August 25 movie: My Sister Eileen. Rosalind Russell and Janet Blair star as two sisters who move from Columbus, Ohio to New York to pursue their dreams of being a writer and an actress, respectively. They end up in a crummy basement apartment in Greenwich Village and interact with a series of colorful characters. Much of the plot focuses on Russell's attempts to get her stories published in The Manhatter magazine. (Three guesses what magazine that represents, and the first two don't count.) Brian Aherne costars as an editor at The Manhatter who helps Russell get published and falls for her along the way. He's kind of self-absorbed and annoying, but he means well and he loves Russell's writing so I guess it's okay.
The best part of the movie is the interaction with the colorful characters who populate the Village. From the slightly dishonest landlord who fancies himself an undiscovered genius painter, to the former college football player turned househusband, to the neighborhood cop who marks the sisters as troublemakers, to the Portuguese merchant marines who start a riot by dancing the conga through the streets. The supporting characters are weird and funny and just barely stay on the right side of too wacky for my taste. No mean feat, as wacky colorful characters annoy me immensely if I'm not in the mood for it.
Wow, I just googled this movie to look up Janet Blair's name, and found out that it's based on a true story! There really were two sisters named Ruth and Eileen who really did move from Columbus to the Village. Ruth really did write a series of stories called "My Sister Eileen" about their experiences, and really did sell the stories to The New Yorker. The stories became a Broadway play, then this movie, then another movie (starring Janet Leigh as sister Eileen, which was a good choice as Janet Blair strongly resembles her), then a TV series. I can't believe I never heard of it before.
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