I'll be truly as American as Irish Stew!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Naturally, as it's lucky St. Paddy's Day, it's the perfect time to post a video of an Irish performance. In the past, I've shown clips of the lovely Maureen O'Hara or Gene Kelly singing about the hat his dear old father wore upon St. Patrick's Day. Both are marvelous Irish traditions, but one of my favorites is Tommy Steele's performance as John Lawless, the Irish butler in The Happiest Millionaire. So, here is "I'll Always Be Irish" by Richard and Robert Sherman. I love the lyrics in this one! So cute! I also love the philosophy behind it, that having an identity (in this instance, being an American) is "adding something; it isn't subtracting." Those guys, I tell you. Geniuses.



To be completely honest, this isn't my favorite Disney live action film. It's really weird. And when watching it, I was a little confused as to who the main character was supposed to be; the plot was so convoluted and drawn out. But, for all of that, the songs are fantastic. Other favorites include "Fortuosity" and "Let's Have a Drink On It" (which I get stuck in my head all the time!).

While the night birds sing

Isn't it odd how you can brainstorm a whole bunch of ideas for a blog post but when you sit down to write it, you can think of nothing to say? Perhaps it's odd that I brainstorm blog posts in the first place. In any case, the passing of Robert Sherman hit me harder than most celebrity passings because I really am a huge, huge fan of the Sherman brothers. I've bought movies simply because there was a featurette about them on it. I searched high and low for a copy of the boys. I consider my cd of their greatest songs to be one of the best purchases I ever made. Today, I bought their memoir, Walt's Time. I worked today and all day I kept thinking of what I'd write when I blogged about this. But now, I can't think of much to say. It is a sad, sad loss, but I'm truly glad that his legacy is sure to live on for years to come. After all, who can forget "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "it's a small world after all," "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," "Chim-Chim-Cheree," "A Spoonful of Sugar," "I Wanna Be Like You," "Winnie the Pooh," or "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?" Save for Frontierland/Liberty Square, their songs are played in every land of the Magic Kingdom.

And so, Rest in Peace, Robert Sherman.

Finally, I leave you with Robert's own favorite of his songs - and it's one of my absolute favorites as well - "On the Front Porch With You" from Summer Magic.

With a yoicks, tally-ho! Yo ho!

So, I was sick the other day and watching a few movies when I stumbled upon this little gem. It features Jack Buchanan, who, if you're like me, is most memorable for his performance in The Band Wagon. I've long been curious about this man who was, apparently, England's response to Fred Astaire. Well, if you have the two-disc copy of The Band Wagon, then you can find this video on disc 2 - or on YouTube. It's a skit he did for The Charlot Revue of 1925. It's hilarious!!!

"Okay. You're a cab."

Last week's quote: "I'd love to make a tour of you" is from Silk Stockings. The song is "All of You" and is written by Cole Porter and sung by Fred Astaire to Cyd Charisse.

This week's quote is: "Okay. You're a cab."