December 31, 2023 • 49 mins
Happiest New Year Harriet-Heads! We bring closure to our epic "Harriet The Spy" journey by watching the totally adorable Nickelodeon movie starring Michelle Trachtenberg, reading film and book reviews, getting Judy Blume's perspective on the novel, and a new listener letter (thank you, Jennifer!). Get ready to weigh in soon on our NEXT JUDY BOOK – peep social meeds for details. See you in 2024!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:15):
Hi, I'm Jody and I'm Allison, and you're listening to the Bloom Saloon.
It's a Judy Bloom book Club.We're gonna get to Judy Bloom very
soon. But we have one moreHarriet focused episode for you today. It's
our Harriet the Spy, Odds andends. Can you believe it's time?
(00:38):
It's here, It's time. It'sthe end. And thank you for your
patience as Jody and I have battledillness. We really we've missed you so
much. We've missed doing this andwe miss being healthy. Yeah, we're
gonna be back on track, newYear, new us. But yeah,
(00:58):
thank you for understanding that we werenot in a place to record, but
now we are. We've got ourcough drops, We've got our tea,
yeah, we've got our all ourmedication. Yeah, and we're gonna wrap
up Harriet with mostly the movie.And you know what I have to say,
(01:19):
what it's a delight. I lovedit, freaking loved it. It's
so nostalgic and perfect. Harriet ismuch more a redeemal character in the movie,
I believed, and overall stylistically,it's a wonder. I loved it.
(01:40):
So this is the first time we'retalking about this. We guys walked
at all This is fresh. Iliterally just watched it. Me too,
Me too. It's on HBO,Yeah too, or Max or whatever we
call it these days, but it'sthere, fresh for the watching, with
an amazing Nickelodeon Studios little blur butat the front. It was the very
(02:04):
first Nickelodeon movie orange VHS. Soshould we just jump right into this?
I think let's get into the movieand then we'll tie a little bow on
some of the things, you know, some bits and bobs from the book,
letters, reviews, things like that. But I think let's get right
into the movie because it's so funand I really really recommend everyone go watch
(02:29):
it. All right, Well,like you said, Nickelodeon's first feature film
came out in theaters on July tenth, nineteen ninety six. Allison, where
were you July tenth, nineteen ninetysix. I was nine, okay,
having a summer July tenth. Iwas probably at the pool. I was
(02:49):
thinking about the public pool recently thatI spent a lot of summers at growing
up. It's not a pool anymoreback home. Shout out Wilson Pool.
It is now like a splash padis what they call it. They like
filled it in and just put sprinklersbecause it was too expensive to have lifeguards
and have something staffed all the time. But my summers were spent there in
a giant classic, you know,San loottesque pool, and that was where
(03:17):
I was pretty much all summer andone of the only places I got stung
by a bee because they had grassaround the pool and you could get candy
bars and it smelled so strongly ofchlorine and was just a few blocks from
(03:37):
my grandparents' house and I loved it. That sounds delightful. So when this
movie came out, you were nursinga bee, saying eating a Snickers bar.
Yeah. I think I was likeprime, prime target for this movie.
And Michelle Trachtenberg was just fresh offof Pete and Pete as Nona with
(03:57):
the perpetually broken arm, and Ijust loved her. I loved this aesthetic,
like I was such a nineties child, and I like, all I
wanted were some some big pants anda striped shirt. So I get it.
She was perfect. I wish Iwas younger in nineteen ninety six so
(04:21):
I could have appreciated it. Whenit came out. I was in high
school. I was a junior ora senior. I think I was about
to be a senior. But thetyler walked in and saw what I was
watching, and he's like, thatgirl looks like you and Rosie, Rosie's
my sister put together, and Iwas like, oh my god, she
does, Oh my god, you'reright. I was thinking, man,
(04:43):
she's so cute. She's like absurdlycute, and she reminds me yes like
you, and Rosie is perfect.And I also just watched the original Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and she'sgot a little Varuka salt vibes. Yeah
yeah, uh huh, she reallydoes. And you know Ruk Assault with
(05:04):
my idol. I was nine whenI rewatched that and thought of you idolizing
Bruk Assault. I was just laughingso hard. I'm so glad. I'm
so glad you can view it througha new lens now, like Duddy,
I need a golden goose. Myfavorite is how she wants a bean feast.
(05:27):
Oh I know, yeah, yeah, she wants a bean feast.
I love a bean feast. Okay. So I was surprised to learn that
Michelle Trachtenberg had just turned nine whenthis was filming, so she was basically
eight still, you know, justturned nine. That's that's eight playing an
(05:49):
eleven year old. But honestly,that age seemed to fit Harriet's maturity level
so much better. I think that'sright. And she's like endearingly, she's
she still has a little bit oflike baby face cuteness exactly, and so
it made so much more sense visually, like with her tantrums and like her
having a nanny still and you know, like being helped into the bath and
(06:12):
tucked in at night. It worked. The director was Bromwin Hughes, and
she said certain things about the sixtiesstory, especially the relationship between kids and
their parents, had to be adjustedto make sense, because you don't have
that same kind of formality that youdid in the book in the sixties between
parents and kids. So those thingsneeded to be made a bit more natural
(06:34):
for the nineteen nineties kids. Yeah, they took out the cook yep,
so fewer layers between Harriet and herparents, and they were just more so
neglectful and out of touch in thebook. No, I think in the
movie oh, I think like Ithink in the book. To me,
(06:57):
it is more of just like thisis how it was back then, you
know, like you haven't any youhave these layers between you and your children.
In the nineties, it felt morelike like, oh, they just
like don't know what to do withtheir kid. I see what you're saying.
Yeah, totally. And the directoralso said, but it was very
important to me that the things thatreally affected Harriet in the book would be
(07:20):
the things that really affected Harriet inthe movie. The result mixed elements from
various decades, but he was aspiredto create a timeless film that featured little
technology. So that was very interestingbecause when the movie first starts, it
looks very nineteen sixties. You know, we're kind of thrust into this bustling
(07:43):
downtown of like commerce and groceries,and you see some old cars. But
then once we get to the schoolscene, there's like a I don't remember
what if it was like a rangeRover or a jeep Cherokee or something as
a range Rover that Marion Hawthorne rightup in, so very you know,
modern day in the nineties that wasnot a sixties car. And then you
(08:07):
know, pretty sure. I sawa stainless steel fridge in Harriet's kitchen.
Yeah, her kitchen was pretty modern, and they were roller blades yeah,
so yeah, But there were someother details that you could tell they're trying
to give it this timeless vibe becausemost of the other cars were old classic
cars. They're showing old film reelsabout puberty and class. So much of
(08:31):
the fashion, I mean, theway they dress is so like sixties via
nineties. Yeah. Yeah. Ithink the only standout was Jane. She
was more of a nineties girl,but everybody else could have been black boots
firmly in sixty four uh huh,sport especially. Let's go to the intro.
So, yeah, we have theopening sequence with random fruit and other
(08:54):
produce and like some fish and octopus, and I was like, what these
are? All? Like weird?Choice is what kind of movie is this?
Like supermarkets sweep? But then you'relike, oh, this makes sense
because we're in this city scene oflike produce, and Harriet is spying on
(09:15):
shoppers at this market and she seesa pickpocketer in action. She's got those
amazing little binoculars. Yeah, theselittle bronze ones. Oh, I love
her gadgets, great gadgets. SoI'm like, is Harriet gonna save the
day? Is this gonna like beour first deviation from the book. Is
she gonna get this Pickpocketer? Butno, she just watches the old happen
(09:41):
And I was like, oh,whoa interesting. And then the thief just
plows into a pile of eggs,like many eggs, so many eggs.
Such a waste, Such a waste. Then we meet Jane and Sport and
they seem pretty cool. We're sittingon the steps at school. All the
(10:01):
rest of the kids are introduced,and it's very true to the book,
very accurate. I love the grossnessof Pinky Whitehead. He's eating some disgusting
sandwich. I'm loving the diverse cast. Yes, they do a really great
job, and it feels, yeah, it feels very vibrant. It wasn't
filmed in New York City. Itwas filmed in Toronto, but it feels
(10:22):
very New York City. Oh yeah. We have a little a little tidbit
later where they're in the park andthere's did you notice that giant maple leaf
the landscaping? Mm hm, AndI was like, wait a second,
yeah, And you know, thekids are very Nickelodeon, I thought,
(10:43):
and I think, yeah, Ithink it had something to do with,
like, you know, they weregreat actors. They were very like vibrant,
like you said, and on.But also I think Nickelodeon had this
filming technique or like style where theywould get like up close in the kids'
faces. Yes, the camera angleswere wild, a lot of almost up
fish eye lest Yeah. Well,and when Harriet has a mirror later on,
(11:07):
she has a little like fishy mirror. There's the scene where she's like
in her room writing and it's likeall the different angles, like let me
film you from every which way,And it all felt very all that nick
news like edgy nineties Nickelodeon, whichI couldn't get enough of personally, Snick
(11:31):
was everything to me. So thisstyle is very I'm like, yes,
yes, yes, like more ofthis, like I can't get enough.
I love that you're getting the doubleCodd nostalgia. You're getting the nineties nostalgia
and then also the sixties nostalgia.Yes. Great, So love Harrison Withers
and all his cats. This settingis exactly how we pictured it, I
(11:54):
think, you know, with therooftop and the skylights and his kind of
very eclectic cat house. Yeah.Did you picture him with a bolo tie
and a ponytail. No, Ididn't picture him as a jazz guy,
but it has so much sense.Yeah, Oh he's scatting away cat.
I'm working on his you know,birds cages totally. And all his cats
(12:18):
were named after the jazz grats.There was no Dustyevski. We had like
Ella and Eda and Billie and youknow, yeah, Fats and all those
guys. So that was very fun. I liked his great ponytail. Yeah,
I love I love Terris and whethersRosie O'Donnell as Old Gollie makes her
(12:39):
grand entrance in this. It's justher look, her iconic look, her
amazing red beret and matching trench coat. She is fabulous. But I noticed
they don't ever call her Old Golly. They just call her Golly. And
we never meet her mom either,mm hmm. But we do meet missus
(13:00):
w I believe her name is atthe sculpture Garden. Yeah, she's this
artsy eccentric woman with like mosaics andan adventure garden and soda soda pop hanging
from strings and trees. Old Gollymakes them stand in a circle and like
take swigs of this like fizzed upsoda and make wishes. I was into
(13:24):
that. I mean, oh golly, I feel like boys. It was
almost like a hyper dreamy version.She was much more fun. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, and just kindof sweeter too. Mm hmmmm hmm.
Big difference here. Harriet makes herown tomato sandwiches. There's no cook,
(13:46):
like you said, with like adull knife, squish in that tomato.
We move along to the stand infor the Dsante food store. It's now
Hong Fat's Food and Poor. Butdid you notice right next door to it
was Desanti's restaurante. Oh no,that's cute. Nod. I almost missed
(14:11):
it. I just happened to positto do something and that's how I caught
it. So that's very cool.That's cute. But yeah, it's the
same situation with the family at HongFats, multi generational. Yes, we've
got the older family's son. Hisname's Frankie. He's trying to convince the
(14:31):
parents to let him have the truckfor the night. Gil the Papa d
Santi stand in. He's like ona table getting cupped. Yeah, very
some some a lot of Chinese kindof herbal medicine situations. When there was
sword. Yeah, it was likevaguely racist. Yeah. They were definitely
(14:56):
playing the like cliche like Asian esquestrings in the background, like the music
was very stereotypical. Yeah, itwas. It was interesting how they're like,
oh, we probably can't make funof Italian families, but we could
make fun of Chinese families. Yeah. Yeah, but it was interesting.
(15:18):
It was neat to see kind ofwhat they would change. I like the
Hong Fat's Food Emporium name, andit is more it's like a grocery store
restaurant, and we have Little JoeCurry, except he's not Little Joe Curry.
He is an older man who weshall encounter shortly. Yeah, he's
(15:39):
stealing some food, yeah, procuringsome veggies. We learned that dad is
in comedy. He's a comedy writer. Mom's a bookkeeper, they mentioned,
but like for his business, hedoes the funny, she does the money,
and he's got some kind kind ofhigh pressure script writing job. I'm
(16:03):
glad you caught that part. Welove their apartment, don't we. Oh
god, not the Brownstone we pictured. No, not very New York,
but fun did you notice the floors, the geometric tile floors, and there
was like a cool, lofty bedroomarea. Yeah. And then we meet
(16:27):
mister Waldenstein as he comes to thedoor with a pineapple for old Golly.
He's coming over for dinner. Andwho shall he be but the man Harrods
so earlier. Yes, he's bigJoe Curry. She's like, I bet
he stole that pineapple. Yeah.They're like, we could only have one
(16:48):
delivery boy. They're at dinner.Harrott does not like this man. They
have a stare off, which ispretty funny, also very Nickelodeon. It's
kind of like doom like switching anglesfrom eyes to eyes and suddenly he does
his cross eye and then she cracksup and she's like, I like this
guy. It's cute. And thenyou know, he explains his past history
(17:10):
about how he used to have alot of money but now he's a starting
over again, a free man.Yeah. No mention of the kid he
left mine this time, no goodcall. I forgot about the kid.
Their dinner gets burned and mister Waldenstein'slike, oh, darn it, I
(17:30):
guess we have to go out todinner in a movie. And so there's
a very cute scene of mister waldenStcene and Harriet lying on the floor together.
They're just like at Old Golly's feet, begging, begging to go to
a movie. I like that theygo see a fem fatalfest with Mata Hai
(17:51):
playing the Greta Garbo movie. Iwas hoping for the big scene with Harriet
in the bike basket, like zoomthrough the streets of New York, but
we just get them rolling up tothe house with all the lights on Linkendon.
Mom freaks out. The way she'sdressed made me think again, like,
(18:14):
wait, is this the sixties?Because she did look very nineteen sixties
glam lady. That mom is inso much Oh oh, she's Jerry from
Succession. I didn't watch Succession,but I did see that she was in
that. And she's just in aton of things. She's on search Party,
she's like a character actor, youknow, and tons of tons of
(18:37):
things, working a lot. Sheis amazing. I love her. And
then we get to Old Golly leaving. She's she's just like you know what,
I'm out. Yeah, Well,they fire her, but then they
take it back exactly and she andHarriet do the the Walrus poem thing.
(19:03):
The big difference here when they saygoodbye is that old Golly says it's okay
for her to cry, and it'snot because there's been a marriage proposal.
Oh Golly's like maybe I'll travel that'sright. Oh yeah, I think they
you know, they want to makeher an independent woman. She's not leaving
just because of a man exactly.Harrison Weathers gets his cats taken away.
(19:26):
Oh they're they're like in a sack, like writhing around being led away by
it. Like that one bit andit's like little tiny truck. Yeah,
it's like dogcatcher truck. M h. Skipping forward a little bet. We
we have the big vote for thepageant theme. It's the same as in
(19:51):
the book. We're gonna do acarnival of foods and Harry gets assigned the
onion. Yeah, Janey does suggestOppenheimer the musical basically how timely. It's
very timely. We get the Agathak Plumber moment. She lives in this
fucking fancy house with a gate outside, and there's like a truck full of
(20:15):
Pomeranians in the driveway. There's aroucie look like named Wee wee uh huh.
The way Harriet breaks into the househere makes so much more sense than
it did in the book. Shecreeps in after the maid. She gets
into the dumb waiter to avoid thebarking dog, and that's when we see
(20:37):
the dumb waiter for the first time. Like, this is the dumbwaiter and
it's so scary. Yes, it'svery dramatic. There's some great detail shots
of the rope and the pulley systemand like even like the wallpaper on the
inside of the dumb waiter was veryinteresting. We get a very short glimpse
of this fabulously decrepit miss Plumber oris a kid? Oh my god?
(21:00):
Really? Yeah, I did noteven notice with care. Yeah, she's
she looks so good. She's amazing. Yeah, I think like I've found
the secret to life. You juststay in bed. She's like, oh,
you be felous. But Harriet spottedright away, like she there's no
(21:23):
coming back. This is like theone time she visits missus Plumber and they
chase her out, and then that'sthat. Yeah, I mean the break
in is so like fully a breakin, so invasive. And then we
cut to the moment where Harriet losesher notebook. We know it's coming because
(21:44):
all the kids are in the parkand they're having the greatest time and it's
just like fun and care free,and there's the montage of them playing tag
with fun music. Yeap. Themidpoint of the movie, everything changes and
then Harry gets up from the groundand realizes her notebook's gone, and who
should have it? But like mostgossip ass horse Girl, Mary and Hawthorne,
(22:08):
yuh, And they're all sitting atthe bench just like in the book.
But Janie and Sport are with heras they walk over, so that's
a little different. But honestly,all the things that she writes about her
classmates, like are they're not thatbad. They're a little more generic,
a little more bland. She's notas mean. Yeah she's mean, but
(22:30):
she's not like psycho the S word. Yeah, she's not the S word.
This is Poe's new thing. Helearned the S word, which is
psycho. Psycho. I know theS word, it's psycho. So yeah,
I think that makes her a lotmore likable. You know, we
have empathy for her. I feelI felt bad for her that these kids
(22:53):
are reading her notebook out loud,and Sport and Janie even stand up for
her at first, until Janie readsher portion. Jennie really creeps me out.
I wonder if you'll grow up tobe a total nutcase her best friend.
(23:19):
That's her best friend. And thenSport says, Sport is so poor
he can't even afford food. Whycan't his father just get a real job.
Oh, and get this as well. One day, I have to
pretend he dropped a dollar just sohe can afford some milk and bread.
(23:44):
Harsh. That didn't happen in thebook, did it? No? But
I think there are these we deemingmoments for Harriet throughout that make her like
a little more likable, and thatwas one of them. She like sees
Sports struggling at the grocery store.She's spying, but then you know,
she takes a moment to pretend helost a dollar so that he can pay
(24:10):
for everything he wants. That night, she's in bed, sad as ever,
and she's mumbling, oh golly,golly, oh golly, oh golly,
which is in the book it wasold golly, old golly, old
golly, old golly. But Iguess, yeah, well, I was
thinking, like if she just saidgolly, golly, golly over and over
(24:30):
again. That would sound weird,so she says that a little more like
gully gully, gully, Oh Gully, Oh Gully Gully, Oh Gully,
Gully, Gilly, Oh Gully,o oh golly, golly, oh Cully
Gulley, Oh golly. Harry.So at school, you know it's the
(24:52):
same. All the kids ignore her, they pass No, it's about her,
they say she smells. Marion hopThorne's like, you better watch out
because we have a plan. Andthat's when she discovered the clubhouse. They're
making the SpyCatcher Club and I wasvery impressed with the construction of the clubhouse.
(25:14):
It looked very good to me.They take a giant ass crate and
just carry it and it basically islike a shipping container style clubhouse at Rachel
had to Sea's house. Oh,I love the scene when she's in the
park riding on the park bench andall the kids swarm her on roller blades
(25:34):
and they're banging pots and pans andyelling. They're like a gang in the
Warriors. Yes, I would sayit's like very mad Maxian like they've got
like pots and pans, like attachedto their bodies like a club cap.
Yeah, they're like beating on themand they they really disrupt her whole root.
They don't let her do anything.These spycatchers are serious. They follow
(25:59):
her all through the city and thenshe climbs up onto the roof I think
gets Harrison Withers's roof. Yep,and she gets caught by a cop.
Yeah. I couldn't believe there wasa cop. Uh that cop is Danny
Glover. No, Yeah, that'scrazy wild, what a cameo. It
(26:21):
was literally a two second clip.Mom and dad are pissed. She's in
trouble at school. They tell herthey want her to stop with this notebook
obsession, and then she comes backwith telling them they they need to give
up their martinis and jewelry buying.Oh, we get the amazing paint spilling
situation. A little while later.They're in our class. So it's blue
(26:45):
paint. It's a bucket of bluepaint, not a bucket of blue ink,
which we thought was kind of weirdin the book. And uh,
these kids just smeared all over herand very strassic fun. Yeah, it's
very, very stressful. They're somean to her. They've also been telling
(27:06):
her, you know, she smells, and she's like washing up in the
wild fountain in the school bathroom,obsessed with the fountain in the school that
fountain. It's like this circular handwashing situation. It's so cool, but
they're so mean to her, butshe takes it in stride. I mean
it upsets her, but she's notcrushed, which you know, I thought
(27:30):
was very inspiring. The slap,the blue paint, huge Hawthorne slap.
It's great love that for her.And then we start getting just like this
vendetta. She's carving all the namesof the kids into her desk, which
is a cool visual, and she'scrossing out each name as she kind of
like does her stuff to them.So she cuts Laura Peter's hair. There's
(27:56):
a bra on the pole. Ithink that was for Carrie Andrews who had
grown boobs over the summer. That'smean, ugh sports thing is she like
makes a little photoshop of him witha maid costa. Well he had he
was wearing that earlier on when shegoes to visit him actually, and he's
(28:18):
like telling her how he takes careof everything in his house. And there's
a moment where he's like cleaning inthe apron, which I thought was like
high art, Like I was likeobsessed with this apron scene, and she
takes a polaroid of him. Itotally miss that. It's a great scene.
So this even seems meaner uses againstsent Yeah, like a really genuine
(28:42):
beautiful moment between friends. She's like, yeah, he's a little cleanup bitch.
Yeah. Oh, and then weget to the therapist's office. What
did you think of this therapist's office? I like the therapist's office. One
of the reviews that made me reallylaugh as I was looking at reviews online
is like, thenk god, shewent to a psychiatrist with the giant jacks.
(29:08):
That was cool. He was veryBenstein. Yes, they play with
those like sockem robots instead of Monopolylike they do in the book. But
in general, their combo it's prettymuch the same. Let's her right,
Yeah, and she's into it.She likes this guy. It's working.
(29:33):
When she gets home, Mom givesher her notebook back and says basically like
I don't understand you. I don'tunderstand why you need this, but I
made a mistake in taking it away, So here you go and sounds like
they're good now a moment, andthen old Golly shows up, like this
beautiful maroon cloaked goes from the past, not just a letter, like a
(29:56):
real visit, a real, livein person visit. They go up to
her room and sit on her bed, and you know, Golly's schools are
about apologizing, and sometimes you haveto tell little white lies, nice lies.
Yeah, number one apologize, Numbertwo lie right, And then we
(30:18):
get the apology tour to Janney andsports Houses, which goes pretty much the
same. They kind of slam thedoor in her face and she's still you
know, she's sorry, but theythey're not ready to hear it ready.
I do love Jannie's lab in themovie, and I love a scene early
on in the movie where Jane's momcomes to like check in on her and
(30:41):
she gets mad because Janie's using herbra from Veronica's closet, right, Veronica's
clause Veronica's closet. So I thoughtthat was so funny, But yeah,
it does not work out in thelab this go around. Wait, wasn't
Veronica's Closet that sitcom? Was it? I just thought it was just like
(31:02):
a really funny take on Victoria's Secret. I mean it is, but also
I think that's why it was calledthat in the sitcom too. Oh that's
so funny. Oh that sounds great. Let's see. Oh and here's an
interesting change the you know, thewhole editor of the sixth grade newspaper situation.
(31:22):
It's called the guidepost in the movie. She is the one that brings
it up in class. Yeah,not the therapist, not the teachers,
not her parents, it's her.Yeah, Like she doesn't think it's fair
that the class president also has tobe the editor. That's just too much
for one person. And then missEllis, miss Elson, is like,
(31:44):
huh, let's put it to avote. The boy with the purple socks
vouches for her in a very heartfeltspeech. Janie seconds it, and then
slowly but surely, it's like areal like slow clap moment. Everyone raises
her hand and they vote for her. And she has more of like a
(32:07):
moral arc here, you know,like her writing in the newspaper is much
more of like redemption tale. Yeah, it's like she's like a wise old
stage just like imparting her observational wits. Life goes on, Things can be
fixed. Take two steps forward,one step back. Like she's she's a
lot more self referential, kind ofreflective on the things she's done and how
(32:32):
she needs to make amends. Yeah, and even the gossipy things are I
mean, they're still there, butthey're more like blind items and no names
named, you know, like somebodydid this scene and I hairy Welsh.
(33:00):
I'm on a mission to be agreat writer. A good friend once told
me that all great writers try tosee everything. Okay, here goes.
I knew this guy once. Heused to be a jillionaire. Now,
he writes, I wont wrote thefreaky part. He says, the bike's
(33:25):
better please writing if you think he'slying. There's a difference between looking and
stuff and really seeing it. Toreally see, you've got to get a
(33:52):
closer look my cabin. I've noticedthat sometimes stuff you think is broken forever
is actually totally fixable. But somestuff is supposed to fall apart. Speaking
(34:14):
of which, certain high ranking officialsof a certain secret club had better to
dork by themselves in a hurry,or else everybody's going back to where they
were in the first place. Thisreporter believes that dedorcification is difficult, but
not impossible process. Mostly, you'vegot to want to be cured. I'm
(34:37):
not, but I'm pretty sure it'stwo steps forward, one step back kind
of deal. In theater news,Miss South and sixth grade Holiday Patty was
the theatrical controversy of the season.Some are happy to see it and whom
(35:00):
argue. Others say it's stuck.This reporter has no comment, and hey,
stupid school board, give yourself ana race, would you. She's
not so bad as teachers, though, and she puts up a lot.
(35:23):
There's evidence to suggest that Jamie Gibbswill grow up to be the world's greatest
scientist. So far she has showan amazing progress in the areas of mold
manipulation and chemical combustibles. We havealso learned that sports Father is rolling in
dough from his latest book, whichjust goes to show if you stick to
what you love and work like adog, you will succeed. For those
(35:47):
of you who don't know, aretraction is when a newspaper takes something back.
This newspaper would like to retract certainstatements in a certain notebook which may
have hurt certain people's feel Easy saywere lies and those that weren't lies were
me Like, just because a person'sfather is far away does not mean he
(36:08):
does love you anyways. Don't thinkabout it is important, but sorry your
friends and if you can have themboth, then it's a good life until
(36:28):
next issue. Remain your faithful correspondent. Carry it Welsh. Yeah, I
liked it. I think it justflows better as a story arc. Even
though it's like a little bit moreof Vanilla Eyes than the original. I
(36:50):
think it makes more sense and itworks better. Yeah, it's a well
written movie. I think so too. And then it closes with like the
food pageant. Yeah, get areally cute dance with all the kids in
their costumes, and of course Harriet'sthe onion. The costumes are great.
(37:13):
The costumes are so good. Thegiant turkey baster as a limbo stick that
was incredible. A lot of thecorn costume. Did you notice corn?
Oh? I didn't notice corn,but please take a screenshot. I will.
And then you know, it wouldn'tbe a Nickelodeon ending without some kind
of like little prank, you know. And the Janey sets off a stink
(37:37):
bomb in the vents and everybody's likeah, and they run out and Harriet
and Janey and Sport just keep dancingon the stage until they are chased out
by a teacher. So good.And it was very cute, very cheesy,
but not not too cheesy. Itwas a little just right, just
right cheesy, just right for youknow, ten year olds, eleven year
(38:00):
olds. Yeah, I could seethese kids definitely living in the same world
as Margaret. The esthetic was justso perfectly either way, you know what
I mean. I agree it didn'tbother me. Sometimes that bugs me when
it's when they're trying too hard tobe like noncommittal to an era. But
(38:21):
I think this one really works.Yeah, it really holds up visually,
I would say, so a treat, a treasure. I enjoyed it,
and you know what, a lotof people do online too. It has
great letterbox reviews for the most part, Like they're all nice. I can't
say the same for the book,but the letterbox reviews are really sweet.
(38:46):
One review says, what a greatfucking movie, four to half stars,
gorgeous color palette, dope jazz soundtrack, so fucking honest. Sometimes it's nosalgia
and sometimes it's a true masterpiece.Ooh yeah, but I said there is
one like three star review that said, really glad her parents eventually take her
to a child psychiatrist. And thenanother person said something that I really loved,
(39:12):
which was Harriet wrote the first burnbook, which is a nice little
me and girl's reference. Ah,did you check out the twenty ten TV
movie or the animated series at all? It didn't, did you? So
I haven't checked out the animated series. I think I will at some point
(39:35):
because it's really new. It justcame out in twenty twenty one, starring
Beanie Feldstein. But the twenty tenit's very weird. I just I could
not make my way through it.It is I mean, they say it's
an adaptation on the book, butlike adaptation is like very loose. In
this instance, it's called Harriet theSpy. The blog wars don't like that
(40:00):
Harriet is sixteen in this one.What everyone is a teenager? They're in
high school? You know. Itopens with her making a tomato sandwich reference,
and we still have old Golly,who's like a young blonde woman.
And what nobody asked for that?Nobody wants that why are you sixteen?
(40:21):
Why do you have a nanny?The plot seems to be that Harriet and
Marion Hawthorne are both like vying tobe the initial, the official class blogger.
There's also a big plot line withthis movie star hunk that comes to
town. His name is Scander Hill. I just I didn't understand it,
(40:44):
and I don't think I will finish, and I never will the greatest thing
about being a writer is I'm coveringthe truth. Haserves her surroundings. What
she sees people are rarely what theysee. So when a big writing opportunity
(41:05):
comes her way, we need toassign a new class blogger this term.
I nominate Marion Hawthorne. I nominateHarriet Welch. It's a blog war.
Being the class blogger has his perks, you know, to meet her competition.
Marion's aortay posting what already, HarrietGlynn are you posting? When she
sets her sights on the biggest teamstar right about Skander Hell, he's hot.
(41:29):
I'll uncover him for who he reallyis? How far will she go
to get the blog? You don'tknow me? If you don't know anything,
we starts of Waverly Places. JenniferStone stars in Harriet the Spy blog
Wars, a Disney Channel World premieremovie. Premiere's Friday, March twenty sixth
and eighty seven, Central only onDisney Channel. So the book reviews are
(41:53):
pretty funny, you know, it'sit's very divisive people that love it so
much. But there are the peoplethat have I think some similar thoughts to
us of like this is a littleinappropriate for an eight year old, Like
one person said, throat slitting,page seventy eight, poisoning, just a
(42:17):
couple of extremely inappropriate concepts for aneight year old. Not to mention,
the main character is an anti socialpersons with no close extended family. I'm
actually not sure why this book isstill in some recommendation lists with no close
extended family, Like what about herparents? Oh, I'm thinking extended family.
(42:38):
Like they're like, she has nocousins. What maybe she needs some
cousins? Okay. Another person thesubject claim is spiteful, bigoted protagonist learns
to use rich connections to win backalienated friends. Oh, and they thought
that it was well written, wellplotted, and good. And then it
(42:59):
has convincing complex characters. But themain character has a seriously disturbing moral issue,
and so there's a lot of talkabout the very negative things that Harriet
says, which I think are validpoints. But was this book meant for
(43:20):
eight year old? Well, that'sthat's what's unclear, right. I do
think that there's like a third gradekind of reading level to it, and
I think that's why it probably endsup on some lists. And it's kind
of like, Yeah, you know, when you're young, you're usually reading
a little bit older in terms oflike characters. So I think I think
(43:44):
that there there's probably some mistaken kindof situations. Yeah, I still,
you know, I still would loveto hear from bloomheads who really are unwavering
in their love for this book,even reading it as a grown up up.
Our friend Liz is a big harryethead, and I would love to
(44:05):
hear from her. We like toquestion our beliefs sometimes, let's go to
Judy's thoughts. So Judy wrote awonderful little tribute here in our edition of
Harriet the Spy. It at theend easy to miss since we almost did
it, says here, I wantedto be a spy when I was growing
(44:30):
up, or else a detective.Some of my adventures were stupid and dangerous,
and I'm lucky nothing bad happened inmost other ways. I was thought
to be a cautious child, evenanxious and fearful. I'd seen a lot
of spy movies, a lot ofdetective movies, and each week I'd buy
a Nancy Drew mystery with twenty fivecents from my allowance at the Ritz Bookshop
(44:51):
in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Therewas no Harriet the Spy for me to
read in nineteen forty eight, whenI was ten. How I would have
loved that book. I was areader, but the characters in the books
I was reading were nothing like Harriet, and the stories were nothing like the
stories I made up inside my head. Finding Harriet as a young writer in
the mid sixties was inspiring. Itmeant I wasn't the only one who wanted
(45:15):
to tell stories about kids who werereal. Harriet was funny, but she
was also brash, imperfect, curious, and brutally honest. Her life was
very different from any life I hadknown, either as a child or a
young woman. The idea of growingup in Manhattan's posh Upper East Side was
as foreign to me as my earlylife and Elizabeth would have been to Harriet.
(45:35):
But I had no trouble relating toher. Harrie and I weren't that
different. She had secrets, Ihad secrets. She was curious. I
was curious. Luise Fitzhugh remembered whatit was like to grow up and wasn't
afraid to write about it. WhenI first read the book, I thought
yes, Then I read it again. I never got to meet Louise.
I wish I had. She wasone of the authors who most inspired me,
(45:59):
who continue to inspire me. Sothank you Louise for Harriet and her
story. Oh. I love thatJudy loved it. I know it makes
me love it more, of course, like I see the charm Judy,
I guess, Judy. But alsoit's so good for us to remember,
(46:20):
like the time when this came out, because it really was groundbreaking. There
wasn't anything else like this for kidsaround. I appreciate the deviation from the
norm. Yeah, and it's alsogood to hear Judy's voice. Oh,
Judy, we miss I know,I know, I know. I can't
wait to get back to Judy.We're coming. Okay, what's next?
I think the last thing is ourletter. We have a listener letter from
(46:45):
Jennifer. So excited a new listener. So we're thrilled to have you,
Jennifer. Subject line love your podcast, Jody and Allison. I was so
excited to find your podcast. Growingup, my sisters and I read the
same Judy Bloom books over and overagain. Every once in a while I'll
(47:07):
start feeling nostalgic and even reread themnow as an adult, same same I
especially appreciate it when you both takethe time to notice and dissect things in
the books that I noticed and oftenwondered about. It's so satisfying. Are
you planning to cover Iggy's House byany chance? I always enjoyed reading that
book, although now that I'm rememberingit, there was quite a harsh theme
(47:30):
to it. Also, looking throughthe past episodes, it seems like you
cover books sometimes that aren't written byJudy Bloom. I wonder if you'd ever
consider fifteen by Beverly Cleary. Icould probably think of a bunch more,
but I'll stop here for now,looking forward to listening more. Thank you
so much for the fun content.You two are so funny and just crack
(47:51):
me up. Jennifer. Oh,Jennifer, Well, it sounds like she
has been making her way through theJudy books, not doubled into the non
dudes yet you did, Jason.So she might not hear this for a
long long time. Well shout herout. We'll let her know. Thanks
so much, Jennifer. And yes, we definitely will be reading Iggy's Harry's
(48:15):
at some point, and I don'tknow, maybe we'll do another Beverly someday.
I would love. Yeah, everybody, we are ready for a Judy
book. We are going to putout a vote to our patrons, and
we would also like your input too. You know, we take everyone into
(48:37):
account. So let us know whichJudy book you'd like us to read next.
We have a few to choose from. And you have happy New Year.
We love you so much. Thankyou so much for being with us
in twenty twenty three, and we'llsee you in twenty twenty four. You
light up our lives. Do youwant to sing a song? You lot
(49:00):
up my life like cop I know. On that note, it's time for
me to Our illnesses are catching backshokay, bye everybody. Bye,
Hi, I'm Jody and I'm Allison, and you're listening to the Bloom Saloon.
It's a Judy Bloom book Club.We're gonna get to Judy Bloom very
soon. But we have one moreHarriet focused episode for you today. It's
our Harriet the Spy, Odds andends. Can you believe it's time?
(00:38):
It's here, It's time. It'sthe end. And thank you for your
patience as Jody and I have battledillness. We really we've missed you so
much. We've missed doing this andwe miss being healthy. Yeah, we're
gonna be back on track, newYear, new us. But yeah,
(00:58):
thank you for understanding that we werenot in a place to record, but
now we are. We've got ourcough drops, We've got our tea,
yeah, we've got our all ourmedication. Yeah, and we're gonna wrap
up Harriet with mostly the movie.And you know what I have to say,
(01:19):
what it's a delight. I lovedit, freaking loved it. It's
so nostalgic and perfect. Harriet ismuch more a redeemal character in the movie,
I believed, and overall stylistically,it's a wonder. I loved it.
(01:40):
So this is the first time we'retalking about this. We guys walked
at all This is fresh. Iliterally just watched it. Me too,
Me too. It's on HBO,Yeah too, or Max or whatever we
call it these days, but it'sthere, fresh for the watching, with
an amazing Nickelodeon Studios little blur butat the front. It was the very
(02:04):
first Nickelodeon movie orange VHS. Soshould we just jump right into this?
I think let's get into the movieand then we'll tie a little bow on
some of the things, you know, some bits and bobs from the book,
letters, reviews, things like that. But I think let's get right
into the movie because it's so funand I really really recommend everyone go watch
(02:29):
it. All right, Well,like you said, Nickelodeon's first feature film
came out in theaters on July tenth, nineteen ninety six. Allison, where
were you July tenth, nineteen ninetysix. I was nine, okay,
having a summer July tenth. Iwas probably at the pool. I was
(02:49):
thinking about the public pool recently thatI spent a lot of summers at growing
up. It's not a pool anymoreback home. Shout out Wilson Pool.
It is now like a splash padis what they call it. They like
filled it in and just put sprinklersbecause it was too expensive to have lifeguards
and have something staffed all the time. But my summers were spent there in
a giant classic, you know,San loottesque pool, and that was where
(03:17):
I was pretty much all summer andone of the only places I got stung
by a bee because they had grassaround the pool and you could get candy
bars and it smelled so strongly ofchlorine and was just a few blocks from
(03:37):
my grandparents' house and I loved it. That sounds delightful. So when this
movie came out, you were nursinga bee, saying eating a Snickers bar.
Yeah. I think I was likeprime, prime target for this movie.
And Michelle Trachtenberg was just fresh offof Pete and Pete as Nona with
(03:57):
the perpetually broken arm, and Ijust loved her. I loved this aesthetic,
like I was such a nineties child, and I like, all I
wanted were some some big pants anda striped shirt. So I get it.
She was perfect. I wish Iwas younger in nineteen ninety six so
(04:21):
I could have appreciated it. Whenit came out. I was in high
school. I was a junior ora senior. I think I was about
to be a senior. But thetyler walked in and saw what I was
watching, and he's like, thatgirl looks like you and Rosie, Rosie's
my sister put together, and Iwas like, oh my god, she
does, Oh my god, you'reright. I was thinking, man,
(04:43):
she's so cute. She's like absurdlycute, and she reminds me yes like
you, and Rosie is perfect.And I also just watched the original Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and she'sgot a little Varuka salt vibes. Yeah
yeah, uh huh, she reallydoes. And you know Ruk Assault with
(05:04):
my idol. I was nine whenI rewatched that and thought of you idolizing
Bruk Assault. I was just laughingso hard. I'm so glad. I'm
so glad you can view it througha new lens now, like Duddy,
I need a golden goose. Myfavorite is how she wants a bean feast.
(05:27):
Oh I know, yeah, yeah, she wants a bean feast.
I love a bean feast. Okay. So I was surprised to learn that
Michelle Trachtenberg had just turned nine whenthis was filming, so she was basically
eight still, you know, justturned nine. That's that's eight playing an
(05:49):
eleven year old. But honestly,that age seemed to fit Harriet's maturity level
so much better. I think that'sright. And she's like endearingly, she's
she still has a little bit oflike baby face cuteness exactly, and so
it made so much more sense visually, like with her tantrums and like her
having a nanny still and you know, like being helped into the bath and
(06:12):
tucked in at night. It worked. The director was Bromwin Hughes, and
she said certain things about the sixtiesstory, especially the relationship between kids and
their parents, had to be adjustedto make sense, because you don't have
that same kind of formality that youdid in the book in the sixties between
parents and kids. So those thingsneeded to be made a bit more natural
(06:34):
for the nineteen nineties kids. Yeah, they took out the cook yep,
so fewer layers between Harriet and herparents, and they were just more so
neglectful and out of touch in thebook. No, I think in the
movie oh, I think like Ithink in the book. To me,
(06:57):
it is more of just like thisis how it was back then, you
know, like you haven't any youhave these layers between you and your children.
In the nineties, it felt morelike like, oh, they just
like don't know what to do withtheir kid. I see what you're saying.
Yeah, totally. And the directoralso said, but it was very
important to me that the things thatreally affected Harriet in the book would be
(07:20):
the things that really affected Harriet inthe movie. The result mixed elements from
various decades, but he was aspiredto create a timeless film that featured little
technology. So that was very interestingbecause when the movie first starts, it
looks very nineteen sixties. You know, we're kind of thrust into this bustling
(07:43):
downtown of like commerce and groceries,and you see some old cars. But
then once we get to the schoolscene, there's like a I don't remember
what if it was like a rangeRover or a jeep Cherokee or something as
a range Rover that Marion Hawthorne rightup in, so very you know,
modern day in the nineties that wasnot a sixties car. And then you
(08:07):
know, pretty sure. I sawa stainless steel fridge in Harriet's kitchen.
Yeah, her kitchen was pretty modern, and they were roller blades yeah,
so yeah, But there were someother details that you could tell they're trying
to give it this timeless vibe becausemost of the other cars were old classic
cars. They're showing old film reelsabout puberty and class. So much of
(08:31):
the fashion, I mean, theway they dress is so like sixties via
nineties. Yeah. Yeah. Ithink the only standout was Jane. She
was more of a nineties girl,but everybody else could have been black boots
firmly in sixty four uh huh,sport especially. Let's go to the intro.
So, yeah, we have theopening sequence with random fruit and other
(08:54):
produce and like some fish and octopus, and I was like, what these
are? All? Like weird?Choice is what kind of movie is this?
Like supermarkets sweep? But then you'relike, oh, this makes sense
because we're in this city scene oflike produce, and Harriet is spying on
(09:15):
shoppers at this market and she seesa pickpocketer in action. She's got those
amazing little binoculars. Yeah, theselittle bronze ones. Oh, I love
her gadgets, great gadgets. SoI'm like, is Harriet gonna save the
day? Is this gonna like beour first deviation from the book. Is
she gonna get this Pickpocketer? Butno, she just watches the old happen
(09:41):
And I was like, oh,whoa interesting. And then the thief just
plows into a pile of eggs,like many eggs, so many eggs.
Such a waste, Such a waste. Then we meet Jane and Sport and
they seem pretty cool. We're sittingon the steps at school. All the
(10:01):
rest of the kids are introduced,and it's very true to the book,
very accurate. I love the grossnessof Pinky Whitehead. He's eating some disgusting
sandwich. I'm loving the diverse cast. Yes, they do a really great
job, and it feels, yeah, it feels very vibrant. It wasn't
filmed in New York City. Itwas filmed in Toronto, but it feels
(10:22):
very New York City. Oh yeah. We have a little a little tidbit
later where they're in the park andthere's did you notice that giant maple leaf
the landscaping? Mm hm, AndI was like, wait a second,
yeah, And you know, thekids are very Nickelodeon, I thought,
(10:43):
and I think, yeah, Ithink it had something to do with,
like, you know, they weregreat actors. They were very like vibrant,
like you said, and on.But also I think Nickelodeon had this
filming technique or like style where theywould get like up close in the kids'
faces. Yes, the camera angleswere wild, a lot of almost up
fish eye lest Yeah. Well,and when Harriet has a mirror later on,
(11:07):
she has a little like fishy mirror. There's the scene where she's like
in her room writing and it's likeall the different angles, like let me
film you from every which way,And it all felt very all that nick
news like edgy nineties Nickelodeon, whichI couldn't get enough of personally, Snick
(11:31):
was everything to me. So thisstyle is very I'm like, yes,
yes, yes, like more ofthis, like I can't get enough.
I love that you're getting the doubleCodd nostalgia. You're getting the nineties nostalgia
and then also the sixties nostalgia.Yes. Great, So love Harrison Withers
and all his cats. This settingis exactly how we pictured it, I
(11:54):
think, you know, with therooftop and the skylights and his kind of
very eclectic cat house. Yeah.Did you picture him with a bolo tie
and a ponytail. No, Ididn't picture him as a jazz guy,
but it has so much sense.Yeah, Oh he's scatting away cat.
I'm working on his you know,birds cages totally. And all his cats
(12:18):
were named after the jazz grats.There was no Dustyevski. We had like
Ella and Eda and Billie and youknow, yeah, Fats and all those
guys. So that was very fun. I liked his great ponytail. Yeah,
I love I love Terris and whethersRosie O'Donnell as Old Gollie makes her
(12:39):
grand entrance in this. It's justher look, her iconic look, her
amazing red beret and matching trench coat. She is fabulous. But I noticed
they don't ever call her Old Golly. They just call her Golly. And
we never meet her mom either,mm hmm. But we do meet missus
(13:00):
w I believe her name is atthe sculpture Garden. Yeah, she's this
artsy eccentric woman with like mosaics andan adventure garden and soda soda pop hanging
from strings and trees. Old Gollymakes them stand in a circle and like
take swigs of this like fizzed upsoda and make wishes. I was into
(13:24):
that. I mean, oh golly, I feel like boys. It was
almost like a hyper dreamy version.She was much more fun. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, and just kindof sweeter too. Mm hmmmm hmm.
Big difference here. Harriet makes herown tomato sandwiches. There's no cook,
(13:46):
like you said, with like adull knife, squish in that tomato.
We move along to the stand infor the Dsante food store. It's now
Hong Fat's Food and Poor. Butdid you notice right next door to it
was Desanti's restaurante. Oh no,that's cute. Nod. I almost missed
(14:11):
it. I just happened to positto do something and that's how I caught
it. So that's very cool.That's cute. But yeah, it's the
same situation with the family at HongFats, multi generational. Yes, we've
got the older family's son. Hisname's Frankie. He's trying to convince the
(14:31):
parents to let him have the truckfor the night. Gil the Papa d
Santi stand in. He's like ona table getting cupped. Yeah, very
some some a lot of Chinese kindof herbal medicine situations. When there was
sword. Yeah, it was likevaguely racist. Yeah. They were definitely
(14:56):
playing the like cliche like Asian esquestrings in the background, like the music
was very stereotypical. Yeah, itwas. It was interesting how they're like,
oh, we probably can't make funof Italian families, but we could
make fun of Chinese families. Yeah. Yeah, but it was interesting.
(15:18):
It was neat to see kind ofwhat they would change. I like the
Hong Fat's Food Emporium name, andit is more it's like a grocery store
restaurant, and we have Little JoeCurry, except he's not Little Joe Curry.
He is an older man who weshall encounter shortly. Yeah, he's
(15:39):
stealing some food, yeah, procuringsome veggies. We learned that dad is
in comedy. He's a comedy writer. Mom's a bookkeeper, they mentioned,
but like for his business, hedoes the funny, she does the money,
and he's got some kind kind ofhigh pressure script writing job. I'm
(16:03):
glad you caught that part. Welove their apartment, don't we. Oh
god, not the Brownstone we pictured. No, not very New York,
but fun did you notice the floors, the geometric tile floors, and there
was like a cool, lofty bedroomarea. Yeah. And then we meet
(16:27):
mister Waldenstein as he comes to thedoor with a pineapple for old Golly.
He's coming over for dinner. Andwho shall he be but the man Harrods
so earlier. Yes, he's bigJoe Curry. She's like, I bet
he stole that pineapple. Yeah.They're like, we could only have one
(16:48):
delivery boy. They're at dinner.Harrott does not like this man. They
have a stare off, which ispretty funny, also very Nickelodeon. It's
kind of like doom like switching anglesfrom eyes to eyes and suddenly he does
his cross eye and then she cracksup and she's like, I like this
guy. It's cute. And thenyou know, he explains his past history
(17:10):
about how he used to have alot of money but now he's a starting
over again, a free man.Yeah. No mention of the kid he
left mine this time, no goodcall. I forgot about the kid.
Their dinner gets burned and mister Waldenstein'slike, oh, darn it, I
(17:30):
guess we have to go out todinner in a movie. And so there's
a very cute scene of mister waldenStcene and Harriet lying on the floor together.
They're just like at Old Golly's feet, begging, begging to go to
a movie. I like that theygo see a fem fatalfest with Mata Hai
(17:51):
playing the Greta Garbo movie. Iwas hoping for the big scene with Harriet
in the bike basket, like zoomthrough the streets of New York, but
we just get them rolling up tothe house with all the lights on Linkendon.
Mom freaks out. The way she'sdressed made me think again, like,
(18:14):
wait, is this the sixties?Because she did look very nineteen sixties
glam lady. That mom is inso much Oh oh, she's Jerry from
Succession. I didn't watch Succession,but I did see that she was in
that. And she's just in aton of things. She's on search Party,
she's like a character actor, youknow, and tons of tons of
(18:37):
things, working a lot. Sheis amazing. I love her. And
then we get to Old Golly leaving. She's she's just like you know what,
I'm out. Yeah, Well,they fire her, but then they
take it back exactly and she andHarriet do the the Walrus poem thing.
(19:03):
The big difference here when they saygoodbye is that old Golly says it's okay
for her to cry, and it'snot because there's been a marriage proposal.
Oh Golly's like maybe I'll travel that'sright. Oh yeah, I think they
you know, they want to makeher an independent woman. She's not leaving
just because of a man exactly.Harrison Weathers gets his cats taken away.
(19:26):
Oh they're they're like in a sack, like writhing around being led away by
it. Like that one bit andit's like little tiny truck. Yeah,
it's like dogcatcher truck. M h. Skipping forward a little bet. We
we have the big vote for thepageant theme. It's the same as in
(19:51):
the book. We're gonna do acarnival of foods and Harry gets assigned the
onion. Yeah, Janey does suggestOppenheimer the musical basically how timely. It's
very timely. We get the Agathak Plumber moment. She lives in this
fucking fancy house with a gate outside, and there's like a truck full of
(20:15):
Pomeranians in the driveway. There's aroucie look like named Wee wee uh huh.
The way Harriet breaks into the househere makes so much more sense than
it did in the book. Shecreeps in after the maid. She gets
into the dumb waiter to avoid thebarking dog, and that's when we see
(20:37):
the dumb waiter for the first time. Like, this is the dumbwaiter and
it's so scary. Yes, it'svery dramatic. There's some great detail shots
of the rope and the pulley systemand like even like the wallpaper on the
inside of the dumb waiter was veryinteresting. We get a very short glimpse
of this fabulously decrepit miss Plumber oris a kid? Oh my god?
(21:00):
Really? Yeah, I did noteven notice with care. Yeah, she's
she looks so good. She's amazing. Yeah, I think like I've found
the secret to life. You juststay in bed. She's like, oh,
you be felous. But Harriet spottedright away, like she there's no
(21:23):
coming back. This is like theone time she visits missus Plumber and they
chase her out, and then that'sthat. Yeah, I mean the break
in is so like fully a breakin, so invasive. And then we
cut to the moment where Harriet losesher notebook. We know it's coming because
(21:44):
all the kids are in the parkand they're having the greatest time and it's
just like fun and care free,and there's the montage of them playing tag
with fun music. Yeap. Themidpoint of the movie, everything changes and
then Harry gets up from the groundand realizes her notebook's gone, and who
should have it? But like mostgossip ass horse Girl, Mary and Hawthorne,
(22:08):
yuh, And they're all sitting atthe bench just like in the book.
But Janie and Sport are with heras they walk over, so that's
a little different. But honestly,all the things that she writes about her
classmates, like are they're not thatbad. They're a little more generic,
a little more bland. She's notas mean. Yeah she's mean, but
(22:30):
she's not like psycho the S word. Yeah, she's not the S word.
This is Poe's new thing. Helearned the S word, which is
psycho. Psycho. I know theS word, it's psycho. So yeah,
I think that makes her a lotmore likable. You know, we
have empathy for her. I feelI felt bad for her that these kids
(22:53):
are reading her notebook out loud,and Sport and Janie even stand up for
her at first, until Janie readsher portion. Jennie really creeps me out.
I wonder if you'll grow up tobe a total nutcase her best friend.
(23:19):
That's her best friend. And thenSport says, Sport is so poor
he can't even afford food. Whycan't his father just get a real job.
Oh, and get this as well. One day, I have to
pretend he dropped a dollar just sohe can afford some milk and bread.
(23:44):
Harsh. That didn't happen in thebook, did it? No? But
I think there are these we deemingmoments for Harriet throughout that make her like
a little more likable, and thatwas one of them. She like sees
Sports struggling at the grocery store.She's spying, but then you know,
she takes a moment to pretend helost a dollar so that he can pay
(24:10):
for everything he wants. That night, she's in bed, sad as ever,
and she's mumbling, oh golly,golly, oh golly, oh golly,
which is in the book it wasold golly, old golly, old
golly, old golly. But Iguess, yeah, well, I was
thinking, like if she just saidgolly, golly, golly over and over
(24:30):
again. That would sound weird,so she says that a little more like
gully gully, gully, Oh Gully, Oh Gully Gully, Oh Gully,
Gully, Gilly, Oh Gully,o oh golly, golly, oh Cully
Gulley, Oh golly. Harry.So at school, you know it's the
(24:52):
same. All the kids ignore her, they pass No, it's about her,
they say she smells. Marion hopThorne's like, you better watch out
because we have a plan. Andthat's when she discovered the clubhouse. They're
making the SpyCatcher Club and I wasvery impressed with the construction of the clubhouse.
(25:14):
It looked very good to me.They take a giant ass crate and
just carry it and it basically islike a shipping container style clubhouse at Rachel
had to Sea's house. Oh,I love the scene when she's in the
park riding on the park bench andall the kids swarm her on roller blades
(25:34):
and they're banging pots and pans andyelling. They're like a gang in the
Warriors. Yes, I would sayit's like very mad Maxian like they've got
like pots and pans, like attachedto their bodies like a club cap.
Yeah, they're like beating on themand they they really disrupt her whole root.
They don't let her do anything.These spycatchers are serious. They follow
(25:59):
her all through the city and thenshe climbs up onto the roof I think
gets Harrison Withers's roof. Yep,and she gets caught by a cop.
Yeah. I couldn't believe there wasa cop. Uh that cop is Danny
Glover. No, Yeah, that'scrazy wild, what a cameo. It
(26:21):
was literally a two second clip.Mom and dad are pissed. She's in
trouble at school. They tell herthey want her to stop with this notebook
obsession, and then she comes backwith telling them they they need to give
up their martinis and jewelry buying.Oh, we get the amazing paint spilling
situation. A little while later.They're in our class. So it's blue
(26:45):
paint. It's a bucket of bluepaint, not a bucket of blue ink,
which we thought was kind of weirdin the book. And uh,
these kids just smeared all over herand very strassic fun. Yeah, it's
very, very stressful. They're somean to her. They've also been telling
(27:06):
her, you know, she smells, and she's like washing up in the
wild fountain in the school bathroom,obsessed with the fountain in the school that
fountain. It's like this circular handwashing situation. It's so cool, but
they're so mean to her, butshe takes it in stride. I mean
it upsets her, but she's notcrushed, which you know, I thought
(27:30):
was very inspiring. The slap,the blue paint, huge Hawthorne slap.
It's great love that for her.And then we start getting just like this
vendetta. She's carving all the namesof the kids into her desk, which
is a cool visual, and she'scrossing out each name as she kind of
like does her stuff to them.So she cuts Laura Peter's hair. There's
(27:56):
a bra on the pole. Ithink that was for Carrie Andrews who had
grown boobs over the summer. That'smean, ugh sports thing is she like
makes a little photoshop of him witha maid costa. Well he had he
was wearing that earlier on when shegoes to visit him actually, and he's
(28:18):
like telling her how he takes careof everything in his house. And there's
a moment where he's like cleaning inthe apron, which I thought was like
high art, Like I was likeobsessed with this apron scene, and she
takes a polaroid of him. Itotally miss that. It's a great scene.
So this even seems meaner uses againstsent Yeah, like a really genuine
(28:42):
beautiful moment between friends. She's like, yeah, he's a little cleanup bitch.
Yeah. Oh, and then weget to the therapist's office. What
did you think of this therapist's office? I like the therapist's office. One
of the reviews that made me reallylaugh as I was looking at reviews online
is like, thenk god, shewent to a psychiatrist with the giant jacks.
(29:08):
That was cool. He was veryBenstein. Yes, they play with
those like sockem robots instead of Monopolylike they do in the book. But
in general, their combo it's prettymuch the same. Let's her right,
Yeah, and she's into it.She likes this guy. It's working.
(29:33):
When she gets home, Mom givesher her notebook back and says basically like
I don't understand you. I don'tunderstand why you need this, but I
made a mistake in taking it away, So here you go and sounds like
they're good now a moment, andthen old Golly shows up, like this
beautiful maroon cloaked goes from the past, not just a letter, like a
(29:56):
real visit, a real, livein person visit. They go up to
her room and sit on her bed, and you know, Golly's schools are
about apologizing, and sometimes you haveto tell little white lies, nice lies.
Yeah, number one apologize, Numbertwo lie right, And then we
(30:18):
get the apology tour to Janney andsports Houses, which goes pretty much the
same. They kind of slam thedoor in her face and she's still you
know, she's sorry, but theythey're not ready to hear it ready.
I do love Jannie's lab in themovie, and I love a scene early
on in the movie where Jane's momcomes to like check in on her and
(30:41):
she gets mad because Janie's using herbra from Veronica's closet, right, Veronica's
clause Veronica's closet. So I thoughtthat was so funny, But yeah,
it does not work out in thelab this go around. Wait, wasn't
Veronica's Closet that sitcom? Was it? I just thought it was just like
(31:02):
a really funny take on Victoria's Secret. I mean it is, but also
I think that's why it was calledthat in the sitcom too. Oh that's
so funny. Oh that sounds great. Let's see. Oh and here's an
interesting change the you know, thewhole editor of the sixth grade newspaper situation.
(31:22):
It's called the guidepost in the movie. She is the one that brings
it up in class. Yeah,not the therapist, not the teachers,
not her parents, it's her.Yeah, Like she doesn't think it's fair
that the class president also has tobe the editor. That's just too much
for one person. And then missEllis, miss Elson, is like,
(31:44):
huh, let's put it to avote. The boy with the purple socks
vouches for her in a very heartfeltspeech. Janie seconds it, and then
slowly but surely, it's like areal like slow clap moment. Everyone raises
her hand and they vote for her. And she has more of like a
(32:07):
moral arc here, you know,like her writing in the newspaper is much
more of like redemption tale. Yeah, it's like she's like a wise old
stage just like imparting her observational wits. Life goes on, Things can be
fixed. Take two steps forward,one step back. Like she's she's a
lot more self referential, kind ofreflective on the things she's done and how
(32:32):
she needs to make amends. Yeah, and even the gossipy things are I
mean, they're still there, butthey're more like blind items and no names
named, you know, like somebodydid this scene and I hairy Welsh.
(33:00):
I'm on a mission to be agreat writer. A good friend once told
me that all great writers try tosee everything. Okay, here goes.
I knew this guy once. Heused to be a jillionaire. Now,
he writes, I wont wrote thefreaky part. He says, the bike's
(33:25):
better please writing if you think he'slying. There's a difference between looking and
stuff and really seeing it. Toreally see, you've got to get a
(33:52):
closer look my cabin. I've noticedthat sometimes stuff you think is broken forever
is actually totally fixable. But somestuff is supposed to fall apart. Speaking
(34:14):
of which, certain high ranking officialsof a certain secret club had better to
dork by themselves in a hurry,or else everybody's going back to where they
were in the first place. Thisreporter believes that dedorcification is difficult, but
not impossible process. Mostly, you'vegot to want to be cured. I'm
(34:37):
not, but I'm pretty sure it'stwo steps forward, one step back kind
of deal. In theater news,Miss South and sixth grade Holiday Patty was
the theatrical controversy of the season.Some are happy to see it and whom
(35:00):
argue. Others say it's stuck.This reporter has no comment, and hey,
stupid school board, give yourself ana race, would you. She's
not so bad as teachers, though, and she puts up a lot.
(35:23):
There's evidence to suggest that Jamie Gibbswill grow up to be the world's greatest
scientist. So far she has showan amazing progress in the areas of mold
manipulation and chemical combustibles. We havealso learned that sports Father is rolling in
dough from his latest book, whichjust goes to show if you stick to
what you love and work like adog, you will succeed. For those
(35:47):
of you who don't know, aretraction is when a newspaper takes something back.
This newspaper would like to retract certainstatements in a certain notebook which may
have hurt certain people's feel Easy saywere lies and those that weren't lies were
me Like, just because a person'sfather is far away does not mean he
(36:08):
does love you anyways. Don't thinkabout it is important, but sorry your
friends and if you can have themboth, then it's a good life until
(36:28):
next issue. Remain your faithful correspondent. Carry it Welsh. Yeah, I
liked it. I think it justflows better as a story arc. Even
though it's like a little bit moreof Vanilla Eyes than the original. I
(36:50):
think it makes more sense and itworks better. Yeah, it's a well
written movie. I think so too. And then it closes with like the
food pageant. Yeah, get areally cute dance with all the kids in
their costumes, and of course Harriet'sthe onion. The costumes are great.
(37:13):
The costumes are so good. Thegiant turkey baster as a limbo stick that
was incredible. A lot of thecorn costume. Did you notice corn?
Oh? I didn't notice corn,but please take a screenshot. I will.
And then you know, it wouldn'tbe a Nickelodeon ending without some kind
of like little prank, you know. And the Janey sets off a stink
(37:37):
bomb in the vents and everybody's likeah, and they run out and Harriet
and Janey and Sport just keep dancingon the stage until they are chased out
by a teacher. So good.And it was very cute, very cheesy,
but not not too cheesy. Itwas a little just right, just
right cheesy, just right for youknow, ten year olds, eleven year
(38:00):
olds. Yeah, I could seethese kids definitely living in the same world
as Margaret. The esthetic was justso perfectly either way, you know what
I mean. I agree it didn'tbother me. Sometimes that bugs me when
it's when they're trying too hard tobe like noncommittal to an era. But
(38:21):
I think this one really works.Yeah, it really holds up visually,
I would say, so a treat, a treasure. I enjoyed it,
and you know what, a lotof people do online too. It has
great letterbox reviews for the most part, Like they're all nice. I can't
say the same for the book,but the letterbox reviews are really sweet.
(38:46):
One review says, what a greatfucking movie, four to half stars,
gorgeous color palette, dope jazz soundtrack, so fucking honest. Sometimes it's nosalgia
and sometimes it's a true masterpiece.Ooh yeah, but I said there is
one like three star review that said, really glad her parents eventually take her
to a child psychiatrist. And thenanother person said something that I really loved,
(39:12):
which was Harriet wrote the first burnbook, which is a nice little
me and girl's reference. Ah,did you check out the twenty ten TV
movie or the animated series at all? It didn't, did you? So
I haven't checked out the animated series. I think I will at some point
(39:35):
because it's really new. It justcame out in twenty twenty one, starring
Beanie Feldstein. But the twenty tenit's very weird. I just I could
not make my way through it.It is I mean, they say it's
an adaptation on the book, butlike adaptation is like very loose. In
this instance, it's called Harriet theSpy. The blog wars don't like that
(40:00):
Harriet is sixteen in this one.What everyone is a teenager? They're in
high school? You know. Itopens with her making a tomato sandwich reference,
and we still have old Golly,who's like a young blonde woman.
And what nobody asked for that?Nobody wants that why are you sixteen?
(40:21):
Why do you have a nanny?The plot seems to be that Harriet and
Marion Hawthorne are both like vying tobe the initial, the official class blogger.
There's also a big plot line withthis movie star hunk that comes to
town. His name is Scander Hill. I just I didn't understand it,
(40:44):
and I don't think I will finish, and I never will the greatest thing
about being a writer is I'm coveringthe truth. Haserves her surroundings. What
she sees people are rarely what theysee. So when a big writing opportunity
(41:05):
comes her way, we need toassign a new class blogger this term.
I nominate Marion Hawthorne. I nominateHarriet Welch. It's a blog war.
Being the class blogger has his perks, you know, to meet her competition.
Marion's aortay posting what already, HarrietGlynn are you posting? When she
sets her sights on the biggest teamstar right about Skander Hell, he's hot.
(41:29):
I'll uncover him for who he reallyis? How far will she go
to get the blog? You don'tknow me? If you don't know anything,
we starts of Waverly Places. JenniferStone stars in Harriet the Spy blog
Wars, a Disney Channel World premieremovie. Premiere's Friday, March twenty sixth
and eighty seven, Central only onDisney Channel. So the book reviews are
(41:53):
pretty funny, you know, it'sit's very divisive people that love it so
much. But there are the peoplethat have I think some similar thoughts to
us of like this is a littleinappropriate for an eight year old, Like
one person said, throat slitting,page seventy eight, poisoning, just a
(42:17):
couple of extremely inappropriate concepts for aneight year old. Not to mention,
the main character is an anti socialpersons with no close extended family. I'm
actually not sure why this book isstill in some recommendation lists with no close
extended family, Like what about herparents? Oh, I'm thinking extended family.
(42:38):
Like they're like, she has nocousins. What maybe she needs some
cousins? Okay. Another person thesubject claim is spiteful, bigoted protagonist learns
to use rich connections to win backalienated friends. Oh, and they thought
that it was well written, wellplotted, and good. And then it
(42:59):
has convincing complex characters. But themain character has a seriously disturbing moral issue,
and so there's a lot of talkabout the very negative things that Harriet
says, which I think are validpoints. But was this book meant for
(43:20):
eight year old? Well, that'sthat's what's unclear, right. I do
think that there's like a third gradekind of reading level to it, and
I think that's why it probably endsup on some lists. And it's kind
of like, Yeah, you know, when you're young, you're usually reading
a little bit older in terms oflike characters. So I think I think
(43:44):
that there there's probably some mistaken kindof situations. Yeah, I still,
you know, I still would loveto hear from bloomheads who really are unwavering
in their love for this book,even reading it as a grown up up.
Our friend Liz is a big harryethead, and I would love to
(44:05):
hear from her. We like toquestion our beliefs sometimes, let's go to
Judy's thoughts. So Judy wrote awonderful little tribute here in our edition of
Harriet the Spy. It at theend easy to miss since we almost did
it, says here, I wantedto be a spy when I was growing
(44:30):
up, or else a detective.Some of my adventures were stupid and dangerous,
and I'm lucky nothing bad happened inmost other ways. I was thought
to be a cautious child, evenanxious and fearful. I'd seen a lot
of spy movies, a lot ofdetective movies, and each week I'd buy
a Nancy Drew mystery with twenty fivecents from my allowance at the Ritz Bookshop
(44:51):
in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Therewas no Harriet the Spy for me to
read in nineteen forty eight, whenI was ten. How I would have
loved that book. I was areader, but the characters in the books
I was reading were nothing like Harriet, and the stories were nothing like the
stories I made up inside my head. Finding Harriet as a young writer in
the mid sixties was inspiring. Itmeant I wasn't the only one who wanted
(45:15):
to tell stories about kids who werereal. Harriet was funny, but she
was also brash, imperfect, curious, and brutally honest. Her life was
very different from any life I hadknown, either as a child or a
young woman. The idea of growingup in Manhattan's posh Upper East Side was
as foreign to me as my earlylife and Elizabeth would have been to Harriet.
(45:35):
But I had no trouble relating toher. Harrie and I weren't that
different. She had secrets, Ihad secrets. She was curious. I
was curious. Luise Fitzhugh remembered whatit was like to grow up and wasn't
afraid to write about it. WhenI first read the book, I thought
yes, Then I read it again. I never got to meet Louise.
I wish I had. She wasone of the authors who most inspired me,
(45:59):
who continue to inspire me. Sothank you Louise for Harriet and her
story. Oh. I love thatJudy loved it. I know it makes
me love it more, of course, like I see the charm Judy,
I guess, Judy. But alsoit's so good for us to remember,
(46:20):
like the time when this came out, because it really was groundbreaking. There
wasn't anything else like this for kidsaround. I appreciate the deviation from the
norm. Yeah, and it's alsogood to hear Judy's voice. Oh,
Judy, we miss I know,I know, I know. I can't
wait to get back to Judy.We're coming. Okay, what's next?
I think the last thing is ourletter. We have a listener letter from
(46:45):
Jennifer. So excited a new listener. So we're thrilled to have you,
Jennifer. Subject line love your podcast, Jody and Allison. I was so
excited to find your podcast. Growingup, my sisters and I read the
same Judy Bloom books over and overagain. Every once in a while I'll
(47:07):
start feeling nostalgic and even reread themnow as an adult, same same I
especially appreciate it when you both takethe time to notice and dissect things in
the books that I noticed and oftenwondered about. It's so satisfying. Are
you planning to cover Iggy's House byany chance? I always enjoyed reading that
book, although now that I'm rememberingit, there was quite a harsh theme
(47:30):
to it. Also, looking throughthe past episodes, it seems like you
cover books sometimes that aren't written byJudy Bloom. I wonder if you'd ever
consider fifteen by Beverly Cleary. Icould probably think of a bunch more,
but I'll stop here for now,looking forward to listening more. Thank you
so much for the fun content.You two are so funny and just crack
(47:51):
me up. Jennifer. Oh,Jennifer, Well, it sounds like she
has been making her way through theJudy books, not doubled into the non
dudes yet you did, Jason.So she might not hear this for a
long long time. Well shout herout. We'll let her know. Thanks
so much, Jennifer. And yes, we definitely will be reading Iggy's Harry's
(48:15):
at some point, and I don'tknow, maybe we'll do another Beverly someday.
I would love. Yeah, everybody, we are ready for a Judy
book. We are going to putout a vote to our patrons, and
we would also like your input too. You know, we take everyone into
(48:37):
account. So let us know whichJudy book you'd like us to read next.
We have a few to choose from. And you have happy New Year.
We love you so much. Thankyou so much for being with us
in twenty twenty three, and we'llsee you in twenty twenty four. You
light up our lives. Do youwant to sing a song? You lot
(49:00):
up my life like cop I know. On that note, it's time for
me to Our illnesses are catching backshokay, bye everybody. Bye,
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