““The Depression was at its peak in 1933, and so was Blondell. She exemplified the average woman of that dismal period. Audiences could relate to her honesty, her drive, and her humor and strength in the face of adversity. She came across as one of them—a down-to-earth gift she never lost. “I related to the shopgirls and chorus girls, just ordinary gals who were hoping. I would get endless fan mail from girls saying, ‘That is exactly what I would have done, if I’d been in your shoes, you did exactly the right thing.’ So I figured that was my popularity, relating to the girls.””
![“Joan [Blondell] had always kept it real, always kept her priorities straight. “I wasn’t that ambitious. I enjoyed a home life more than a theatrical career. I just took what they gave me, because I wanted to get home quickly.” Joan, said one writer, personified everyone’s “good friend,” on- and…” quote by Ray Hagen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b54/ray-hagen-36017_good-friend_joan-blondell-had-always-kept-it-real-al_2309407.jpg)
![“In typical [Joan] Blondell fashion she dreams of “being respectable, to live up there with those fine people, to be a civilized human being. I don’t want to be a gambling house gal all my life. I want to be quality folk.” But, again, she ultimately realizes she’s better than the snobs. “I’m Jenny…” quote by Ray Hagen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c52/ray-hagen-36017_quote_in-typical-joan-blondell-fashion-she-dre_385034.jpg)
![“The vocal credits for Singin’ in the Rain are interesting, and rather confusing. In the film, Debbie Reynolds has been hired to re-dub [Jean Hagen]’s dialogue and songs in the latter’s first talking picture. We see the process being done in a shot of Reynolds, back to camera, matching her dialogue…” quote by Ray Hagen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9d8/ray-hagen-36017_quote_the-vocal-credits-for-singin-in-the-rain_1121280.jpg)
![“[Lucille Ball]'s such a TV icon it’s hard for some to separate the two Lucys—the gorgeous, snappy actress of film and the wacky, slapstick queen of television. On TV she was a middle-aged housewife, on film she was a dazzling beauty. The difficulty with her movie career wasn’t that she was bad or…” quote by Ray Hagen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dd0/ray-hagen-36017_beauty_lucille-ball-s-such-a-tv-icon-it-s-hard_2062114.jpg){kind=icon}
![“A point often ignored in cinema history studies of [Bette] Davis,” wrote Jim Parish and Don Stanke years later of Housewife, “is that Ann Dvorak, who plays the film’s title role, was established as a strong dramatic actress long before Bette, and it was she who set the standard for battling with…” quote by Ray Hagen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/7b1/ray-hagen-36017_history_a-point-often-ignored-in-cinema-history_2356172.jpg)
