Tag: Labor Day

Classic Films · Musicals

The Pajama Game

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: The Pajama Game, 1957

Happy Labor Day to all you Cinema Sips readers! As an Elder Millennial raised on Newsies and Norma Rae, I never let this day pass without a little fanfare. It’s a celebration of the contributions and sacrifices made by the workers of America, many of whom are currently protesting the lousy economic policies that funneled so much of our money up to the billionaire CEOs. In other words, we are currently living through The Pajama Game (Disc/Download). Doris to the rescue!

If you’re looking for a movie about labor unions, you won’t find a prettier one than The Pajama Game. At the Sleeptite Pajama Factory in Cedar Rapids, IA, workers come to the factory in colorful A-line dresses, heart-shaped pin cushions, and a spring in their step. As they sing about the dreamy new Superintendent, whom Doris Day is definitely NOT in love with (yet), the women swish their polka dots, stripes, and ric-rac in time to the fabulous Bob Fosse choreography and catchy songs. In a classic rom-com trope, Day plays the chairwoman of the Grievance Committee (read: labor union) who clashes with the handsome new Superintendent (read: middle manager). He must come over to her side if they’re to have any chance of a romance, which is easy to do once he discovers their boss has been stealing money already allocated for the workers’ 7.5-cent raises. This movie may have been made in the fifties, but damned if it isn’t still relevant in 2026.

In The Pajama Game, Doris loves her apples almost as much as she loves fighting The Man. Let’s welcome fall with this refreshing Hernando’s Honeycrisp Sangria!

Hernando’s Honeycrisp Sangria

1 ½ oz brandy

3 oz white wine

1 oz apple juice

½ oz lemon juice

½ oz cinnamon syrup

Honeycrisp apple slices + cinnamon stick (garnish)

In a shaker with ice, combine brandy, white wine, apple juice, lemon juice, and cinnamon syrup. Shake to combine, then strain into a collins glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with apple slices and a cinnamon stick.

In true Doris form, my favorite star is no-nonsense and driven when it comes to protecting the interests of her friends and co-workers. Sure, they make cute pajamas, but there’s nothing cute about the mistreatment they’ve suffered at the hands of management. This is a frothy, stylish confection of a movie, yet it still serves as a reminder that you can’t have the top without the bottom. Cheers!

Dramas

Silkwood

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Silkwood, 1983

Happy Labor Day to all you Cinema Sips readers! Today, we celebrate the contributions of the American labor movement, and because I’m an elder Millennial raised on Newsies, I am very pro-labor. As workers across the country continue the fight to hold our 21st century robber barons accountable, and as nuclear energy makes a sudden comeback thanks to the regime’s inexplicable hatred of windmills (?!), there’s never been a better time to revisit Silkwood.

Watching the opening credits of this movie is like reaching into a mystery grab bag—you never know who’s going to pop up! Silkwood director Mike Nichols is someone I closely associate with smart, funny films like The Graduate, Working Girl, and The Birdcage, while screenwriter Nora Ephron is the queen of romantic comedies. Then there’s Kurt Russell as the sweet, shirtless, banjo-playing boyfriend of Meryl Streep and her unfortunate mullet. Finally, we have Cher as the lesbian roommate dating a funeral parlor beautician. This all sounds like the set-up to a comedy, and yet Silkwood is firmly in the melodramatic biopic genre. The roomies all work in a factory making nuclear fuel rods, where naturally, the conditions are terrible. Long hours, limited safety protocols, no vacation time, low pay, etc. After Karen Silkwood (Streep) is exposed to high levels of radiation and gets involved in her local labor union, she becomes someone the company wants to silence. Subjecting her to even worse conditions, and multiple “Silkwood showers” where they scrub her skin raw to remove trace amounts of radiation, Karen continues the fight until her last breath.

Most of my knowledge about nuclear energy is limited to gripping tales of meltdowns and catastrophes, like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Also, my husband makes ceramic glazes that look like molten nuclear waste, so the disaster narrative is heavily reinforced in our house. While you’re watching Silkwood, calm your anxiety with this Plutonium Daiquiri.

Plutonium Daiquiri

1 oz Overproof Rum

1 oz Lime Juice

¾ oz Yellow Chartreuse

¼ oz Falernum 

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with a dried lime wheel.

My financial advisor is convinced Uranium is about to take off, which is just one more example of America’s slow slide back to the 1950s, in all aspects of our lives. To be clear, I like the era’s dresses, houses, and movies, but the rest of it can stay in the past. As Silkwood proves: if you really want to make America great, listen to the workers. Listen to the scientists. Listen to the journalists. Don’t listen to the CEOs. Cheers!