Margaret Rutherford

[Artkansas]

Few actresses are related to the bicycle by their roles, but Margaret Rutherford definitely is.

In the movie Blithe Spirit (1945), she appears as Madame Arcati is a hefty medium who rides her bicycle everywhere she goes. In introducing her character she gives a wonderful exposition of the joys of bicycling. It's worth checking out the DVD just to see that one scene.

http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/arcatiBicycle.JPG

And of course we all know her as Miss Gulch in the Wizard of Oz and her famous cycling trip around a tornado.

http://www.employees.org/~4roxie/images/missGulch.jpg

She certainly was one of the earliest female examples of car-free living.

[Roody]

I always liked Margaret Rutherford in the Miss Marple movies. I'm going to check out Blithe Spirit if I can find it anywhere. It looks like a movie I'd enjoy, especially if it gots bikes!

(BTW, Margaret Hamilton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton) was Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch, not Margaret Rutherford. Sometimes I wish I could look as mean as her on my bike. Those cagers wouldn't dare to mess with me then!)

[Artkansas]

(BTW, Margaret Hamilton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton) was Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch, not Margaret Rutherford. Sometimes I wish I could look as mean as her on my bike. Those cagers wouldn't dare to mess with me then!)

My bad. :crash:

That gives us two early role models for car-free living then. :)

[Platy]

Bicycles are used in the movie Creator, starring Peter O'Toole, to suggest that certain characters are out of the mainstream, by reason of youth or eccentricity. There's a nice final scene where O'Toole as Professor Wolper is exiled from the university to a little institute where retired researchers are put out to pasture. He is riding his bicycle on his way to the retirement institue, then the camera angle opens up to show all the other professors and students riding behind him -- because, you see, Professor Wolper took all the funding with him!

[gwd]

Bicycles are used in the movie Creator, starring Peter O'Toole, to suggest that certain characters are out of the mainstream, by reason of youth or eccentricity. There's a nice final scene where O'Toole as Professor Wolper is exiled from the university to a little institute where retired researchers are put out to pasture. He is riding his bicycle on his way to the retirement institue, then the camera angle opens up to show all the other professors and students riding behind him -- because, you see, Professor Wolper took all the funding with him!

Hey, how about "FlashDance" doesn't the heroine get around by bike, and she has this huge apartment. Remember woman walked around on the street wearing fluffy leg warmers?