Her anatomy makes the mercury rise to 93

I thought of doing the famous photo shoot with the red and white polka dot umbrella, but decided to go with this cute black and white shot from Monkey Business instead. Although, any picture of her is pretty much perfect. She's so cute!

found on Doctor Macro

She started this heat wave by...

Hey! It's another comparison post! I do like these a lot. I'll often watch movies or listen to soundtracks and discover new ideas for these posts. It's fascinating to me how a song can change between performers. As we prepare for another hot summer, I thought "Heat Wave" would be an appropriate topic. I'm sure there are other renditions of this number but the ones that came to mind were Marilyn Monroe's in There's No Business Like Show Business and the one performed by Fred Astaire and Olga San Juan in Blue Skies. Let's take Marilyn's version first.

In this clip, Marilyn gets all of the attention. The whole scene is all about her anyway. Contextually, she's taking the thunder from love-interest, Donald O'Connor's mother, played by Ethel Merman. Her costume and rendition to the song is in direct contrast to the showy, brassy version that the show biz family would have performed. Marilyn's version is, not surprisingly, pure sexiness. We're taking the whole lyric literally as Marilyn sings about her effect on the weather. She doesn't even have to say how she started the heat wave; we can see for ourselves! In a way, this number could have been replaced with any other song - it could even have been alluded to - its relevance to the plot is simply that this beautiful and sexy girl is stealing Donald O'Connor's heart, so completely that he is willing to let her steal his family's thunder. Seeing her do it is a special treat and, as the dad, played by Dan Dailey, points out - we can see why he did it.



In this clip, the song is performed in a huge production number, complete with a full chorus, sets, and costumes. The scene is a moving forward of the plot. The climax of the song ends with Fred Astaire's character falling off a bridge - a pivotal point in the film as a whole. The whole number, despite the lyrics, are actually centered around Fred Astaire (he is the major name, after all). Leading into the number, we see Fred taking a drink and know that things do not bode well for him. The number begins with Fred sitting on a staircase, he is the one who gets the solo dance bit, and his fall at the end of the number ends the scene. The lyrics have little to do with the scene at hand, except as backdrop and to allow for a showy and exotic production number. Despite how cute and sexy Olga San Juan is, she is not the focal point of the scene. As performed here, the song isn't about a girl so hot she's making the temperature climb, it's about a man who sees a girl and his interest in her ultimately (possibly indirectly) leads to his demise - a sort of mirroring of the plot in the film. The sexiness is decidedly toned down compared to Marilyn's version. The dresses cover up a great deal more in this one. I find that Olga's head scarf detracts somewhat from her appeal. I'm too distracted by her bunny ears to notice what else is going on! And the lyrics are changed - her feet are what make the temperature rise. This is definitely a Fred Astaire number.



What do you think?

Though I know you're perfectly swell...

I confess, I've been a little obsessed with Marilyn lately. I can't get over her songs. I've been listening to them on repeat all week!!

New fish. Same hook.

So, I thought of an idea for a new segment today. I'm not sure how well it will work. And, to be honest, I'm not sure how often I'll do it, but it's worth a shot, right?

I was got the idea from listening to Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Lazy" in There's No Business Like Show Business. Whenever I think of that song, I automatically think of Bing Crosby's rendition in Holiday Inn. I think it's kind of funny how the same song can be presented in so many different ways. Even when it's presented in a similar way, it can have a different effect. So, I thought I'd start a new series (that will be just as sporadic as my other series) that will compare songs covered by different performers. The trouble with this new segment is that I already have some songs in mind and two of them (today's included) involve a Marilyn Monroe song, which is pretty difficult to compare to anyone else because she kind of automatically makes everything sexy and that's hard to compare. And then I have a lot of Bing Crosby (today's included) which is also hard because he had a very particular style. But then, that's kind of the point. So, onward.

Today, I'll be showcasing two renditions of "Lazy" by Irving Berlin. The first, sung by Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn. This one is done in Bing's crooning style and is given an ironic, comedic twist. I never realized, listening to this version, how beautiful the tune is because I was too busy laughing at (and feeling sorry for) him in this montage. Just the same, this is a great version because this is one of the first scenes I think of when I think of this movie.

Bing, being lazy.

Marilyn, being lazy.

The second, sung by Marilyn Monroe in "There's No Business Like Show Business." I don't really understand why they threw the Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor into the mix, but since I like them together so much, I don't mind. Marilyn's delivery of this song is, obviously, very different. The way she draws out every word and every note makes the song much sexier and also, in my opinion, showcases the tune a bit more. While we are distracted by the way she's lounging on that couch, it fits so well with what's she's singing that I notice the song itself a bit more. But what I find funny about this version is that this song isn't necessarily sexy but Marilyn manages to make it so. P.S. I wish I could pull of Marilyn's outfit.



Both pictures were found on Doctor Macro.

She certainly can

Happy Birthday Marilyn!!


I'm embedding one of my favorite songs of hers. It's such a cute and sexy song!



By the way, in case you haven't heard yet, Debbie Reynolds is holding this crazy big auction for all of the movie memorabilia she's collected over the years. This outfit is in it. It makes me kind of sad that she couldn't put it into a museum. In any case though, I'm glad she was able to preserve these wonders.

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

Can't scalp anybody unless you do a wardance first.

Today, I'm continuing the wonderful movie review chain started by Wendy of Movie Viewing Girl.

Here is the chain thus far:
Link #1: The Women (1939) by Wendymoon.
Link #2: Private Lives (1931) by Kate Gabrielle.
Link #3: Letty Lynton (1944) by KC.
Link #4: Madame Curie (1944) by Amanda Cooper.
and now, Link #5: Monkey Business (1952) by me!

As you'll see in the rules below, the chain must continue with some sort of link, be it actor, actress, director, theme, etc. I chose theme because I thought that would be fun and decided to find another film about scientists. My choice?

#13 in my count-up: Monkey Business (1952)



This movie is totally wacky and incredibly fun. The basic plot is as follows: Dr. Barnaby Fulton (Cary Grant) is working on a formula that will make people young. One night, one of the chimps in the lab mixes Fulton's chemicals together (accidentally creating an effective formula), dumps the mixture in the water fountain... and no one is the wiser. So, when Fulton decides to test the formula on himself, he unwittingly takes the chimp's formula as well - with hilarious results! Things get even crazier when Fulton's wife (Ginger Rogers) plays guinea pig for the experiment.


I will admit that the movie is not perfect, but it's a riot and there are parts in it that never cease to amuse me. Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers are hilarious and Marilyn Monroe is absolutely adorable. You can actually find the whole thing on YouTube. So, if you have the time, I highly recommend it. I tried finding some bits of trivia regarding the film and here's what I discovered: The address that Edwina gives when she calls the police was Ginger Rogers real-life address: 1605 Gilcrest. And the exterior shots of the Oxley Chemical Co. office building where Barnaby works was actually the Executive Building on the 20th Century Fox studio lot. Neat, huh?

If you want to add a link to the chain, here are the rules:

1. Call dibs on doing the next review in the comments. First one to speak up gets it, others will have to wait to join up to the next link in the chain! (Chains usually only link one at a time, after all. It's not a movie review tree.)

2. Write your own review of another movie (it should be one not yet used in the chain) and post it on your blog. Make sure the link to the previous review is made clear and that you link back to the original post where the chain began (so we can keep track of how the chain grows). The link can be an actor or actress, director, or something more creative (like a theme).

3. Include the rules of how to continue the chain, and let someone else continue it!




P.S. I have a new photo in my banner. Check it out! Kate Gabrielle posted about the photo on Spiffy.