Astrid

To anyone familiar with Beatles history, just saying the name “Astrid” speaks volumes. Astrid Kirchherr has died, closing yet another point of contact into appreciating the most fascinating musical and cultural phenomenon of the 20th century.

Astrid and Stuart

Depending on your level of interest, there are plenty of places to read about Astrid, so I don’t need to go into any details here, but the most exhaustive telling of her significance is found in Mark Lewisohn’s book Tune In.

Here are some of Astrid’s candid photographs taken during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night, featuring my wonderful friend Prue.

Sitting around between takes, with Prue’s hair still pinned up by stylist Betty Glasow.

A few low-quality scans from the series that Astrid took, showing Prue as I know her, spirited and very funny.

What a Swell Girl

The Age of Consent (1932) is a pre-Code campus romance that takes a couple of surprisingly dark turns in the second half. The movie title isn’t about the girl in the video, who is college age. It’s a reference to a seductive underage waitress at the restaurant where this delightful sequence takes place.

The guy is jealous because the girl he’s been dating is going out with his rich friend who has a new car. They’re like an instant old married couple. There’s an abrupt cut where I spliced out a bit of video to keep the focus on them.

The pin to reattach her strap, for either her bra or slip, is his fraternity pledge pin. It’s funny that even back then, before the Hays Office clamped down on Hollywood, she said “shoulder strap.”

The absolutely charming girl is Dorothy Wilson, who ended her short Hollywood career after getting married. She passed away in 1998 at age 88. Dorothy was a secretary at RKO, taking dictation for the director. In classic Hollywood fashion, he realized that Dorothy was perfect for a part in his next picture. Despite or perhaps because Dorothy had no acting experience, she is utterly natural and believable. Her glib, assertive patter is right up there with Myrna Loy, in my opinion. Co-star Richard Cromwell later married 19-year-old Angela Lansbury, who quickly realized he was gay and they split up almost immediately.

All Gassed Up With Nowhere to Go

Under the Covid lockdown it took a long time to use up half a tank of gas, just driving back and forth to the grocery store twice each week. I couldn’t believe the price to fill the tank — only $1.38/gallon!

Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider died recently. I don’t have any Kraftwerk records, but like most everybody I know “Autobahn”. The single version made it to #25 on the Billboard chart.

Five years after “Autobahn” was Gary Numan’s album “The Pleasure Principle”, with his own electronic auto-related song “Cars”. The single cracked the Billboard top 10, peaking at #9.

https://youtu.be/E4Lo-D8NQF0