Libby Morse

Helen Frankenthaler at Gagosian/Chelsea
April 30–July 2

Jerry lights a cigarette with a lighter

Jerry Lewis by Harry Hammond, 1958

"His ultimate object of contemplation was his own contradictory self, & he turned his obsession with fragmentation, discontinuity & the limits of language into a spectacle that enchanted children, disturbed adults & fascinated postmodernist critics."
- Dave Kehr

From the wonderful 2022 exhibit at the Morgan Library.

Sylvia Beach & an Irishman I know at the door of Shakespeare and Company, Rue de l’Odéon, Paris (1920)

It’s Sylvia’s birthday tomorrow.

I love its silly, soppy beating heart.

warren dunes state park sign, red arrow highway, bridgman, michigan, 1991

warren dunes state park sign, red arrow highway, bridgman, michigan, 1991

Jerry Lewis rehearsal for The Bellboy YouTube video by Donazify

I FINALLY understand why the French loved Jerry Lewis after watching The Bellboy (1960) for the first time last night. I can’t say I loved it from beginning to end, but many of the sequences are amazing—Tati meets the New Wave with a hefty heaping of Tashlin. youtu.be/VNqmZ5TYUMM

Saw it during #NoirCity this past fall. One of my favorites.

(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time (1958) - Blossom Dearie YouTube video by Croonr1

There oughta be! (Don't forget to lose an hour of sleep tonight.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMRN...

Everything she did was fabulous, but this number even more so.

Hey @criterionchannl.bsky.social any chance you’ll show it soon?

Nature finally got her act together.

Also wonderful to hear Magnani say “Burt Lancaster.”

Last night’s watch: Visconti’s Bellissima (1951). When Cinecittà issues an auditon call for an adorable little girl, all the mothers in Rome show up with their kids in tow. But they’re no match for Anna Magnani (is anyone ever???). What a performance! What a beautifully layered movie!

Visit to Calder Gardens, then the amazing Noah Davis show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The plot of every horror sequel. #Svengoolie #SonOfFrankenstein

The Secret Agent movie review (2025) | Roger Ebert This is one of the year’s best films, and one of the most distinctive.

"Once in a while, you see a movie that doesn’t feel made, but extracted from a dreaming mind. It won’t go to you and hand over its meanings. You have to go to it." I reviewed The Secret Agent, my favorite film of 2025. Haunting, beautiful, profound. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-...

Who Will Remember You?: “The Secret Agent” and the Humanities as Resistance How Kleber Mendonça Filho's film positions archival, art, and preservation as tools of resistance.

For my @ebertvoices.bsky.social debut, I wrote about THE SECRET AGENT, the humanities, and memory as both acts of resistance and love. This movie is very dear to me, and I'm glad to be an enthusiastic champion of it as part of Women's Writers Week!

➡️ www.rogerebert.com/women-writer...

Édouard Vuillard, The Newspaper, 1896-98, showing a woman reading a newspaper in a decorated interior

If I were to recommend only a single exhibition in NYC right now it wouldn't be a big, splashy museum presentation but rather a small, ravishing show of Édouard Vuillard's early interiors at Skarstedt in Chelsea. Absolutely stupendous. Open through April 25 (thread) www.skarstedt.com/exhibitions/...

This movie.

Maybe the only James Bond movie I WOULD watch.

Happy #WorldBookDay to those who celebrate.

#MarilynMonroe #BookSky #FilmSky #MovieSky

A movie I love beyond all reason. When is it on #TCM again???

Just watched Bresson’s Pickpocket (1959).

A great conversation for @pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social with Benjamin Hall. The veteran war correspondent and best-selling memorist (Saved, 2023 and Resolute, 2025) has written a picture book about why journalism is important to communities.

Opinion | This Summer, Students From Hundreds of Colleges Will Heed One Urgent Call What better way to celebrate the nation’s 250th?

Inspired by the 1964 Freedom Summer movement, “a network of hundreds of schools and allied organizations are uniting for Democracy Summer, a nationwide program to educate citizens and protect our elections in the coming year,” writes Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan University.

Looking Back at a Half-Forgotten Pioneer of Method Acting Marlon Brando was often credited as the first Method movie star, but that honor rightly belongs to John Garfield.

BOTD John Garfield!!
Hounded by HUAC
MCCT5: 5)Breaking Point 4)Fallen Sparrow 3)Ran All the Way 2)Force of Evil 1)Body & Soul
More:
John Prine 🙏: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3UT...
@martykudlac.bsky.social: cineuropa.org/newsdetail/4...
@isaacbutler.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/culture/cult...

What a guy. What a force of energy.

As I said the other day: It’s only a war if it comes from the war region of France. Otherwise it’s just sparkling military conflict

Expecting to see this on Netflix soon.