WHO KNEW?
Who knew that….
JACK LEMMON COULD SING?
BRIGITTE BARDOT COULD DANCE?
RONALD REAGAN COULD ACT? Really.
DONALD TRUMP COULD LIE? Well, only whenever he talks or tweets. And, in his defense (as the aforementioned Jack Lemmon discovered),
The above title (a contraction of HELLZAPOPPIN, a 1941 movie based on a long-running Broadway show of the same name) sets the stage for letter L in our fem song series. Ere we proceed, just for the L of it, let’s pop in on the film’s frenetic LINDY HOP dance number:
Speaking of numbers, I’m breaking L up into two parts — due, not just to an abundance of Lady L songs to choose from, but to previously needing to combine two letters (H-I) into one post. Part II will get the focus back on locus, becoming opus #12 of this hocus-pocus, once again matching the post with the corresponding letter of the alphabet.
Our first Lady L is the title song of the 1944 film noir classic LAURA, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, who Must Have Been A Beautiful (November) Baby*. Believe it or not, Mercer wrote what has to be a record 20+ songs with a girl’s name* in the title — none more haunting than….
We conclude Part One with the indelible SWEET LORRAINE (instrumental version):
If you want to ‘sing along’ with the song (assuming your family and/or neighbors won’t object/protest), here are the lyrics:
http://www.carsieblanton.com/lyrics/sweet-lorraine/
Amber
Antonia
Ariane
Bernadine
Blossom
Celia
Cherie
Cinderella (2)
Cindy
Deirdre
Emily
Georgia
Jezebel
Joanna
Jo-Jo
Kate
Laura
Mandy
Mary
Pollyanna
Sally
Tangerine
Thanks, Ricardo — you’re on the Ball. I Love Lucille.
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“the face in the misty light. Footsteps that you hear down the hallway.” Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, the very beautiful Gene Tierney, the great portrait and that haunting refrain.
Laura. “I’m going to call the police.”
Detective MacPherson. “But I am the police.”
Great song. Great film (with a GREAT cast). Here’s another quote I like from the film: “For a charming, intelligent girl, you’ve certainly surrounded yourself with a remarkable collection of dopes.” –Dana Andrews (as Detective McPherson)
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And the kids today think they can dance? I bet they couldn’t do half the things in that first clip!
Lovely collection of L songs 🙂
I get out of breath just watching that Lindy Hop clip. But SWEET LORRAINE (as played by the Jimmy Noone Orchestra) is the calm after the storm, in a manner of speaking — ‘liquid’ notes for the soul.
Muse–whatever happened to those good ol’ days of song and dance? While waiting in the doctor’s office reception area, I watched three graphic, bloody, brutal murders on a big screen (some police procedural show). That’s today’s entertainment? Since it’s oldsters in the urology clinic, why couldn’t they show clips from Hellzapoppin?
Mark
One of the things I like about most old movies is the great character actors, whose names (and faces) are still familiar to Golden Age film buffs. In HELLZAPOPPIN’, these include the likes of Mischa Auer, Hugh Herbert, Elisha Cook Jr., and even Shemp Howard (of Three Stooges fame).
I appreciate that, Joseph, because it took some time to compile that roster. By the way, I ‘refrained’ from including MAY and JUNE in the list because, although they are girl’s names, Mercer didn’t use them as such in his songs QUEEN OF THE MAY, JUNE BRIDE, and JUNE COMES AROUND EVERY YEAR.
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I’ve seen LAURA, but didn’t stay up last night to watch it again because I had to get my beauty rest. It IS a great movie, as is the movie which preceded it on TCM which I’ve seen at least five times, DODSWORTH. I did stay up for that one, because if I got too much beauty rest, my wife might swoon at the sight of me (she can barely stand to look at me as it is).
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dogs, Slang. The feet: My dogs are killing me! fantasy, n. A play of the mind; imagination; fancy; a picture existing only in the mind. –World Book Dictionary
A footnote to the World Book definition of fantasy: it is personified, in my view, by one man — fittingly so, because beyond his pictures he still dances in the mind, as timeless as imagination….no less real than the Hollywood from which such flights of fancy emanated and stars were born. That ethe-real man is Fred Astaire, the pictures were his movies, and this day is his birthday (May 10, 1899).
Astaire’s “dogs” may have been what carried him across the dance floor with Ginger Rogers in his arms, but it was his persona that took us with him. I like to think that what Santa Claus embodied for children, Fred Astaire embodied for my parent’s generation as teenagers/young adults, epitomizing easy grace and the allure of dreams more enticing than any toy that Santa could promise. No other hoofer in film history even comes close to capturing his magic….which is why he survives his and my parent’s generation, just as any great artist lives on in what he or she creates.
In my favorite scene from my favorite Astaire-Rogers film (SWING TIME, 1936), professional dancer Astaire comes to New York and, after a chance street encounter with Rogers doesn’t go well, he follows her to the dance studio where she is an instructor. Pretending to be a novice, he botches the dance lesson. She insults him and is fired. As she is leaving the studio….
Of course, many elements must come together to produce movie magic, and SWING TIME had the good fortune to combine the talents of the stars with those of a great director (George Stevens), a fine supporting cast (including Eric Blore, seen in the above clip), and one of the best composer/lyricist teams of the Golden Age (Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields). In addition to the ‘dance lesson’ song PICK YOURSELF UP, their outstanding score includes A FINE ROMANCE, NEVER GONNA DANCE, and this love song:
On this May 10 celebration, let’s end appropriately with this:
Movie magic indeed. 🙂 Always a pleasure to watch these two together and the ease with which Fred Astaire sings and dances 🙂
You know I’ve heard and more than once that song writers wanted Fred Astaire to sing their songs. Not Sinatra as he might change the lyrics on them or any of the other big time singers of the era but Astaire. If you listen to the respect and the tenderness with which he handles the words it makes sense.
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Exactly right, Don. To quote from one of my Astaire record album covers: “In creating these songs, it almost seemed as if five of the undisputed masters in the field–Irving Berlin, Ira and George Gershwin, Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern–were stimulated by their assignments to out-do themselves in the quality of their work. And the reason was undoubtedly Fred Astaire himself. What songwriters loved about him was that, despite his admitted vocal limitations, he brought to each song a personal involvement that never distorted either the meaning or the melody.”
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I always loved the quote, “Ginger Rogers did everything the great Fred Astaire did backwards and in high heels.” 😉
Another famous quote about them was Hepburn’s “She gives him sex. He gives her class.” But this Time Magazine movie critic had a different take on their chemistry:
http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,265339,00.html
I ask you, Sr. Muse, in your capacity as a semi-official curator of proclaimed national and world-wide days, should Astaire’s birthday be celebrated as White Guys Who Can Dance Day?
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Sounds good to me. I’d also proclaim Oct. 2o and March 17 as Black Guys Who Could Dance Like No White Guys Did And Become Legendary Day (the birthdays of the fabulous Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold).
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My sentiments exactly, Cynthia. But at least we still have Turner Classic Movies to go to whenever it’s worthwhile returning to that era, such as today when TCM is running a number of old Astaire films, such as CAREFREE at three P.M. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (SWING TIME was on this morning).
Awesome scenes. When my daughter was about 4 years old she LOVED these old movies. We would snuggle on the couch and watch Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, and the rest. Great dancing and so much romance. 😀
If you’re a lucky dog , BroadBlogs, what you find would be the cat’s meow, otherwise you’re barking up the wrong tree. That’s a short list, but if I made it longer, it would be so bad, we might fight like cats and dogs. 😦
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thelonelyauthorblog 12:42 pm on November 12, 2018 Permalink |
Here I go sticking my foot in my mouth. I had to check out Bardot dancing. I had no idea.
Oh, she was gorgeous.
Have a great week. THANKS fior sharing.
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mistermuse 1:47 pm on November 12, 2018 Permalink |
Don’t worry about sticking your foot in your mouth — nobody’s perfect. 🙂
You have a great week too.
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scifihammy 3:45 pm on November 12, 2018 Permalink |
Well who knew? Now me! 😀
Good to see you. 🙂
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mistermuse 7:20 pm on November 12, 2018 Permalink |
Thanks, scifi. It’s good to get my act back on the blog front (would I lie?) 🙂
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scifihammy 8:50 am on November 13, 2018 Permalink
haha As long as you’re having fun. 😀
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calmkate 6:52 pm on November 12, 2018 Permalink |
lol you haven’t lost your flare 🙂
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mistermuse 7:22 pm on November 12, 2018 Permalink |
Thanks, Kate. At my age, it’s one of the few things I haven’t lost/ 😦
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calmkate 7:24 pm on November 12, 2018 Permalink
lol I can relate to that!
But hey we are alive and breathing ….
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Don Frankel 9:09 pm on November 12, 2018 Permalink |
We’re always surprised to find that some male actor can sing. Maybe we just assume all women can. But here’s a gem I found a while back. I never heard her sing. She’s pretty good too.
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mistermuse 12:49 am on November 13, 2018 Permalink |
I agree, Don. As you probably know, she was also a very good dancer, having been trained in ballet and starting her career as a chorus girl. Not a bad actress either (to understate the obvious).
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Richard A Cahill 2:24 am on November 13, 2018 Permalink |
A priest, a rabbi and a minister walk into a bar. I don’t remember the rest of it, but Donald Trump is a fucking asshole.
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mistermuse 11:31 am on November 13, 2018 Permalink |
Inelegantly, but precisely, stated, Ricardo.
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Rachel McAlpine 5:52 pm on November 19, 2018 Permalink |
Yay, I feel so superior. I was ahead of you on two of these revelations, and one was that the glorious Brigitte Bardot could dance. Welcome back, by the way!
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mistermuse 8:15 pm on November 19, 2018 Permalink |
I bet Ronald Reagan was the other one (I don’t count Trump, because everyone knows he lies).
And thanks for the welcome back! 🙂
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Silver Screenings 11:07 pm on November 19, 2018 Permalink |
I did not know Jack Lemmon could sing. Knowing that has made my day all the better.
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mistermuse 11:44 pm on November 19, 2018 Permalink |
I didn’t know either, SS, until I recently chanced upon a review of the film MY SISTER EILEEN and found the clip which leads off this post.
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barkinginthedark 3:59 pm on November 21, 2018 Permalink |
RONALD REAGAN COULD ACT? Really. Really?? continue…
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mistermuse 7:45 pm on November 21, 2018 Permalink |
At least Reagan could act like a President, which is more than can be said of Trump!
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tref 2:17 am on November 29, 2018 Permalink |
I have a recording of Jack Lemmon singing and playing, ‘Let’s Fall in Love’ from the This Is Art Deco record series. I’d recommend searching it out.
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mistermuse 9:10 am on November 29, 2018 Permalink |
I appreciate that interesting info, tref. I will Google it and give it a listen (if it’s there).
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mistermuse 9:18 am on November 29, 2018 Permalink |
It IS there, and I love Lemmon’s interpretation — so much so, that I’m posting it here for others to savor:
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barkinginthedark 11:34 pm on December 11, 2018 Permalink |
my very first scene in a movie was with Jack Lemmon. i was a cabdriver and he was my passenger in the 1980 film “Tribute.” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081656/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast continue…
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mistermuse 1:36 am on December 12, 2018 Permalink |
That must have been an exciting experience. Lemmon was one of my favorite actors. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone over 17 years.
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