Extra! Extra! Read All About it!

Thanks to a well-placed source (read: my friend Nicole at her kick-ass NY1 internship), I got the scoop that Rachel McAdams was filming her new flick right in the NY1 newsroom last week. Slated for a summer 2010 release, Morning Glory also stars Patrick Wilson (yum), Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton. It’s about a big-time television producer enlisted to help revive a struggling morning show. So it’s not exactly about hard-hitting journalism, but the setting got me thinking about my favorite reporters in classic films. Of course, they hold a special place in my heart being that we share the same chosen profession. (Though, sadly, my job has never included a “meet cute,” a murder mystery or a jaunt around Rome.)

1. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday (1940)

He's the newspaper editor, she's the best reporter he's got. Not even their divorce could separate their shared passion for the headlines.

2. Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in Woman of the Year (1942)

She's a prize-winning political journalist, and he's a lowly sports reporter - but together, they're magic! Hilarity ensues when he tries to teach her the rules of baseball...

3. Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953)

This reporter thinks he's got the story of the century when he meets a runaway princess...too bad he ends up falling in love with her!


4. Clark Gable in It Happened One Night (1934)

Another down-on-his-luck reporter stumbles into front-page news when he meets a runaway heiress on a night bus. Again, love gets in the way.

5. James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)

He's an aspiring writer stuck working at a society tabloid. Katherine Hepburn helps bring him out of his rut.

Matinee Man: James Stewart

Last week was James Stewart’s birthday, and while it would have made sense to have him as our Matinee Man then, alas, life got in the way (dontcha hate when that happens?) and the post got delayed. But being that yesterday was Memorial Day, Stewart – a former veteran – is still an apropos choice. Better known to the public as Jimmy Stewart, the guy was an unlikely movie star. His often geeky, down-home persona was the exact opposite of the suave, romantic leading man, but audiences loved him in films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Shop Around the Corner and The Philadelphia Story. And if you've ever turned on the TV around Christmastime, we guarantee you've seen his face in the holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life.

But he left all that success behind to join the Army Air Corps during World War II, rising to the rank of colonel in just four years. After the war, he took on darker, more contemplative roles in films like Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958), and Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959).

As for being named our Matinee Man, Stewart - always the self-effacing star - would probably flash us that shy, "aw shucks" smile. And that’s precisely why we love him. In my opinion, he was one of the first to make geek look good. See for yourself:

When Stewart won the Best Actor Oscar in 1940, he sent it to his father in Indiana, Pennsylvania, who kept it in his hardware shop for 25 years.

Stewart was a true "regular guy." He shunned Hollywood glamour and avoided buying expensive clothes and fancy cars.

He was also super-protective of his privacy. When a family of tourists decided to camp out on his front lawn, his came out of his house and promptly turned on the sprinklers.

While filming the emotional “let me live again” scene It’s a Wonderful Life, Stewart was so moved that began crying for real. Rather than risk losing the moment’s authenticity by shooting more takes, director Frank Capra created close-ups by enlarging frames of the long shot.