The Nitrate Diva
@nitratediva.bsky.social
Classic movies. Vintage pop culture. Cats.
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The Nitrate Diva
@nitratediva.bsky.social
· Mar 19
Had to make a Ginger Rogers "come at me" gif from VIVACIOUS LADY (1938). #TCMParty
Personal highlights from #NoKings in Manchester, #Vermont yesterday:
🇺🇸 Lady gave my signless dad a flag to wave just as we arrived
🦄 Antifa unicorn
🦖 Twerking T-rex
🎀 Pink lady in sparkly beret
🛻 Vintage truck driver honking with gusto
🍩 Someone who couldn't attend sent a friend to hand out donuts
🇺🇸 Lady gave my signless dad a flag to wave just as we arrived
🦄 Antifa unicorn
🦖 Twerking T-rex
🎀 Pink lady in sparkly beret
🛻 Vintage truck driver honking with gusto
🍩 Someone who couldn't attend sent a friend to hand out donuts
October 19, 2025 at 3:52 PM
"Vermont, you are just as weird as we remembered you," declared @gregproops.bsky.social during WHOSE LIVE ANYWAY? at Rutland's Paramount theater last night.
Thank you to improv masters Greg, Ryan, Gary, Jeff, and Laura for a hilarious show out here in the land of bears, libraries, and snowy peaks!
Thank you to improv masters Greg, Ryan, Gary, Jeff, and Laura for a hilarious show out here in the land of bears, libraries, and snowy peaks!
October 2, 2025 at 6:33 PM
"Vermont, you are just as weird as we remembered you," declared @gregproops.bsky.social during WHOSE LIVE ANYWAY? at Rutland's Paramount theater last night.
Thank you to improv masters Greg, Ryan, Gary, Jeff, and Laura for a hilarious show out here in the land of bears, libraries, and snowy peaks!
Thank you to improv masters Greg, Ryan, Gary, Jeff, and Laura for a hilarious show out here in the land of bears, libraries, and snowy peaks!
13 WASHINGTON SQUARE is a delightful silent film that deserves to be more widely enjoyed! Sort of a sillier cousin of THE CAT AND THE CANARY. 🖤
And thanks for the shoutout! This was a fun commentary to do. I got to talk about a bunch of underrated actors, film tech changes of the era, and more.
And thanks for the shoutout! This was a fun commentary to do. I got to talk about a bunch of underrated actors, film tech changes of the era, and more.
Zasu Pitts steals the show as a malaprop-spouting maid in 13 WASHINGTON SQUARE (1928), an "old, dark house" sendup w/ a dash of social commentary.
The Kino Blu-ray is only $5.99 w/ @nitratediva.bsky.social commentary!
A good #Halloween watch
kinolorber.com/product/13-w... #SilentMovieDay #FilmSky
The Kino Blu-ray is only $5.99 w/ @nitratediva.bsky.social commentary!
A good #Halloween watch
kinolorber.com/product/13-w... #SilentMovieDay #FilmSky
September 30, 2025 at 7:04 PM
13 WASHINGTON SQUARE is a delightful silent film that deserves to be more widely enjoyed! Sort of a sillier cousin of THE CAT AND THE CANARY. 🖤
And thanks for the shoutout! This was a fun commentary to do. I got to talk about a bunch of underrated actors, film tech changes of the era, and more.
And thanks for the shoutout! This was a fun commentary to do. I got to talk about a bunch of underrated actors, film tech changes of the era, and more.
An inviting autumn landscape. Might've been yesterday, but it's actually an autochrome from 1912.
"Autumn Gold" by Hugh C. Knowles
From the V&A's collections: bit.ly/42Fh4Bv
"Autumn Gold" by Hugh C. Knowles
From the V&A's collections: bit.ly/42Fh4Bv
September 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM
An inviting autumn landscape. Might've been yesterday, but it's actually an autochrome from 1912.
"Autumn Gold" by Hugh C. Knowles
From the V&A's collections: bit.ly/42Fh4Bv
"Autumn Gold" by Hugh C. Knowles
From the V&A's collections: bit.ly/42Fh4Bv
From Ingmar Bergman's SUMMER INTERLUDE (1951)
🍂🍂🍂
🍂🍂🍂
September 2, 2025 at 12:39 AM
From Ingmar Bergman's SUMMER INTERLUDE (1951)
🍂🍂🍂
🍂🍂🍂
Continuing my pre-autumn program of old dark house comfort viewing with FOG ISLAND (1945). Savoring the saturnine suavity of George Zucco and his eyes of infinite menace. Here he hosts a little game of retribution among enemies. Giallo-esque B full of loathsome people who meet justly nasty ends.
August 29, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Continuing my pre-autumn program of old dark house comfort viewing with FOG ISLAND (1945). Savoring the saturnine suavity of George Zucco and his eyes of infinite menace. Here he hosts a little game of retribution among enemies. Giallo-esque B full of loathsome people who meet justly nasty ends.
Post a random picture, or else everything will go bad in September.
(Save us, Eve Arden, save us.)
(Save us, Eve Arden, save us.)
August 29, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Post a random picture, or else everything will go bad in September.
(Save us, Eve Arden, save us.)
(Save us, Eve Arden, save us.)
Tonight's creepy pre-autumn programming: the thoroughly bonkers chiller NIGHT MONSTER (1942). This cast is somewhat underused, but mysterious bloodstains, the Universal fog machine on overdrive, a surprisingly high body count, and creative shadows all elevate the old dark house-y proceedings.
August 28, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Tonight's creepy pre-autumn programming: the thoroughly bonkers chiller NIGHT MONSTER (1942). This cast is somewhat underused, but mysterious bloodstains, the Universal fog machine on overdrive, a surprisingly high body count, and creative shadows all elevate the old dark house-y proceedings.
Signs that you're in for a good time
August 20, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Signs that you're in for a good time
Enjoying a spell of cool weather here in VT, so I'm leaning into the autumn preview by breaking out the horror-tinged gothic mysteries.
Last night: THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)
Tonight: SHE-WOLF OF LONDON (1946)
Both comfort chillers IMO. Fun and delightfully atmospheric.
Last night: THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)
Tonight: SHE-WOLF OF LONDON (1946)
Both comfort chillers IMO. Fun and delightfully atmospheric.
August 19, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Enjoying a spell of cool weather here in VT, so I'm leaning into the autumn preview by breaking out the horror-tinged gothic mysteries.
Last night: THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)
Tonight: SHE-WOLF OF LONDON (1946)
Both comfort chillers IMO. Fun and delightfully atmospheric.
Last night: THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946)
Tonight: SHE-WOLF OF LONDON (1946)
Both comfort chillers IMO. Fun and delightfully atmospheric.
I obviously lack the advantages of Technicolor VistaVision but here are a few snapshots from my dirt road walks last autumn to prove I’m not joking about the enduring TROUBLE WITH HARRY-ness of Vermont! #TCMParty
August 14, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I obviously lack the advantages of Technicolor VistaVision but here are a few snapshots from my dirt road walks last autumn to prove I’m not joking about the enduring TROUBLE WITH HARRY-ness of Vermont! #TCMParty
This line + Shirley MacLaine's delivery = perfection
August 13, 2025 at 11:02 PM
This line + Shirley MacLaine's delivery = perfection
So true, bestie
August 13, 2025 at 10:45 PM
So true, bestie
Can confirm that Vermont in autumn does still look the way it does in Hitchcock's THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955). This is why I put up with the spotty wifi out here tbh. #TCMParty
August 13, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Can confirm that Vermont in autumn does still look the way it does in Hitchcock's THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955). This is why I put up with the spotty wifi out here tbh. #TCMParty
I love GIRL MISSING (1933) so much.
August 12, 2025 at 12:16 AM
I love GIRL MISSING (1933) so much.
The TCM announcer just said "there's no escaping Glenda Farrell tonight" which is kind of a weird way of inviting us to enjoy her movies? But, on the hand, sure, all hail our overlord Glenda! #TCMParty
August 11, 2025 at 11:50 PM
The TCM announcer just said "there's no escaping Glenda Farrell tonight" which is kind of a weird way of inviting us to enjoy her movies? But, on the hand, sure, all hail our overlord Glenda! #TCMParty
Whenever I see future Oscar winner Jane Wyman in a B movie, like SMART BLONDE, I think about the big WB stars she remembered as encouraging: "Jimmy Cagney knew me and was always shouting, 'Hang in there, kid! Fight for every part!' And Kay Francis was very nice to the youngsters, as we were called."
August 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Whenever I see future Oscar winner Jane Wyman in a B movie, like SMART BLONDE, I think about the big WB stars she remembered as encouraging: "Jimmy Cagney knew me and was always shouting, 'Hang in there, kid! Fight for every part!' And Kay Francis was very nice to the youngsters, as we were called."
The most memorable bit of THESE GLAMOUR GIRLS (1939) is Marsha Hunt, the tragically awkward has-been campus sweetheart, shakily lighting up a cigarette as she waits for an oncoming train to annihilate her and her pain. Feels like someone cut a noir scene into a college screwball comedy.
August 4, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The most memorable bit of THESE GLAMOUR GIRLS (1939) is Marsha Hunt, the tragically awkward has-been campus sweetheart, shakily lighting up a cigarette as she waits for an oncoming train to annihilate her and her pain. Feels like someone cut a noir scene into a college screwball comedy.
Black dresses don't get much more timeless than this Dolly Tree design worn by Lana Turner over the course of an all-night college house party crawl in THESE GLAMOUR GIRLS (1939). The dark color and sleek lines help Turner's winsome outsider stand out from the catty debutantes in laces and frills.
August 4, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Black dresses don't get much more timeless than this Dolly Tree design worn by Lana Turner over the course of an all-night college house party crawl in THESE GLAMOUR GIRLS (1939). The dark color and sleek lines help Turner's winsome outsider stand out from the catty debutantes in laces and frills.
My fav #ThinMan story is that Nat Pendleton challenged William Powell on his pronunciation of "suspects" and brought in a bunch of dictionaries to show it could be said his way. TBH I find the emphasis on "sus-PECTS" (noun, plural) in THE THIN MAN quite off-putting! I'm Team Pendleton on this.
July 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
My fav #ThinMan story is that Nat Pendleton challenged William Powell on his pronunciation of "suspects" and brought in a bunch of dictionaries to show it could be said his way. TBH I find the emphasis on "sus-PECTS" (noun, plural) in THE THIN MAN quite off-putting! I'm Team Pendleton on this.
THE THIN MAN understands that one sign of a successful marriage is affectionately calling each other an idiot for as long as you both shall live.
(Source: I'm the only child of hilarious happily married parents who constantly send each other 💩 emojis via text.) #ThinMan
(Source: I'm the only child of hilarious happily married parents who constantly send each other 💩 emojis via text.) #ThinMan
July 22, 2025 at 12:56 AM
THE THIN MAN understands that one sign of a successful marriage is affectionately calling each other an idiot for as long as you both shall live.
(Source: I'm the only child of hilarious happily married parents who constantly send each other 💩 emojis via text.) #ThinMan
(Source: I'm the only child of hilarious happily married parents who constantly send each other 💩 emojis via text.) #ThinMan
Reposted by The Nitrate Diva
Woodbridge Strong "One-Take Woody" Van Dyke II with William Powell and Myrna Loy on the set of AFTER THE THIN MAN. I think this was taken at the same time as the birthday cake photo (that I can't find) ^PG #ThinMan
July 22, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Woodbridge Strong "One-Take Woody" Van Dyke II with William Powell and Myrna Loy on the set of AFTER THE THIN MAN. I think this was taken at the same time as the birthday cake photo (that I can't find) ^PG #ThinMan
I anticipate starting at 8:10 or so to give folks a chance to get their tech set up ^PG #ThinMan
July 22, 2025 at 12:07 AM