Kelly Gray
@elizabethkellygray.bsky.social
Historian. Author of Habit Forming: Drug Addiction in America, 1776–1914 (OUP, 2023) 📚. Optimism ☀️. Baltimore ֱ🦀. Film Noir 🎥🕵️♂️. Old-time radio 📻. History 🗝️. Playwriting 🎭. The U.S. Constitution 📜🪶. I care deeply about my country. ❤️🇺🇸 Slava Ukraine! ❤️🇺🇦
My book is about drug addiction in the U.S. from 1776 to 1914, when it was (generally) legal to sell addictive drugs. Addiction increased rapidly, but people didn't associate drug addiction with crime. global.oup.com/ushe/product...
November 29, 2025 at 1:58 AM
My book is about drug addiction in the U.S. from 1776 to 1914, when it was (generally) legal to sell addictive drugs. Addiction increased rapidly, but people didn't associate drug addiction with crime. global.oup.com/ushe/product...
Day 15 (a day late) of #NoirvemberChallenge: Film Noir Character You'd Trust the Least w Your Secrets: Mary Woodry (Tommy's mother) in 1949's The Window. Great movie! Bobby Driscoll earned his Juvenile Oscar! Mary's nice, her actions understandable, but ... not to be trusted. Pic: ClassicFilmNoir
November 16, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Day 15 (a day late) of #NoirvemberChallenge: Film Noir Character You'd Trust the Least w Your Secrets: Mary Woodry (Tommy's mother) in 1949's The Window. Great movie! Bobby Driscoll earned his Juvenile Oscar! Mary's nice, her actions understandable, but ... not to be trusted. Pic: ClassicFilmNoir
Day 16 of the #NoirvemberChallenge: Lesser-Known Film Noir Everyone Should See: 1941's "I Wake Up Screaming"! Compelling story & cinematography, and great performances, including #BettyGrable playing against type and the gone-too-soon #LairdCregar and #CaroleLandis. #TCMParty #NoirAlley Pic: FilmInt
November 16, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Day 16 of the #NoirvemberChallenge: Lesser-Known Film Noir Everyone Should See: 1941's "I Wake Up Screaming"! Compelling story & cinematography, and great performances, including #BettyGrable playing against type and the gone-too-soon #LairdCregar and #CaroleLandis. #TCMParty #NoirAlley Pic: FilmInt
I love scenes in open-all-night restaurants. (And in drugstores, and in phone booths.) I believe that’s a cigarette machine in the background? Sign of the times … #BlindSpot #NoirAlley #TCMParty
November 9, 2025 at 6:18 AM
I love scenes in open-all-night restaurants. (And in drugstores, and in phone booths.) I believe that’s a cigarette machine in the background? Sign of the times … #BlindSpot #NoirAlley #TCMParty
Day 8: Favorite Line in a Film Noir
This one is classic -- from Det. Lt. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) to a colleague in 1944's #Laura: "Dames are always pulling a switch on you." #filmnoir #moviesky #filmsky #NoirvemberChallenge #TCMParty #NoirAlley
This one is classic -- from Det. Lt. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) to a colleague in 1944's #Laura: "Dames are always pulling a switch on you." #filmnoir #moviesky #filmsky #NoirvemberChallenge #TCMParty #NoirAlley
November 9, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Day 8: Favorite Line in a Film Noir
This one is classic -- from Det. Lt. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) to a colleague in 1944's #Laura: "Dames are always pulling a switch on you." #filmnoir #moviesky #filmsky #NoirvemberChallenge #TCMParty #NoirAlley
This one is classic -- from Det. Lt. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) to a colleague in 1944's #Laura: "Dames are always pulling a switch on you." #filmnoir #moviesky #filmsky #NoirvemberChallenge #TCMParty #NoirAlley
Nostalgic for classic TV / film? Come to the #MidAtlanticNostalgiaConvention in Towson, MD (Baltimore suburbs), Thursday, Sept. 18–Saturday, Sept. 20! #MorganFairchild #VickiLawrence #KristyMcNichol #HayleyMills #MackenziePhillips #BarryBostwick #JulietMills #ClydeKusatsu #PeterRiegert #FredDryer
August 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Nostalgic for classic TV / film? Come to the #MidAtlanticNostalgiaConvention in Towson, MD (Baltimore suburbs), Thursday, Sept. 18–Saturday, Sept. 20! #MorganFairchild #VickiLawrence #KristyMcNichol #HayleyMills #MackenziePhillips #BarryBostwick #JulietMills #ClydeKusatsu #PeterRiegert #FredDryer
It looks like the writer made it up, & this cracks me up: I looked up "Don't bone me" on Newspapers.com. The earliest result is from Nov. 1950, 8 mos. after #TheAsphaltJungle was released, as the name of a racehorse at Bay Meadows, in San Mateo. I guess the owner saw the movie & liked the phrase?
August 14, 2025 at 1:13 AM
It looks like the writer made it up, & this cracks me up: I looked up "Don't bone me" on Newspapers.com. The earliest result is from Nov. 1950, 8 mos. after #TheAsphaltJungle was released, as the name of a racehorse at Bay Meadows, in San Mateo. I guess the owner saw the movie & liked the phrase?
Happy #ClarkGable Day! (San Francisco Examiner, Oct. 7, 1938) #SUTS #SummerUnderTheStars #TCMParty #TCM
August 10, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Happy #ClarkGable Day! (San Francisco Examiner, Oct. 7, 1938) #SUTS #SummerUnderTheStars #TCMParty #TCM
Since it's #ClarkGable Day on TCM, I wanted to share this cartoon from the San Francisco Examiner, Oct. 7, 1938! #SUTS #SummerUnderTheStars #TCMParty
August 10, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Since it's #ClarkGable Day on TCM, I wanted to share this cartoon from the San Francisco Examiner, Oct. 7, 1938! #SUTS #SummerUnderTheStars #TCMParty
It wasn’t an answer, but do I get *some* credit for finding “thin dime” in the NYT Strands puzzle with the theme “On Broadway”?
June 9, 2025 at 4:21 AM
It wasn’t an answer, but do I get *some* credit for finding “thin dime” in the NYT Strands puzzle with the theme “On Broadway”?
Also focusing on the scenery. (It looks like a real street—not a studio lot?). #TCMParty #NoirAlley #TheProwler.
April 27, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Also focusing on the scenery. (It looks like a real street—not a studio lot?). #TCMParty #NoirAlley #TheProwler.
April 27, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Looking forward to #TheSteelTrap tonight. Watching #TheNarrowMargin last weekend made the workweek better! Betting The Steel Trap will have the same effect. It'll be interesting to see Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright together in something other than Shadow of a Doubt. #NoirAlley #TCMParty
April 12, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Looking forward to #TheSteelTrap tonight. Watching #TheNarrowMargin last weekend made the workweek better! Betting The Steel Trap will have the same effect. It'll be interesting to see Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright together in something other than Shadow of a Doubt. #NoirAlley #TCMParty
March 30, 2025 at 4:19 AM
March 9, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Looking forward to the return of #NoirAlley #TCMParty with #TheVelvetTouch! As one rollercoaster operator said to the other toward the end of #WomanOnTheRun:
March 9, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Looking forward to the return of #NoirAlley #TCMParty with #TheVelvetTouch! As one rollercoaster operator said to the other toward the end of #WomanOnTheRun:
February 7, 2025 at 4:05 PM
January 26, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Brief appearance by the mayor of Mayberry! #NoirAlley #DeadlineAtDawn
January 12, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Brief appearance by the mayor of Mayberry! #NoirAlley #DeadlineAtDawn
January 8, 2025 at 1:13 AM
January 6, 2025 at 5:53 AM
January 5, 2025 at 5:48 AM
That guess revealed that the answer did *not* contain an “H” or a “K,” and the last letter was *not* “S.” That allowed me to cross off all but one possibility, leaving me with SCOFF. I hope this helps! (5/5)
December 26, 2024 at 1:12 AM
That guess revealed that the answer did *not* contain an “H” or a “K,” and the last letter was *not* “S.” That allowed me to cross off all but one possibility, leaving me with SCOFF. I hope this helps! (5/5)
MY ADVICE: Don’t guess each possible answer – you don’t have room for that. Instead, guess words containing as many potential letters as possible, to identify / eliminate possible answers efficiently. Since 3 possible words contained an “H,” 2 had a “K,” and 4 ended in “S,” I guessed HOOKS. (4/5)
December 26, 2024 at 1:12 AM
MY ADVICE: Don’t guess each possible answer – you don’t have room for that. Instead, guess words containing as many potential letters as possible, to identify / eliminate possible answers efficiently. Since 3 possible words contained an “H,” 2 had a “K,” and 4 ended in “S,” I guessed HOOKS. (4/5)