Self Styled Siren and TCM

Many of my real life friendships were forged on Makeupalley. We all managed to stumble across MUA at a great moment in time. It was the golden age. The boards were shimmering with a fabulous group of women who had a great love of beauty products. The boards were often cliquish and resembled a high school cafeteria. There were bullies, snobs and the cool kids under the stairs. I frequented the fragrance board. It was a great cross section of every age and background. I became smitten with the board and most of the commentators.

I started my day with a cup of coffee with vanilla nut creamer and would read the banter between the London girls. These were a group of women who were online first thing in the morning. They were witty and charming.

Then the US girls started filtering in. That is when the Morning Poll started hopping. The morning poll was a series of questions about fragrance and taste posed by a fellow MUAer. This is where I met most of fragrant friends.

One of the most glamorous and charming fellow MUAer is Faran. I first spotted her on the top floor of Takashimaya in NYC. She breezed in like a 1930's movie star. A cloud of exquisite perfume and a Hermes scarf trailed after her. She will accuse me of romanticizing this first meeting. But it is the truth. She was awe inspiring.
All the ladies swooned and tittered. She had just delivered twins and looked like a million bucks. Besides the movie star good looks, Faran has exceptional taste in all things with an encyclopedic knowledge of vintage fashion.
We also share the same politic beliefs and passions. Her vintage political scarf created a firestorm on this blog. This delighted me to no end.
We became fast friends and I am one of her many devoted fans.

Faran created the most informative and lovely blog on vintage cinema. It is called Self-Styled Siren. In my most Leslie Caron voice....She is world famous!
So the reason for this latest gush makes my heart swell with pride and excitement.

TCM’s Shadows of Russia event was conceived and created by New York Post critic Lou Lumenick and film blogger Self-Styled Siren. They brought the idea to TCM after writing in-depth about TCM’s February 2009 presentation of Mission to Moscow. “The showcase is a fascinating opportunity to see how cinema has depicted the rise of communism in Russia and the country’s relationship to the world,” said Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM.

Each night of TCM’s Shadows of Russia will focus on two themes, beginning with Twilight of the Tsars and Red Romance on Jan. 6; The Lighter Side of the Revolution and The Left on Campus on Jan. 13; Our Red Army Pals and Diplomatic Immunity on Jan. 20; Spies Among Us and The Height of the Cold War on Jan. 27. The following is a complete schedule:

Wednesday, Jan. 6
Part One: Twilight of the Tsars
8 p.m. The Scarlet Empress (1934) – starring Marlene Dietrich and John Lodge.
10 p.m. Rasputin and the Empress (1932) – starring John, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore.

Part Two: Red Romance
12:15 a.m. Red Danube (1949) – starring Walter Pidgeon and Ethel Barrymore.
2:30 a.m. Reds (1981) – starring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Maureen Stapleton.

Wednesday, Jan. 13
Part Three: The Lighter Side of the Revolution
8 p.m. Comrade X (1940) – starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr.
10 p.m. Ninotchka (1939) – starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.

Part Four: The Left on Campus
Midnight The Way We Were (1973) – starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford.
2:15 a.m. Spring Madness (1938) – starring Maureen O’Sullivan, Lew Ayres, Ruth Hussey and Burgess Meredith.

Overnight Feature
3:30 a.m. The Strawberry Statement (1970) – starring Bruce Davison, Kim Darby and Bob Balaban.

Wednesday, Jan. 20
Part Five: Our Red Army Pals
8 p.m. The North Star (1943) – starring Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews and Walter Huston.
10 p.m. Mission to Moscow (1943) –starring Walter Huston, Ann Harding and Oscar Homolka.

Part Six: Diplomatic Immunity
12:15 a.m. The Kremlin Letter (1970) – starring Bibi Andersson, Richard Boone, Max von Sydow and Orson Welles.
2:15 a.m. Conspirator (1949) – starring Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor.

Overnight Feature
4 a.m. Counter-Attack (1945) – starring Paul Muni and Marguerite Chapman.

Wednesday, Jan. 27
Part Seven: Spies Among Us
8 p.m. My Son John (1952) – starring Helen Hayes, Robert Walker and Dean Jagger.
10:15 p.m. I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951) – starring Frank Lovejoy and Dorothy Hart.

Part Eight: The Height of the Cold War
Midnight The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury.
2:15 a.m. The Bedford Incident (1965) – starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier.

Overnight Features
4:15 a.m. Scarlet Dawn (1932) – starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Nancy Carroll.
5:15 a.m. The Doughgirls (1944) – starring Jane Wyman, Ann Sheridan, Alexis Smith and Eve Arden.

Let us know if you watch! I am hoping and praying that this is the beginning of further collaborations with TCM! Congrats dear F!

Credit: TCM