Nora Lives - and Hello!

Hello! and welcome to Nora Charles' Corner, my oh-so-remote corner of the internet bloggosphere. This blog is named after one of my very favorite movie heroines, who, for thirteen years, was played to perfection by Myrna Loy, one of my favorite actresses. In fact, I love Myrna Loy, Nora Charles, and the Thin Man series so much that the three of them were the topic of my Honors Thesis my senior year of college. However, I hope to approach this blog with a lot less hair pullage, anxiety, and carbohydrate consumption.

Why did I decide to start blogging? I love to write and, if you will excuse me for a moment and allow me to sound like an arrogant cornball, have been told by many people that I have quite a talent for it. Some of these same people have suggested to me for ages that a blog would be right up my alley. Actually, I've been wanting to start a blog for over a year and I actually made one but didn't like the URL (fickle much?). But last night, as I was lying in bed in a Thanksgiving-induced food coma, I was watching Another Thin Man to take my mind off the painful burp bubble that seemed to be in constant growth between my stomach and my diaphragm. As I lay burping and enjoying the movie for the millionth time, I found myself paying particular attention to how supremely perfectly Myrna Loy tackled the role of Nora Charles. She simply is. Her sublime wit, grace, and charm are enviable. On my list of "Movie Characters I Wish I Could Be," Nora Charles is at the tippity top (in addition to her wit, grace, and charm, who wouldn't like to be able to drink that many martinis and almost never get a hangover?). And then I thought to myself, "Wouldn't something incorporating Nora Charles be the perfect name for the blog I've been meaning to start since last Thanksgiving?" I know "Nora Charles' Corner" is hardly an inspired title, but I think the alliteration would make my third grade teacher proud. The URL, by the way, comes from one of my favorite lines from an opening scene of The Thin Man, when Nick Charles (played seemingly effortlessly by the magnificent William Powell) is giving the hotel bartender a lesson in cocktail mixing:

Nick: The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time, a dry martini you always shake to waltz time.

So now that this blog is finally off the ground and running, what can you expect from this twenty-three year old substitute teacher and graduate student with a penchant for writing and a love of old movies? I can't claim that this blog will be exclusively about classic film and Old Hollywood, but since that is my biggest passion, and one of my favorite things to write about, I'm sure there'll be plenty of posts with movie reviews, (what I deem) interesting and fun anectodes, and odes to my favorite actors, actresses, and directors. By the way, even though this blog was inspired by The Thin Man and is named after Nora Charles, Lucille Ball is - and has been for the past ten years - my all-time FAVORITE actress/personality and I love to write about her. So be warned that from time to time my ramblings about Lucy may seem slightly out of proportion to my ramblings about the other actresses I love. Also, since I am a social studies teacher, general history buff, and most decidedly a reincarnated flapper, I'm sure there will also be posts relating to quirky, fun, and relevant history topics. Finally, as my family and friends will tell you, I have an extremely eclectic range of interests, so I'm sure there will also be totally random posts about whatever happens to spark my interest for the day! And I love pictures and Youtube so hopefully this will be one of the few "dry" posts sans either of those (in the words of Disney's Gaston, "How can you read this?! There's no pictures!").

I will add descriptive pages to this blog and try to pretty it up later today or this weekend. But for now, welcome aboard, thank you for sailing with us, and I hope you enjoy the ride!

Have a sparkling day,
M.