being the only film to win "Best Picture" but not be nominated for any other category.  Incidentally, to prevent last year's disaster, the Academy made a rule that prohibited speech-making at the Awards.  This would also be the year that Walt Disney would win an "Special Award" for creating Mickey Mouse, and winners' names would be broadcast on a screen behind them with a small clip of their film.

Barrymore and Garbo backstage

Grand Hotel is still famous today.  Garbo's line, "I want to be alone," is ranked as #30 on AFI's List 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.  It is also the line that managed to sum up Garbo's attitude toward her fame for the rest of her life.  It was the first all-star drama in Hollywood and also the first film that followed characters in one large setting, their lives either overlapping or completely separate.  This is what is now known as a "Grand Hotel theme" and has since been used in movies that have since been set at airports, aboard ocean liners, in large department stores and so forth.  While it has been criticized as being overly dramatic and "largeish," Grand Hotel is usually remembered for its glamorous theatricality and star power.

Filming of Grand Hotel

The Verdict?
The best description I can come up with for this film is "luxurious."  The women vamp their way through the film with low, throaty voices, dressed in silk stockings and robes.  The men wear expensive suits and plow their way through the film with heavy, important dialogue.  It is a melodrama, and it is as though the director is attempting to pack as much action as he can into each scene while still muffling the whole thing with expensive decor.

I don't suppose I'm making much sense.  Put it this way: this movie has rich people fighting, falling in love, falling in lust, dying, and gambling.  We as the audience are both very aware of the humanity of the main characters while simultaneously marveling at how fabulous they all are.  It's fun!  It's like watching an old Hollywood soap opera with better acting but less overt sex.  The thing about movies like this, however, is that they cause the audience to focus on who the actors are rather than the parts they are playing.  The entire movie, I didn't think that Grusinskaya was doing something, but rather that Greta Garbo was.  Some parts were a little slow, and it was difficult to focus because the plot really didn't matter.  New characters kept popping up all the time, each with a new story or problem.

The best part was discovering these old Hollywood actors.  Isn't Greta Garbo gorgeous, in a surreal, otherworldly kind of way?  And looking through these pictures, don't you desperately wish you had Joan Crawford's legs?  And watching both Barrymores allowed me to compare them to the current famous Barrymore, John's granddaughter Drew.  The stars make the film, without them this film would be just another 1930s melodrama.  It is worth watching just for the thrill of seeing incredible actors waltz around a plush hotel, draping themselves over divans and uttering "I want to be alone."  Hell, it's worth it just to hear that one line.

BBQ Beef and Cornbread Casserole (I swear it's better than it looks)

Cimarron is an old-time western, so I thought I would make Chili and Cornbread to fit the western theme.  I may, however, have gotten more than I bargained for.

BBQ Beef Casserole
You'll Need:
2 small jalapeños, seeded and diced
1/2 large onion, diced
1 (15.25 ounces) can sweet corn, drained
1 (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, partially drained
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 box corn bread mix and corresponding ingredients
1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican flavored cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.
2. Brown beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Drain excess oil. 
3. Add peppers, onion, corn and tomatoes. Cook until veggies are soft (about 5 minutes). Meanwhile, mix the corn bread according to the package directions.  Set aside to let rise for 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Remove the meat mixture from the heat and mix in BBQ sauce and cheese. Pour into a 9×9 pan (or 13×9 if doubling the recipe). Spread the cornbread mixture evenly over the top of the casserole. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until cornbread is golden brown and passes the toothpick test

 

So it seems easy enough.  And actually it was.  I added pinto beans as well with the vegetables to give it more of a chili feel.  There was only one slight problem...I think the dish I used was too small.  Or maybe I made too much cornbread?

In any event, just make sure that whatever you do you don't let the cornbread spill over the sides.  It still tasted good so I guess that's all that matters.  It wasn't the easiest to store, so I recommend making this for guests on a cold, rainy day.

Cimarron

"I'll show them first crack that the Oklahoma Wigwam prints all the news all the time - knowing no law except the law of God and the government of the United States. Say, that's a pretty good slogan! Top of the page - just ahead of the editorial column!" -Yancey Cravat in Cimarron (1931)

I'll admit it, I was definitely putting this one off.  This was the first movie I had seen before, and also the first movie to make me want to abandon the project all those years ago.  But when I finally did force myself to sit down and watch it, it was not nearly as bad as I thought.  Don't get me wrong--it was bad.  It was also probably one of the most bizarrely racist films I have ever seen.  However it is much easier to stomach this film in the context of the films I've already watched.  It fits into the category of uncomfortable early films by directors still trying to find their feet.

The Plot

It's 1889, and President Harrison has opened Oklahoma territory for settlement.  Yancey Cravat, played by Richard Dix, leaves his wife, Sabra, and young son, Cimarron, at home with her high society family in Wichita, Kansas, in order to secure a homestead in the new territory.  He is tricked by hussie Dixie Lee, played by Estelle Taylor, who then takes his land instead.  Returning home empty handed, his wife still decides to defy her family and join him in his quest to settle in the new town of Osage, Oklahoma.

They finally reach the town, filled with dreams of a new frontier.  Instead, Sabra Cravat, played by Irene Dunne, enters into a lawless town that is still in the first stages of being built.  She wants to go home right away, but Yancey hugs her, calls her sugar, and tells her it is an adventure.  They set up their home and business, a combination newspaper/law office, as Yancey is both an attorney and a newspaper man.  Yancey starts a crusade against the local gunslinger gang, eventually calling out the man who had killed the last newspaper editor and shooting him while he is supposed to be running the town's first "church" meeting. Dixie Lee has also come to town with a group of loose women. Over the next year, however, Sabra comes to love the little town.  She has a daughter, Donna, starts a women's club, and leads the way in fashion.  Right when Donna is born, however, Yancey ends up in a shoot out with a former friend, now a wanted felon.  Isaiah, the young black servant boy who stowed away with them when they left Wichita, (and who is mostly shown whistling and shining shoes) runs out after Cimarron, only to get shot in an attempt to rescue him.  Sabra fusses over Yancey, who nicked his arm a little bit.  Yancey claims he will not accept any of the reward money for shooting a friend.  Neither of them expresses any concern over Isaiah until finally their printer brings back his body.  One day, Yancey discovers that new territory is opening up in Oklaholma, and tells Sabra that they should head out together to claim it.  Sabra is finally starting to like her life in Osage, and tells him she doesn't want to go out into the wilderness with two small children.  Yancey doesn't seem too concerned with this, kisses his wife, and tell her that he'll be back soon.

Five years later, Sabra still hasn't heard from Yancey.  She runs the newspaper, is involved with local organizations, and is raising her children.  She's replaced Isaiah with a young Native American girl, Ruby.  She remains fiercely racist against "dirty Indians" but is accepting of her friend Sol Levy, the Jewish man who owns the local store.  Sabra is getting ready to go to the trial of Dixie Lee for public indecency.  As they sit down to dinner, Yancey arrives home.  He hugs his kids, kisses his wife, and Sabra falls into his arms without asking too many questions.  But upon hearing of Dixie Lee's trial, he goes out to defend her.  At first Sabra is furious that he would embarrass her like this, but upon hearing Dixie's sad story, Sabra's heart goes out to her and she learns to be more tolerant.

It's ten years later, the world's focus has shifted from gold to oil, and Osage is now a booming city.  Both Cravat children have grown.  Donna has been going to a boarding school for girls in New York, and is upset at having to wear unfashionable clothes and live in Oklahoma, which is now a state.  She storms out of the house and declares she will find the richest man in town and marry him.  Cimarron declares he is going onto the Reservation to be an engineer, and he is going to marry their old servant, Ruby.  When she protests, Cimarron reminds his mother than Ruby is the daughter of an Indian chief, and then informs her that Yancey approves.  Yancey ignores Sabra's concerns (he usually does), and then lets her know that he is going to publish an inflammatory piece in the newspaper on Native American rights, the language of which will destroy his campaign for governor.  Sabra cares about his campaign much more than Yancey, who is more concerned with human rights than politics.

It is 1929, twenty-two years later.  The title cards tell us that Yancey has gone off again, and Sabra yet again has no idea where he is.  She has built the newspaper into a thriving business, but has still kept Yancey's name at the top.  Rather than think him dead, she knows he is still out there somewhere, and waits for him to return to her.  In her old age, Sabra is elected congresswoman to Oklahoma, and at a banquet in her honor acknowledges both children, finally accepting Ruby in front of everyone as "a chief's daughter."  Donna has married the richest (and possibly oldest) man in town.  And though Sabra is happy about her new office, she wishes that her husband were not "out of the city" as she knows he would be proud.  She leaves, only to be stopped by a young man in search of an ambulance.  A drifter, "Old Yance," has thrown himself in front of an oil torpedo, saving everyone in the nearby area.  Sabra, hearing his name, runs to him and holds him in her arms as he dies.  His final words are "wife and mother, stainless woman, hide me, hide me in your love."  The movie ends on a shot of a new statue, a pioneer similar to Yancey in all his glory.

The History

Cimarron is based on a novel by the same name written by Edna Ferber in 1929.  She was a well-known author at time, and many of her novels have been made into musicals, most notably Show Boat. When the now defunct RKO decided decided to produce this picture, movie studios were desperately trying to dig themselves out of the worst of the great depression.  Cimarron had a massive budget, but despite rave critical reviews and three Academy Awards, the film managed to lose $5.5 million by the end of 1931.  Cimarron was nominated for more than six awards and won for "Best Picture," "Best Art Direction," and "Best Adapted Screenplay."  The director, Wesley Ruggles, felt he had been shortchanged, claiming, "I wonder where I was when the picture was made as it was given the award for set, production, and adaptation, which possibly I had something to do with."  The film has now largely faded into obscurity, particularly because of its dated racial views.  Most notably, this film helped to kick off the career of famed actress, Irene Dunne.  A western would not win an Academy Award again for "Best Picture" until Dances with Wolves in 1990.  It currently has the lowest IMDb rating of all the "Best Picture" winners.

interestingly, these Academy Award ceremonies were notable for how extremely boring they were.  They were poorly planned, overly ambitious, and far too long.  Louis B. Mayer had been put in charge of the guest list, which included the unpopular Republican Vice President, Charles Curtis.  His speech was so boring that the guests filtered into the lobby to watch comedian Roscoe Ates perform his routine.  These guests had to be begged to return to the ballroom in order to applaud the end of the Vice President's speech.  They did not even begin to give out the awards until midnight, at which point 10-year-old "Best Actor" nominee Jackie Cooper had already fallen asleep on "Best Actress" winner Marie Dressler.  The Daily Variety called the affair "a long winded, verbose, political and dull evening of a nature which will repel many a Hollywoodian next year (unless memories dim and time makes 'em forget)."  Clearly, Mayer should not have been put in charge of the guest list.

The Verdict?
My first impression of this movie has still stuck with me today.  This is that if my husband had ditched me without even a letter with two small children in the middle of nowhere for five years I would have hit him over the head with a skillet and locked him out of the house.  And then filed for divorce.  Are you kidding me, Sabra?  She bugs me in a big way.  Almost as much as the holier-than-thou pontificating that Yancey gets up to in this film.  I'll blame his rise from silent movies for the way he consistently over-dramatizes his part.  Or maybe it's the way he completely ignores pretty much anything she says and always responds with something along the lines of "don't worry your pretty little head about it, sugar."

This film's values are bizarre.  On the one hand, Sabra becomes a leader in her community.  She shows that a woman can single-handedly run a newspaper, raise her children, and become a congresswoman.  She is a progressive pioneer woman, a beacon for women's rights.  On the other hand, she lets her idiot husband leave her again and again, call her sugar and ignore her concerns, and basically treat her like she doesn't matter.  He calls her Penelope, and like Odysseus's wife she waits patiently, never judging, for him to come home.

Like its attitude toward women, this film is also extremely confused by its attitude toward minorities.  Sabra treats Native Americans with disdain, calling them "dirty, filthy Indians," and refusing to allow her son to marry Ruby, the daughter of a local Indian chief.  Yancey, however, is a strong advocate for their rights, defending Native Americans both physically and in his paper.  In the end, Sabra realizes the error of her ways and accepts Ruby, although it is unclear whether should would have done this if Ruby hadn't been, in some way, royalty.  Sol Levy is knocked around by the townsfolk for being a Jew, but both Sabra and Yancey defend him.  His character, however, is an extreme Jewish stereotype for the entire film.  Isaiah's portrayal is probably the worst.  From beginning to end he is a glaring example of Hollywood's worst racial stereotypes.  He whistles, shines shoes, and calls Yancey "Massa."  About half-way through the film Isaiah is shot in an attempt to rescue Cimarron.  No one seems to notice or care and in fact Yancey walks right past him as Isaiah writhes in pain and call out to him.  A scant minute or so is reserved for his death, before the film moves on.

I believe that this film attempts to be progressive and show that all people are created equal.  But because of the existing racial stereotypes of 1931, they are not quite able to do so.  It is the conflict between the ideals of the film and the stereotypes of the day that cause the disjointed feel.  The one thing I will say is that the costume, set design, and most importantly make-up, were very well done.  This film shows an age progression of 40 years, both of the characters and the town of Osage.  For 1931, the make-up is incredible.

In this film, it is said that Cimarron is the name of the new territory they are attempting to settle and means "wild and unruly."  Yancey names his son this, and the movie concentrates on looking forward toward taming this new land and claiming a spot in history.  Ironically, I believe this movie is better left in the past.  Despite some attempt at progressive thinking, the blatant racism and sexism is just too jarring for the modern viewer.  This film is dated, and belongs as a piece of history rather than as a film still relevant to today.