monday

I admit, every time I send a letter or a parcel by post, I like to imagine that I am Alfred Kralik's "dear friend", Klara Novak, anxiously awaiting a new letter in Box 237. If I am wrapping packages, I dream that I am a shopgirl in The Shop Around the Corner, selling frivolous trinkets like music boxes. It shouldn't be of any surprise that I am hopelessly in love with all-things Jimmy Stewart. I have gone to many a ridiculous length to procure Jimmy stamps, Life magazines, and don't even get me started on how many biographies I've bought and read about this man! I'm prone to swoon for Jimmy at any age (from Ted Barker to Clovis Mitchell), but my heart skips the most when he is awkwardly young. He is tenderly naïve, perfectly gangly, and honestly, do I even need to justify how adorably sweet and wonderful he is? One of my favorite days this year was spent watching Pot o' Gold and Made for Each Other on the big screen with my best friend, sippin' down arnold palmers with mexican honey from Blue Ribbon Bakery Market (my Film Forum pit stop, if you will) and giggling from start to finish. Honest-to-goodness blushing in the dark! Not even the noisiest bunch of kids and parents (real rascals, too) sitting behind me could stop me from beaming for every second of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington! I'm getting a bit off topic, though. I promise this wasn't meant to be a Jimmy-fest of flowery words! Anyhow, Jimmy Stewart teamed up with one of my other all-time favorites, Ernst Lubitsch, makes this film just a dream come true. I can only hope the packages I send are made with the kind of careful consideration and love Alfred and Klara might have made them with at Matuschek's.