Call the Midwife Season 3 and Mr. Selfridge Season 2!

Chummy is back on Sunday March 30! I just previewed the first episode of Call The Midwife Season 3 and it was fabulous as usual. And lots of Chummy in this one so you know it will be good. And a (shhh) Royal Visit (shhhh).

Check local listings but in my area this one airs at 8pm as the lead in for Mr. Selfridge. Harrumph! Call the Midwife should be the main feature methinks.

Mr. Selfridge Season 2 starts next Sunday as well on PBS stations everywhere. I think 9 pm but check local listings!!!

I like this show (if I can remember back that far) but I haven't heard any buzz on the new season. I also haven't had a chance to preview the season opener yet so I can't give you any info yet.

I do love Frances O'Connor so high hopes!

Let me know what you think of these new seasons!

P.S. After watching the whole season opener of Mr. Selfridge on Sunday night, I am sort of on the fence about it. Absolutely gorgeous to look at, no doubt about that. And Frances O'Connor as Rose Selfridge is sticking up for herself and letting Jeremy Piven's big boss know where he can take his loving husband routine. Go Rose! But there is still something lacking in this series. I will continue to watch, ever hopeful that the plot will live up to the production values. I'd love to know what you think. Please comment below.

Still loving Chummy and The Midwives! xoxo

Cheers!

Frances O'Connor- Actor of the Week

Frances O'Connor is my actor of the week and I truly can't believe that I have not featured her before. She has done a few films that I watch again and again, and she continues to surprise us with new offerings. So here goes...

I first saw Frances O'Connor in Mansfield Park 1999 and continue to be blown away by her performance every time I watch this. I have not even come close to getting tired of watching Mansfield Park. And she gets to kiss both Jonny Lee Miller and Alessandro Nivola, the lucky girl. Wonderful acting, great chemistry and the best take so far on MP. Yes, it needs to be redone in a longer miniseries format with a Fanny Price more like she is written in the book, but I will still always love the Patricia Rozema version and Frances O'Connor is a big part of the reason!

As the spunky and sexy Gwendolyn Fairfax from The Importance of Being Ernest, she again rocks the strong female lead. I mean, who else could stand up to Judi Dench (playing her mother) and make Colin Firth do exactly as she wished, including getting a tattoo on his posterior? Incidentally, she outshone Reese Witherspoon by a mile in this one.

If you haven't seen the Women's Suffrage film Iron Jawed Angels, you really have to seek this one out. It is so little known and yet such a great film. Once again we have Frances O'Connor playing a real firecracker of a lady, Lucy Burns, and playing her extremely well. This film should be required viewing for...everyone! You will never miss out on voting for anything after you see this one. Loved it!

And of course we have the lovely Rose Selfridge in the recent Andrew Davies miniseries, Mr. Selfridge. Frances O'Connor is a bit more sedate as Mrs. Selfridge, although she still has quite a backbone! Just a little softer around the edges than some of her roles. We can't wait to see her again in season 2. I just hope they don't kill her off. In real life, she died in 1918. Please keep her in the series Mr. Davies!

There are a few other of her period dramas, notably Madam Bovary, which I haven't seen but would like to. Any other recommendations of fave Frances O'Connor films?

Cheers!

Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge- The Book is Better than the Miniseries!

Sometimes the book is better, sometimes the film adaptation is better and sometimes they are both great. This time, for "Mr. Selfridge" vs "Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge" the book has the slight edge in my opinion. It is not a novel, but a non-fiction account of the evolution of shopping on both sides of the Atlantic.

The story of Harry Gordon Selfridge is a true American rags to riches and back to rags story of which few of us were previously aware. I have been to the Selfridges store which transformed the "wrong end of Oxford Street" when my family visited London just after the bombings in July 2005. I just thought Selfridges was a very nice department store in 2005, and a welcome reprieve from a summer downpour. I should have looked around a bit more instead of just shopping. Although I did get some lovely lingerie there! Thanks Harry! :)

Although Harry himself is interesting, it is the history of modern shopping and fashion which have really caught my imagination. Mr. Selfridge started out with Marshall Fields in Chicago, and anyone with an interest  in the history of Chicago would also find this fascinating. I could have used more pretty pictures of the merchandise. Oh, those gorgeous Victorian and Edwardian dresses!

I was fascinated to hear that there was a outdoor rooftop terrace where they held fashion shows and demonstrations of all kinds. And of course those fabulous window displays live on...

Yes, that is a gingerbread version of Selfridges with corgis in Santa hats on top and Pearly Kings on each side! Even though Selfridges has been owned by Canadian food retailer Galen Weston for a decade now, it seems to have retained it's modern British feel. It certainly isn't anything like Harrods in any case!

So even if you, like many, were left underwhelmed by the miniseries, the book is worth a look.

Suffragettes in film- "Deeds, not Words!"

When I decided to write a post on suffragettes in film, I thought there would be more material on which to draw. There are surprisingly few films (or television programs) which have dealt even peripherally with Women's Suffrage.

I have to give Walt Disney some credit for making the story of the suffragettes so key to Mary Poppins, however the underlying message was really that Mrs. Banks should have been at home, paying more attention to her kids rather than getting "Votes for Women". We'll let that pass as they also skewered Mr. Banks being emotionally absent to the children. That was about as equal as you got in 1964 I suppose.

And truly, I think this is the only exposure to the story of the suffragettes that many citizens of the world have ever had!

We'll have to see whether the issue comes up in the new film Saving Mr. Banks starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers (the author of Mary Poppins). Apparently Disney only put the suffragette story in to explain why Mrs. Banks would have needed a nanny. The majority of the American audience didn't know what a nanny was at the time the film was released.

Apparently the best film about Women's Suffrage is Iron Jawed Angels which was made as an HBO film in 2004. Starring Hilary Swank, Frances O'Connor, Angelica Huston, Vera Farmiga and Julia Ormond it even has Patrick Dempsey as a love interest. How did I never hear about this before???

I have requested this for Mother's Day (OK, who am I kidding? I ordered it myself from Amazon and tossed it to my husband today to be wrapped for Sunday). So I will review it when I have seen it. Stay tuned but it sounds amazing.

Just a brief history lesson here. The women's suffrage movement was active mainly in England, America and the colonies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The purple white and green stood for dignity, purity and hope respectively. It is a popular myth that the colours were green white and violet for "Give Women Votes".

Posters like this one were a common sight in England and the USA. Emmeline Pankhurst coined the phrase "Deeds, not Words" as the male politicians kept telling women to be patient and that the topic would be debated...sometime soon! Women demonstrated in the streets and were often arrested and force fed if they went on hunger strikes. If thrown in gaol, they considered themselves political prisoners.

Valentine Wannop (Adelaide Clemens) from Parade's End gave a little demonstration on a golf course (with her friend Gertie) whose escape was aided by Christopher Tietjens played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

I was thrilled to see that Mr. Selfridge included the suffragettes right from the first episode, making it clear that Harry Selfridge's fictitious female financial backer Lady Mae Loxley was also a quiet funder of the women's suffrage movement and held her meetings at the restaurant in Selfridge's.

Edwardian suffragette pendant 

Of course you just know that the real Harry Selfridge would have been marketing all kinds of merchandise to the suffragettes at the time. Indeed he would likely have wanted women to wield more power in England so they could have more influence over how the money was spent. Shrewd man that little Jeremy Piven!

On a more serious note, New Zealand was the first country to grant women full voting rights in 1893 and Switzerland was the last western country to do so in 1971! And just so you know, there are still places in the world where women still cannot vote such as Saudi Arabia and The Vatican. So please vote in every election you are able to. Our ancestors (who were denied the right) won it for us, ladies!

Let me end with a link to a YouTube music video that you may want to show your daughters, granddaughters, sisters and girlfriends. It won an Emmy and you will have Lady Gaga stuck in your head for days!

YouTube Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage

PBS Update- The Bletchley Circle, Call the Midwife and Mr. Selfridge

I just wanted to give two of these series currently running on PBS a big thumbs up (or a 5 teacup rating, whichever you prefer) and the other one a resounding meh!

The Bletchley Circle is soooooo awesome that ITV can't possibly leave it at just one 3 episode series. Oh, please, please, please make this a recurring series. We need more mysteries solved by these brilliant code cracking females!

If you haven't yet seen this amazing series, you were able to catch up online at the PBS website: The Bletchley Circle until they took the first episode down, the stinkers.

Someone has uploaded all three episodes to YouTube. The link is here: YouTubeBletchley. Enjoy it while it lasts!

My other 5 teacup rating goes to the second season of Call the Midwife. I was a bit skeptical of whether the BBC could keep up the amazing quality of the first season but wow, they sure have. One really gets the feel of the emerging improvements in medical care in the second half of the 20th century when you watch this show. And it always seems to make me cry and yet not seem depressing somehow. I gotta read the book when this series finishes!

Just be careful when you are watching this. Inevitably, someone either male or under the age of 18 will walk into the room just as you are watching a delivery with the midwife between the poor mother's legs!!!!

Haven't been following? Catch up here: Call the Midwife Season 2

So here comes my lukewarm assessment of Mr. Selfridge. It's okayyyyyyyyy....

Two and a half teacups (with the tea running out of the half cup)? I have been watching it. I haven't been enthralled or enthusiastic but I leave it on after Call the Midwife. A friend of mine used to work out in the same gym as Jeremy Piven and described him as "very small and squirrely".  Perhaps that is part of it but the scripts must be at least partly to blame. I love the main character Agnes Towler (played by the marvelously named Aisling Loftus) and Frances O'Connor is her usual luminous self as Harry Selfridge's wife Rose.

I will give it a few more weeks however as I did enjoy the latest installment with the Suffragettes. They are dear to my heart and you will find my post devoted to the Suffragettes here: Mary Poppins and the Suffragettes.

What do y'all think of these three PBS series?

Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity (& Film!)

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
Women in the Garden, 1866
Oil on canvas; 100 3/8 x 80 11/16 in. (255 x 205 cm)
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Well, if you have been wondering why I haven't posted in a while, I have been in NYC on a business trip. I managed to get to a wonderful exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the museum set into the east side of Central Park) and wanted to share it with you.

Day Dress
American, 1862–64
White cotton piqué with black soutache
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Chauncey Stillman, 1960

I was in heaven, as I adore both Victorian dresses and impressionist art and it was such a wonderful change from the optometry lectures I have been attending. The combination of paintings, dresses, early photographs, fashion plates and various accessories such as fans, shoes and corsets was brilliant. Kudos to whoever thought up this dreamy exhibit.

Albert Bartholomé (French, 1848–1928)
In the Conservatory (Madame Bartholomé), ca. 1881
Oil on canvas; 91 3/4 x 56 1/8 in. (233 x 142.5 cm)
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Gift of the Société des Amis du Musée d'Orsay, 1990

For some paintings they found similar dresses to exhibit nearby, but in the case of the painting above, they had the actual dress! And was it ever gorgeous!!! (see below, but way better to be able to steam up the glass case in person, not that my nose was pressed that close of course)

Summer Day Dress Worn by Madame Bartholomé in the Painting In the Conservatory
French, 1880
White cotton printed with purple dots and stripes
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Gift of the Galerie Charles and André Bailly, 1991

So if you would like to see this exhibit yourself, it is at The Met until May 27, 2013 and then moves to the Art Institute of Chicago from June 26- September 22 2013. The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

James Tissot (French, 1836–1902)
The Shop Girl, from the series Women of Paris, 1883–85
Oil on canvas; 57 1/2 x 40 in. (146.1 x 101.6 cm)
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Gift from Corporations' Subscription Fund, 1968

If you would like some film recommendations, I was reminded of a few great films and miniseries today.

The Paradise is the new BBC series inspired by the 1883 Emile Zola novel The Ladies' Paradise. We have no word yet on when we will see this in North America, but some of my British readers are loving it! The BBC changed the setting from Paris to London but The Shop Girl above could easily be a character in the story anyway!

We however will soon see the ITV series Mr. Selfridge on PBS starting Sunday March 31. Although set a bit later in 1909, it gives a great feel of period shopping in London. And who wouldn't love to go shopping in London in 1909?

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
Camille, 1866
Oil on canvas; 90 15/16 x 59 1/2 in. (231 x 151 cm)
Kunsthalle Bremen, Der Kunstverein in Bremen

And if you would like to see a fabulous story about some of the Impressionist painters (hey even Emile Zola the novelist is a character) The Impressionists is a wonderful miniseries. If you need any more coaxing, Richard Armitage plays Claude Monet and Amanda Root plays Alice Hoschedé, his second wife. When I get home tomorrow, I am digging out my DVD to see and hear my dear Richard as Monet again. And to see those gorgeous dresses of course!

Mr. Selfridge and Call the Midwife Season 2 starting March 31 on PBS

It will be another month before we in North America get to see the new ITV/Andrew Davies series Mr. Selfridge, about the flamboyant American retailer Harry Selfridge who founded his namesake department stores in the UK in 1909. It stars Jeremy Piven playing the lead and Frances O'Connor as his wife Rose Selfridge. I was able to preview the first two episodes and I can absolutely recommend this for great Sunday night viewing. However, I think PBS missed the opportunity to retain it's Sunday night audience by delaying the airing of Mr. Selfridge until the end of March!

Doesn't Jeremy Piven look thrilled to be surrounded by those gorgeous women?

In the UK, the BBC rushed their very similar offering The Paradise (loosely based on Emile Zola's department store novel The Ladies' Paradise) to the small screen in the fall of 2012 whereas Mr. Selfridge didn't start on ITV until January 2013. 

It seems that the BBC didn't want to be burned again like when Upstairs Downstairs was pipped at the post by the superior Downton Abbey from ITV. This time the viewers and critics are torn, so there seems to be no clear winner yet in the UK. There is no word yet on when we in North America will see The Paradise.

I will admit that I am besotted with Call the Midwife, so I have also previewed the first episode of Season 2 for you (what a sacrifice I make for my online friends!). I loved it, as usual. This show is so charming and it really is "Girl Power" circa 1957. You go girls!

If you haven't seen Season 1 of Call the Midwife, many PBS stations are replaying it (Sun March 10 and 17 8-11pm) so you can catch up. Unfortunately not my local station out of Buffalo, but perhaps you will be luckier. Remember...Check Local Listings!

My review of Call the Midwife Season 1 is here. And my sister's review of the Christmas episode of Call the Midwife is here! Have fun with your Sunday nights in April my friends!

Ripper Street, Parade's End, Mr. Selfridge and more

Any fans of Matthew Macfadyen out there? You may want to check out Ripper Street, a BBC production coming to BBC America this Saturday January 19th at 9 pm. Called CSI Victorian London by The Telegraph, this is apparently a fairly gory but interesting and well produced crime drama, which just happens to be set in the 1880s.

There seem to be mixed reviews on this one. Some are really loving it, others are not so impressed. It is airing on Sunday nights in the UK right now and Mr. Selfridge, the much lighter-hearted story of the great retailer (ITV and Andrew Davies) is beating it out in ratings for the after Sunday dinner crowd. Any Brits out there who can weigh in on Ripper Street?

Parade's End, which airs on HBO on Tuesday February 26th is another one which is hard to make out. There are fabulous reviews and others ones which are lukewarm. Sumptuously filmed by the BBC, this adaptation of a classic English novel about the Great War may draw a few of us viewers just to see the gorgeous chameleon Benedict Cumberbatch. Apparently his fans in America (The Cumberbitches) will be thrilled. It is also packed with other stars such as Rebecca Hall, Rupert Everett, Miranda Richardson, Rufus Sewell, etc, etc. Too many to list!

I caught a snatch of this on YouTube before it was yanked and I liked it. However one viewer called it Parade Never Ends, so perhaps it drags toward the end. Again, anyone seen this and like to weigh in?

I am going to stick my neck out and predict that Mr. Selfridge, an ITV production written by the wonderful Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House, Sense and Sensibility) will be a little more universally appealing than the previous two offerings. Described as Downton in a department store, this one follows Harry Selfridge (Jeremy Piven) "The Showman Behind the Retail Empire" of Selfridges.

This one airs on PBS in March in 10 episodes (!!!) so all of a sudden, the winter looks shorter to me. Lots to look forward to.

The Bletchley Circle doesn't air until April 21 on PBS, but this story of 4 former code cracking ladies from Bletchley Park who find post-war Britain very dull and so move into solving a murder sounds like fun. Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House and Becoming Jane) is always wonderful to watch. We get the second season of Call the Midwife around the same time in the spring as well.

Not a period drama (but truly my cup of tea), Quartet is a light dramedy about the residents of a "retirement castle" (it is truly sumptuous) for classical musicians. The entire supporting cast are actually talented retirees and the stars are some of the best "experienced" actors that Britain has to offer. Dustin Hoffman directed this one and apparently had his hands full keeping Maggie Smith in line. I will be seeing this soon and will post a review.

Anyhow, there you have a sneak peek at some coming attractions. Anything else you are looking forward to that I neglected to mention? Or opinions on the above? Please comment below. We ALL want to hear from ALL of you!