Rachel Robbins
Bio
Writer-Performer based in the North of England. A joyous, flawed mess.
Please read my stories and enjoy. And if you can, please leave a tip. Money raised will be used towards funding a one-woman story-telling, comedy show.
Stories (162)
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Now Voyager (1942)
During World War 2, the Hollywood film machinery aimed its products at the women on the home front. It was a boom period for the “Women’s Film”, often critiqued and dismissed as syrupy melodrama. However, some women are not easily dismissed. Last week, I wrote about Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945) and how she had reshaped herself to appear in the film: shoulder pads, heavy brow, sharp edges and embracing dark themes. She was not a dame to be dismissed. And then there was Bette Davis.
By Rachel Robbins2 years ago in Geeks
Marie Dressler (9 November 1868 – 28 July 1934)
What if I were to tell you that I haven’t told you all my stories, that I haven’t even lived my best stories, would you believe me? I’m 54. I’ve met my great love. I’ve become a mother. I’ve done a range of jobs. What else could there be to talk about? What else could there be left to tell, to do, to discover?
By Rachel Robbins2 years ago in Geeks
The Trouble with Being a Femme Fatale. Top Story - October 2023.
“I was tussling with the most dangerous animal in the world – a woman” (Charles Hassell in Detour) I guess I've watched too many 1940s films. I've started thinking in shady black and white and plotting my revenge. There's no colour in my nightmares.
By Rachel Robbins2 years ago in Geeks
Fredi Washington (1903 – 1994)
“Early in my career it was suggested that I might get further by passing as French or something exotic. But to pass for economic or other advantages would have meant that I swallowed, whole hog, the idea of Black inferiority” (Fredi Washington in the Chicago Defender, 1945)
By Rachel Robbins2 years ago in Geeks
Scrapper (2023)
Many years ago (nearly three) I used to have a proper job as a social work researcher and educator. Whilst in that role I would often find myself watching films and reading books and thinking – should I recommend this to the students? It has been a glorious release not to think like that anymore.
By Rachel Robbins2 years ago in Geeks
It Happened One Night (1934). Top Story - August 2023.
I can hardly call myself a connoisseur of Classic Hollywood and the romantic comedy if I haven’t got an opinion on It Happened One Night (1934). The film is often considered the blue print for the romcom genre with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable setting the tone for the push and pull of the attraction across social divides for filmic eternity.
By Rachel Robbins2 years ago in Geeks
