That doesn't rhyme!

So, the other day, Brian Solomon highlighted a song on his fantastic blog, Standard of the Day: "Ain't We Got Fun?" His post led me to searching the song on YouTube and I came across this delightful scene from By The Light of the Silvery Moon. I've never seen the movie, but I want to now! This scene is so cute!

My heart wants to sing every song it hears

I think I sort of lost focus on my whole list project. You see, it all started out as this thing where I'd make a list every month. Just one post. Just one list. And then, when I started listing out my favorite dancers and linking to all my favorite dances, it occurred to me that no one would have the time or the inclination to watch all of those dances all at once, but they might watch them if I posted one post on each dancer. Anyway, then it sort of worked its way into this huge project where I was posting practically every day, and at least every week on these lists and I think I may have gotten a bit carried away. I like lists. I think lists are fun. I like reading them and I enjoy writing them. The whole point of this was to take the memes of Favorite Actors and Favorite Actresses one step farther and start more lists. I had hoped that maybe other bloggers would participate and then we could be listing our favorites and it would be barrels of fun.

So, I think I'm going to go back to my original intent. I'm going to write a list a month and let it go at that. Every now and again, I may move back into multiple postings and, at that point, I'll let you know. But I think that, for the most part, I'd like to just stick with lists. So, here is my list for the month of June:

Favorite female singers in movies:

20. Irene Dunne
Favorite song: "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" from Roberta


19. Jane Powell
Favorite song: "Goin' Cotin'" from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers


18. Shirley Jones
Favorite song: "Many A New Day" from Oklahoma


17. Kathryn Grayson
Favorite song: "I Hate Men" from Kiss Me Kate


16. Ann Blyth
Favorite song: "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" from Kismet (song clip starts at 1:42)


15. June Allyson
Favorite song: "Thou Swell" from Words and Music


14. Judy Garland
Favorite song: "Mr. Monotony" from Easter Parade


13. Frances Langford
Favorite song: "Over There" from Yankee Doodle Dandy

12. Marni Nixon
Favorite songs: "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story and "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady


11. Doris Day
Favorite song: "The Deadwood Stage" from Calamity Jane


10. Dolores Gray

Favorite song: "Not Since Ninevah" from Kismet (song clip starts at 2:11)
I love the way Dolores Gray belts. She has an awesome voice that is powerful and sultry at the same time. I'd like to see her in more films but I've only seen in her Kismet and It's Always Fair Weather. Any recommendations?


9. Rosemary Clooney
Favorite song: "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" from White Christmas


6. Annette Funicello
Favorite songs: "Strummin' Song" from The Horsemasters, "I Can't Do The Sum" from Babes In Toyland, and "I Think You Think" from Beach Blanket Bingo


7. Gloria de Haven

Favorite song: "My Mother Told Me" from Two Girls and a Sailor


6. Marilyn Monroe
Favorite songs: "Lazy" from There's No Business Like Show Business, "I Wanna Be Loved By You" from Some Like It Hot, "I'm Through With Love" from Some Like It Hot and... well, basically, I love her, so pretty much every song.

5. Ginger Rogers
Favorite songs: "I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket" from Follow the Fleet, "Let Yourself Go" from Follow the Fleet, "We're In The Money" from The Gold Diggers of 1933


4. Ann Miller

Favorite songs: "Prehistoric Man" from On The Town, "Too Darn Hot" from Kiss Me Kate (really weird vid, sorry! but the audio is good), and "Shakin' the Blues Away" from Easter Parade.


3. Lena Horne
Favorite songs: "Honeysuckle Rose" from Thousands Cheer and "Paper Doll" from Two Girls and a Sailor (I'm sorry that I have no YouTube vids to share. I couldn't find either of these online)


2. Fran Jeffries

Favorite songs: "Meglio Stasera" from The Pink Panther and "Sex and the Single Girl" from Sex and the Single Girl


1. Julie Andrews


Favorite songs: "I Have Confidence" from Sound of Music, "Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)" from Mary Poppins, and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" from Thoroughly Modern Millie

Have you got any monotony today?

Now, continuing in my list of singing ladies...

15. June Allyson

Favorite song: "Thou Swell" from Words and Music
June Allyson is probably my favorite girl-next-door. Her dancing seemed like every day dancing, her acting appeared natural, and her singing was almost like your average girl singing (but not quite). I love her dusty voice. She always seems easy to relate to and her singing adds to that effect.


14. Judy Garland

Favorite song: "Mr. Monotony" from Easter Parade
I realize that this number was deleted from the film but I really like it. Not many could pull off a melody of so few notes but Judy manages it brilliantly. You may be surprised that such a famous and one-of-a-kind singer is so low on my list. The truth is, I go back and forth over whether or not I like her voice. She had an amazing voice - no contest there - I am simply not always in the mood for it.


13. Frances Langford

Favorite song: "Over There" from Yankee Doodle Dandy
This girl is another one of those Where's Waldo situations and, I must say, I'm still quite proud of myself for placing her. I loved her voice in Yankee Doodle Dandy and when I heard "Hey, Babe, Hey," I had a feeling it was the same singer. I was right!


12. Marni Nixon

Favorite songs: "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story and "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady
Marni Nixon doesn't get as much credit as she deserves (and she probably deserves to be higher on my list but I'm not sure where to put her). She enchanted audiences in several famous musicals but we never get to see her face and most of us, myself included, forget her entirely. But she had an amazing and beautiful voice that really aded to the magic of classics like The King and I, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story.


11. Doris Day


Favorite song: "The Deadwood Stage" from Calamity Jane
I've picked this song as my favorite for a few reasons. First, it's probably my favorite Doris Day film. Second reason is that Doris Day had a cool, dusty voice that works well with both boisterous songs and soft ballads - and this song has both aspects to it. Mostly, it's a boisterous, rowdy introduction to Calamity Jane but there is a particular moment when she sings about the stage coming home like "a pigeon that's hankering after its nest" - it's a pretty moment to listen to. I did not pick "Que Sera Sera" because I haven't seen that film yet and that didn't seem fair.

Up with chocolate!

So... long time no see! I wish I could blame my lack of updating on a lack of time, but that would only be partially true. To make up for my terribly bad manners, I will write a more in-depth blog entry for you. I do hope it isn't too long... Okay, so that title was a little misleading, wasn't it? Those of you who recognize it, however, will likely guess what movie I'll be discussing next. The truth is, I'll actually be discussing 3 movies! Pillow Talk (1959), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), and Down with Love (2003).

Down with Love is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's quirky, it's romantic, it's hilarious, and it pays homage to the sex comedies of the 1960s. It is a common misconception that Down with Love is based on Pillow Talk. I am a firm believer that it is not; rather, it was highly influenced by it. The two movies do have striking similarities, but their differences are so important that one cannot say they are even "practically" the same movie (which I have heard

said).

This summer, I was able to watch a good handful of new movies (thanks to Netflix!), and one of them was Sex and the Single Girl. The movie reaffirmed my opinions in the above matter because Sex and the Single Girl, like Pajama Game, has major similarities with Down with Love - but different similarities.

All three of these movies are 1960s sex comedies in style (despite the fact that one was made in the late 50s and one was made in 2003). Thus, all of them share similar story-lines and similar attitudes towards romance. They're all about the "battle of the sexes" and so they all deal with an intelligent, independent, single woman and a suave, smooth, womanizer. The plots, as I said earlier, are all pretty similar: basically, the woman, in her independent and free-spirited way, angers the womanizer to the point where he feels he must get even with her. And, as each womanizer feels that each woman needs to understand a thing or two about sex and love, they all decide to pretend to be the sort of man that could seduce the women. And there you have it, a basic wrap-up of each plot.

Now for the differences and similarities (these may contain spoilers):

Pajama Game, like Down with Love, features the female protagonist (Jan Morrow and Barbara Novak, respectively) despise the man (Brad Allen and Catcher Block) for his womanizing ways. In Pajama Game, Jan Morrow is infuriated that Brad Allen allows his social life monopolize her phone line and in Down with Love, Barbara Novak argues that Catcher Block is "the worst kind of man... men who change women as often as they change their shirts." To get back, both men pretend to be pure, innocent Southerners, the kind who like home-cooked meals, pipes, and quiet home life. Another similarity to point out is the use of split screens in both. Pajama Game includes a sexy scene where both characters are taking a bath in their seperate homes but the split screen creates the comical illusion that they are sharing a bath instead. This idea is taken to an exaggerated measure in Down with Love, where the couple (unintentionally) does several sexual favors for each other in an innocent phone conversation. Now, add in a luckless, hapless, neruotic, and rich best friend to the main male character (not to mention Tony Randall), and that about sums up the similarities between these two films. If I have left anything out, please feel free to let me know and I will be happy to edit this post accordingly.

Sex and the Single Girl features different similarities with Down with Love. Far from criticizing the man's social schedule, this female protagonist, Helen Gurley Brown, encourages it and encourages the singe girl to partake in the fun as well. Her encouragement is detailed in her controversial book, as is Barbara Novak's who, like Helen Gurley Brown, encourages women to stimulate their sex life, modeling it after the womanizer's; at the same time, however, she judges men for using women in such ways. In both of these two films, Catcher Block and Bob Weston are journalists, working on exposés to unveil the true romantic inclinations of the women.

Well, now that you've had a (somewhat) brief description of the differences and the similarities between these three zany sex comedies, you know what to expect (oh! did I mention the car chase in Sex and the Single Girl?).

So, rent these movies, grab a cocktail and, of course, some chocolate, and enjoy!