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A Meme to Make Up your Own TV Show? Sign me up!
Snagged from across the interwebz. Since I lurk on the LJs of about a 100,000 people, I saw this marvellous meme which involved prompting of seven actors and then making up a TV show about them with a blurb and character descriptions. I basically seal-clapped as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
leupagus; robanybody; and seren_ccd among others made up fabulous, brilliant, inventive shows, and then poked seren_ccd until she gave me one of my own. So what to write I thuoght. well, of the many things I love, I love two things most of all - awesome women and historical drama. So without further ado I give you
It was a rainy day in August 1942 when Alice O’Reilly, Anna Parkman and Joanne Hunter came to Houston to find rooms in the same tourist camp cottage so that they could be a part of the first class of women being trained at the Houston Municipal Airport. The next three months were the most grueling of their lives. No uniforms, minimal medical services, contemptuous male counterparts and only the planes that the men didn’t want to fly. But for Alice, Anna and Jo and the twenty others like them who would go down in history as ‘The Guineapigs’, these were also the most exciting days of their lives.
ALICE O'REILLY (Katie McGrath)
Alice O’Reilly wishes she wasn’t such a working class cliché. Her Da came over from Ireland and works on the docks, her Ma died five years ago, and her idiot brother is constantly in and out of jail. Alice has been working double shifts, at a factory during the day and as barmaid at night, feeding her father, keeping her brother out of prison and fending off the advances of amorous idiots who think that a uniform can get them a girl for the asking. But she’s always known that she has to aim for the skies, just like her hero Jackie Cochran. That’s why she’s been putting her savings into getting a license. So when the local papers advertise for women pilots, she doesn’t have to even think twice. Her Da can cook his own damn meals, and Johnny can just serve his time. She’s going to fly a Spitfire
SUSANNA (ANNA) PARKMAN (Kristen Bell)
Susanna (Anna) Parkman’s ancestors came over with the Mayflower, her family has led the social scene in Boston for decades, and she had just had her coming-out party days before the War was declared. Well, that certainly put paid to the season, and her plans to snag a good husband. All her skills – music, sewing, art, tennis, they are useless to her now. All, except that flying license she got because Jonathan Cabot fancied girls who could fly, and what better time to put it to use. Her decision to join the military effort rather than the Red Cross, like her Mama and her sisters, has shattered her family. But with all the good men gone, what’s a girl going to do sitting around at home? And anyway she’s a lot less scared of heights than she is of blood.
JOANNE (JO) HUNTER (Lenora Crichlow)
Joanne Hunter had a damn good career singing in the clubs and cabarets of New York, until the war messed up all her plans. Not the kind of girl to sit around and starve, she had two choices – run or fight. Fighting sounded like a good plan. She seduced a former lover to pay her way into getting a civilian air license and she lied through her teeth about being black. She’s never let that stop her before and this doesn’t seem like a good place to start. Joanna knows she’s better than most of the boys. She’s met them and it would be hard to be worse. And she can still sing a great version of Lili Marlene, so there’s that. Would she rather be Marlene Dietrich or Amelia Earhart? Joanna doesn’t see why she can’t be both.
LT-GEN ALEX SAUNDERS (Michael Biehn)
Lt-General Alex Saunders knew the War was coming, and he knew that whichever side had the better planes and pilots would win. Trained by the Wright brothers, and a decorated World War I hero, Saunders had been commanding the Air force Base at Langley before a bout of pneumonia had forced him to be moved to Ellington. The weather in Houston was better, the brass told him, and how hard can it be handling a bunch of girls. Little did they know.
MAJOR RICHARD (HAWK) HAWKINS (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)
Major Richard (Hawk) Hawkins was the best at his job, and he didn’t care who he rubbed the wrong way. So he had no qualms telling General Saunders that he thought that it was a terrible idea to have a group of girls with a fistful of flying hours learning to man his best crafts. Unfortunately Hawk may have been the best squadron leader of his time, but since losing an leg, his job is now maintenance and engineering. So nobody was listening to anything he had to say. Least of all those damn women!
1ST LT TONY 'BRUSHMAN' CARLOW (Benedict Cumberbatch)
1st Lt Tony Carlow was an artist not a fighter. He had been a painter in Paris till the war drove him back to America. But too many drinks and too many debts had driven him to enlist in the 71st squadron. One tour later, he’s just back on base, and wouldn’t you know it. Lady Luck has just decided that he’s her favourite son. With a group of beautiful young women just panting to learn how to fly, Tony is set to strike while the iron is hot. If only he knew which one of the bevy of beauties to pick, and if only any of them would pay any attention to him
STAFF SERGEANT WILLIAM (BILLY) TOMPKINS (Tom Felton)
Staff Sergeant Billy Tompkins may be just 19, but he’s already worked his way up to Staff Sergeant and he intends to become an officer as soon as possible. The sooner these girls learn to do his job, the sooner he can be posted overseas, and can earn his wings over Japan. He just has to ignore the temptations that his Mom told him that ‘girls’ like these can be, and he has to stop listening to his Lieutenant who is (again according to his Mom) a terrible influence. But that’s easier said than done.
Quotes:
Anna: Look at this place. It isn't good enough for rats
Jo: Well, we are just guineapigs. What did you expect milady, a coach and four or just a good old limousine
Alice: I sewed shirts till my fingers ached, I served drinks and I was pawed and shouted at and slapped, I went home and cooked two veg and a meat, and I slept on a mat beside the floor. You think I can't handle a couple of buttons and a bloody stick? Try me.
Alex: Mrs Roosevelt thinks that women should be trained to fly, General Hap thinks women should be trained to fly, Robert Olds thinks women should be trained to fly. Why would you think I give a shit whether you don't think women should be trained to fly?
Hawk: Because I'm the man that fixes the planes they'll be flying and I'm the man who'll have to bring the planes home. Why don't they just stay in their place?
Alex: In the kitchen or in the bed?
Hawk: Yes, damn it, Yes!
Tony: Now, look here Billy... You see her? Now most of these yokels, they'd just try to cop a feel, grab a tit, but that isn't how a gentleman impresses a lady. You have to woo them, romance them, make them feel wanted. Just because they want to fly planes, doesn't mean they don't have feelings.
leupagus; robanybody; and seren_ccd among others made up fabulous, brilliant, inventive shows, and then poked seren_ccd until she gave me one of my own. So what to write I thuoght. well, of the many things I love, I love two things most of all - awesome women and historical drama. So without further ado I give you It was a rainy day in August 1942 when Alice O’Reilly, Anna Parkman and Joanne Hunter came to Houston to find rooms in the same tourist camp cottage so that they could be a part of the first class of women being trained at the Houston Municipal Airport. The next three months were the most grueling of their lives. No uniforms, minimal medical services, contemptuous male counterparts and only the planes that the men didn’t want to fly. But for Alice, Anna and Jo and the twenty others like them who would go down in history as ‘The Guineapigs’, these were also the most exciting days of their lives.
ALICE O'REILLY (Katie McGrath)
Alice O’Reilly wishes she wasn’t such a working class cliché. Her Da came over from Ireland and works on the docks, her Ma died five years ago, and her idiot brother is constantly in and out of jail. Alice has been working double shifts, at a factory during the day and as barmaid at night, feeding her father, keeping her brother out of prison and fending off the advances of amorous idiots who think that a uniform can get them a girl for the asking. But she’s always known that she has to aim for the skies, just like her hero Jackie Cochran. That’s why she’s been putting her savings into getting a license. So when the local papers advertise for women pilots, she doesn’t have to even think twice. Her Da can cook his own damn meals, and Johnny can just serve his time. She’s going to fly a Spitfire
SUSANNA (ANNA) PARKMAN (Kristen Bell)
Susanna (Anna) Parkman’s ancestors came over with the Mayflower, her family has led the social scene in Boston for decades, and she had just had her coming-out party days before the War was declared. Well, that certainly put paid to the season, and her plans to snag a good husband. All her skills – music, sewing, art, tennis, they are useless to her now. All, except that flying license she got because Jonathan Cabot fancied girls who could fly, and what better time to put it to use. Her decision to join the military effort rather than the Red Cross, like her Mama and her sisters, has shattered her family. But with all the good men gone, what’s a girl going to do sitting around at home? And anyway she’s a lot less scared of heights than she is of blood.
JOANNE (JO) HUNTER (Lenora Crichlow)
Joanne Hunter had a damn good career singing in the clubs and cabarets of New York, until the war messed up all her plans. Not the kind of girl to sit around and starve, she had two choices – run or fight. Fighting sounded like a good plan. She seduced a former lover to pay her way into getting a civilian air license and she lied through her teeth about being black. She’s never let that stop her before and this doesn’t seem like a good place to start. Joanna knows she’s better than most of the boys. She’s met them and it would be hard to be worse. And she can still sing a great version of Lili Marlene, so there’s that. Would she rather be Marlene Dietrich or Amelia Earhart? Joanna doesn’t see why she can’t be both.
LT-GEN ALEX SAUNDERS (Michael Biehn)
Lt-General Alex Saunders knew the War was coming, and he knew that whichever side had the better planes and pilots would win. Trained by the Wright brothers, and a decorated World War I hero, Saunders had been commanding the Air force Base at Langley before a bout of pneumonia had forced him to be moved to Ellington. The weather in Houston was better, the brass told him, and how hard can it be handling a bunch of girls. Little did they know.
MAJOR RICHARD (HAWK) HAWKINS (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)
Major Richard (Hawk) Hawkins was the best at his job, and he didn’t care who he rubbed the wrong way. So he had no qualms telling General Saunders that he thought that it was a terrible idea to have a group of girls with a fistful of flying hours learning to man his best crafts. Unfortunately Hawk may have been the best squadron leader of his time, but since losing an leg, his job is now maintenance and engineering. So nobody was listening to anything he had to say. Least of all those damn women!
1ST LT TONY 'BRUSHMAN' CARLOW (Benedict Cumberbatch)
1st Lt Tony Carlow was an artist not a fighter. He had been a painter in Paris till the war drove him back to America. But too many drinks and too many debts had driven him to enlist in the 71st squadron. One tour later, he’s just back on base, and wouldn’t you know it. Lady Luck has just decided that he’s her favourite son. With a group of beautiful young women just panting to learn how to fly, Tony is set to strike while the iron is hot. If only he knew which one of the bevy of beauties to pick, and if only any of them would pay any attention to him
STAFF SERGEANT WILLIAM (BILLY) TOMPKINS (Tom Felton)
Staff Sergeant Billy Tompkins may be just 19, but he’s already worked his way up to Staff Sergeant and he intends to become an officer as soon as possible. The sooner these girls learn to do his job, the sooner he can be posted overseas, and can earn his wings over Japan. He just has to ignore the temptations that his Mom told him that ‘girls’ like these can be, and he has to stop listening to his Lieutenant who is (again according to his Mom) a terrible influence. But that’s easier said than done.
Quotes:
Anna: Look at this place. It isn't good enough for rats
Jo: Well, we are just guineapigs. What did you expect milady, a coach and four or just a good old limousine
Alice: I sewed shirts till my fingers ached, I served drinks and I was pawed and shouted at and slapped, I went home and cooked two veg and a meat, and I slept on a mat beside the floor. You think I can't handle a couple of buttons and a bloody stick? Try me.
Alex: Mrs Roosevelt thinks that women should be trained to fly, General Hap thinks women should be trained to fly, Robert Olds thinks women should be trained to fly. Why would you think I give a shit whether you don't think women should be trained to fly?
Hawk: Because I'm the man that fixes the planes they'll be flying and I'm the man who'll have to bring the planes home. Why don't they just stay in their place?
Alex: In the kitchen or in the bed?
Hawk: Yes, damn it, Yes!
Tony: Now, look here Billy... You see her? Now most of these yokels, they'd just try to cop a feel, grab a tit, but that isn't how a gentleman impresses a lady. You have to woo them, romance them, make them feel wanted. Just because they want to fly planes, doesn't mean they don't have feelings.