Aldous Huxley, on writing:

To write fiction, one needs a whole series of inspirations about people in an actual environment, and then a whole lot of work on the basis of those inspirations.

- Aldous Huxley.

Recommended reading - Into the Dark

 

Into the Dark
The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950

by Mark A. Vieira.
 
Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
 
Published by Running Press Adult.
Illustrated edition.
Published 2016.
Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0762455233
ISBN-13: 978-0762455232
 
Description:
 

Bursting with glossy stills and archival material, film historian and photographer Mark A. Vieira's Into The Dark: The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950 offers an unprecedented portal into Hollywood's golden era of cynicism. A systematic study of noir, this gorgeous coffee table tome fills a significant gap in scholarship on the genre.” – MovieMaker.

 

You know film noir when you see it: the shadowed setting; the cynical detective; the femme fatale; and the twist of fate. Into the Dark captures this alluring genre with a cavalcade of compelling photographs and a guide to 82 of its best films.

 

Into the Dark is the first book to tell the story of film noir in its own voice. Author Mark A. Vieira quotes the artists who made these movies and the journalists and critics who wrote about them, taking readers on a year-by-year tour of the exciting nights when movies like Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Sunset Boulevard were sprung on an unsuspecting public. For the first time, we hear the voices of film noir artists speak from the sets and offices of the studios, explaining the dark genre, even before it had a name. Those voices tell how the genre was born and how it thrived in an industry devoted to sweetness and light.

 

Into the Dark is a ticket to a smoky, glamorous world. You enter a story conference with Raymond Chandler, visit the set of Laura, and watch Detour with a Midwest audience. This volume recreates the environment that spawned film noir. It also displays the wit and warmth of the genre's artists. Hedda Hopper reports on Citizen Kane, calling Orson Welles "Little Orson Annie." Lauren Bacall says she enjoys playing a bad girl in To Have and Have Not. Bosley Crowther calls Joan Crawford in Possessed a "ghost wailing for a demon lover beneath a waning moon." An Indiana exhibitor rates the classic Murder, My Sweet a "passable program picture." Illustrated by hundreds of rare still photographs, Into the Dark conveys the mystery, glamour, and irony that make film noir surpassingly popular.

 

About TCM:
 

Turner Classic Movies is the definitive resource for the greatest movies of all time. We entertain and enlighten to show how the entire spectrum of classic movies, movie history, and movie-making touches us all and influences how we think and live today.

Born on this day – Francesca Bertini:

Francesca Bertini

Actress

January 5, 1892 – October 13, 1985

Credits:

1900 (1976); Una ragazza di Praga (1969); A sud niente di nuovo (1957); Dora la espía (1950); Odette (1935); La donna di una notte (1931); La femme d'une nuit (1930); Tu m'appartiens! (1929); La Possession (1929); Mein Leben für das Deine (1928); La fin de Monte-Carlo (1927); Fior di levante (1925); Consuelita (1925); La giovinezza del diavolo (1925); Ultimo sogno (1924); Marion (1923); Fatale bellezza (1922); La donna nuda (1922); Amore vince sempre (1921); La fanciulla d'Amalfi (1921); La donna, il diavolo, il tempo (1921); Oltre la legge (1921); Marion, artista di caffè-concerto (1920); Anima selvaggia (1920); Amore di donna (1920); Maddalena Ferat (1920); La ferita (1920); La sfinge (1920); L'ombra (1920); Lisa Fleuron (1920); La principessa Giorgio (1920); La serpe (1920); Il conquistatore del mondo (1919); Beatrice (1919); La principessa (1919); La contessa Sara (1919); Anima allegra (1919); La piovra (1919); La lussuria (1919); Spiritismo (1919); L'invidia (1919); L'accidia (1919); I sette peccati capitali (1918); L'avarizia (1918); Eugenia Grandet (1918); L'ira (1918); La gola (1918); L'orgoglio (1918); Mariute (1918); Frou-Frou (1918); Tosca (1918); Anima redenta (1917); Malìa (1917); Il processo Clémenceau (1917); La piccola fonte (1917); Andreina (1917); Baby l'indiavolata (1916); Vittima dell'ideale (1916); Il patto (1916); Nel gorgo della vita (1916); Maligno riflesso (1916); Fedora (1916); L'educanda monella (1916); Lacrymae rerum (1916); Il destino (1916); Eroismo d'amore (1916); La perla del cinema (1916); La colpa altrui (1916); Odette (1916); Don Pietro Caruso (1915); Diana, l'affascinatrice (1915); Assunta Spina (1915); La signora delle camelie (1915); Ivonne, la bella danzatrice (1915); Il capestro degli Asburgo (1915); Nelly la gigolette (1915); Nella furnace (1915); Hypocrites (1915); Una donna (1914); The Song of the Soul (1914); Sangue blu (1914); On Temptation's Trail (1914); Rose e spine (1914); La principessa straniera (1914); L'onestà che uccide (1914); Cabiria (1914); The Woman Who Dared (1914); Pierrot the Prodigal (1914); The Forbidden Trail (1913); L'arrivista (1913); L'arma dei vigliacchi (1913); L'anima del demi-monde (1913); L'ultima carta (1913); La bufera (1913); La vigilia di Natale (1913); La suocera (1913); His Symphony (1913); Tramonto (1913); The Artist's Model (1913); La maestrina (1913); L'ultimo atout (1913); Venomous Tongues (1913); The Land of Promise (1913); Ninì Verbena (1913); The Price of Silence (1913); Per il blasone (1913); L'avvoltoio (1913); Per la sua gioia (1913); The Bondage of Evil (1913); Panne d'auto (1912); Lagrime e sorrisi (1912); Idillio tragico (1912); Tragico amore (1912); Ritratto dell'amata (1912); All on a Summer's Day (1912); Il pappagallo della zia Berta (1912); Il fascino della violenza (1912); Cesare Borgia (1912); Un amore di Pietro de' Medici (1912); Rameses, King of Egypt (1912); Lucretia Borgia (1912); Tragedy at the Court of Milan (1912); I carbonari (1912); Red Falcon (1912); The Wandering Minstrel (1912); Beatrix d'Este (1912); Ruy-Blas (1912); Romeo and Juliet (1912); Florentine Drama (1912); Francesca da Rimini (1911); Marco Visconti (1911); The Countess de Challant (1911); Tristano e Isolda (1911); Cola di Rienzo (1911); Il mercante di Venezia (1911); Re Lear (1910); La morte civile (1910); Pia de' Tolomei (1910); Folchetto di Narbona (1910); Salomé (1910); Il trovatore (1910); La dea del mare (1907).

Born on this day – Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten:

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten

Folk and Blues singer

Musician

January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987

Credits:

Albums:

Elizabeth Cotten Live! (1983); Elizabeth Cotten, Volume 3: When I'm Gone (1979); Euphoria Blues (2023); Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar (1958); Freight Train (2014); Freight Train: Essential Folk Masters (2010); Live! (1983); Shake Sugaree (2004); Vol. 2: Shake Sugaree (1967).

Songs:

Ain't Got No Honey Baby Now; Boatman Dance; Buck Dance; Fare You Well, My Darling; Freight Train; Going Down the Road Feeling Bad; Graduation March; Hallelujah, It Is Done; Here Old Rattler Here / Sent for My Fiddle Sent for My Bow / George Buck; Holy Ghost, Unchain My Name; Honey Babe Your Papa Cares for You; I Don't Love Nobody; I'm Going Away; Little Brown Jug; Look and Live, My Brother; Mama, Nobody's Here but the Baby; Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie; Ontario Blues; Praying Time Will Soon Be Over; Run......Run / Mama Your Son Done Gone; Shake Sugaree; Spanish Flag Dang; Sweet Bye and Bye / What a Friend We Have in Jesus; Take Me Back to Baltimore; 'Til We Meet Again; Vastopol; Vestapol; Washington Blues; When I Get Home; When I'm Gone; When the Train Comes Along; Wilson Rag.

Movies and television:

A Love Song (2022); American Folk (2017); American Masters (2009); Asteroid City (2023); Austin City Limits (1979); Big Little Lies (2019); BioShock Infinite (2013); Bleak Moments (1971); Colossal (2016); Dogfight (1991); En på miljonen (1995); Far from Home (2009); Folk Britannia (2006); Four Calories: A "Tic-Tacs" Parody (2013); Nasty Baby (2015); Patriot (2017); Rainbow Quest (1965–1966); Sea Oak (2017); Shindig! (1964–1965); The 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (2022); The Blues (2003); The Johnny Cash Show (1970); The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000); The Mike Douglas Show (1971); Troop Zero (2019); Two Trains Runnin' (2016); Yesspeak (2003).

Born on this day – Jane Wyman:

Jane Wyman

Actress

January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007

Credits:

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993); Falcon Crest (1981); Charlie's Angels (1976); The Love Boat (1977); The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel (1979); Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971); The Bold Ones: The New Doctors (1969); Amanda Fallon (1973); The Sixth Sense (1972); The Failing of Raymond (1971); Insight (1960); My Three Sons (1960); How to Commit Marriage (1969); The Red Skelton Hour (1951); Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963); Wagon Train (1957); Bon Voyage! (1962); The Investigators (1961); Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958); Checkmate (1960); Pollyanna (1960); Holiday for Lovers (1959); Lux Playhouse (1958); Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955); Miracle in the Rain (1956); Lucy Gallant (1955); All That Heaven Allows (1955); General Electric Theater (1953); Summer Playhouse (1954); Magnificent Obsession (1954); So Big (1953); Let's Do It Again (1953); Just for You (1952); Campbell Summer Soundstage (1952); The Story of Will Rogers (1952); Starlift (1951); The Blue Veil (1951); Here Comes the Groom (1951); Three Guys Named Mike (1951); The Glass Menagerie (1950); Stage Fright (1950); The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949); It's a Great Feeling (1949); A Kiss in the Dark (1949); Johnny Belinda (1948); Magic Town (1947); Cheyenne (1947); The Yearling (1946); Night and Day (1946); One More Tomorrow (1946); The Lost Weekend (1945); Hollywood Canteen (1944); Crime by Night (1944); The Doughgirls (1944); Make Your Own Bed (1944); Princess O'Rourke (1943); Footlight Serenade (1942); My Favorite Spy (1942); Larceny, Inc (1942); You're in the Army Now (1941); The Body Disappears (1941); Bad Men of Missouri (1941); Honeymoon for Three (1941); Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940); My Love Came Back (1940); Gambling on the High Seas (1940); Flight Angels (1940); An Angel from Texas (1940); Alice in Movieland (1940); Brother Rat and a Baby (1940); Private Detective (1939); Kid Nightingale (1939); Torchy Blane.. Playing with Dynamite (1939); The Kid from Kokomo (1939); Tail Spin (1939); Brother Rat (1938); The Crowd Roars (1938); Wide Open Faces (1938); Fools for Scandal (1938); He Couldn't Say No (1938); The Spy Ring (1938); Over the Goal (1937); Mr. Dodd Takes the Air (1937); The Singing Marine (1937); Little Pioneer (1937); Slim (1937); Public Wedding (1937); The King and the Chorus Girl (1937); Ready, Willing and Able (1937); Smart Blonde (1937); Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936); Polo Joe (1936); The Sunday Round-Up (1936); Here Comes Carter (1936); Cain and Mabel (1936); Stage Struck (1936); My Man Godfrey (1936); Bengal Tiger (1936); Anything Goes (1936); King of Burlesque (1936); Freshman Love (1935); Broadway Hostess (1935); Stolen Harmony (1935); George White's 1935 Scandals (1935); All the King's Horses (1935); Rumba (1935); College Rhythm (1934); Harold Teen (1934); Elmer, the Great (1933); The Kid from Spain (1932).

Born on this day – Maurizio Pollini:

Maurizio Pollini

Pianist

Conductor

Actor

January 5, 1942 – March 23, 2024

Credits:
 
Albums:
 

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5; Beethoven: Piano Sonata Nos.13, 14 & 15; Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos.17 "The Tempest", 21 "Waldstein", 25 & 26 "Les Adieux"; Beethoven: Symphony No.6 "Pastorale"; Choral Fantasy; Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage; BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83, IJB 83: I. Allegro non troppo; Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1; Brahms: Piano Quintet Op.34; Chopin: Etudes; Préludes; Polonaises; Chopin: Scherzi; Berceuse; Barcarolle; Edmond Appia, Maurizio Pollini & Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN; Liszt: Sonata in B minor; Nuages gris; Unstern! Sinistre; La lugubre gondola; R.W.-Venezia; Manzoni: Masse: Omaggio a Edgard Varèse / Schoenberg: Kammersymphonie op.9; Maurizio Pollini & Frédéric Chopin; Maurizio Pollini & Ludwig van Beethoven; Maurizio Pollini, Berliner Philharmoniker & Claudio Abbado; Maurizio Pollini, Berliner Philharmoniker & Giuseppe Sinopoli; Maurizio Pollini, Johannes Brahms & Quartetto Italiano; Maurizio Pollini, Johannes Brahms, Wiener Philharmoniker & Karl Böhm; Maurizio Pollini, Wiener Philharmoniker & Karl Böhm; Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 19; Schoenberg: The Piano Music; Schubert: Piano Sonatas D958 & D959; Schubert: The Late Piano Sonatas D 958, 959 & 960; 3 Piano Pieces D 946; Allegretto D 915; Schumann: Piano Concerto Op.54 / Schoenberg: Piano Concerto Op.42; Schumann: Piano Concerto; Symphonic Etudes; Schumann: Sonata for Piano Op.11; Fantasia Op.17; Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado, Maurizio Pollini, Gabriela Lechner, Gretchen Eder, Elisabeth Mach, Jorge Pita, Andreas Esders, Gerhard Eder, Wiener Staatsopernchor & Walter Hagen-Groll.

 

Movies, television and video:
 

Che tempo che fa (2009); Freunde fürs Leben (1999); Maurizio Pollini & Christian Thielemann: Brahms Piano Concerto No.1 (2013); Maurizio Pollini spielt Beethoven (2020); Maurizio Pollini: De Main De Maître (2014); Music on 2 (1972); Mythos Mozart - Musik für die Welt (2006); Récital Maurizio Pollini (2012); The Lively Arts (1976).

On this day in movie history – The Purple Gang (1960)

The Purple Gang (1959)

directed by Frank McDonald

written by Jack DeWitt

was released in the United States on January 5, 1960.

Music by Paul Dunlap.

Cast:

Barry Sullivan, Robert Blake, Elaine Edwards, Marc Cavell, Jody Lawrance, Suzanne Ridgway, Joe Turkel, Victor Creatore, Paul Dubov, Ray Boyle, Kathleen Lockhart, Nestor Paiva, Lou Krugman, Robert Anderson, Mauritz Hugo, James Roosevelt.