GingerFilms in the Library of Congress...

...at the immaculate suggestion of Gingerologist Superior, Barbara Atkinson (OklahomaBarb, if I may be so bold), here's a post on GingerFilms which are currently on the National Film Register of the Library of Congress...

...SO, what IS the Library of Congress, you may ask? Good question... it's like... a large building in Washington D.C., the National Capital of the the United States of America. Within it, there are.... books....lots of books... I mean there's REALLY... ...a LOT of books... (I've been there, y'all, so... take it from me...) ...but there are also all other forms of 'media', including films, recordings, etc...  its existence is for the preservation of anything which is of significance which has been produced in the U.S.A. since its inception... Now, MY copy of Queen High has this deal at the front of it:

...maybe this is a 'general entry', and not specifically for a film on the National Film Register...
Anyway, HERE is their general site... pretty cool stuff...

So far, here are the GingerFilms which are on the Library of Congress National Film Register:

Forty-Second Street (1933, Warner Brothers);

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933, Warner Brothers / Vitaphone);

Top Hat (1935, RKO Radio); and

Swing Time (1936, RKO Radio).

...pretty dang awesome, but... ...here's where we come in... from the LofC website:
"The National Film Registry selects 25 films each year showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage to increase awareness for its preservation. To be eligible for the Registry, a film must be at least 10 years old and be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
...with that, HERE is the link to the nomination page for 2017... you can nominate up to fifty (50) (!) films per year for consideration by the National Film Preservation Board to be placed on the National Film Register (NFR)!

They do have a pretty extensive list of past nominations which did not make the cut for the NFR - that list is HERE - quite a few 'suggestions'... just perusing the 30s, I noticed that "In Person" was placed in the 1934 list as well as the 1935 one....hmmmm... could this be a SIGN for our nominations?

With that, here's THIS: Which GingerFilm (if only one can be picked), would YOU choose from the remaining list, and could make a decent argument as to it's 'significance'? Remember it has to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"...  well, heck, ALL GingerFilms are QUITE "aesthetically significant"... but, with that, here are MY five (yeah, I couldn't go with just one either) that best fit the criteria (I'm leaving out the balance of the G&F films, as it's pretty obvious ALL of those are candidates):

Young Man of Manhattan (1930 - Paramount)
This one has 'historical significance', as it has quite a bit of actual newsreel footage of various sporting events with the actual athletes, most famously a boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. Additionally, it does a fair job depicting the life of a news reporter back in the day, between Norman Foster and Claudette Colbert.  But of course, the GingerAngle is that she creates the character of Puff Randolph to be a very convincing 'flapper chick' which the era is famous for... with a few cute tunes she performs as well. It's also Ginger's first role in a 'feature film', which is historical enough for me.

Stage Door (1937 - RKO Radio)
Pretty much an 'all-star' effort for RKO, with not only Ginger and Kate, but also Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Gail Patrick, etc... and Adolphe Menjou thrown in as a potential sugar daddy. This film does depict life as a starving actress in the Depression Era, which is definitely of historical significance. Just the exchanges between Ginger and Kate are enough to fast-track its inclusion on the List...

Kitty Foyle (1940 - RKO Radio)
Ginger's Oscar-winning role is of course a fave of most all Gingerologists, primarily for the love story involved; but the film's 'general' tone deals with the emerging female workforce in 'modern-day' society... the fact that this phenomenon was documented in this film just before the U.S. involvement in World War II is timely, as females played a HUGE role in production of goods for the war effort.

 I'll Be Seeing You (1944 - Selznick International)
On the other side of WWII, we have this underrated film which has Ginger meeting up with a veteran who has not shook the nightmares of the war experience from his mind... this is an early film which dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) in a somewhat 'unfiltered' manner... still somewhat tame compared to later films in the 60s, 70s, and beyond, it still has historic value as to how Hollywood was trying to present a tough subject in a impactful manner. Plus, Ginger is quite radiant in this one, and turns in an excellent dramatic performance alongside Joseph Cotten and a teenaged Shirley Temple... not to mention Spring Bynington, one of my faves...

Monkey Business (1952 - 20th Century-Fox)
Well, this one is just historically significant for the sake of film... Ginger is alongside Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe, with that constant 'elder', Charles Coburn... I mean the cast is incredible! And to me, it's really a 'precursor' to all the goofy yet cool Disney 'live action' films of the 60s, like Flubber, That Darn Cat, Now You See Him-Now You Don't, Herbie, etc... which, I guess is of some cultural significance...
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...well, that's that. Of course, I think we could all figure out something about ANY of the GingerFilms which would qualify for its inclusion on the National Film Register... but I guess these kind of stuck out to me. For example, one could argue Suicide Fleet or Carnival Boat, due to historic footage of the late 20's Navy Fleet and early logging industry methods, respectively... The First Traveling Saleslady deals with the resistance Western ranchers had to barbed wire, which was most likely pretty accurate... and the list just goes on.

Well, with that, go over to the nomination site and DO so! I haven't YET, but plan to this weekend... vote early and often!!!

Until Later...
KIG!
Hu
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...GingerFisher in a landslide!

...not too surprising that the 'natural Ginger' LIFE cover won handily... it's the most 'candid' of the bunch, and shows Ginger doing stuff she truly loved to do...

...for years!

...WELL...
...now for something completely different...  ...well, it's Gingery, of course (duh)...

...It has been brought to our attention here at G-ology that the IMDb Message Boards are to be completely removed from their site on February 20, 2017... here's the message from their board (hopefully no big deal to reproduce here, as its purpose for existing will cease in less than two weeks): 

"IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. As part of our ongoing effort to continually evaluate and enhance the customer experience on IMDb, we have decided to disable IMDb's message boards on February 20, 2017. This includes the Private Message system. After in-depth discussion and examination, we have concluded that IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide. The decision to retire a long-standing feature was made only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.

Increasingly, IMDb customers have migrated to IMDb's social media accounts as the primary place they choose to post comments and communicate with IMDb's editors and one another. IMDb's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/imdb) and official Twitter account (https://twitter.com/imdb) have an audience of more than 10 million engaged fans. IMDb also maintains official accounts on Snapchat (https://www.snapchat.com/add/imdblive), Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/imdbofficial/), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/imdb), and Tumblr (http://imdb.tumblr.com/).

Because IMDb's message boards continue to be utilized by a small but passionate community of IMDb users, we announced our decision to disable our message boards on February 3, 2017 but will leave them open for two additional weeks so that users will have ample time to archive any message board content they'd like to keep for personal use. During this two-week transition period, which concludes on February 19, 2017, IMDb message board users can exchange contact information with any other board users they would like to remain in communication with (since once we shut down the IMDb message boards, users will no longer be able to send personal messages to one another). We regret any disappointment or frustration IMDb message board users may experience as a result of this decision.

IMDb is passionately committed to providing innovative ways for our hundreds of millions of users to engage and communicate with one another. We will continue to enhance our current offerings and launch new features in 2017 and beyond that will help our customers communicate and express themselves in meaningful ways while leveraging emerging technologies and opportunities." 

 ...alas, all things must come to an end...  dang it. Actually, the last few weeks, it seems like the only new posts were idiots trolling / flaming the board, trashing Ginger in no specific terms, which of course required swift and curt rebuttal by true Ginger fans... which was frustrating, as that isn't the purpose of the message board.

Now, the main reason I bring this up, other than for general info, is that, as most Gingerologists know, the Ginger Board on IMDb is a place where Roberta Olden sometimes stops by (I love the pic above, and hope that Ms. Olden doesn't mind it being posted...). Of course, this is a BIG deal, as she is truly the authority on all things Ginger. HOPEFULLY she will jump over to FaceBook and visit one of the many Ginger 'pages' there... 

...speaking of Ms. Olden, don't forget the Antiques Roadshow coming up on February 20, February 27, and March 27 (strangely enough a four-week 'jump' until the final Palm Springs episode...) I plan on watching all, and probably DVR-ing them... Roberta will have a unique 'chair/stepladder' owned by Ginger appraised... who'll start the bidding? ;-) 

...and that's about all I got... for now.

Until next time (dang time flies y'all),

KIG!!!

Hu

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