Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad.
Come on in out of the heat. The vibe in here is cool. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but
everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last week, the news of the David Peterson trade broke about the time it was to run After Dark, so I asked you your thoughts of the trade. Even though I accidentally called him “David Robertson,” I assume all of you knew what I meant. In any case, 59 percent of you were in favor of the trade and only eight percent didn’t like it. The rest, 33 percent, were “Meh.”
The Cubs beat the Padres and Mason Miller tonight in walk-off fashion, 3-2. I haven’t broken out Judy in a while.
Here’s the part where we listen to music and talk movies. You can skip ahead if you want. Or you can read this and skip the baseball stuff.
Tonight we’re featuring one of those “Live from Emmet’s Place” videos featuring pianist Emmet Cohen. I probably post them too often, but Cohen regularly posts 7-8 new jazz videos a month so when I feature them, I can be reasonably sure that I haven’t shared this one before.
In fact, Cohen posted this one just earlier today.
Joining Cohen tonight is vocalist Veronica Swift, Jon-Erik Kellso on trumpet, Evan Arntzen on clarinet, Yasushi Nakamura on bass and the drummer is Joe Farnsworth.
This is “After You’re Gone.”
We lost Ann Blyth last Wednesday at the age of 98. (Gift article) Blyth was one of the few remaining Hollywood stars of the 1940s. She didn’t have a big career, but she worked steady from 1944 to 1957 when she got married and, like so many women of that era, decided to devote her life to being a wife and mother. She did continue to act some after that, pretty much exclusively in guest-starring appearances on television. Her last credit, unsurprisingly, was in 1985 on Murder, She Wrote. Angela Lansbury loved to cast her old friends from her Hollywood days.
But to be honest, if you know the name Ann Blyth, you likely know her from one role she played at 17: the rotten daughter Veda to Joan Crawford’s title role in Mildred Pierce. Blyth got a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for the part and of course, Crawford won the Best Actress Oscar for playing Mildred Pierce. It was about as meaty a role as a 17-year-old in 1945 could expect to get. Blyth always said that Crawford campaigned for her to get the part, agreeing to do a screen test with Blyth and no other actress.
Mildred Pierce is the kind of film I generally don’t write about in this space. I figure it’s one of those classics that either you’ve seen and you don’t need me talking about it or you just don’t like classic movies. To be clear, I think you can like classic films, have seen Mildred Pierce and just not like it. I love Mildred Pierce, but I don’t think it’s unimpeachable. There are things to mock about it–and the Carol Burnett Show certainly did, albeit lovingly. But it’s one of those few dozen films that everyone who considers themselves a cinephile needs to have seen.
Mildred Pierce is a tour-de-force for Crawford. It’s her best film. But I don’t think her part would have been nearly as effective had she not been playing off of Blyth. Blyth’s nasty, ungrateful and duplicitous Veda is as much a part of the film as Crawford’s Mildred.
I think I’ve seen Mildred Pierce start-to-finish maybe twice and caught parts of it from time to time on Turner Classic Movies. I didn’t get a chance to watch it again this weekend–I was out of town at a funeral all weekend–but I’m sure that TCM will play it again soon in honor of Blyth. When it comes around again, maybe I’ll write something about it if there’s interest. It’s not currently running on any streaming service but it’s available for rent.
There so few stars still hanging around from the 1940s. Margaret O’Brien is the big name, although she was a child actress. Nancy Olson is still with us and she made her film debut in 1949. I’m sure there are a couple others that I’m missing. But Blyth was one of our last links to that great era of filmmaking and I always mourn it when we lose our links to the past. It’s inevitable, but sad.
Here’s TCM’s tribute to Ann Blyth.
And here’s Blyth talking about Joan Crawford and her relationship with her for TCM. There’s also some great scenes from Mildred Pierce. As Ann says, it wasn’t easy to be the nasty Veda while Joan was being so kind to her.
Welcome back to everyone skipping the music and movies.
I don’t have to tell you that Cubs pitchers are dropping like flies. The fact that they’ve won eight of their last ten with a crippled pitching staff is pretty amazing. Call it luck, skill or determination, the Cubs are staying in the fight despite 13 pitchers, currently on the 40-man roster, on the injured list.
But the last two games, the Cubs have won thanks to some clutch bullpen performances from guys whom not much was expected of. So maybe they’re a bit better than we thought they were.
So tonight, I’m asking you who is the best reliever currently on the Cubs 26-man roster. I don’t need to tell you who these players are. Which one are you calling on in the toughest situation
I’m only allowed to put in six choices, so if you have another one, put it in the comments.
Thank you for stopping by. We always love to see a friendly face. Please get home safely. Stay cool. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.
