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!

You look sort of shipshape to me and I've spotted a few...

So, to continue with our delightful marathon about singing sailors, let's move on to a musical where the main sailor is not your typical musical star...

Born To Dance (1936)

This movie was in my public library growing up for as long as I can remember. And I don't know how long it took me to finally check it out. I kept wanting to. But I didn't know who Eleanor Powell was at the time and didn't know if I'd like her. As it happens, I didn't. I've grown to feel differently, of course. She's not my favorite but I know what an amazing performer she was and I love several of her scenes. This isn't my favorite of her movies, per se, but it's worth a watch just to see James Stewart singing!

The plot is kind of odd and convoluted (the main reason this isn't my absolute favorite) but I'll do my best to explain it. Ted Barker (Stewart) meets aspiring dancer, Nora Paige (Powell) and they fall in love. However, when a famous starlet Lucy James (Virginia Bruce) visits his ship and Ted rescues her pet Pekinese, he finds himself in the middle of a publicity campaign where he and Lucy are shown to be an item. Naturally, Nora becomes jealous and hurt. After much confusion, Nora and Ted are reunited and Nora becomes the star she deserves to be. There are some great supporting characters played by Una Merkel, Sid Silvers, Frances Langford, and Buddy Ebsen.

I don't know a whole heap about this one unfortunately. I know that when the movie was being made, the studios were doing their best to produce as many musicals as possible because of their popularity. To do so, they put some of their top stars in their musicals, even if the stars were not musically inclined. Thus, Jimmy Stewart as our leading man. Incidentally, I like Jimmy Stewart's voice. He's not exactly Bing Crosby, but his voice is sweet and sincere and when he sings "You'd Be So Easy to Love," he sounds perfectly vulnerable and gentle. I've read that they planned to dub his voice over but decided against it. I've also read that Cole Porter picked James Stewart for the role. In any case the song was a big hit.

Have you guys seen this one? What do you think of Jimmy's singing pipes? Are you Eleanor Powell fans? Which is your favorite Powell film? I'll be posting some pictures and clips of the film on my Facebook page in the following days so be sure to check them out!

All of the pictures in this post are from Doctor Macro.

The Navy must be a wonderful institution.

It produces such a modest, shrinking type man...

It's summer! Summer means the beach! Sunglasses! Barbecues! Nautical-themed outfits! And what better way to celebrate...er... nautical-themed outfits than nautical-themed posts? So, for the month of July, I will discuss my favorite sailor-filled musicals. Please feel free to weigh in on your personal favorites as well.

So, to start:

Follow the Fleet (1936)

As you can see by the poster, this film features the great Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's one of their few films where they're cast as the secondary characters. If you ask my sister, those are the best - and she may be right. In their supporting roles, Fred and Ginger get a chance to shine without having to bicker, they get to have fun, crack jokes, steal scenes, and be adorable without having to go through all of the heartache and frustration of their mixed up romances as lead characters.

I'm going to steal the plot summary from IMDb: When the fleet puts in at San Francisco, sailor Bake Baker (Astaire) tries to rekindle the flame with his old dancing partner, Sherry Martin (Rogers), while Bake's buddy Bilge Smith (Randolph Scott) romances Sherry's sister Connie (Harriet Hilliard). But it's not all smooth sailing: Bake has a habit of losing Sherry's jobs for her; and despite Connie's dreams, Bilge is not ready to settle down.

So, there you have it. As far as trivia goes, I've read that Irene Dunne was originally intended for the role of Connie but was unavailable at the time. It's an interesting fact considering Dunne was cast opposite Scott in Fred and Ginger's other supporting role film a year prior, Roberta. Follow the Fleet also includes a young and pretty Lucille Ball. I believe this was when she was still in Ginger Rogers' mother's school for aspiring actresses. A sharp eye will notice a young Betty Grable as a singer in "Let Yourself Go." There's a bugle call gag in this movie that also shows up in The Gay Divorcee and Roberta. I'm not sure where this gag originated. Do any of you know? This movie is also notable for being the only one in the Fred and Ginger series where the two characters are, throughout the film, working class characters. They don't hobnob with high society, fly down to Italy for the weekend. Ginger isn't a model for a couture dressmaker. And Fred isn't a well-known dancer. Their previous gig as a dancing team featuring "High Class Patter and Genteel Dancing" is a bit of a joke.

 The movie features some spectacular dance scenes: there's the somber "Let's Face the Music and Dance," which is the only part of the movie where Fred appears in his typical hat and tails. This is the dance where Ginger's sleeve hit Fred in the face. From what I read he was pretty dazed by the impact. Small wonder, her beaded dress must have weighed a ton. "Let Yourself Go" is always a fun time. And, my personal favorite, "I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket" is so funny and cute - it's impossible to watch without smiling.

 

Have you seen Follow the Fleet? What are your favorite songs? Your favorite lines? Check my Facebook page for more pictures, video clips, and quotes!

Will you be a patriot or a lover?

Happy Fourth of July!

Er.. remember that time when I said I was going to post every week on this thing? Oh, yeah, about that. Anyway, here we go...

This won't be much of a post because
a) It's 1 in the morning and I work tomorrow
b) I don't know a whole heap about these movies and, while I'd love to do more research on each of them, see a, above and
c) okay, I don't actually have a point c, but I wanted to keep this list going.

I just wanted to talk about my favorite patriotic movies and on this patriotic holiday, it seemed appropriate to share them.

Holiday Inn (1942)

Fred Astaire's "Let's Say It With Firecrackers" routine has been a long-time favorite of mine. I love the music, the firecrackers, his facial expressions, his hopping around, his attitude, his outfit. I mean, really, it's a fantastic sequence. What's not to love? That's really about all this movie has in terms of Independence Day references. But, isn't that enough?

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Born on the 4th of July and all! Talk about made for a holiday viewing! This movie really is wonderful. It has so many fantastic songs, James Cagney is brilliant, Joan Leslie is delightful, it's funny, touching, and makes you feel pretty good about being American.

1776 (1972)

This is what I'll be watching when I get home tonight as I kick back with my subway leftovers and kick off my wet work shoes (yes, I know, I really know how to party). I love this movie. Really. It's so much more than the movie your US History teacher made you watch Sophomore year. It's so funny, the songs are amazing, the performances are fantastic. It makes me cry. It's romantic. It's one of my favorite movies ever. Tonight's viewing may very well begin yet another segment of my life where I watch the movie over and over again - and, do you know something? I wouldn't mind. It's totally worth every minute of its 3 hour running time (ok, I could do without a good portion of "Molasses to Slaves to Rum" and "Mama, Look Sharp" depresses me beyond belief... but every other minute is pure delight).

I'll be posting videos of these movies on my Facebook page today (provided I remember, of course). Those are my top picks for today. What are your favorite Fourth of July flicks?

With a smile and a song

This week, I started on a new project: I'm going to watch all of the animated Disney features in chronological order! This isn't a new or original idea in any way, but it'll be the first time I've ever done - if I'm able to get through the list! Right now, I'm a little stuck on Pinocchio. No one seems to have it. Anyway, this week, I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) for the first time in a long time.

I always find it irritating when people glaze over Snow White because they "can't stand the voice" or they think "all she wants is to get married." Stuff and nonsense. Snow White is super adorable with tons of personality. I realized this when I revisited the movie a few years ago and rediscovered it all over again this week. Within the first few seconds of meeting Snow White, she has a cool personality: she's hard at work in her own castle, looks up to see all of the work she has left to do, heaves a sigh, and then hums as she continues with her work. She's so cool! There's no defeatist attitude, no anger, no "I'm such a victim." She's good-natured and positive, even in the face of a really bad situation. And that's only the first few seconds!

Something I began to think about this time around - it's something that I've wondered for a while now - is how long she's known the prince. The audience never actually gets that information. We automatically assume that they meet for the first time at the well, but that doesn't have to be the case. I mean, why is the prince wandering alongside a castle wall, so far from his own kingdom? Could it be he's coming to visit her? She gets startled and runs away - it could be because a strange man popped up beside her, but couldn't it also be that the handsome prince she likes has caught her in the act of singing about him and now he's seeing her in rags? The lyric of the song is, "I'm wishing for the one I love to find me today." The whole "one I love" thing could be a thinking-about-the-future type description, but I think it could just as easily be that they've already fallen in love and now she's hoping he'll come looking for her

My sister one time told me that Snow White has the deepest connection to nature, out of all the Disney princesses. Rewatching the movie, I can see that this is definitely the case. She finds herself in the middle of a strange forest with animals she doesn't know and they immediately feel comfortable with her. Also, there's a part in "With a Smile and a Song" where a little chipmunk scurries up to her, she reaches out to pet it, and it runs away. I watched the chipmunk for the rest of the scene and when it comes back up to her, she doesn't reach out to pet it anymore and it runs all over her lap and sits on her legs. I think it's so cool that she respects him and he, in turn, trusts her! It's such a great detail!

I guess I won't break down the whole movie into pieces about what I loved. But, it really was fun to revisit and rediscover this classic. It's pretty incredible to watch it and imagine people seeing it for the first time, having nothing else to compare it to. I watched the movie a second time and added the commentary and learned some fascinating bits of trivia along the way. The most pressing thing I learned was what an undertaking the film was for Walt Disney and his studio. But, even the little things like the fact that Deanna Durbin was turned down for the role of Snow White, that Marge Belcher (later Marge Champion) was the live model for Snow White, and that the gross of the film's profits included a great deal of children's fares, which means the movie could easily have been seen more than the other top films of the year (Walt particularly cited Gone with the Wind) were the details that stuck out the most.

Have you revisited this movie recently? What were your discoveries?

Should you select the right effect you cannot miss

Ok! Here we go: back to it!

I want to get started with a compare/contrast post. Today, we're going to discuss:

Roberta (1935) and the remake Lovely to Look At (1952)

I have a funny double standard when it comes to remakes. If a storyline is recycled but was released in the 30's through the 60', I am much more accepting of it than if it was released recently.  

First, the original:

Roberta tells the story of a young football coach, John Kent (Randolph Scott) is traveling to Paris with his friend, Huck Haines (Fred Astaire) and Huck's band, "The Wabash Indianians." After some confusion with the band's booking, John visits his Aunt Minnie to see if she can get the band a job. Aunt Minnie owns a couture dress shop, Roberta's. John falls in love with his aunt's assistant, Stephanie (Irene Dunne) while Huck runs into an old sweetheart, a client of the shop, Countess Tanka Scharwenka (Ginger Rogers). After Aunt Minnie dies, John inherits Roberta's. Just when things are getting settled between John and Stephanie, John's ex-girlfriend, Sophie, shows up and adds a bit of mayhem to the plot. In the end, they decide to save the dress shop by combining talents and throwing a musical fashion show with Huck's band to showcase Stephanie's designs.

This is a storyline that I'm surprised has yet to be picked up in contemporary film. I feel like the story of a football coach inheriting a couture dress shop in Paris would provide filmmakers with all sorts of possibilities. I'm glad they haven't though; they'd probably fill it with crass humor and remove all of the charm and wit in the original.

The remake fascinates me because it keeps the basic storyline, sort of: unlikely American guy inherits a Parisian dress shop. However, characters are added and meshed together and everyone is a sort of combination of the original characters. I kind of like this approach because it makes it harder to compare the two. In Arlene Croce's The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book, she remarks that Marge and Gower Champion are "dizzy" as Fred and Ginger. When I watched Lovely to Look At, I remembered her criticism and walked into the movie with some wariness. But, as much as I love her book, I disagree with her critique: Marge and Gower Champion aren't Fred and Ginger. They get some of the songs that Fred and Ginger performed in the original and Gower Champion is somewhat like Huck Haines, but they're actually pretty new characters to the plot. 

Ok, so let me break down the remake for those who haven't seen it. Al Marsh (Red Skelton), Tony Naylor (Howard Keel), and Jerry Ralby (Gower Champion) are having difficulties in getting their show picked up by investors. Tony's showgirl girl friend, Bubbles (Ann Miller) offers to help them out, but Tony refuses her help. When Al receives word that he has inherited a dress shop from his aunt in Paris, the three pack up and head over to try and sell the shop and get on with their show. When they arrive, however, they discover that the shop is bankrupt and that the adopted daughters of Al's late aunt, Stephanie (Kathryn Grayson) and Clarisse (Marge Champion) have been waiting for Al to arrive and help them save the business. What follows is a great deal of mixed up love triangles, with Jerry and Clarisse being the only couple to come out uncomplicated: Al and Tony both fall for Stephanie, Stephanie falls in love with Tony, and when Bubbles shows up unexpectedly, and tries to win Tony back, Al starts to fall for her too. In the midst of all these romantic entanglements, the group decides to throw a musical fashion show (sound familiar?) and bring the shop back into the spotlight. Tony's love for Stephanie is put to the test when he finds a backer for the show and he must decide whether to continue with his own plans or stay in Paris to help with the fashion show.

a different approach to a musical fashion show

Again, this remake fascinates me. The songs and basic premise are the only things that really tie it back to the original. The additional complication of the show adds a different set of problems to the plot and the characters are all over the place compared to their original counterparts. The John Kent character is split into two by being Al, who inherits the shop, and Tony, who falls for Stephanie and has a girlfriend from back home who creates just the right amount of confusion to the budding relationship. Huck Haines is in part Tony, for being the friend of the heir, and Jerry, who's on the sidelines for a good part of the film. Stephanie is really the only character to stay consistent in name and role. But, Bubbles is a weird combination of John's girlfriend, Sophie, and Huck's nightclub performer girlfriend, Tanka. You see? When you start comparing all of the characters, it starts to get a little confusing. I like that! And I didn't even bring up Zsa Zsa Gabor who, I think, is a bit like Tanka as well.

I still like the original best. It's very funny and has a really cute storyline that is pretty uncomplicated. I love all of the characters in it. John Kent is very frustrating at times, but he's still pretty endearing. And Fred and Ginger are at their bantering best in this one. They never actually fight at all, which is a refreshing change in the pattern of mistaken identities and mixed up plot lines that they usually got. 

The remake is a really cute move with some great songs. I don't like Tony's character at all, so I have a hard time understanding why Stephanie would fall in love with him; she deserves so much better. I'm not a huge fan of Red Skelton's physical humor, either, so that's a factor too. I love Marge and Gower Champion in the movie and I didn't have a problem with them taking Fred and Ginger's songs - I think they made the songs their own pretty well. The biggest problem I have with the movie, really, is that I don't like one of the main characters and he gets the girl at the end. As far as remakes go, though, it's a creative take on an original story.

What do you guys think? Have you seen either of the movies? Both? How did they compare?

Long time a-no see!

So. I've definitely let the ball drop where this blog is concerned. So much has happened since I last posted:
I went to the TCM Cruise in January!
I made another video with Emma Wallace's music, this time featuring the lovely Ava Gardner!
I started watching Once Upon A Time!

Okay, you probably don't care very much about that last one. I'd better think of something else interesting that happened... well, nothing major comes to mind. I turned 25. That's exciting!

Anyway, I really do want to get this blog up and running again. I keep procrastinating it because I don't know what to put on it. I want this blog to be different from other blogs but I also want to make sure it's interesting - and there's a lot from other blogs that I can learn. So, I'm still working it out.

One thing I do know is that I want to go back to some of the types of posts I used to do: the fashion inspiration posts and the comparison/contrast posts. Naturally, those are a lot of work. This is fine, of course, but I want to make sure the work is worthwhile and that I'll actually have people reading this thing. I started getting really lazy the last time I posted a lot. My mom suggested I start a facebook page for my blog. I love this idea because facebook is a better format for posting random pictures and videos than blogger. However, I need to make sure I actually have a blog going before I make a facebook page for it, you know?

But, I just wanted to check in and let you all know - if you are still reading - that I haven't completely neglected my blog. I plan to come back to work on it soon. If you have any suggestions or requests, please do not hesitate to send them my way!