Last week here at the house.
Nephew: "Hey, Uncle Bobby. I can do a one-handed cartwheel."
Me: "Cool! I can ride a horse like Barbara Stanwyck."
I posted that on Facebook. Someone commented "Sidesaddle, of course." Wrong. Missy doesn't do sidesaddle. Sam Fuller's 1957 western,
Forty Guns, is proof.
When you're a cattle queen who rules an Arizona county with your own private posse of hired guns, you don't do sidesaddle. Rent the DVD of
Forty Guns and see Stanwyck call the shots. I've got to go back to being proud of my 9-year old nephew. I can't do a cartwheel. But Barbara Stanwyck could. Missy (as she was affectionately called in Hollywood), did a cartwheel during a dance routine in 1943's
Lady of Burlesque. And she did the cartwheel in this glamorous outfit designed by Edith Head. Work it, Missy! The screenplay was based on a best-selling comedy murder mystery novel written by famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. As the Brits would say, "and Bob's your uncle."
