Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I'm going to LA!!

I just received word that my proposal of a UROP grant (Undergraduate Research Opportunity) has been accepted! I will be getting a little bit of money to cover travel expenses to LA, where I will spend a couple of days conducting research at the UCLA film archives.
My proposal outlined a project that will hopefully encourage more scholarly study of the films of Ginger Rogers. I have not yet decided if I want to focus on Carefree, or if I want to take another route. That will all depend on the materials I can get my hands on at the archives. I can't tell you how excited I am! I'm trying to think of some of the places I want to go. Of course, I will only be there for about 4 days max, so some things will have to wait until next time:
1. Oakwood Park Memorial Cemetery (of course)
2. 1605 Gilcrest Drive (another obligatory one)
3. Grauman's Chinese Theater
4. Forest Lawn Memorial Park: lots of people to see here: Lucille Ball, Franklin Pangborn (!!), Joan Blondell, Eric Blore, George Cukor, Edward Everett Horton, Max Steiner, Jimmy Stewart, so many more...
5. Hollywood History Museum
I'll probably try to drive by a couple of houses, probably the ones from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and Double Indemnity.

As you can probably tell, I can hardly wait!

10 comments:

  1. That's so exciting!!! Congratulations! :D

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  2. Woohoo! Congratulations and good for you!

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  3. Oh that's awesome! When are you going?

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  4. It depends on when my funding comes through. Hopefully I can combine it with a trip to be on Jeopardy. I should hear back from them this month if I made it on the show. Hopefully it will be during christmas break, so I can take more time.

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  6. ...that is SO cool, Maggie!!! I really want to get out there one day, to check out pretty much EXACTLY what you are going to...
    Be sure to document everything extensively on this blog!!!
    ...and, if you happen to run across Hat Check Girl in the UCLA archives, well, you have to bag that sucker at any cost!!! :-p

    BTW, you know Lauren lives out there, and goes to UCLA! So y'all need to meet up, I reckon...

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  7. That's like a dream come true! How amazing - I hope to see a nice long photo blog after your trip. :)

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  8. MMMM yes!!!! I go to UCLA! And I actually just saw 5th Ave Girl at the Billy Wilder Theatre tonight. Oh man you're going to drive to Ginger's house? You may get there before I do! I haven't driven canyons in 5 or so months so I don't know if I'm ready to hike myself up there just yet.

    Actually, out of all the places you listed to visit, I've only been to one (Grauman's) and I haven't even gone inside! I just hang out there.

    Lauren

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  9. Wonderful news! You will have an AMAZING time. You are going to be the PERFECT person to test cook the Ginger Rogers Coffee Parfait recipe once you return! You will be channeling the spirit of Ginger - LDP x

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