Somethin' about a sailor, somethin' about a sailor...

...but a soldier ain't so bad!

Okay, this next film in our nautical month was one of my favorites growing up. Sadly, it's relatively unknown by most people. I find that too bad because it's such a cute movie! It's a little odd - a discovery I've made only recently - but it's really fun. The movie is:

Two Girls and A Sailor (1944)

This one features June Allyson, Gloria deHaven, Van Johnson, and Jimmy Durante. Like many movies made at the time, a host of random stars make cameos throughout the film: Harry James, Jose Iturbi, Gracie Allen, Lena Horne, Xavier Cugat, Virginia O'Brien, and Ava Gardner. I had to rewatch the movie to find her. As a kid, I had no idea who she was or that she was someone famous.

The movie focuses on a pair of Vaudeville sisters, Patsy and Jean Deyo. Patsy (Allyson), the older sister, is very protective over her romantically inclined younger sister, Jean (deHaven). She constantly has to pull her out of different romantic entanglements, convinced that Jean hasn't found the right man yet. But, when Jean starts to receive orchids from a secret admirer, the two girls start to search for "Somebody." As they try to solve the mystery, they find themselves falling in love... unfortunately with the same man, a sailor named Johnny (Johnson).

It's a very fun movie and one of my favorite deHaven roles. Probably one of my favorite June Allyson roles too. But, oddly enough, their roles were originally meant to be reversed. In her autobiography, June Allyson explains about how she got the part. When June Allyson got offered the part in the film, she sought the advice of Dick Powell, who later became her husband. He read the script and advised her to pursue the role of the plain sister. He argued that no one would believe Gloria deHaven to be someone who could be out-shined and overlooked. He had a point; I think Gloria deHaven was one of the most incredibly gorgeous actresses ever. She followed his advice, won the role, and I'm pretty sure this film helped shape the rest of her movie career.

 

Like many '40's musicals, this one is chock-full of songs and there are some pretty amazing ones too. The selections vary from classical to big band and you're sure to find at least one that you really like. This movie was my introduction to Lena Horne, Jimmy Durante, Harry James, Tom Drake, and Van Johnson. It might have been my first time watching June Allyson and Gloria deHaven too. Oh, and some of the dresses in this one are simply divine! My sisters and I watched this movie together for years. I can't tell you how excited I was when I found it on dvd in the Warner Archives Collection! It is, sadly, pretty hard to find, but I highly recommend checking it out if you can. It's a wonderful film.



Be sure to swing by my Facebook page to see more pictures, video clips, and quotes from the film!

Small danger of fruit frost

I had several pictures of bathing beauties in the running for this final week in July. Maybe I should continue the theme for August - what do you think?

In the end, I decided on this one because I think she has to be one of the most unbelievably gorgeous women that ever lived: Gloria DeHaven.

from Doctor Macro

On the one hand, if you go searching for classic beauties in bathing suits, your search will be pretty easy. On the other hand, a lot of the photos were just excuses to show off nice bodies and so there's very little work in the lighting and setup that I love so much in old glamor photos. I also have a small opposition to colored photos - this isn't a sweeping and all-consuming fact; but I do love black and white photos better, typically.

P.S. The line in my title has always confused me. Is Marilyn saying that there is a danger of fruit frost, but it's small, or is she saying it's so hot there's no danger of something like fruit frost. I'd guess the latter but it's supposed to be in a weather report, which doesn't seem like the right place for sarcasm. Or maybe I'm the only one confused here.

But her talk made no impression, no, not even a dent.

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite movies growing up: "My Mother Told Me" sung by Gloria de Haven in Two Girls and a Sailor. I know I say this a lot, but Gloria de Haven is so gorgeous. It's kind of unbelievable to me! And I love her singing voice.

And what did we see? We saw the sea.

So, I'm sick. I've actually been sick but now it's moved to my nose and chest where all I do is sniffle and cough. The only good thing about being sick is that it gives you an excuse to relax. This said, I'm having a movie marathon. I love movie marathons. I think it's so fun to have a theme and plan a whole line-up of films (hmm. new blog post series?). Today, I decided to go for a theme of... well, I'll let you figure it out. Here's the line up:
Follow the Fleet (1936)
Born to Dance (1936)
Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
On the Town (1949)
Hit the Deck (1955)

And because movie marathons are no fun alone, I'll let you join me (without having to get sick too). Ready? Here we go:

I hope you enjoyed the movie marathon!

Somewhere on Memory Island, lost with you

Ok. So, I can't lie. I'm pretty darn excited about this series I'm about to start. Mind, it's a pretty hefty amount of research so I may limit these posts to once a month... but just the same, I think it'll be fun!

Now, before I begin, I'd like to explain how I came by this idea. My sister and my mom suggested that I start dressing in a more vintage style than I currently do (usually I just throw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt). I love this idea except for the fact that dressing vintage, as I'm sure all of you know even better than I do, requires having particular pieces involved - pieces that I neither have nor currently have the money for. My mom suggested I make a wishlist of all the pieces that I want so that I can slowly start to acquire them. Anyway, yesterday, I read a blog post by the marvelous Kate Gabrielle that inspired me on my new project. Kate's wishlist reminded me of magazine articles - which then reminded me of those articles that say, "How can you get ___'s look?" and then it would have similar pieces to the outfit pictured so that you could replicate it.

So, I thought I would bring this project to my blog and work on it here. I'm going to find outfits in old movies that I really like and then show where you (and I!) can buy outfits similar! Sound like fun? I'm awfully excited about it. Now, I should warn you that I am not a great shopper. Therefore, my knowledge of where to get the best what is pretty limited. Also, as you can imagine, this will be similar to the outfit pictured, not exactly as it is. I'm going to do my best to find outfits that actually work together (it can be hard picturing it on the computer though) so that, if you absolutely adore it, you could get the outfit all together! Or at least have a good starting point, anyway.

So, here's today's inspiration: the lovely Gloria de Haven. This is an outfit I've showcased before. She wore it in the Memory Island scene in Summer Stock.


Now, for my take on the outfit:

The top - I chose this one because it's collared and has that nice open look, like Gloria's. It's also really light so I think it would be easy to tuck in. You can find it at ModCloth.

The shorts - I wanted the longer shorts that also had the fold at the bottom. You can find these at ModCloth as well.

The coat - I liked the military look of the one in the movie. Plus, it's a nice color to bring to this otherwise neutral color palette. You can find this coat at Shop Ruche.

The scarf - It's hard to see it in the photo but the scarf is tied through her belt loops. I imagine you could just grab any longish thinish scarf to use as a belt. I thought this one was nice because the dots look like a similar color to the shorts and it matches the buttons on the shirt! You can find it at Shop Ruche.

Finally, the shoes - I like that she's wearing white shoes. It's so wacky to wear heels with shorts. I found these cute peep toe pumps at Shop Ruche. The style may not go exactly with the rest of the outfit. I'm really quite a novice at this whole thing. But it's an idea anyway.

What do you think? Do you like this new post idea? What do you think of my choices? I'd love to hear you feedback on this!

It's not that I don't like your charms but I'm liable to like 'em too much!

After my whole Gloria de Haven-related post, I decided to continue the theme in a 100 movies post. Yes! The 100 movies list is back!

#31 Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)


The film tells the story of two vaudeville actresses, Patsy and Jean Deyo (June Allyson and Gloria de Haven) who hold canteens in their apartment for servicemen. When a secret admirer, "Somebody," starts sending Jean orchids and, later, buys her the deed to an abandoned warehouse, Patsy sets out to discover his identity. Complications arise, however, when the two sisters fall in love with the same guy, a sailor named Johnny (Van Johnson).


In typical '40's musical fashion, this film is chock-full of songs, most of which have nothing whatever to do with the plot. There's a host of great actors making cameo appearances, which is a lot of fun: Jose Iturbi, Gracie Allen, Lena Horne, Harry James, and Xavier Cugat to name just a few.

This movie is tons of fun. There are lots of great lines and great songs. It's hard to find, unfortunately. I got ridiculously excited when I discovered it was offered in the WB Archives collection. I highly recommend it.

You know, I rather see myself in tweeds for this number.

Spotlight on a costume! So, after all of these lists of 50 gorgeous people that I've been seeing lately, my sister and I were discussing who we thought were particularly beautiful and we thought it odd that Gloria de Haven never seems to be mentioned. In my opinion, she's absolutely stunning. I find myself loving her movies even though she often plays spoiled, bratty little sisters. She's so beautiful, though, she can get away with it.

Anyway, all of this lead up is to say that I decided to use a Gloria de Haven outfit for my spotlight today. I was trying to find something summery and Summer Stock seemed like a good place to look. I'd remembered a certain gingham dress. What caught my eye, however, is this totally cute little number that Gloria wears in the rehearsal scene.


I would love to wear this kind of outfit. How cute is that? The trouble is, mostly, that I don't really own shorts. I don't like shorts. They always seem to be too short or too awkward for me. I love these old-fashioned shorts that are sexy without being short shorts. And I think it helps to have a scarf as a belt. So cute. I love that she's wearing heels with this outfit. It's so wacky but it works! Well, I think it's wacky, probably because I never wear heels. Anyway, what do you think of this outfit?

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