Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger and Other Wild Memories of 1994 Unveiled in Movieline's Vault

Just because it's Tuesday morning doesn't mean your holiday has to end: Take a few hours out of your post-Labor Day hangover to luxuriate in Movieline's Vault. Our print predecessors from 1994 have migrated on to the Web at last, and there are some jewels in there, believe me. A sampling follows (with more to come in the hours and days ahead):

· Remember when Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin used to be in love -- that halcyon era before the couple enacted mutually assured destruction in the tabloids? Movieline does! Basinger ushered in the year with a talk about her and Baldwin's troubled beginnings on The Marrying Man, their teaming on the Peckinpah remake The Getaway, and... well, this:

Q: What's the most romantic experience you've ever had?

A: My wedding to Alec.

Q: The best love scene you've ever played?

A: In The Getaway. [...]

Q: Who's the best kisser?

A: Oh Lord. You know that.

Q: How does Alec compare as a kisser to others you have kissed?

A: Oh God, that is not a very nice question! [Laughs] I love to kiss Alec. To me, kissing is the most important part of sexuality.

Q: There's talk about Alec getting involved in politics. What's the story?

A: He's involved in local politics in New York out in the Hamptons. He campaigns for certain Democrats. He's very politically-minded and wants to help people in a community. I want him to be happy, but I hope that he would not pick politics for himself.

There's plenty more there, too, about Basinger's controversial Boxing Helena trial, that town she bought in Georgia, and going all the way on 9 1/2 Weeks.

· Then, in May, interviewer extraordinaire Lawrence Grobel followed up with Baldwin, who offered this fascinating character judgment of his then-wife:

Q: Have you ever met anyone like her?

A: Never. My favorite line among my friends: I called my friend Ronnie Dobson, a playwright, and said, "I don't know what to get Kim for Christmas. What do you think Kim wants most as a gift?" And he paused and said, "To return to her native planet."

Q: What do you find so endearing about her?

A: There's a naivete about her. She just doesn't get it. And that's what I love about her, that she doesn't get it. I look at Kim and I see somebody who could have had a lot more of the riches of this earth if she was more out for herself, if she was more selfish. She certainly would have all of the millions of dollars that her plaintiff in the case against her assumed she had. They couldn't believe she wasn't as avaricious as they imagined her to be.

Ah, love.

· A much more bittersweet tale of romance and marriage can be found in this profile of the late Natasha Richardson, who had plenty to say about her courtship and eventual matrimony with Liam Neeson.

· Another year, another cover story on Sharon Stone, and boy did we ever get our money's worth discussing the perks of fame: "My housekeeper's arranging for me to meet both with Octavio Paz and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. My two favorite writers. The whole Latin-American thing works for me in a big way. I get that." Best. Quote. Ever.

· For some reason Jon Lovitz interviewed Jack Palance on the set of City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold. Subjects covered include boxing, Ed Wynn, the myth of Hollywood's Golden Age, and "whale sh*t."

· The lovely and amazing Annette Bening recounted working with the rather stroppy Katharine Hepburn on the otherwise ill-fated Love Affair: "I was intimidated by her. She's tough. Tough. Everybody told me how much she liked me, but I was very reluctant to make any demands on her, like ask her, 'What was The Philadelphia Story like?' I just stood back, waiting for anything she needed. [...] I offered an answer to a question once, and she said something to me like, 'Why would you know all the answers?'"

· Benjamin Stelly asked and attempted to answer that ever-burning question of Hollywood immemorial: "Why Do Actors Drink?"