Here's to Joan Blondell!

HERE'S TO JOAN BLONDELL! In honor of her August 30th birthday, and in rapt anticipation of her biography (to be released Oct. '07), I've assembled my 20 or so favorite Joan Blondell moments. To keep the tone consistent, I've focused primarily on her black-and-white films from the 1930s (maybe I'll do a color tribute montage next year). It was incredibly tough to decide which clips from her fantastic career to include, and I'll apologize in advance for leaving out your favorite. The montage includes scenes from Three on a Match, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, Millie, Blonde Crazy, East Side of Heaven, The Stand-In, Bullets or Ballots, Nightmare Alley, Night Nurse, and Topper Returns. I drew from some only a few seconds of material (Topper Returns), while I went to others more than once (GD33 & Millie). Joan Blondell was so vivacious and had such brilliant comedic timing; it was difficult for her not to steal every scene in which she appeared. In my eyes, she's one of the best!