The Nitrate Diva
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nitratediva.bsky.social
The Nitrate Diva
@nitratediva.bsky.social
Classic movies. Vintage pop culture. Cats.
Hundreds of protesters lined Manchester's roundabout and the adjacent streets. Lots of encouraging honking, some chanting, overall very friendly vibe.

Just one driver gave us the finger (some chick from CT) and my mother, a teacher, shouted, "PROBLEM CHILD" after her. #NoKings #Vermont
October 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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
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!
October 2, 2025 at 6:33 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
September 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM
From Ingmar Bergman's SUMMER INTERLUDE (1951)
🍂🍂🍂
September 2, 2025 at 12:39 AM
A long time ago I used to watch movies in which greedy nitwits fall into obvious traps and think, "Seriously, who would fall for this?" These days I'm like, "Yeah, that totally tracks."
August 29, 2025 at 2:14 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.
August 29, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Post a random picture, or else everything will go bad in September.

(Save us, Eve Arden, save us.)
August 29, 2025 at 12:15 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.
August 28, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Signs that you're in for a good time
August 20, 2025 at 9:16 PM
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.
August 19, 2025 at 1:55 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
August 14, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I don't know who came up with the door that doesn't fit in its frame in THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY but wow is this ever a Vermont thing in my experience! It's actually pretty humid here and every door in my (not very old) house has swollen or shrunk and doesn't fit its frame.
August 13, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Vermont didn't have a state police until 1947, less than 10 years before THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY. To investigate the high-profile unsolved 1946 disappearance of a Bennington College student, Vermont relied on CT and NY, which led to the establishment to a Public Safety department. #VermontLore
August 13, 2025 at 11:36 PM
This line + Shirley MacLaine's delivery = perfection
August 13, 2025 at 11:02 PM
So true, bestie
August 13, 2025 at 10:45 PM
See the poster on left for the Dorset Playhouse? It's still there! Lovely place. I've been going there since I was a kid. Saw two plays there this summer. #VermontLore
August 13, 2025 at 10:38 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
August 13, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I love GIRL MISSING (1933) so much.
August 12, 2025 at 12:16 AM
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
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
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
Lana Tuner's all-night gown from THESE GLAMOUR GIRLS reminds me of Myrna Loy's dinner party "lulu" from THE THIN MAN in that you could wear them to any event today and easily be among the best dressed. Both designed by Dolly Tree.
August 4, 2025 at 10:48 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.
August 4, 2025 at 10:44 PM
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