@profkarenmcnally
Professor of American Film, Television and Cultural History. Books on Frank Sinatra, Billy Wilder, Mad Men, the stardom film, and US television. Researching for historical biography of Lana Turner supported by Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship.
My forthcoming volume Women in Hollywood's Dream Factory: Tales of Inequality, Abuse, and Resistance is available for pre-order complete with gorgeous front cover. Official publication March 17. Huge thanks to the wonderful team at @illinoispress.bsky.social. www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c0...
We're on the website! Women in Hollywood's Dream Factory: Tales of Inequality, Abuse, and Resistance publishes in March 2026 www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c0.... Huge thanks to @illinoispress.bsky.social, a fantastic group of scholars & @leverhulme.ac.uk for supporting my research on Lana Turner
What a film legacy. One of the great Hollywood actors, director, producer, and major promoter of independent filmmaking through the Sundance Institute and Film Festival. RIP Robert Redford. Truly the end of an era.
On my umpteenth joyous rewatch of Mad Men. See how much we learn in this one short scene about these characters and the age of anxiety that is US culture in 1960. And this is only the pilot. Perfect performances by Jon Hamm and Maggie Siff. A show never bettered.
Madame X (1966) directed by David Lowell Rich and produced by Ross Hunter. Lana Turner in an award-winning performance and Constance Bennett in a return to the big screen and what would be her final role. Two of the best at work.
Great film!
Mel Torme keeps the audience entertained with Duke Ellington's 'Don't Get Around Much Any More' during filming of the October 27, 1963 episode of the Judy Garland Show. Garland and June Allyson play comic relief. Thanks to the cameraman for noting history - 'You're gonna shoot this?'
Lana Turner's multiple screen performances in the setting of World War II portrayed the woman at war as nurse, war correspondent, WAC recruit, resistance worker and spy. Under the guise of romantic dramas, these films repeatedly made strong statements about the war and women's experiences within it.
Singers love singers. Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald performing 'Moonlight in Vermont' on ABC's The Frank Sinatra Show in May 1958.
Lana Turner as Lady de Winter in The Three Musketeers (George Sidney, 1948). A movie star face.
This is an exciting new Fellowship opportunity, to fund travel to Boston to conduct research the Boston Public Library! www.bpl.org/blogs/post/a...
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Yes, absolutely. The explicitness of that artistry is nicely done. Authenticity, if it ever exists, is over-rated 😄
Yes, I agree. I would definitely recommend Jackie. It plays in a different way with the idea of the real/unreal and the construction of history. Again, quite a haunting film.
Yes, hopefully so. I think, as with Jackie in particular, it shows such an empathy with women's stories. It's almost melancholic but quite beautiful. And Angelina Jolie is ideal in the role, I think.
No love at all from the #BAFTAs for Pablo Larrain's beautifully told and performed #Maria. Disappointment is always part of the awards cycle, but I must have been watching a different film - twice.
This year, the Leverhulme Trust celebrates 100 years of funding blue skies research and scholarship, and we are very excited about what 2025 has in store. Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year! www.leverhulme.ac.uk/what-we-do
It's never too early to appreciate Edith Head's costume design for Rosemary Clooney's flawless performance of 'Love You Didn't Do Right By Me' by Irving Berlin in White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954). Perfection all around.
Always loved that angled collar.
Midweek treat - Judy Garland, Lena Horne and 'Love' on the Judy Garland Show in October 1963.
Don't question Lana Turner. She always fights back, and styles it like this. Ricardo Montalban vs John Forsythe in Madame X (David Lowell Rich, 1966).
Who cares for narrative integration? I'd happily take a tuxedo and fedora number in every Judy Garland musical.
Pickup on South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953)
I'm very excited to share that my department at USC is hosting a new conference this summer - The Hollywood Conference! Please spread the word and come join us in LA (the obviously spot for this) next July. www.thehollywoodconference.com/cfp
I'll be posting about Lana Turner and all things Hollywood and American TV. Huge thanks to @leverhulme.bsky.social for supporting my research on Turner with a Major Research Fellowship. Here's Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959). Lana, take it away...
