Sleeps' Sickness

In lipstick a killer's been scrawling
Through gutters reporters are crawling
His crazed strangulations
Have raised circulations
But which commits sins more appalling?


The cynical media exploits a serial killer in Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956).

Rotten-to-the-Press Corps

The newsroom is crawling with snakes
A crew of appalling old rakes
They favor a story
Salacious and gory
And for scoops screw whoever it takes.


Ida Lupino, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price, George Sanders and Thomas Mitchell in Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956).

Roadhouse Broken

In love, he's just playing at nice
He gets what he wants in a vice
Don't cross crazy Jefty--
the cost can be hefty--
'cause ev'rything comes with a price

The calm before the storm: Richard Widmark (as Jefty) thinks he can buy Ida Lupino in Roadhouse (Jean Negulesco, 1948).

Blight and Day

A journey from darkness to light
Towards day and away from the night
Two souls, once alone,
together are thrown
The damsel will rescue the knight


Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino in On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, 1952) Image source: John K. Stuff!; Glenn Kenny's Some Came Running.

Wrecks and the City

With hookers and lowlifes and dope
a cop's at the end of his rope
But then, while away,
encounters a Ray
of love and renewal and hope


Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino find themselves On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, 1952), a rare romantic and optimistic note in the Ryan filmography. The upbeat ending was forced on director Ray, who wanted Ryan's troubled cop to return to the city, albeit as a changed man.

Be Scared, My Lovely

He glowers the length of the hall
He towers and makes her feel small
A dark silhouette,
he looms like a threat
A shadow that's casting a pall

Ida Lupino is overwhelmed by handyman Robert Ryan in a production still from Beware, My Lovely (Henry Horner, 1952).

Handymanic

They say that good help's hard to find
that's sound in both body and mind
When hiring a man
be sure as you can
he isn't the strangling kind


Handyman Robert Ryan menaces Ida Lupino in Beware, My Lovely (Harry Horner, 1952). Image source: Twenty Four Frames

Eye-da Lupino

Here's looking at Ida Lupino
She's hot as a green jalapeno
Director and star
in setting, bizarre
with eye on a pretty bambino

Drive, She Said

A trucker hauls freight late at night
The daylight, it seems, is too bright
He speeds and he swerves
'round feminine curves
till one tries to frame him from spite



Ida Lupino is driven crazy by jealousy and steals the show
from George Raft, leggy Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart
in the Raoul Walsh classic, They Drive By Night (1940).

Carrying a Torch Singer

Half-croaking, a torch singer croons
While smoking her way through the tunes
As cigarettes dangle
With danger she'll tangle,
Provoking the king of the loons.




Roadhouse (1948, Jean Negulesco) is a gorgeously goofy forties melodrama, shot by the great Joseph LaShelle. With the North woods saloon/bowling alley set, Ida Lupino's half-lit torch singer and Celeste Holm's wisecracking cashier, it's also a barrel of fun. Throw in Richard Widmark's cackling psycho routine and it all boils over the top into a noir climax. Images: dvdbeaver and eternalsunshine

Trust the Ida's Touch

by Backthrow
Hollywood Bureau





Raise a glass to Ms. Ida Lupino
She had class, if you know what I mean, oh
As actress, director
A statue, erect her
Respect her, while drinking your vino









'Second-string Bette Davis'? --They lied!
Ida's screen presence can't be denied
Whether ingenue, moll
Or 'film noir' femme fatale
She excelled at whatever she tried






In "Deep Valley", "Road House", "The Hard Way"
"The Sea Wolf", Ida knew how to play
Parts that were kind and cruel
--She was nobody's fool--
Though Rob Ryan once ruined her day...


(Psycho handyman Robert Ryan traps Ida at home in 'Beware My Lovely' (1952))