Classic Christmas Movies

 I know a lot of us have different ideas about what are classics. We love our Christmas movies in December. Let's look at the long list of good Christmas movies that all of us love. 

Courtesy of Alpha Coders

There are three categories that I'm putting them into. The first is directly Christmas related, which means it takes place on Christmas day or directly involves Santa Claus. The second is mostly Christmas related, which involves many Christmas-related themes most of the time. The third category is when Christmas is clearly just a background aspect that isn't a part of the main plot at all. 

Directly Christmas Related

These directly involve Santa Claus or Christmas day. I'll describe the plot of each unless it is a broader category. I'll note the ones that I personally love. 

Miracle On 34th Street is about a Santa Claus that works for Macy's store. He causes a stir when he claims to be the real Santa Claus and a trial is held. Kris Kringle connects with a woman and her daughter in the process, inspiring them both to believe he is who he claims to be. 

Christmas Carol has several versions and my family and I often go to the local theatre to see it live. It is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who is rich and miserable. He learns the true meaning of Christmas and paying attention to the poor on the streets through three spirits his dead partner Marley sends to him. 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is about exactly what the title suggests. Rudolph meets up with an elf who wants to be a dentist, a yeti monster, the island of misfit toys, and a lot of reindeer that bully him - that is until he leads the way with his bright red nose. 

A Christmas Story follows a family that is celebrating Christmas, with all the comedy you could ever need in a Christmas family film. The actual houses are in Cleveland, Ohio. The family comes up against the neighbors' hound dogs stealing the turkey, little Ralphie asking for a bb gun and being told he'd shoot his eye out, and a kid sticking his tongue to a pole on a dare. That isn't even all the fun. Go watch it. I love it and watch it every single year. 

The Santa Clause series (starring Tim Allen) includes more than one film. There are two sequels labeled helpfully with the film number in the title. The first is when Scott (Tim Allen) accidentally kills Santa and is forced by the magic of Christmas to take his place. He then embraces his new life as Santa. The second takes place eight years after, where he discovers he must marry or lose his role, and his son is on the naughty list. The third and final one is when Scott's inlaws come over while Jack Frost is scheming to control the North Pole. It sounds strange, but I've seen stranger plots in movies. 

Polar Express is a classic some people adore. It is about a young boy who is allowed to board a train to the North Pole, where he learns the magic never fades if you truly believe. It is cute. I can't say it is my favorite, but it's cute. My one coworker can say it's her favorite, though. This one is aimed at kids in my experience. You can actually find trains doing Polar Express-themed rides. 

Nightmare Before Christmas is a hard one to place in a category due to the Halloween theme that is most of the movie. It is here because Jack Skellington takes over Christmas when he tires of being the pumpkin king. He swiftly finds out this was a mistake. In the process, he kidnaps Santa Claus and Oogie Boogie decides to attempt to kill Santa. Santa fixes everything Jack did wrong in the end. It is based on a poem and made by Tim Burton in impressive claymation. I love this one for both Halloween and Christmas. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas is beloved among so many people I know. Charlie Brown, as usual, is depressed. He is depressed by the commercialism of Christmas and attempts to put on a Christmas play. This play goes rather badly when everyone has forgotten the true meaning of Christmas - except Linus. Linus then tells Charlie Brown the story of Jesus' birth. Charlie grabs a little tree, which is then saved by Linus when he walks away in depression. Then everyone sings a carol as they come around to the true spirit of Christmas. Yay! It's adorable. Go watch it. 

How The Grinch Stole Christmas is my absolute, drop-everything favorite all year long. I kid you not. I have memorized most of it. The green, furry Grinch doesn't like Christmas noise and steals all the presents in revolt. He then goes to drop it all off a mountain, but stops when the Whos in Whoville celebrate despite no gifts under the tree and no feast to eat. He learns that Christmas doesn't come from a store and returns it all, even carving the roast beast at the end. I love, adore, and even cherish this Dr. Seuss classic. Drop everything and go listen to Boris Karloff (the best version in my opinion) read it to you. It's free on Youtube. I'll just put it here for your convenience. 

Mostly Christmas Related

Here we have Christmas themes throughout the plot, but not a direct reference to Christmas Day, Santa Claus, or Christmas itself. It is obviously Christmas, yet not the focus of our plot. Let's get into it. 

It's A Wonderful Life is a Jimmy Stewart classic that is purely a Christmas movie and nothing else to me. I love it and save it for Christmas week. I am an old soul. I love the old black and white films. This one has a story to it, one that breaks my heart a little. Jimmy Stewart filmed this movie after the war and dealt with PTSD episodes as a result of the war. There are two or three scenes that look like episodes of PTSD, including the one I'll put below this paragraph. The plot is about George Bailey, who owns the building and loan that helps so many people get out of the slums. He loses money that he owes and thinks he's worth more dead than alive. The man is unraveling and people send up so many prayers that an angel is sent to save him. He gets to see what life looks like without him and realizes that he had a wonderful life. He is brought back to this life to find that everyone pitched in to pay off his debt while he was running around town with the intent to commit suicide. It's beautiful. It also happens at Christmas time with strong Christmas vibes. 

Elf is the next one with all of the Christmas vibes, yet most of the focus is on our main character. Buddy the elf accidentally crawled into Santa's bag as an infant, was raised in the North Pole, and now gets sent to his father in New York. His father didn't know he existed. Most of the movie is Buddy trying to deal with his new reality and generally being a man-child. Will Ferrel does an excellent job of acting like a child. He's a talented man that can do more than comedy but is mostly known for comedy. This one gets lots of attention. Will Ferrel made himself sick on the food he ate and the 2 liter soda he chugged (for real!) while filming. 

Frosty the Snowman is about Frosty the Snowman, a snowman who comes to life and plays with children. Simple, aimed at kids, and family-friendly. I can't say too much about the plot other than it is what the song describes, just like Rudolph. He promises to come back on Christmas day when the children get all sad about him leaving. Santa transports him to the North Pole. There are more than one, if you look up Frosty the Snowman. It's adorable and cute. 

Jingle All The Way is one I was kind of annoyed by, but if it's your jam you can freely watch it to your heart's content. A man is trying to make up for missing parts of his son's life by getting him Turbo Man at a parade featuring Turbo Man. Every store sold out of this toy and his one shot is at the parade. Every human who wants this toy is going far and wide to find it. It doesn't really embody the true meaning of Christmas and a toy won't fix a relationship that has broken. If you like Arnold Schwarzenegger, though, he's the main character and you might love it. 

Home Alone is all about a kid who got left at home during Christmas vacation and has to protect his home from burglars. Christmas vibes are everywhere. Most of the plot is the kid laying traps and destroying the house and the burglars. I know it has sequels that are mostly the same concept. They are universally known as Christmas movies. 

White Christmas is mostly dancing and lots of Fred Astaire. It takes place at a Christmas show in a Vermont lodge. There are romantic mix-ups and comedy. The two main brothers find out that their former general (during the war) owns the lodge. If you love dancing like my bestie does you'll love this movie. It might be close to the style of Singing in the Rain, so if you like that movie this might be a fast favorite. 

Gremlins is a Christmas movie. Why? It takes places during Christmas and allegedly talks about commercialism. Christmas music is everywhere in it. "Do you hear what I hear" will never be the same. Gremlins can represent when commercialism takes over Christmas, which means it becomes chaos. The plot is about a boy who gets Gizmo the mogwai and breaks the rules that come with him. He gets him wet and then Gizmo spawns more, which then trick someone into feeding them after midnight. The last rule is what destroys the evil duplicates; they are all exposed to light. The Chinese man that gave the boy the mogwai takes him back at the end of the movie, as he rightfully should. Poor Gizmo had gone through too much.

Christmas is the background only

Now we talk about the movies that give the vibes of Christmas and don't put Christmas at the heart of their plot at all. Maybe they just include winter. Maybe they put Christmas in one scene and the rest of it has nothing to do with Christmas. Yet, we still consider them Christmas-y films. There is nothing wrong with that. 

Little Women is a story written by Louisa May Alcott. It stars four young women growing up in the years after the civil war. One scene is all about their father coming home for Christmas. It is a beautiful tale of sisterly love and family that won't bore you to tears. I even read the book, which is just as amazing. Pick up the book or pull out the movie (2019 is the best one in my opinion). Grab some popcorn for the tree and start stringing cranberries. 

We have to talk about those Hallmark movies. Some will watch them all year. Christmas and winter may be the background, but well all know the focus is the romantic tension and cute vibes between the couple featured. There are hundreds of these fluffy Christmas tales out there. One could watch them all year long and never run out. I don't, but you can. I don't find much depth in these stories. You can only see a series of movies with a clear formula so many times before you tire of it. 

Jack Frost is heartwarming. It is the tale of a man who dies in a car crash and is given one last chance to put everything right with his son as a snowman. It stars Michael Keaton as Jack Frost. It is amazing. You should watch it at least once. It is mostly just winter themed with sprinkles of Christmas vibe. You'll find this one charming and emotional. You might cry and that is okay. 

While You Were Sleeping is a movie that my mom watched so many times in my childhood that I was thoroughly tired of it by age seven. Nevertheless, it is a cute movie, just not after the twentieth time of watching it. Sandra Bulloch (Lucy) and Lonestar - sorry, I mean Bill Pullman (Jack) have a romance as a result of a misunderstanding. Lucy saves Peter (Jack's brother) from falling onto the train tracks and the family welcomes her under the misunderstanding that she is his fiancee while he is in a coma. It all gets comedic and complicated from there. It's cute and funny. I do like it.

Die Hard seems to be a Christmas movie and I don't understand. I don't have to understand. I just have to put it on the list. A Christmas party is held hostage by terrorists and a New York policeman (played by Bruce Willis) visiting his estranged wife is the only hope of saving everyone. Fun times. There are also sequels. This movie is lots of action and only one connection to Christmas. You may love this and you can feel free to. Everyone has their own classics in their head and this could be one of yours. 

Lastly, we have Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It is Christmas in only one scene. This is the first Harry Potter film. Ron decides to stay over Christmas break to be with Harry at Hogwarts, so he isn't alone. Harry also gets a sweater from Mrs. Weasley. Harry Potter plots get complicated. You can watch the movie for yourself. The basic rundown is this; Harry discovers he's a wizard and chaos ensues at Hogwarts. Although, the chaos ensuing at Hogwarts could describe the entire series minus one book. 

I hope you liked my list of Christmas classics and Merry Christmas! God bless us, every one!

 

Sources:

The Santa Clause (franchise) - Wikipedia

A Charlie Brown Christmas | Peanuts Wiki | Fandom

Why Gremlins is One of the Most Important Christmas Movies Ever Made | by Jamie Logie | Medium

Jack Frost (1998) - IMDb

While You Were Sleeping (1995) - Plot Summary - IMDb

Die Hard (1988) - Plot Summary - IMDb

40 Classic Christmas Movies - Best Holiday Films of All Time (townandcountrymag.com)

Charles Dickens and the poor

We all know Christmas Carol had the not-so-subtle message of caring for the poor, but did anything else in Dicken's collection share that theme? You bet. He made it a point to talk about the poor. 

Courtesy of Evening Standard

Today I'm diving into how Charles Dickens connects to the poor on the streets. We'll start by introducing the man himself and transition into his literary works and novels. 

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812. The industrial world of Britain was struggling to make laws for a changing population. In 1831 and 1832 he was a reporter for the Mirror of Parliament. Soon after he began writing books. His way of making the public aware of the situation was to bring it straight into the public's eyes on the pages of a book. He was a philanthropist spending more than a decade helping destitute women in mid-19th century London. He was doing something similar to Rahab ministry: giving women and girls in prostitution a safe house and teaching them ways to work that don't involve sex. He was all about education so that crime could be prevented (in his mind education was one of the answers to prevention).

What you may not know about him is that his family's fall from grace left him in a bad place around the age of 12. He was taken out of school and made to work in a London shoe dyeing factory. He had felt the liberty of having money and then being denied it. He understood what it was like to be poor. He knew the steep difference between doing well and working in squalor. His father was in prison for debt in 1824. Eventually, he worked his way back to success and was a highly successful author. He is known most for Oliver Twist, Pickwick Papers, Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, and several other works. He only completed half of  The Mystery of Edwin Drood before his death in 1870. The performance you now see of the play version has the audience vote on the culprit because they couldn't figure out who the intended culprit was. 

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Courtesy of Metro Times 

The Poor On The Streets

This is where we go through the book plots and point out what he says about the poor on the streets. We'll start with Christmas Carol and move forward from there. 

Christmas Carol is shockingly obvious. Look at the Crachits for a second. They depend on the wages from Scrooge to even have a tiny house, just like Dickens did as a child. All the same, they can't afford to treat Tiny Tim for whatever ails him. Are they struggling? Yes, but they can still praise God for what they have. Scrooge has all the money in the world and is miserable. The contrast is striking. Not only do the Crachits speak volumes, but the ghosts do, too. They all mock Scrooge with his own words (if they speak at all). George C. Scott's film version of the Christmas Carol is the only one I've found that says that Scrooge may be less fit to live than Tiny Tim and the ones on the street. Christmas Present is brutal on Scrooge because the ghost sees all that Scrooge doesn't do for his fellow men and women. He knows Scrooge is part of the problem and the reason why so many are on the streets and in horrible workhouses, prisons, and streets without food. Christmas Present was supposed to shake him mentally and should shake us a bit, too. He is a reminder that we all need to help each other and reach out to help our fellow men and women, and that we are responsible for giving aid to those around us all year long. 

Victorian-era poverty had little help to give if any at all.

And we aren't even done with Christmas Carol, yet. Fred and Fezziwig are both joyful characters who treat workers well, with good pay and time off to celebrate festivities. These are shining examples of people who care and do their part in creating good work situations and providing for the people around them in more ways than one. Their spirit of love is contagious. They contrast with Scrooge as Christmas Present and Past lead Scrooge around through time. As for the workhouses and prisons, we know Dickens knew what those looked like. He knew what those institutions were like and had even visited Blackwell Island (see here for information on Blackwell Island). There were indeed areas that the rich never walked, which is reflected by how little Scrooge knew of the poorer dwellings. The industrial revolution had made some parts of town more dangerous than others. That is even true of today. I'll end this commentary on Christmas Carol with the challenge to remember the people who live where you don't. Not everyone lives in a prosperous neighborhood. 

Oliver Twist is another one that hits the poverty theme hard. It takes place in a workhouse with little Oliver Twist as our main character. He was born into poverty and finds that he was an illegitimate son later on. I can't sum up this plot easily, so click here for a more detailed book plot. This one hits on how being illegitimate makes you hated already (as his half-brother doesn't want him to inherit anything). Not only that but he was given up to an orphanage to hide him - the result of his mother's affair. This is as much of a commentary on being an orphan as it is being illegitimate (which is what bastard means and continues to be an insult today). Not only that, but the poor laws offered four options to innocent orphans who weren't adopted, which included early death, the workhouse, a life of crime, or prison. The children in this book are taught to steal. This book also includes a murder of a young woman who was involved in crime but tried to save Oliver from the streets. The streets of poverty created career criminals who often rotted in prison. It is noted, though, that Oliver gets all the lucky breaks and that isn't normal. 

Some of the themes in all his other stuff include debt and imprisonment, guilty feelings for being poor, and the idea that poverty breeds crime. His books don't have easy plots to explain, either, so I think I'll let you read his works from this point on for yourself. 

Conclusions

Charles Dickens has a lot of social commentary in his stuff. He fights for the poor because he was one. He knew what it all felt like. He was also right about the fact that poverty breeds crime, which makes everything worse. He knew how hard life was when the poor were given next to no aid, depending on wages that barely fed them and pay their rent. This is precisely why Victorian servanthood was better than the streets; at least you are automatically fed and housed, even if you can't have much personal life at all. Dickens spoke up. 

I know not all of you are Christian. All the same, I'll say it. Jesus also fought for the poor and went to them first. Let's do the same. 

Sources:

Did Charles Dickens really save poor children and clean up the slums? - BBC News

Charles Dickens and the Plight of the Poor - Free Paper Sample (mypaperwriter.com)

Life of Charles Dickens (1812-1870) (dickensfellowship.org)

How Does Dickens Present The Poor And Poverty In A Christmas Carol? Analysis And Satire Essay Example - PHDessay.com

Oliver Twist Themes: What's It All About? ✔️ (nosweatshakespeare.com)

Origin of Caroling

You see caroling in every Christmas Carol movie, youth groups go caroling, and you hear Christmas carols all over your radio stations the minute November pops up (which annoys some to no end because it suggests Thanksgiving is worth skipping over). Do we truly know what caroling is? Let's find out. 

1847 by Granger - courtesy of Fine Arts America

Today I am researching where caroling started and how it became what it is now. I'll start with what it began as and go chronologically into what it currently is. Ready to go? All bundled up? Great!

Wassailing

Do you know what wassail is? It is a drink akin to what became today's eggnog. It was traditionally given to travelers in the spirit of hospitality since winter weather was not kind. It seems to me that our society has lost some of that spirit of hospitality (though in many cases it might not be a good time to bring it back, given our current worldly state).  Wassailing was not even singing but in fact well-wishing door-to-door. Which might involve the wassail being given in return. You brought a bowl with you often to share with those you visited.

Wassail at Amber Valley Vineyard 
Courtesy of greatfoodclub.co.uk

Wassailing can also be visiting orchards and drinking. What? Yes, you sing to trees in hopes of a good harvest. Fruit trees were to be blessed. Cider-producing England still does this. According to Historic UK this is what happens. 

"The celebrations vary from region to region, but generally involve a wassail King and Queen leading the assembled group of revellers, comprising the farmers, farm workers and general villagers, in a noisy procession from one orchard to the next. In each orchard the wassailers gather round the biggest and best tree, and as a gift to the tree spirits, the Queen places a piece of wassail soaked toast into its branches, accompanied by songs such as;

“Apple tree, apple tree we all come to wassail thee,

Bear this year and next year to bloom and blow,

Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sacks fills…”

The wassailers then move on to the next orchard; singing, shouting, banging pots and pans, and even firing shotguns, generally making as much noise as possible in order to both waken the sleeping tree spirits, and also to frighten off any evil demons that may be lurking in the branches."

Wassailing  courtesy of Historic UK

The singing was encouraged by Saint Francis of Assisi, who wanted the church to embrace music. He started this trend. It hit like wildfire and hasn't ended since it began in the 13th century. Songs that were passed down from generation to generation were finally written down and published in 1582. Those songs have gone from medieval tunes to modern spins on those tunes, but remain even today. 

Some claim that the poor sang for food, that they weren't allowed to sing these in the church originally, or that English pagan society started this.  There is a story that Carol Poles went missing in London and caroling began there because they sang to make clear good intentions while searching. It's sweet, but no factual basis has been found. 

I do believe that the poor would sing for money and food, as illustrated by various versions of Christmas Carol. Feudal peasants would go to their Lord (English title, not Jesus) and sing for food. It was a way to get some money for food or food itself in return. On occasion, bands of drunken men would make this tradition less charming. This band of men with no inhibition left would bang on the doors of the wealthy demanding food. Bring us figgy pudding indeed! It was considered bad luck to not give carolers anything, however, so either way, they probably got their figgy pudding. 

I'm going to return to the idea that pagan society started this. It began not with Christmas Carols, but with songs to celebrate winter solstice while dancing around stone circles. They used to sing for all seasons it seems, but Christmas is the only survivor left. When Christmas was celebrated at the same time as winter solstice this began the caroling, and from here Saint Francis Assisi revived Christan Christmas celebrations with his new carols that weren't in Latin. Puritans nearly killed carols, but they were sung in secret around that time, mostly in homes and not churches.

The biggest carols were Silent Night (written allegedly by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber on a broken organ), The Twelve Days of Christmas (a memory game children played in 18th Century England), and Joy to the World. I Saw Three Ships was sung by minstrels and the words changed based on location. 

A bit of trivia is in order. In some places, Christmas music before December or after Christmas day is considered unlucky. In this case, I have already broken that rule and I am listening to carols right now, on Nov. 22nd. Oops.

 Jingle bells was a thanksgiving song originally. So Thanksgiving did have music, believe it or not. It was written by James Lord Pierpoint in 1850. 

Today

People still brave the cold to sing door-to-door. We still sing those well-known carols, except for perhaps "here we go a wassailing", which has lost some meaning after generations of time have passed. The point is to bring Christmas cheer to friends and family, as well as anyone else in your neighborhood who cares to open their door. 

I will caution you on doing this in modern times, however, as some neighborhoods might not be open to this practice and may not be safe to walk around at any time of day. You must remember that a closed, gated community might be okay to do this in, but other places may be particularly unsafe to walk in, let alone sing in. Be safe this Christmas. I love you all and would like to make sure you exercise caution going door-to-door. 

Don't trespass on peoples' property just to sing them carols, especially in rural areas. Maybe call ahead and have a route of people who want to hear you sing. Prearranged visiting is just as good as a surprise. The prearranging may even get you hot cocoa, so consider that when planning the route. The elderly may want to hear you sing. Nursing homes, assisted living homes, and any elderly on your street may be a good places to "wassail" and sing. Church groups are good places to plan a caroling outing. People can sign up to be on the route in this situation, guaranteeing that you won't be chased away by anyone resembling Scrooge. 

And for anyone who wants to see a wassail in an orchard from the year...hold onto your hat....2020 in Somerset UK here it is. 

Sources:

 https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Navigation/Community/Arcadia-and-THP-Blog/November-2018/The-Little-Known-History-of-the-Caroling-Tradition#:~:text=An%20early%20version%20of%20caroling,wishes%20during%20the%20colder%20months.

https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-christmas/christmas-caroler1.htm

https://www.thedailymeal.com/holidays/christmas-caroling-origins

https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/carols_history.shtml

https://blogs.jwpepper.com/caroling-caroling-the-history-of-caroling/

Christmas 2020 Good Luck Traditions: Is It Bad Luck to Sing Xmas Songs Before December 25 and Not Kiss Under the Mistletoe? 6 Interesting Things You Should Know of | 🙏🏻 LatestLY

Wassailing (historic-uk.com)

sleeping well

Need help getting a good night's rest? Here is what I found and compiled. Maybe we can sleep better together. 

Courtesy of Acme Mind Clinic

Anxiety rises and sleep becomes elusive. Need help? I'm pretty sure everyone does. We could all do with a better sleep schedule when life kicks us in the back end. Today we dive into what you can do to sleep well. 

Sleep Schedule

What? A consistent sleep schedule is needed? Gasp! Most of us don't really have it. It is easy to forget your body works better on a consistent timer. Ideally, it should be no more than 8 hours of sleep, but at least 7 hours are necessary. Get up and go to bed at the same time if possible. Consistent timing reinforces your sleep-wake cycle. This includes weekends, you night owls. 

What if you don't fall asleep within 20 minutes? Easy, go do something relaxing, like reading or listening to music (relaxing music, look on youtube for ASMR or music compilations). Once tired go back to bed. Don't just stare at a clock or it'll stress you more. 

 Courtesy of Britaniablog.blogspot.com

Irregular sleep patterns can lead to odd dreams, too. In my case, it causes sleep paralysis dreams to happen more often. It can develop a good mental alarm to keep your sleep schedule on a consistent basis. Your alarm could be obsolete after you get your natural rhythm going. 

Creating a ritual for sleep makes a difference in all ages. I will turn off any laptop activity a half hour before bed. During college, I'd quit doing homework at 10:30 pm and hit the sack no matter what was done or wasn't. Lowering lights may put your brain in sleep mode, too. 

Food Choices Matter

Don't go to bed overly full or hungry. Don't have a heavy meal within a couple hours of bedtime. Nicotine, coffee, and alcohol should be cautioned, as those take hours to wear off. 

Late in the day is not the time for caffeine. Even 6 hours before bed it keeps you up. At 3 or 4 pm you might want to not drink it. Decaf is okay in the evening, obviously, but save the regular coffee for your wake-up call. 

While we're talking about drinks, alcohol isn't a good thing to drink before bed. It disrupts circadian rhythm. Late-night snacks, however, may help depending on the snack it is. Drinking anything before bed doesn't help. At 1 to 2 hours before bed stop drinking. Go to the bathroom before going to bed, so you'll not have to get up at night. 

Chocolate is one thing you shouldn't have right before bed. I know that sounds weird, but caffeine is in chocolate. I didn't know that until I researched this blog. Now you know too. Acidic and spicy foods may want to be avoided, as well. 

Atmosphere Of Sleep

The idea is to keep it cool, dark, and quiet. Light exposure wakes your body up.  If needed masks are made for sleeping and ear plugs for sleep exist. Turn a fan on if it gets too hot (if you have one). Temperature does impact your sleep. Too cold and you freeze, then too hot and you can't sleep at all. 

Calming activities return for the win! Do yourself a huge favor and do something rather calming before bed. A nice bath, a book, anything that isn't device related, and even some sleep apps will help you transition to sleep mode mentally. Try to have as few devices lit in the room as possible. Cover bright lights. You can add peaceful aromas to your bedroom if it helps you. 

Courtesy of Blogspot.com

That reminds me, get off your screens and avoid blue light before bed. I like to stop gaming or using my computer an hour or half an hour before bed. Blue light can be blocked by glasses made to block blue light. You can also download an app to shut off the blue light on your device. TV being shut off two hours before bed may be a good idea. 

Make sure you have a good mattress and pillow to sleep on. It matters what level of comfort you have. Lower back pain can happen if you don't. It is recommended you replace the bedding after 5 to 8 years. The bed should also be reserved for only sleep (and if married, sex) so that your brain only associates it with those two things. 

Don't Nap For Long

Yes, you are exhausted, but if you nap late in the day or for more than one hour it will hit your sleep cycle. It will throw it off. This is only if you don't work nights. It may actually be necessary to nap a bit before work to make up for lack of sleep if you do work nights. 

This is also based on the individual case, as some don't have disrupted sleep when used to long naps. It all depends on you.

Daily Routine

Do you take walks, dance Zumba, play sports, or do any type of exercise daily? You might want to add it to your routine, even if it means you merely take a walk on your lunch break. Why? It helps you sleep better, provided you don't do it right before bed. Outdoors also promote good sleep. I know I sleep better while camping. 

Expose yourself to sunlight and bright lights during your day, which promotes your circadian rhythm. It can give you more energy, too, which means you should go walk in the park. 

Also, don't smoke. It is bad for you in general and does have a habit of causing sleep issues. Nicotine is bad. Sleep is good. 

Deal With Your Stress

Before bedtime deal with your stresses. Put a journal by your bed and jot down anything that needs brain dumped (or the tasks that need doing that come to mind). A full mind will stay awake and keep you from falling asleep. A bath or shower before bed works, too. A foot bath alone ups the probability you can sleep well. 

Stress management can be organizing your thoughts to prioritizing what is really worth your time. Taking a moment to deal with your emotions is worth its weight in gold. Prayer before bed is one way that works for me and my husband. 

Courtesy of letsliveandlearn.com

Get Help

If none of this aids your sleep you may need a professional. No shame. Go talk to someone and get medical help. Some people actually need melatonin and other sleep medication. Sleep apnea or other disorders can disrupt sleep cycles all the time. Nightmares may require counseling. Maybe they can indicate anxiety disorders, too, but that may be a myth. 

Some supplements that can help you include Melatonin, ginkgo biloba (250 mg half hour to an hour before bed), glycine (3 grams), valerian root (500 mg before bed), magnesium, L-theanine (100-200 mg before bed), lavender (80-160 mg).  Only one at a time! Get a professional's advice, too, and don't just trust I've got the right sources! Doctors can advise you better. 

Sources:

 Sleep tips: 6 steps to better sleep - Mayo Clinic

17 Proven Tips to Sleep Better at Night (healthline.com)

8 secrets to a good night's sleep - Harvard Health

How to Sleep Better - Sleep Foundation

Twelve Simple Tips to Improve Your Sleep | Healthy Sleep (harvard.edu)

Buster keaton

 Do not try Buster Keaton stunts at home, ladies and gents, or you might die. Buster Keaton was a skilled stunt man that took many risks and those types of stunts can kill you, so much so that insurance companies won't let you do those stunts anymore. He is what you call a skilled expert and insanely lucky. He is also made of rubber.

Courtesy of Pinterest

Today we talk about one of the most hilarious comedians and stunt men I've ever seen. He started in silent movies with physical comedy. I'll go into three parts of his life; his acting, his stunts, and his life outside acting. 

His Acting

Not only was he an actor, but also a director, which is usually where seasoned actors who stick with Hollywood end up going if I've caught onto the pattern. He could also edit and write. He also did stunts that insurance companies will no longer sign off on. He was known for a straight face during comedy scenes, which earned him the nickname "the great stone face". Keaton transitioned from silent films to the talkies (movies with sound). For a while, he dealt with alcoholism, but he came back strong guest-staring in many movies and TV shows. Some have put him above Charlie Chaplin in their ranking of silent film stars. He did 19 short films and 10 silent films over 8 years.

His Stunts

Okay, here's where we really talk about his fame. Keaton's stunts, if done wrong, could have killed him. He's famous for these gutsy stuntwork films that are comedy gold. If he'd done one thing wrong he'd have never seen old age. This is why insurance companies won't allow actors to imitate his stunts at this point. Stunt men end up in hospitals often. We know this. What we don't want to see is dead actors. Keaton was one of a kind. 

Outside Acting

He started as a child vaudeville actor at age 5. At a few months old he nearly suffocated because he was accidentally shut in a trunk while his parents were busy performing, which led to him being left at the boarding house ever since that incident. Legend has it his family escaped from fires and trainwrecks. At nearly 3 years old he caught his finger in a clothing wringer and lost a joint, threw a brick at a tree and hit himself with it on accident, and was sucked out a window by a cyclone only to be gently put down a few streets back. This was when his stage career began and this was also when his parents came to the conclusion he'd be safer onstage. 

Courtesy of Pinterest

Joseph Frank (later Francis) Keaton was born to parents Joseph and Myra Keaton, Medicine show performers, on October 4, 1895. He allegedly used to crawl right on stage from the wings at 9 months old. The easiest way to care for him without interrupting the show was to bring him with them to their shows. The actresses and women in the show loved him. He at one point stood behind his father and mouthed the words of his father's monologue in the exact same costume - unrehearsed! He had talent and everyone could see it, so they included him in shows all the time. He'd rough house with his father, sing, dance, write comedy, play piano and ukelele, juggle, and do magic. As a kid, he didn't really have much public schooling, mostly tutors and his mother teaching him to fill in gaps. He turned out to be too entertaining to teachers and students, funnily enough. Less than one day of school proved that. 

The laws on child labor actually thought all the throwing around comedy onstage was abusive, though not a single bruise could be found on the child, and his parents often did get arrested. They tried to pass him off as a midget a few times to avoid that. Close friends and family have insisted he had a happy childhood and he was not abused at all. With the child labor people watching their every move it is unlikely that they could have gotten away with it. No bruises meant he was clearly not abused. The only thing Keaton said was that his father did drink, therefore he had to fend for himself often as he got older. His only real injury came from a train wreck. Joseph Keaton loved his son and was proud of him.

When Keaton was 21 his father became a violent alcoholic. The act wasn't quite the same and Keaton had to look out for himself a little more. He knew how to land, apparently, so he didn't get as much damage. According to Busterkeaton.org:

The article, curious in light of Joe's increasing on-stage violence, goes on to interview 19-year-old Buster:

“The funny thing about our act,” declared Buster after his final toss Tuesday, “is that dad gets the worst of it, although I’m the one who apparently receives the bruises . . . the secret is in landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or a hand. It’s a knack. I started so young that landing right is second nature with me. Several times I’d have been killed if I hadn’t been able to land like a cat. Imitators of our act don’t last long, because they can’t stand the treatment.”

— Detroit News, December 4, 1914

Courtesy of Pinterest

He quit in January 1917 and Keaton and his mother stranded Joseph Keaton in California temporarily. He immediately was signed to another act, given his stardom. He did some work with his mentor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, standing by him despite scandal, until Arbuckle died. He had a brief time as a cryptographer and entertainer during WWI (in France). 

Another thing about Keaton was his pain tolerance. His shoe got stuck in an elevator and he crushed his foot. Under strict orders to do nothing strenuous he filmed a dance number. Cue the Captain Picard face palm. The man was impervious to pain. 

On Our Hospitality (1923), he almost drowned in a river sequence. On The General (1926), he was knocked unconscious by a cannon. On the Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1927) set, he broke his nose (playing baseball), and the most remarkable of all, he broke his neck shooting a scene for Sherlock Jr. (1924). In the scene, he runs along the top of a train and then grabs a waterspout. Water gushes down on the track and Buster is obscured for a moment. During that moment, he was forced by the pressure of the water down onto the tracks, where he hit his neck. But if you watch the film closely, you see Buster get up and run off—still in the same take. It was years before he discovered what had given him those awful headaches. (courtesy of busterkeaton.org)

He married Natalie Talmadge in 1920, had two sons, and divorced in 1932. He had literally been kicked out of the bedroom after the second son was born. It was not a great marriage, but he loved her.

When he signed over to MGM he admitted that he'd made a mistake and given up his creativity. Chaplin and Lloyd had also advised him against it. 1932-34 were the worse years of his life. His friend Arbuckle died, his wife divorced him claiming he drank, two other friends died, he was sued for taxes and declared bankruptcy, he struggled with drinking, and he illegally married his second wife while drunk (which got plastered in headlines). And he was fired for refusal to work on inferior pictures. He was forced into a sanitarium in 1934, where he allegedly got out thanks to Houdini's secrets and got his life on track again. 

MGM did break him of some of his brilliance in film, though. He did keep doing acting after that, but it wasn't the same because he lost creative freedom. He did do theatre again. That brought him life. His best work was mostly when he had creative freedom to do what he wanted and didn't have to fight with studios that he wasn't running. 

He often laughed and smiled offscreen, though he'd go stonefaced when a camera pointed at him. He married again in 1940 to Eleanor Norris, who was 21 to his 44. They were happily married until he died of lung cancer in 1966 at age 70. His last film appearance was A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. 

“I think I have had the happiest and luckiest of lives. Maybe this is because I never expected as much as I got . . . And when the knocks came I felt it was no surprise. I had always known life was like that, full of uppercuts for the deserving and the undeserving alike.”
— Buster Keaton

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/99741%7C25179/Buster-Keaton/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Buster-Keaton

https://www.busterkeaton.org/

Common Places People Disappear

It occurred to me the other day that people disappear from lots of places, but some locations are consistent. Let's discuss where people disappear from and why. 

The Great Smoky Mountains courtesy of wallpaper cave

First I'm going to talk about where people tend to go missing and possibly why. Then, I'm going to highlight a few cases that are unexplained.

You'll notice that my research tended to find the most mysterious disappearances and I'm rolling with it. I'm also making a note of the fact that extensive parklands are often places where lone hikers do go missing. This is because it is easy to pick off a few hikers if they are in the middle of nowhere, as opposed to standing in the middle of a town full of people. Also, suicidal individuals may choose this setting to end their lives alone, as well as perhaps just getting lost in miles of park land. 

Extensive Parkland 

The Great Smoky Mountains are part of park land, which means you know what I'm going to tell you next. Tourists have gone missing over the years. I'm sure it is a great place to visit, though. In 1969 the largest manhunt ever could not find a 6 year old boy that went missing. The last one happened in 1981 and it was an elderly woman.

Yosemite National Park is a tourist hotspot, but again, this one has a history of missing persons reports. 45 reports have never been solved. This place has bear problems, though, so maybe the bears can answer us on what happened. This goes so far back it dates into the 1800s.

The Alaska Triangle is a large amount of wilderness space. They have hundreds of search and rescue missions every year. State troopers often find no trace of anything. From 1988 on, 1600 people have vanished. A famous political leader disappeared around this area and they couldn't even find the wreckage of his plane or a body. 

Let me explain why this situation specifically is a problem. Usually, victims disappear in late afternoon or before severe weather. Often bodies are found missing shoes or clothes (as hypothermia's last phase is getting too hot) and at previously searched areas. Children are found a good distance from where they actually disappeared from. Parks also don't ask other agencies for help as often and handle it in-house. The weird fact of the matter is that feet alone show up on some shores (Washington State and British Colombia), sometimes still in shoes. Victims have wandered home, been found in a jail, or joined a cult (as they do operate in remote areas). Records are also not the greatest in parks disappearances. Bigfoot researchers discovered about 1600 people had gone missing in the wild. The larger the park the more possible it is to actually cover up a murder, get mauled by a bear, do suicide uninterrupted, or just take a bad fall leading to injury or death. Common sense says to GPS yourself if you hike alone. 

The Desert

Obviously, the desert is not the place to find yourself stranded. You might actually die. Superstition Mountains in Arizona has a history of missing people. This time they found the bodies and they were beheaded! Again, deserts cause death if you don't know how to survive, but that's a bit extreme to lose one's head. They found a body and a campground with a bloody blanket and letters missing addresses and names, too. This is a treasure-hunting spot, as well as what some native Americans believe to be the entrance to the underworld. I think we've got a serial killer on our hands, if you want my opinion. 

Superstition Mountains courtesy of Pinterest

Survival in the desert is not what we are all taught at home, especially if you are from a city or an area that isn't close to a desert. People can be incredibly evil, too, and leave you in the desert to die. This is a place no one is going to stroll for fun. Some mentally ill individuals choose to stroll to their death in the desert. Others have drug issues or a crime is related. According to News Channel 3, a detective who investigated cases in the desert said "the real serial killer is the desert itself". Not many are hydrated enough to stand it or trained in survival. 

Aircraft Graveyard

The Nevada Triangle is not where you should be flying. When a famous pilot went missing they looked for him and found his remains and plane in the area. Unfortunately, he's not the only one to crash and die here. Hundreds of pilots - not five, hundreds! - have gone missing in this zone. 

You know what comes next, the Bermuda Triangle! This one has a history of messing with navigation tools. It not only traps planes, but also ships. Thousands of people have died in this area. Some blame the paranormal (aliens), others say Atlantis was located here and the crystals are destroying aircraft and boats, and others claim to have found a crystal pyramid underwater that causes crashes. Oh, and I'm not done with conspiracy. The idea that the slaves who died in these waters haunt the waters is a theory, as well as government testing of secret projects. The truth may fall rather flat in comparison. Weather and human error are likely the cause of this situation. Cyclones and methane hydrates (gas explosions in the water) could sink a ship or destroy a plane quick. Electronic fog can make navigation impossible, which is how tools don't work. It may just be that people are stupid or the weather is to blame. 

On The Water

Lake Superior is a missing person zone? Yep, it is. Shipwrecks litter the bottom of the lake. A wreck from a hundred or more years can be found in the water. 70 ships have gone down and 17 have not been discovered yet. Lake Michigan is also known for some missing people. 

A Shipwreck at Lake Superior Courtesy of Reddit

It can be said that many ships go down in the ocean. Hundreds, in fact. Piracy is also a situation we have to face, only now they hold machine guns instead of swords. Currents are not helpful. They carry evidence farther from the shipwreck site. As satellite images get better we can find ships faster. 

Out Hunting

Pecos, New Mexico is a hunting destination and a zone where several have gone missing. In 2009 a 61 year old man stayed back at the cabin during a hunting trip and never was seen again. He's not the only one to go missing, which leads to lots of alien and supernatural theories that probably are false. 

Hunting expeditions are somewhat like hiking expeditions. I'll say the same thing about treasure hunters in the jungle. They have gone missing because they got lost or attacked. The jungle is one place they may not waste too much time combing. The woods are hard to navigate and the idea that people go missing one place and move north or south afterward makes searching hard. This goes right up in the park land category, if I'm honest. 

No Explanation and No Answers

This is the heartbreaking part for those who have lost loved ones in this manner. After seven years they are declared legally dead unless proven otherwise. While this would be the perfect way to fake one's death, I don't recommend doing that. Some families never got closure. One man searched for his son for years just to get closure and find the body (he did). My heart goes out to those that have to live with that reality, that they'll never know what happened.

Hoer Verde Courtesy of TheRichest

In the case of mysterious unsolved cases, I have a real treat for you. Whole towns have disappeared and left everything behind. A whole town in Iowa is now just land after the ruins were left alone in the 1920s. The newspapers no longer cared after the stock market crashed, so it just reverted back to land after the ruins broke down. This was called Urkhammer, Iowa. In 1928 the residents just vanished without a trace. The dust bowl was far more important to the news and no one bothered to investigate after 1929 hit everyone like a mac truck. 

In Brazil, there was a village that was abandoned entirely. 600 people left everything there - food and all their belongings! The only clue they have is a blackboard that read "There is no salvation". This has been blamed on aliens or political upheaval. It is called Hoer Verde. 

If you want more of this information, you can look up "towns that disappeared overnight" and make yourself turn on every house light in the process. I'm stopping here. I need to go watch something light and absurdly comedic. Many urban explorers will find these towns and houses with all the possessions in them, especially in Europe where they don't vandalize as much. I'll let you research at your leisure.

Sources:

 https://www.thetravel.com/25-mysterious-places-people-keep-disappearing-from/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNShqCIKSqw

https://nypost.com/2020/07/04/why-hundreds-of-people-vanish-into-the-american-wilderness/

https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/survival/wilderness/10-mysterious-disappearances-in-national-parks.htm

https://www.rd.com/list/mysterious-disappearances-no-one-can-explain/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_disappeared_mysteriously:_1990%E2%80%93present

https://www.missingpersons.gov.au/about/why-people-go-missing

Where is the Bermuda Triangle, what is it, why do planes go missing there and what are the conspiracy theories? | The Sun

Hundreds of ships go missing each year, but we have the technology to find them (theconversation.com)

Going in-depth on disappearances in the desert - KESQ

Movies and Abused Actors

I know that movies feeding off of real emotion look good and authentic, but can you force distressing emotions to come out of an actor by abusing them? Yes, you can. Ask Shelley Duvall about her film experience. Even putting donald and goofy voices to the steps scene in the shining won't make the scene less unsettling. Today we talk about her and many other cases of abusing actors. 

Courtesy of looper.com
Tippi Hedren in The Birds

Today I am focusing on The Shining, The Birds, Singing in the Rain, and the alleged Dan Schneider situation that arose at Nickelodeon. You'll never see these movies and shows the same way again. 

The Shining

The book alone is, I'm told, unsettling by itself. It is about a family living in a hotel during winter. During this temporary stay to watch someone's hotel alone, the father gets haunted by a spirit making him violent toward his family and the son sees horrible psychic visions. Unsettling? You bet. The movie shows the mother of the family as submissive, but readers will know that isn't like the original (and movies almost never are, anyway). 

Shelley Duvall spent hours crying during filming, to the point of dehydration. She was criticized and the cast wasn't allowed to speak or be nice to her. The stairs scene was filmed 127 times. I'll leave a clip of the stairs scene here, if you dare to watch it. It isn't gory.

She almost quit acting after this. She was diagnosed with acute anxiety and I think you can guess why. If the scene above is her mental state, she needs serious therapy. Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist when it came to films, which is why this all happened to her. Yes, he got the effect he wanted, but at what price? Duvall started losing her hair. It didn't help that Stephen King himself and others criticized her performance because it conflicted with the book character. 

Singing In the Rain

What? Yes, I love this movie, too, but Gene Kelly was not pleasant to Debbie Reynolds. He was negative and worked her tirelessly. She had 3 months to learn the dances that Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor had already mastered. You can't tell on the screen how much work she went through to make it look good. Fred Astaire encouraged her when he found her crying at a rehearsal piano, stating that he works himself to frustration and anger, as well, which helped pull her through. 

Hard work, however, is not abuse. What I am talking about is dancing until your feet bleed. Good Morning filming took 14 hours to film. Her feet bled and she was ordered by a doctor to stay in bed 2 days afterward due to exhaustion. While Gene Kelly admitted how badly he treated her, he also did something unthinkable. 

According to Nickiswift.com,  Debbie Reynolds said "Gene took me tightly in his arms ... and shoved his tongue down my throat. ...It felt like an assault. I was stunned that this thirty-nine-year-old man would do this to me." You can't see the movie in the same way after this. Again, nobody said it was easy to break into the dance world, but situations like this don't help. She wrote about this in her biography if you want to know more. 

The Birds

Alfred Hitchcock, for whatever reason, was not known for being nice to Tippi Hedren. Allegations of sexual assault and inhumane conditions during filming are two things that put Alfred Hitchcock on the list of obsessed directors who mistreated actors. He claimed for one scene he'd use mechanical birds, then used real ones when the mechanical ones didn't work. This means she got birds hurled at her for five days. She had birds tied directly to her and got birds hurled at her for the last day, as well. The birds attached would peck her. She was so focused on survival and learned later that the crew found all this to be heartbreaking - and Hitchcock was the only one who could stop it and wouldn't. 

According to People.com, this is what happened. 

"Hedren’s only reprieve came late in the day when a bird tied to her shoulder pecked her too close to her eye and she snapped, told her director “I’m done,” and began sobbing from exhaustion. “Minutes passed before I looked up to discover that everyone had just left me there in the middle of that vast, silent soundstage, completely spent, empty and alone,” she writes.

A doctor ordered Hedren to take a week’s rest and had to force Hitchcock to let her take it. “She can’t,” Hedren writes of Hitchcock’s response. “We have nothing else to shoot but her.”

“What are you doing? Are you trying to kill her?” Hedren’s doctor replied and finally convinced Hitchcock his star needed actual rest, which she took and returned a week later to finish the film."

During Marnie, Hitchcock sexually harassed Hedren and when she told him no he refused to loan her out while she was under contract with him. Hitchcock would obsess over leading ladies.

According to New York Post, this is the story. 

It was during the making of “Marnie” that Hitchcock’s demands for Hedren to have lunch with him in the studio commissary escalated to lunches in his office, and finally to intimate Champagne toasts after each day’s shooting was completed. She became increasingly uncomfortable with his suggestive behavior.

“I was stunned and alarmed by his actions,” she recalled. “In the end, he made unqualified demands of me that I could not assent to. He said things like, ‘I want you to be available to me at any time, whenever I choose.’

“I don’t care about being an actress if this is what it involves,” Hedren says. Hitchcock never used her in another film, and refused all requests to loan her out for other movies while she was under contract, derailing her then-promising career.

Nikelodeon Situation

So, Dan Schneider's name has definitely been run through the mud. Jeanette McCurdy (Sam from Icarly) has written a biography and in the proccess exposed some of her run-ins with "The creator". It turns out she's not the only one to be made uncomfortable. Again, the female harassment theme continues. Schneider claims to be smear campaigned. I'll let you be the judge and do your own research on that. I am going to be as objective as possible and only use the facts I have found. 

Jeanette McCurdy stated in her biography that someone called "the creator" massaged her shoulders, made her wear a bikini, and encouraged her to drink alcohol while underaged. Investigators have found Schneider's sets to be toxic and hostile in environment. In 2018 he was booted after proof of verbal abuse came out. No proof of other types of abuse has been found, but plenty is alleged. 

Alexa Nikolas (Nicole in Zoey 101) has some experiences that she has shared. Daniella Monet (Trina in Victorious) claims he and all his male-only writers created sexual jokes unnecessarily for teenage actors to do. Schneider also advocated for a skimpier female wardrobe and Monet commented that it wasn't age-appropriate. Nikolas said it was common on set for female actors to sit on Schneider's lap. He also had an anger problem and screamed at the actors. He also (though this is contradicted by some sources) didn't like female writers in the room and didn't think women were funny. This was contradicted when he said Ariana Grande was hilarious and he likes Lucille Ball and Tina Fey. Jenny Kilgen accused him of gender discrimination and creating hostile work environments. Other writers tell stories of him asking for massages and asking them to do embarrassing acts for money.

Schneiders disputes all this and says he couldn't have done some much if he had abused his actors. Investigations echo McCurdy's story from her biography. He used to tweet foot pictures of the female stars he worked with. He was already in the doghouse before this and it is just more public now. They did not find proof of sexual misconduct in both investigations toward him. It is a messy issue. 

According to looper.com:

Gradstein told the newspaper, "[Schneider] could be generous and validating, and it was exciting to be around his talent and passion for creating entertainment. But he was also unreasonably demanding, controlling, belittling, and vindictive with a willful disregard for boundaries or workplace appropriateness."

If you want to know more about Jeanette's story, go get her book. She is amazing. As she says, her time with Nickelodeon was only a short part of her biography story. 

Amazon.com: I'm Glad My Mom Died eBook : Mccurdy, Jennette : Kindle Store

Sources:

Tippi Hedren Recalls Hitchcock Abuse During Filming of The Birds (people.com)

Tippi Hedren: I was sexually harassed by Alfred Hitchcock (nypost.com)

Shelley Duvall's abuse experience on The Shining because of Stanley Kubrick - Confessions of a Horror Freak

Shelley Duvall's Traumatic Experience Making 'The Shining' Scarred her for Life (thevintagenews.com)

Actors Who Claim They Were Abused On Set (nickiswift.com)

Debbie Reynolds’ real story behind “Singing in the Rain” shows how fierce she was (yahoo.com)

Actors And Crew Have Alleged On-Set Abuse By Nickelodeon TV Show Creator Dan Schneider (yahoo.com)

Dan Schneider, ‘iCarly’ Creator, Accused of Misconduct (vulture.com)

The Dan Schneider Controversy Explained (looper.com)