Think the rain'll hurt the rhubarb?

Happy March everyone!!

For March, I'd like to semi-theme my blog around fantastic male dancers. I've changed the header of my page and an exciting post coming up on Sunday (well, I'm excited about it anyway!). So, for today's addition to the list of my top 100 movies, I'd like to talk about one of my favorite movies of one of my all-time favorite dancers (and probably one of your all-time favorite dancers too):

#18 Summer Stock (1950)

Ah, Gene Kelly! And oh! This movie is so great! So funny, fun, full of one-liners and wonderful music and fantastic dancing.

The basic storyline is as follows: Jane Falbury (Judy Garland) is having financial troubles with her farm. Because of this, her workers quit and leave her alone to tend to the property. When her sister, Abigail (Gloria de Haven) comes home from school, she brings an unexpected surprise for Jane - a group of actors looking to put on a show in Jane's barn! Jane grudgingly agrees to let them stay, with the stipulation that they help out around the farm. Things get complicated, however, when Jane falls for the director of the show, Joe Ross (Gene Kelly), who is semi-engaged to Abigail and when Jane's fiancee, Orville (Eddie Bracken) objects to the show.

This movie has some great songs in it. My favorites are Judy's famous "Get Happy" number (the one with the tuxedo top and fedora), a wonderful dance solo with Gene making use of a newspaper and a squeaky floorboard, a fun number, "Dig For Your Dinner" (I really can't think of a good way to describe it, sorry!), and a great scene when all the actors invade a square dance ("Dig! The squares are having a ball!"). There's also a really funny number called "Memory Island" that's supposedly supposed to fit into the show. That's the funny thing about play-within-a-play deals - what exactly could the plot entail with such a strange variety of numbers? Anyway, that scene is very funny.


Side note: I know Hans Conreid did other things in his life than play the voice of Captain Hook in Disney's Peter Pan, but I never cease to be amused by his line, "As we of the theater say, 'Never become dishearted!'" and he sounds just like Hook! hehe.

This was the last movie Judy Garland did for MGM, which is interesting and also a little sad. I won't go into the details because a) I don't know them, really and b) most everyone knows about her drug problems, so there's little point in making us all depressed by discussing them further. A couple interesting points I will point out are that Judy was slated to play in Royal Wedding, which would have been her last MGM musical but was replaced by Jane Powell. Also, she was supposed to be in the song, "Heavenly Music" with Gene Kelly and Phil Silvers but didn't show up to work that day so they filmed the song without her. Oh, and here's a cool tidbit I learned from IMDb that I really can't paraphrase so here it is: "On one particular day of fiming, Judy Garland was said to be 'not in a fit state to work' so Gene Kelly feigned a fall so that she would be able to take the day off." How sweet is that? I have heard that this movie sort of brought their relationship to full circle: in their first movie together, For Me and My Gal, Judy Garland acted as a sort of mentor and support system to Gene Kelly as he was new to movies, and here, in their last film, he was her support system.

Anyway, I highly recommend this movie. To whet your appetite a little more and to make up for the fact that I couldn't describe, "Dig For Your Dinner" in adequate terms, I'll embed the video below for your enjoyment.




P.S. I decided, hours after publishing this post, to add a poll. It's going to last for the whole month of March and it asks the big question: Gene or Fred?

Kids, you're geniuses!

I have a few odds and ends to take care of today.

First, I'd like to congratulate Millie, KC, Amanda, and Emma for being so clever! They all got the quote of the week correct! The quote was from After the Thin Man, said by Nick Charles. Well done, all of you! I really like the quote segment and I'm so glad people are responding to it!

Second item of business: poll results! In the pirate poll, regarding which is the cooler pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow or Captain Peter Blood, there was a tie!! Woohoo! For your participation, I'm rewarding you all with pictures of the beautiful winners:












There's still a poll going on about which inanimate dance partner is your favorite. Be sure to vote!

Oh, there was one final thing I wanted to mention. I made a new video last week. If you're interested, head on over to my YouTube channel and check it out! Thanks!

"Come on, let's get something to eat... I'm thirsty."

Quote of the week!

I didn't post last night as I'd planned. I'm afraid I've been having a pretty crazy schedule lately - no days off and my hours keep getting extended. The money's going to be nice but it's cutting into my free time something awful. I took a brief break yesterday but next week I'll be back on track with the spotlight on a musical number. In the meantime, guess which movie this quote is from:

"Come on, let's get something to eat... I'm thirsty."


Again, there no prizes and no punishments for this game. Just guess the movie. And there can never be too many guesses. So, even if everyone's already guessed the answer, go right ahead and guess it too! Have fun!

I was just a cowboy on a ranch in ole Wyoming...

So, I thought I had worked it out beautifully where February the 22nd would fall conveniently on the spotlight on a musical number post... but it didn't. Not only did I mix up Tuesday and Thursday somehow, but Tuesday is the 23rd not the 22nd. More's the pity. Ah well. I shall embed the song, "I Can't Tell A Lie" from Holiday Inn, wishing you all a belated Happy George Washington's Birthday and then continue to my count-up. (I'm sorry that the quality is so terrible!)



#17 in my count-up:
Thousands Cheer (1943)

I'm choosing this one, in part, in honor of the late Kathryn Grayson. I do hope you don't mind. I considered writing a post to honor her when she passed last week but I'm no good at things like that and I was afraid it was just sound... affected (for lack of a better word). For the record, if you'd like to read some touching posts written in memory of the lovely lady, I recommend visiting Millie, Amanda, SassyGinger, Harley, Vintage Vamp, and Laura. Most of the time when I'm depressed about something, I do the only thing I can think of to do - watch a movie. It seems appropriate, therefore, to discuss one of my favorites of Ms. Grayson's performances. She's so doggone cute in this movie. I love the relationship between her and Gene Kelly in this film. They're so playful, earnest, and funny.

The basic storyline is as follows: Kathryn Jones (Grayson) goes to stay with her dad, Colonel Bill Jones (John Boles) and boost the morale of the men in his camp. One private, Eddie Marsh (Kelly) refuses to have his morale boosted, however. He can't stand the army and wants to get transferred to the air corps. His friends convince him to befriend Kathryn so that she can put in a good word for him. He does and introduces her to his (adopted) family, a group of trapeze artists in a circus. Eddie and Kathryn fall in love but complications arise when Kathryn's mother (Mary Astor) requests for her to come home, when Eddie gets put in jail (or the military equivalent - I'm not sure what that is), and when the camp eventually leaves for war. The film is a morale booster, however, so the mood is pretty upbeat throughout. Also, because it's a morale booster, many major stars wanted to make cameos in it to show their support for the troops. As a result, there's a long revue towards the end of the film, stuffed full of movie stars (their names are on the movie poster).

My favorite part of the film, other than the first few scenes between Kathryn and Eddie (which are delightful, adorable, and hilarious!) is Gene Kelly's solo dance. So good!



Okay, that's all I have for today. There's still a poll up for best pirate. My poll for this week regards the scene I've embedded above in comparison to Fred Astaire's solo of a similar nature. Which inanimate dance partner do you like better? The hat rack or the mop? This could boil down to a Fred vs. Gene contest or it could be a movie preference, but that could get messy (particularly the former) so let's try and stick to the inanimate object: hat rack vs. mop.

P.S. If you find the title of this post a little strange, just watch the movie. That song will get so stuck in your head! No joke!

Push the button, Max!

I have a few items to address today:

First things first, thank you to all who voted in last week's poll! In the Great Race poll, 6 people voted. 4 voted Professor Fate as their favorite Jack Lemmon character in the film and 2 voted for Prince Hapnik. So yay! Thank you for voting!


Second things second, thank you to all who guessed in the quote of the week! Everyone who guessed was correct - the quote was from Singin' in the Rain, spoken by Cosmo Brown to Don Lockwood regarding Lena Lamont. So, congratulations to Wendymoon, Emma, and Amanda for guessing correctly! I'm very excited about the quote of the week segment and I'm very encouraged by the response to the first one. Hooray!


Finally, I have a question. I watched Ball of Fire last night for the first time. Loved it! Gary Cooper was adorable and absolutely endearing, Barbara Stanwyck was sexy and amazing, and the professors were so much fun to watch! I'd been wanting to watch another Stanwyck film after seeing her in Christmas in Connecticut and this one was just as enjoyable as I hoped it would be! Now, my question regards Dana Andrews. I've seen him in State Fair but my experience with his acting is very limited. After seeing him in this movie... let's just say, I'm in love. (don't worry, I won't try to steal him away from anyone) As I mentioned in my last bid for advice, the one regarding James Cagney, I really do prefer light movies. Are there any Dana Andrews movies that are light or at least have happy endings that you could recommend? I'd be ever so grateful!

"Well, haven't you heard? She's irresistible. She told me so herself."

Okay, time for my new segment: quote of the week. I'll be posting these up on Fridays or Saturdays, depending on my schedule. I'll write the quote in the title and, to avoid confusion with all the other titles that are quotes, I'll put the quote of the week in quotes. I'll give a hint in the post as well because hints are nice. I've been writing Sunday posts lately but I don't always do them so the answer will be either in the Sunday or the Tuesday posts. Again, there are no prizes in this, so you have nothing to lose (or gain) - it's just fun to guess at quotes. Here's the quote again along with the hint:

"Well, haven't you heard? She's irresistible. She told me so herself."

hint: from a '50s musical.


Check back on Sunday for the answer!
Oh, and I put a new poll up. Go check it out!

It must be beautiful in Vermont this time of year... all that snow.

Happy belated birthday to Vera-Ellen!!

Amanda Cooper just wrote a beautiful write-up of the wonderful performer, whose birthday was two days ago. I can't put it quite as eloquently as Amanda did, but Vera-Ellen was an amazing dancer and a lovely actress. She is sadly overlooked as a performer these days despite her great talent. Because categories are fun, I'm going to categorize my favorites regarding Ms. Vera-Ellen.

Favorite role: Jessie in Three Little Words
Favorite duet: Definitely "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" with Danny Kaye from White Christmas, but the "Abraham" number with John Brascia follows as a pretty close second.
Favorite scene: Judy's proposal in White Christmas (this is also my favorite dress) The scene begins roughly after 7:30.
Favorite dance costume: the dress in "Come On Papa" in Three Little Words
Favorite dance moment: her entrance in "Choreography" (because this moment deserves its very own category)

Isn't that amazing?? I wish I could do that! (on an unrelated note, John Brascia's entrance in this song is also pretty neat - he leaps out of the floor!)

I also really love "Minstrel Number" from White Christmas, "Come On, Papa," from Three Little Words, and "Miss Turnstiles" from On the Town. What are your favorites regarding Vera-Ellen?

Just so you know, you can view a few of her movies in their entirety on IMDb. I'm bookmarking the pages right now for myself because there are a couple that I've never seen before!


I want to thank everyone who responded to my question regarding quotes! I'm really excited about starting the quote segment! I'm trying to figure out which day is best. But I will have one up soon!