Two for tea.

I love this photo!!! I'm really not sure where I found it though. I might have found it at that wonderful tumblr blog as well. It's so perfect!

Oh, yeah. Deep blue.

No Christmas would be complete without a viewing of White Christmas. So, without further ado, let's look at the Sister number - both of them!





I love the part in the first one where the guys are talking about their eyes and the girls are, apparently, just standing on stage, smiling. What kind of a number is that? It's so silly! I love it!

it must be beautiful in Vermont this time of year...

One of my absolute, all-time favorite Christmas movies ever!! White Christmas. It's also one of my favorite songs in the movie and it's probably one of my favorite dance scenes period. I don't know. I should compile a list. But it'd be a long list.

Anyhow... I think this photo is simply spectacular. Don't you?

So easy, I can say it!

Oh, how I love Danny Kaye. This is classic stuff.




Wow!! So sorry! I accidentally posted the wrong link. Here's the right one (hopefully!)

Despite the fact that I've used Christmas in Connecticut for the logo, my choice is actually going to be White Christmas.


A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general. (from IMDb)

Holiday Cheer: 6/10 Quite honestly, I've long argued that this movie is not strictly a Christmas movie. It can be watched at any time of the year. The Christmas part of the movie lasts for about 10-20 minutes in a two hour film. However, as the movie does begin and end on Christmas day, it counts!

Feel-Good feeling: 10/10 This movie is so fun and so funny. I laugh at the same lines every time and certain songs (cough cough "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" cough cough) make me feel all happy about life - which is perfect at Christmas time. Good humor, good romance, and good music blend together in a fantastic feel-good movie in time for the holidays.

Overall: 10/10. This movie is always a winner in my book. Definitely one of my favorite movies of all time.

Proving that the best things happen while you dance...

And now, for my completed list of favorite dancing couples...

1. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Favorite dance: impossible to answer
2. Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse
Favorite dance: the hoofer and the vixen from "Broadway Melody" in Singin' in the Rain
3. Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen
Favorite dance: "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" from White Christmas
4. Cyd Charisse and Ricardo Montalban
Favorite dance: "Dark Duet" from On An Island With You
5. Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse
Favorite dance: "Dancing in the Dark" from The Band Wagon
6. Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth
Favorite dance: "So Near, And Yet So Far" from You'll Never Get Rich
7. Vera Ellen and John Brascia
Favorite dance: "Abraham" from White Christmas
8. Bob Fosse and Carol Haney
Favorite dance: "From This Moment On" from Kiss Me Kate
9. Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor
Favorite dance: "It's Delovely" from Anything Goes
10. Shirley Temple and Bill Bojangles Robinson
Favorite dance: dance from The Littlest Rebel

Cyd Charisse and John Brascia
Favorite dance: "Frankie and Johnny" from Meet Me In Las Vegas
Ann Miller and Tommy Rall
Favorite dance: "Why Can't You Behave" from Kiss Me Kate
Fred Astaire and Jane Powell
Favorite dance: "How Could You Believe Me" from Royal Wedding
Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth
Favorite dance: "Put Me To The Test" from Cover Girl
Donald O'Connor and Vera Ellen
Favorite dance: "Something to Dance About" from Call Me Madam


Thank you everyone for following with this list of dancers! I had a lot of fun making it! I'm going to start a new list in June. My schedule has been pretty darn crazy lately so I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the daily posts as much. It's been burning me out a bit. I hope no one minds me packing a few people into one post, like I did with this list. That worked out rather well and made the whole thing less stressful and more fun! So, that's what I'm planning to do with this coming list. I can't believe June is almost here already! It's all going by so fast! This is the first time I've been without school to sort of mile-mark the year for me. I feel as if I'm still in February or something. It's weird. Anyway, I hope everyone has a marvelous Memorial Day!

Things that you would not do at home come naturally on the floor

3. Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen



Favorite dance: I'm sure this will come as a huge surprise - "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" from White Christmas

I've waxed eloquent on this one several times over and I'm not entirely sure you require hearing my enthusiasms yet again. Suffice it to say that this dance is so fun to watch; it makes me want to be Vera-Ellen and makes me yearn for a partner like Danny Kaye. They really are a tough tie with number 2 but (as I said in my last post on the subject) as I started writing number 3 and started saying "this is the sexiest dance ever and it's so incredibly amazing..." I realized that perhaps I should rearrange just a tad. It's a close second, (well, third) though.

Any guesses on number 2?

I twitch only for action.

Continuing in my movie count-up:

26. The Court Jester (1955)

I decided a couple of weeks ago when I posted a quote from this movie and nobody got it that I needed to write about this movie. This is a movie I grew up with and it is one of the funniest movies ever.

Basic plot line: when usurper King Roderick (Cecil Parker) takes the throne of England, a small band of bandits, led by the elusive Black Fox (Edward Ashley), rescue a small baby, the rightful heir to the throne and hide him in the forest. They send the baby under the care of Hubert Hawkins (Danny Kaye) and beautiful bandit, Maid Jean (Glynis Johns) to an abbey where the heir will be safe. However, when Maid Jean suggests that Hawkins go to the castle under the guise of the Incomparable Giacomo (King of Jesters and Jester of Kings) to spy on the false king, Hawkins finds himself in the thick of the action. And when the fair Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury) falls in love with Giacomo, complications arise. And when the cunning Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone) mistakes Hawkins for the Black Fox, then the trouble really begins!

This film is so delightfully funny. There are so many fantastic lines and wonderful scenes. I honestly had a difficult time deciding which line to use for my title to this post. Should I have gone with "I'm not loo-loo-ing, Sire, I'm willow-willow-wayling" or "There'd be more room if you raised your arm... the other one" or perhaps "Or in so many languages, 'Why tarry? Let us off to the castle!'" Oh my goodness. So many good lines. Danny Kaye is at his comedic finest in the film. The classic "Pellet with the poison" scene, which is laugh-out-loud funny, is featured in the Best of Danny Kaye video (which I watched rather obsessively a few years ago). It's incredible, really, how well he can mess up the words - to the point where you can barely remember what the real words are. The whole magnetic thing is so incredibly wacky but is also remarkably funny. (I also really like Jean's outfit in this scene. Some of her clothing is absolutely lovely!)

The film also boasts one of the funniest fight scenes ever (even surpassing, in my opinion, such well-known ones as The Princess Bride and Monty Python and the Holy Grail). I would embed the scene here to share it with you, but there's a spoiler at the end and that's no fun. I've read a couple of interesting tidbits on the scene but they seem slightly contradictory. One tidbit states that Basil Rathbone, because of his talents as a swordsman, was largely responsible for keeping the two characters injury-free. The other tidbit states that the fight scene was too fast-paced for the older Rathbone and the fight choreographer had to stand in for him a lot.

Since I can't post that one, I'll post this one instead. This is a very funny little scene when Hawkins first meets the king. When I was little, I sat down and wrote out this dialogue because I was so impressed with Kaye's tongue-twisting capabilities and I was determined to imitate it (I must admit, rather proudly, that I used to have this whole thing by heart. I'm really relatively good at tongue-twisters. I haven't practiced this scene in a while, though, so I miss a couple of lines here and there these days).



If you haven't seen this movie and you enjoy comedies, musicals, and/or adventures, you should definitely check it out! If you have seen it, then add a comment with your favorite line (or lines) in the film. There are so many good ones and I'm curious to know which ones stick out to you.

Maybe it isn't only the music

We're getting close to the end of my list here. So, ever onward...

4. Danny Kaye
Favorite dance: "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" from White Christmas


Danny Kaye may be a strange choice for #4 in that I've seen him dance very little. I decided to put him so far up, however, because The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing is one of my favorite dance numbers of all time. Why do we like watching male dancers so much? I think it's because we (and I'm speaking of female audience members, chiefly) wish we were dancing with them. When I watch Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, particularly in duet performances, I sigh and wish I could be the girl. It always looks so romantic and so classy. Well, Danny Kaye makes dancing look fun as well as romantic and classy. Amanda Cooper wrote a wonderful post on the matter in her blog a good while ago. You can read it here.


I've also heard somewhere that, in a duet, the guy's job is to make the girl look good. Basically, he has to be the support so that she can do all of her fun, frilly, fancy stuff. I think Danny does a wonderful job of this, allowing Vera-Ellen to show off her dancing prowess, and I think he partners well with her in general. He seems to be mostly considered a comedian, but I believe he had a lot of talent on the dance floor. And here is the dance:





Now, all that are left are my top three favorite male dancers. For those ones, I'm changing up the format just a touch. I'm going to include my favorite solo dances as well as my favorite overall dances. Although, I should warn you that I actually break this format with #3 because I don't really know any of his solo dances.

Top 20 Actors (aka Merry Christmas Ladies)

Kate Gabrielle at Silents and Talkies did a post the other day on her top 20 actors. She kindly opened the invitation to anyone who wanted to join in the fun. Well, I definitely want to join in the fun! So here are my top twenty favorite actors. The list is comprised of actors with whom I'm completely in love, the ones who are so great that they can do no wrong and character actors. I have a couple of explanations before I begin: the trend seems to be to list the actors along with your favorite roles they played - I simply couldn't decide with some of the actors and listed two movies (those are usually the ones who can do no wrong). Oh, and I too tag anyone who is interested. From my understanding, this meme has been going on for a while, which may mean I'm late in the game. Just the same, if anyone hasn't done this list yet and would like to then feel free to consider yourself tagged by me!

#1 Cary Grant
Philadelphia Story and Bringing Up Baby



#2 Fred Astaire
The Gay Divorcee and Swing Time



#3 Errol Flynn
The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood



#4 Gene Kelly
Singin' In the Rain and Summer Stock



#5 Danny Kaye
White Christmas and Court Jester



#6 William Powell
The Thin Man and I Love You Again



#7 Ricardo Montalban
Neptune's Daughter



#8 Rudolph Valentino
The Sheik


#9 Gary Cooper
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town



#10 James Stewart
The Philadelphia Story



#11 William Holden
Born Yesterday



#12 Donald O'Connor
Singin' in the Rain



#13 Frank Sinatra
On the Town


#14 Robert Redford
Barefoot in the Park



#15 Yul Brynner
The King and I



#16 Howard Keel *
Kiss Me Kate




#17 Peter Lawford
Easter Parade



#18 Bobby Darin
That Funny Feeling



#19 Charlie Chaplin
The Kid

(I'm a little obsessed with photos of Charlie Chaplin when he's not The Little Tramp. I think they're fascinating and very hard to find)

#20 Tony Curtis
Paris When It Sizzles



Wow! That was fun! Just out of curiosity, has anyone done a list of top 20 actresses or top 20 dancers?

Oh, and I'm going to take this opportunity for a little shameless self-promotion. Another one of my favorite hobbies is video editing. I actually considered pursuing editing as a career but realized I'd have to watch movies I don't like so I've been sticking to it as a hobby. Anyway, I made a movie a little while ago about who I think are the sexiest actors (most of them are on this list) and I thought I'd share it with you. The music is performed and written by a wonderful musician, Emma Wallace, who has a blog of her own.



I hope you like the video and the list! All comments are welcome! Thanks for reading!


* I originally had Edward Everett Horton because he is my favorite character actor. But then I thought about it and realized that I'd titled my entry "Merry Christmas Ladies" and Mr. Horton, though fantastic, is not exactly dreamy. I had just happened to watch Calamity Jane the other day and remembered how much I love Howard Keel, so I decided to name him instead.

When what's left of you gets around to what's left to be gotten, what's left to be gotten won't be worth getting whatever it is you've got left.

Christmas is coming soon! I still can't believe it. In Florida, the weather is still balmy and it hardly feels Christmas-y. Anyway, in continuing the movie count-down (count-up?), and continuing in the Christmas theme...

#7 White Christmas (1954)

I love this movie! I've actually argued that it's not a Christmas movie, in that it can be enjoyed throughout the year owing to the lack of Christmas in the majority of the film (only the first five and last ten minutes really have anything Christmas-y to them). But nevertheless, I've been watching it lately in the hopes that it will put me in the mood for the holidays.

This movie has so many wonderful quotes, which is your favorite? One of mine is in the title.

There are still a few hours left to vote on the polls! So, go cast your vote before it's too late! I'm posting up my poll for this week under last week's polls.

The poll this week is:

"Oh, that's very funny! Oh ho ho! The crooner is now becoming the comic!"

Who would you pick - the crooner or the comic?