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Nov. 16th, 2025 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatTook migraine medication, and using cooling pads. Also ate a bit more today. Hopefully I'll be able to go to work tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
I think it might be a sinus infection? Not positive. Might do a hot shower and neti pot tonight.
More on Woodward and Newman Doc.
Takeaways:
* Newman was radioman overseas with the bomber division of the US air force in World War II, served from 1944-1946. He signed up to be in the air force, but was declared color blind - so sent to boot camp, and ended up being a radio man. Was supposed to be on the bomber Bunker Hill, but got reassigned at the last minute and everyone on that air raid was killed by Japanese Kamikaze pilots. (He served in the Pacific).
* Newman considers himself Jewish, and while half Protestant and half Jewish, has always been raised as Jewish. As a child he and his brother banged their heads on the wall - and the doctor informed his mother that this was something Jewish boys did, but only Jewish boys. (That's completely untrue, I know a lot of people who've done that who aren't Jewish.) He enjoyed the fact that his looks were a stab in the face of the Jewish stereotype, and as much as felt his good looks were a flaw and a cross at times, he realizes he wouldn't have gotten as far if he looked like Golda Meir.
* Newman's mother was kind of abusive and he did not have a good relationship with her. (She disliked both of his wives. Claimed Joanne was having an affair with Gore Vidal (which is amusing considering Vidal was famously "gay") and Newman stopped talking to her for fifteen years when she told him.) His father died when he was twenty-two, and he was forced to take over the business, but eventually left with his first wife (also an actress) to study acting at Yale.
* Part of Newman's difficulty with acting, was he is naturally emotionally reserved. His first wife never saw him cry, and he barely remembers crying more than a few times. But he manages to do so in Cool Hand Luke - and it's among the few times his kids saw him cry. Newman's acting is very similar to Fonda, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and Robert Redford - it's natural, and understated. Redford and Newman became long-lasting best friends from the moment they worked together, and Redford states that Newman was loyal and committed fully to friendship. He loved the man. Makes sense - both are similar actors, with similar issues - too good looking for their own good, which limited them in regard to more character oriented roles. Newman saw Joanne as more talented than he was - and went out of his way to prove it.
* Certain films get the in-depth treatment - in Episode 3, Butch and Sundance, Cool Hand Luke (considered among his best roles), and Rachel, Rachel - a ground-breaking independent film that he directed Joanne Woodward in, and was among her best roles. Three Faces of Eve is another film that gets it in a previous episode.
I told Mother about the doc - and she asked if they'd addressed Rachel, Rachel yet - it's among her favorite films. They do in Chapter 3 and in quite a bit of depth, I was pleased and impressed, and it made me want to watch the film. (I grew up with parents who loved to analyze the films, books, theater, and television series that we saw. We'd discuss them. Knew the trivia. Some families are into sports or music? Mine was into film and television. My parents did enjoy sports and music. But we all thought visually and were analytical - so...I grew up doing it. It's why I do it here - it comes naturally? Like breathing?)
I think it might be a sinus infection? Not positive. Might do a hot shower and neti pot tonight.
More on Woodward and Newman Doc.
Takeaways:
* Newman was radioman overseas with the bomber division of the US air force in World War II, served from 1944-1946. He signed up to be in the air force, but was declared color blind - so sent to boot camp, and ended up being a radio man. Was supposed to be on the bomber Bunker Hill, but got reassigned at the last minute and everyone on that air raid was killed by Japanese Kamikaze pilots. (He served in the Pacific).
* Newman considers himself Jewish, and while half Protestant and half Jewish, has always been raised as Jewish. As a child he and his brother banged their heads on the wall - and the doctor informed his mother that this was something Jewish boys did, but only Jewish boys. (That's completely untrue, I know a lot of people who've done that who aren't Jewish.) He enjoyed the fact that his looks were a stab in the face of the Jewish stereotype, and as much as felt his good looks were a flaw and a cross at times, he realizes he wouldn't have gotten as far if he looked like Golda Meir.
* Newman's mother was kind of abusive and he did not have a good relationship with her. (She disliked both of his wives. Claimed Joanne was having an affair with Gore Vidal (which is amusing considering Vidal was famously "gay") and Newman stopped talking to her for fifteen years when she told him.) His father died when he was twenty-two, and he was forced to take over the business, but eventually left with his first wife (also an actress) to study acting at Yale.
* Part of Newman's difficulty with acting, was he is naturally emotionally reserved. His first wife never saw him cry, and he barely remembers crying more than a few times. But he manages to do so in Cool Hand Luke - and it's among the few times his kids saw him cry. Newman's acting is very similar to Fonda, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and Robert Redford - it's natural, and understated. Redford and Newman became long-lasting best friends from the moment they worked together, and Redford states that Newman was loyal and committed fully to friendship. He loved the man. Makes sense - both are similar actors, with similar issues - too good looking for their own good, which limited them in regard to more character oriented roles. Newman saw Joanne as more talented than he was - and went out of his way to prove it.
* Certain films get the in-depth treatment - in Episode 3, Butch and Sundance, Cool Hand Luke (considered among his best roles), and Rachel, Rachel - a ground-breaking independent film that he directed Joanne Woodward in, and was among her best roles. Three Faces of Eve is another film that gets it in a previous episode.
I told Mother about the doc - and she asked if they'd addressed Rachel, Rachel yet - it's among her favorite films. They do in Chapter 3 and in quite a bit of depth, I was pleased and impressed, and it made me want to watch the film. (I grew up with parents who loved to analyze the films, books, theater, and television series that we saw. We'd discuss them. Knew the trivia. Some families are into sports or music? Mine was into film and television. My parents did enjoy sports and music. But we all thought visually and were analytical - so...I grew up doing it. It's why I do it here - it comes naturally? Like breathing?)
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Date: 2025-11-17 08:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-19 02:34 am (UTC)