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.

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?

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies.

Today for my post on Old Hollywood and New Hollywood I want to talk about influences. Namely, which is better: replicating an old classic or modernizing one? I'll add a poll about it.

There are arguments to be made for each. To make immediate examples: Usher performed a tribute to Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain." Now, on the one hand, it's pretty incredible that Usher learned all of the choreography and did the exact same blocking and everything. However, one could argue (and I've heard one do it), what's the point of replicating something that's already amazing? On the other side, inspiration can be a tricky line to toe as in Katie Holmes's rendition of Judy Garland's "Get Happy." On the one hand, Katie Holmes modernizes an old number and lends it her own spice of individuality and personality; on the other, she changed a classic!

Now, to take this debate to films, I'm going to discuss one of my favorite contemporary films: You've Got Mail (1998) which is a film based on The Shop Around the Corner (1940). (Warning, I have a few spoilers in here.) The modern version covers the same story: two penpals who despise each other even though they have unknowingly fallen in love through correspondence. You've Got Mail changes the story, however, when the guy and girl are not coworkers but competitive bookstore owners. The shift from written mail to email is an easy transition with the growth of technology, but I find that the change in relationship makes a significant difference to the storyline. Their animosity is a good deal more understandable: he's putting her out of business - of course she hates him! And she says nasty things about him in public - of course he hates her! Joe Fox's later wooing of Kathleen Kelly is a little more gently done, as well, as he doesn't manipulate her as much as Kralik manipulates Klara. He suggests that her penpal is fat, married, and many other things but it's mostly done as a joking matter - she never feels crushed by the loss of an ideal. Now, don't get me wrong: I just rewatched The Shop Around the Corner and I love it! I think James Stewart is incredible in it and Margaret Sullavan is adorable. But I found myself feeling sorry for Kralik (and also getting incredibly mad at him at the end) and sort of disliking Klara, whose meanness isn't explained until the final scene of the film. In You've Got Mail, I like both of the characters and I understand each's frustration. Joe Fox does not elicit the same kind of sympathy that Kralik does, but then the characters are completely different. Kralik is a clerk who loses his job just as he is about to propose, and we see his vulnerability peek out as he reads his recommendation letter. Joe Fox, on the other hand, is a multimillionaire who loses very little throughout the film. The basic plot is the same and there are many entertainingly replicated bits of dialogue, but I find that the overall feeling of the film, the characters and their relationship are very different. It seems as if the writers of You've Got Mail loved The Shop Around the Corner and wanted to pay tribute, and improve upon it at the same time. Which brings up some controversy.

Now, looking at the other form of flattery, you have the musical rendition, In The Good Old Summertime (1949), which is essentially The Shop Around the Corner with musical numbers thrown in. What's the difference? Do we watch the musical because we like Judy Garland and Van Johnson more than James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan - or vice versa? Do we watch one or the other because we prefer musicals or straight comedies? Or do we watch both because we love the story and the dialogue and the characters so much that we can't get enough of them? This is something I've wondered with a lot of the musical remakes - High Society (1956), Easy to Wed (1946), Silk Stockings (1957), to name just a few. There are so many of them and I can't decide how I feel about them. In some cases, it's nice to see a change in casting and if the music is great then, hey! Why not? But sometimes I wonder why they couldn't leave well enough alone and let some of those good non-musical films stand on their own feet. It's a tough call to make.

What do you think about the issue? Should we replicate the things that we love or change them to fit the changing times? Or should we just leave movies that we love alone and leave it at that?

Give me a P-I-A-N-O Oh! Oh!

First off, Happy New Year's! Okay, it's New Year's Eve. But I won't see you until next year so... Happy New Year's!! Oh, and I have a special new year's treat: a new movie!


Second off, I'd like to thank my wonderful, wonderful followers for following me because on Tuesday I surpassed my goal of 15 followers by New Year's. Hooray!! And a big, warm, grateful thank you to Amanda Cooper at A Noodle in Haystack for mentioning my blog!



I also want to thank everyone who voted in this week's poll. Tom voiced concern about a possible tie and there actually was one: Susan from Miracle on 34th Street and Zuzu from It's A Wonderful Life both received 4 votes! Daphne and Vanderbilt from Holiday Inn earned 2 votes, coming in second. Thank you again to all who voted! And don't forget to vote in this week's poll: do you prefer light films or dark films or do you prefer both in equal proportion?

And I also want to thank everyone who suggested Cagney movies for me. I've added them to my Netflix queue and I can't wait! Thank you so much! I also realized after I wrote the post that I already knew of two light Cagney movies (oops) that I, in fact, own (oops): A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and Footlight Parade (1933). I plan to rewatch these while I wait for the others to come in the mail. Thank you again everyone who suggested titles to me. I've taken your advice to heart and I will report back when I've seen the movies.

I've decided to do slightly more than just a spotlight on a musical number. Perhaps it's because it's the end of the year and I'd like to have a slam-bang finish or perhaps it's because my growing number of followers has inspired me to new heights... in any case, today I'm discussing "I Love A Piano" from Easter Parade (1948). I decided on this number in part because Andrew at Encore Entertainment asked if Easter Parade is good. The answer? Yes! It's a wonderful movie. The chemistry between Judy Garland and Fred Astaire was so great that the studio made preparations for another Judy and Fred film: The Barkleys of Broadway. Unfortunately, Judy Garland was having difficulties at this time and so a different actress was cast... Anyway, I picked this number (which begins at 3:34) because it is so enjoyable to watch. I love how Hannah's character blossoms as she becomes more like herself. The way she sings, the way they dance - they look like they're having so much fun! I love the way musical numbers develop character (that is, I love when they do). This scene shows Hannah's and Don's relationship perfectly - he grabs her up and swings her around, but is he doing that because he loves her or because it's part of the dance?



As I rewatched the scene in preparation for this post, I realized that there was more to be said about this number: namely, how much fun people seem to have when they're dancing on a piano. Fred and Judy do it here and I've found a few other examples....

Gene Kelly does it in American in Paris (1951).

Shirley Temple does in Curly Top (1935).

Fred Astaire even does it again in Let's Dance (1950).

Apparently Hannah isn't the only one who loves pianos. If you had the chance, would you dance on one?