February 3 is Dana’s birthday! Celebrating her over the miles as she shares with us — over Champagne and Chinese takeout — her inspirations, a favorite film, and two must-read biographies (plus a GREAT photo!).
Q: How are you celebrating your birthday??
Dana: Since we have a curfew in France right now, and my husband and daughter are away, I have decided to do like I did when I was a kid, and have a sleepover with COVID-free girlfriends — you are never too old for that! We are going high-low: Champagne and Chinese delivery (since the Chinese New Year is around the corner). I am not really a cake person, but there a lemon-almond one by New York Times writer Melissa Clark that I love, so I started my day by whipping that up. Back in the 70s, we would have watched “The Brady Bunch,” “The Partridge Family” and “Love American Style.” Instead, we are going to dial up “Ball of Fire,” a Howard Hawks screwball comedy with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, which my friend, the film critic Anthony Lane, suggested, and somehow I have never seen.
Q: What motivates you?
Dana: The sun. The sea. Flowers in bloom. A thriving kitchen garden. And, most of all, my daughter, Lucie.
Q: Whom do you give thanks to on your birthday?
Dana: My parents, and my grandparents, and their parents, and so on, for giving me this life.
Q: Give us one good read recommendation for these times…
Dana: I have two. First, in keeping with my birthday cinematic entertainment, if you love early Hollywood, my friend Todd McCarthy’s Howard Hawks biography from about 20 years ago is just terrific. Todd was the film critic for Variety for decades — he’s now at Deadline Hollywood — and a true film scholar. He spent years writing the book, and pulls you deep into that era. After that, you want to watch all those Hawks movies — from His Girl Friday to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and you do so with a keener eye.
Second: I’ve just tucked into David Michaelis’s epic biography, “Eleanor,” about Eleanor Roosevelt, and it is magnificent. The writing is glorious. The details are astounding. And all that American history, beginning deep in the Belle Epoque — I’m swooning.
Thanks, Dana, and joyeux anniversaire! 🎂🥂🥡
(More about Dana and her writing here: http://www.danathomas.com/)