"41"

The First World War, which officially ended a hundred years ago this past Sunday, was the most consequential and devastating conflict the world had ever seen.

Over the years, I’ve heard many actors tell me they have more fun playing unsympathetic parts. I imagine there’s a sort of freedom in being allowed to be nasty with no real life consequences. Besides, being good all the time must be boring — and potentially career limiting.

It’s striking just how alike they were: both petite women with big personalities and talent who achieved overnight success in iconic movies at age 19; both immensely driven professionals who, in the face of personal challenges and misfortune, channeled their prodigious energies into their work.

Ida Lupino is a largely forgotten name that deserves to be remembered. She started as an ingenue in the thirties and through sheer pluck and determination, went on to become one of the only female directors in Hollywood. She was a trailblazer who found her own way to compete — and succeed — in a virtually all male world.

Every couple of years, right around Independence Day, I revisit this beloved 1942 musical biopic, and it’s always the same joyful, rousing experience.

Ever since I first saw “The Awful Truth” on New Years’ Day, 1985 at New York’s Cinema Village Theater, I have been a vocal champion of this timeless screwball classic from 1937. Even with a crushing hangover, my (then-future) wife and I were convulsed, and I knew I had found a film I would return to for the rest of my life.

It was LA cartoonist Bob Thaves who wrote the following caption: “Sure he (Fred Astaire) was great, but don’t forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did…backwards and in high heels.”