Queen Victoria : the 19 century's answer to Buffy

Oooookkkaaaaayyy. So. Alexandria Victoria, born of the House of Hanover. Known officially as Victoria Regina, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India; a monarch busy ruling Great Britain and the commonwealth, fawning over her Prince Albert, raising the Heir and the spares, introducing the Christmas tree... was in her free time eradicator of all thingies bad and evil. Rule Britannia. We are amused.

-photo courtesy of Amazon

Hallowed October and remembrance of Gloria Stuart

Once again it is the hallowed month of October and time for Countdown to Halloween (C2H2010 as it will be referred to from now on). I hope to contribute to C2H2010 with more posts than just the one measly contribution like last year!

To start off this Occasion I want to dedicate my first post for C2H2010 to actress/artist Gloria Stuart who recently passed away on Sunday, September 26 at the age of 100. Why? Well I'll tell you why. Ms. Stuart deserves this honor on my little blog because she was a connection to what I consider the most fruitful, prosperous, and challenging decade in Hollywood film history: the 1930's. She was lucky to be in not one but two classic horror films: "The Old Dark House" (1932) and "The Invisible Man" (1933) both directed by the talented James Whale. With those two laurels under her belt, Ms. Stuart's remembrance in this post goes hand-in-hand with welcoming C2H2010. Another event in her early career was being one of the early supporters of the Screen Actor's Guild established in 1933.

Outside of her acting career, Ms. Stuart was a talented self-taught painter and had her paintings shown in many art galleries. Not bad for someone who did not go to art school. Later in life she took interest in printing hand-made books. This talent too was rewarded with many of her works housed in institutions such as Library of Congress and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Gloria Stuart was a true artist at heart living a full and busy life and never looking back.

She is best known to moviegoers as "Rose" in James Cameron's film "Titanic" (1999) receiving a much deserved SAG award for her work. I will remember her though in memorable scenes from "The Old Dark House"; standing alone making whimsical shadow puppets by firelight and dressed in a silky, slinky evening dress rushing down the long, dark hallway like a fleeting ghost.

-top photo courtesy of...I forgot who but thank you!