THE RAINBOW MAN
A few weeks ago, I saw a post (on a blog I don’t recall) with a photo of a rare double rainbow. Today, out of the blue, that image came to mind as I was perusing a biography of lyricist E. Y. Harburg of OVER THE RAINBOW fame, who also wrote the score for the 1968 film FINIAN’S RAINBOW….and I thought, now that’s a double rainbow if I ever heard one.
Everyone knows OVER THE RAINBOW (from The Wizard Of Oz), but how many of you remember FINIAN’S RAINBOW starring Fred Astaire in his last musical at the age of 69? Here is the “Rainbow” song from that film:
And here he is singing and dancing to one of the film’s definitive songs, WHEN THE IDLE POOR BECOME THE IDLE RICH:
I say “definitive” because it’s a reflection of E. Y. Harburg’s very liberal leanings, as exemplified in these lyrics from the song:
When a rich man doesn’t want to work,
He’s a bon vivant
Yes, he’s a bon vivant
But when a poor man doesn’t want to work.
He’s a loafer, he’s a lounger,
He’s a lazy good for nothing,
He’s a jerk.
If Harburg were alive today, I have no doubt that he would appreciate the ‘music’ of another Rainbow man, name of Randy:
Yes, friends, let us look to November 3 and the rainbow following the dark storm of the Trump presidency.
obbverse 3:39 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Julie Andrews will never sound the same thanks to that son of the bleach.
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mistermuse 7:49 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
😉
The whole country will never be the same if that son of a bleach is reelected. We’ll be lucky if we recover even if he’s defeated.
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calmkate 5:10 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
my photo, my blog MrM … glad I inspired such a cheery colourful post 🙂
Those conflicting terms are strong for the male/female divide too … a man is assertive but a woman bossy, etc etc ..
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mistermuse 8:01 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Does it even the score if you put ‘overly-‘ before “assertive” (as in “overly-assertive”), Kate? 😉
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calmkate 9:07 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink
doubt it old fella … and don’t use age as an excuse 🙂
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mistermuse 9:28 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink
View at Medium.com
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calmkate 5:14 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
that last one is priceless, thanks for the share!
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Rivergirl 7:20 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Me! It was me! I had a double rainbow in the backyard and will happily accept credit for this post.
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mistermuse 8:06 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Judging by calmkate’s first comment above, Rg, you may have to share the honors with her (although I do now remember your double rainbow post as being my ‘inspiration’ — thanks for the reminder). 😉
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masercot 7:59 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
With a little bit of luck, they’ll go out and start supPORTING YOUUUUUUUU!
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mistermuse 8:16 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
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tubularsock 12:57 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Let us not forget whose policies helped elect the Dump!
Obummer and Killery!
Now it is a race between an empty box and an orange turd!
Either way we’re dead meat! A race to the bottom.
At least Randy Rainbow makes Tubularsock laugh on the ride down!
Cheers.
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mistermuse 3:35 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Drawing an equivalence between “the Dump” and “Obummer” strikes me as a bit of a stretch, but I guess that’s what tubular socks do. In any case, we agree on Randy Rainbow, and alliances have been forged on matters of far less understanding in common.
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magickmermaid 1:40 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
With a little bit of luck the dubious Dr will drink his own cure. 😀
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mistermuse 3:37 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
I will definitely drink to that, mm!
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Rosaliene Bacchus 4:01 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Randy Rainbow gets right to the issue in his most delightful way 🙂
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mistermuse 4:51 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
So too do you, Rosaliene. 😉
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annieasksyou 6:31 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
This was such a romp. My sister played in a local production of Finian’s Rainbow when we were young, so I was forced to learn every word. I love the words and music, and Fred Astaire could elevate any scene.
I liked your pointing out Harburg’s message—also that the cast wasn’t lily white.
I think we should all declare the evil one irrelevant and just ignore him while we work like hell to overcome all the shenanigans designed to disrupt our reclaiming our democracy.
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mistermuse 10:42 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Thank you, Annie. In addition to being a superb wordsmith, E.Y. (Yip) Harburg was undoubtedly the most liberal lyricist of the Golden Age of Popular music. If interested in reading his biography (the one I mentioned in my post), the title is WHO PUT THE RAINBOW IN THE WIZARD OF OZ? by Harold Meyerson and Ernie Harburg (Yip’s son).
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mistermuse 11:17 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
NOTE: Because of what I consider a vulgar rant (since deleted) by a commenter to this post, I have chosen to change my settings to require approval by me of all future comments. This means that comments will no longer appear immediately. However, be assured that this is no reflection on my regular valued followers. It means only that life is too short to take part in diatribes which bring heat but no light to the matter at hand. This is MY blog, after all, and my standards apply. I hardly need add that that commenter is free to run his blog as he sees fit.
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Catherine Haustein 1:14 am on July 2, 2020 Permalink |
I saw a production when I was in grade school and adored the show. Great music and message.
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mistermuse 7:32 am on July 2, 2020 Permalink
I agree, Catherine. You seldom, if ever, see FINIAN’S RAINBOW included among the best movie musicals of all time, but I think it rates at least in the top 40 or 50.
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annieasksyou 10:57 pm on July 1, 2020 Permalink |
Thanks.
Speaking of liberals, I wrote a tweet to Rob Reiner, who had written that he was heartbroken over his father’s death. Someone put up a photo of Carl, his daughter (Annie, it so happens), and Mel Brooks wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts just last week. There was also a video Carl had made urging everyone to vote in 2018, very fiery, and concluding that he just hopes he’ll be around in 2020 to vote the unmentionable one out. So I plan to dedicate my vote to Carl Reiner in November.
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mistermuse 12:59 pm on July 2, 2020 Permalink |
Great comment, Annie. My memory of Carl goes back to Sid Caesar’s YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS in the early 50s. Those were the days, my friend!
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Silver Screenings 3:36 pm on July 5, 2020 Permalink |
I’ve never even heard of Finian’s Rainbow before, and I call myself a Fred Astaire fan – sheesh! I need to see this one, just because.
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mistermuse 5:55 pm on July 5, 2020 Permalink |
Yip Harburg conceived and cowrote the book (as well as wrote the lyrics) for FINIAN’S RAINBOW, which opened on Broadway in 1947 and ran for 725 performances before being made into a movie in 1968. His son, Ernie Harburg, calls it “Yip’s most complex and fully realized achievement.”
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arekhill1 1:22 pm on July 6, 2020 Permalink |
I often wonder whether I’ll be able to write harmless humor again when Trump is gone, Sr. Muse, but I fear Randy Rainbow will be clean out of a job.
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mistermuse 3:03 pm on July 6, 2020 Permalink |
I have faith in you to keep after the cowering inferno of Trump as a loser, Ricardo. Megalomaniacs do not go softly into that good night, so until he ends up in a padded cell where he belongs, I’m sure he’ll provide continuing fodder for skewering by you and Randy.
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