Musical Mondays Week 44 Easter Parade

[grudlian. 4725]

1 hour ago, Cinco DeNio said:

This is the first Ann Miller performance I have seen.  Now I understand her being referenced in Rocky Horror Picture Show shout-outs.  When Columbia is doing her tap dance someone shouts out "Eat your heart out, Ann Miller!".

I only knew Ann Miller from Mulholland Dr. I knew she was a dancer but it was weird seeing her 40 year younger heyday.

[Cam Bert 8145]

4 minutes ago, CameronH said:

I didn't feel like he was a cad. He just didn't seem all that interested in Nadine. I don't think he would have broken Hannah's heart necessarily. I felt like it was the 1940's equivalent of being friend zoned.

He might not be but at the beginning of the movie after Nadine directly comes on to him after dumping Astaire, he leaves to check on him, only to turn around and go back to hers fully knowing her intent. Then again later on he is trying to get them back together. Who knows what's going on in that head of his.

[kateacola 2440]

Setting aside the cruelty of drowning a kid in drums so Astaire can get a bunny to go on top of the mountain of other gifts he's already bought

That was one of my favorite scenes. I loved his dancing in the toy store with the drums and only Astaire could steal a toy from a kid and still come off charming af.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

10 minutes ago, CameronH said:

I didn't feel like he was a cad. He just didn't seem all that interested in Nadine. I don't think he would have broken Hannah's heart necessarily. I felt like it was the 1940's equivalent of being friend zoned.

His treatment of Nadine and then Hannah is why I call him a cad.  If he wasn't interested in Nadine why drown her in presents at the beginning?  Why spend all that money on someone he was friend-zoning?  Then when he picks Hannah he dictates everything.  Doesn't even give her a chance to say yes or no to anything.

 

ETA: Maybe I misunderstood the quote.  I'm talking about Astaire being a cad when I talk about spending the money.  Lawford I just felt was playing the field and wooing whoever was in front of him at the moment.

[Cam Bert 8145]

3 minutes ago, kateacola said:

That was one of my favorite scenes. I loved his dancing in the toy store with the drums and only Astaire could steal a toy from a kid and still come off charming af.

This past year I have now watched three movies with Fred Astaire and now fully convinced that he is one of the most charming leading men ever.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

32 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

This past year I have now watched three movies with Fred Astaire and now fully convinced that he is one of the most charming leading men ever.

And they all have 2-word titles (if Swing Time was the other movie).  Put him in a movie with a title of more than 2 words and see how he does.

[kateacola 2440]

35 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

This past year I have now watched three movies with Fred Astaire and now fully convinced that he is one of the most charming leading men ever.

I thought Judy was pretty charming herself, and funny! This scene I literally lol'ed.

 

[Cameron H. 23786]

46 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

This past year I have now watched three movies with Fred Astaire and now fully convinced that he is one of the most charming leading men ever.

I don't know about charming, but definitely charismatic. There was a scene after his first rehearsal with Hannah and I was like, "Yo, Astaire is kind of scary."

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

1 hour ago, CameronH said:

I don't know about charming, but definitely charismatic. There was a scene after his first rehearsal with Hannah and I was like, "Yo, Astaire is kind of scary."

Don't you mean "Yo, Astaire is kind of ascary".  (I'll show myself out.)

[kateacola 2440]

1 hour ago, CameronH said:

I don't know about charming, but definitely charismatic. There was a scene after his first rehearsal with Hannah and I was like, "Yo, Astaire is kind of scary."

Yea I can get that.. I do feel like he was charming, but feel like it was like he could turn on the charm whenever he wants, but also got a vibe that he is kind of demanding/intimidating. I wonder if that's how he was like in real life? Like from reading up about him and also about the relationship he had with Ginger Rogers off-screen... I can def see that.

 

[Cameron H. 23786]

Did the waiter’s salad shtick remind anyone else of Harvey Corman’s bantha cooking bit from The Star Wars Holiday Special?

 

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

1 hour ago, CameronH said:

Did the waiter’s salad shtick remind anyone else of Harvey Corman’s bantha cooking bit from The Star Wars Holiday Special?

 

ABSOLUTELY!  I meant to mention that so kudos!

[Cameron H. 23786]

Just now, Cinco DeNio said:

ABSOLUTELY!  I meant to mention that so kudos!

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

The next year the waiter starred with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in On the Town.  I read somewhere that bit parts like that were used as large-scale screen tests.  If the audiences responded to the bit then the people were given bigger roles.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

10 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

The next year the waiter starred with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in On the Town.  I read somewhere that bit parts like that were used as large-scale screen tests.  If the audiences responded to the bit then the people were given bigger roles.

It was an IMDB trivia item:

Quote

Jules Munshin's seemingly superfluous routine, as the waiter who pantomimes the elongated making of a gourmet salad, had a purpose beyond this film. It was one of several instances wherein MGM enacted a screen test through a feature film in order to determine public response to the performer, and how he or she registered on film. Other memorable examples are Charlotte Arren's madcap rendition of "Il Baccio" in Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940), the Ross Sisters' jaw-dropping contortionist routine to "Solid Potato Salad" in Broadway Rhythm (1944), and five-year-old Margaret O'Brien's push-the-button histrionics during an audition sequence in Babes on Broadway (1941). In most cases, these screen tests-cum-screen debuts were ill-fated, but both O'Brien and Munshin scored studio contracts based on enthusiastic audience response to their brief snippets of screen time.

 

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

On a separate note I loved both that Nadine sent her maid to spy on the show and that the maid wanted to stay "just to make sure it was horrible" (not her words).

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

One thing I found I really enjoyed was the slow-motion sequence with Astaire isolated from the normal-speed dancers. It was obviously a process shot, but I just thought it was so fun seeing this emerging technology being used and wondered at by the filmmakers. You know, like a little piece of cinema history. I don't know if this was the first time such slow motion effects were used, but it was still neat witnessing their emergence.

Also, from IMDb:

Quote

Ann Miller had to perform her biggest numbers in a back brace. In an interview with Robert Osborne, she revealed that she had been thrown down the stairs by her then husband Reese Milner. She was also pregnant at the time and was in a lot of pain.

Fuuuuuck you, Reese.

[tomspanks 9039]

Guys I’m only 100 seconds into the movie, but the first line “Happy Easter, happy Easter” reminds me so much of “Good Morning” from Singin’ in the Rain. It’s driving me crazy that I can’t find the sheet music to Happy Easter to compare.

ETA: what’s up with the hip flaps on the women’s dresses? Ok, ok I’ll stop live blogging the movie. 

[kateacola 2440]

I know I somewhat mentioned in the last thread, but there was a nod to the Top Hat dance number where Ginger wore the dress with the feathers.

Quote

The shedding feathered gown worn by Judy Garland when she dances with Fred Astaire in one number is an inside joke reference to Ginger Rogers' problematic gown dancing with Fred Astaire in Top Hat (1935). An ostrich feather broke loose from Ginger Rogers' elaborate gown and stubbornly floated in mid air around Astaire's face. 

Astaire really hated that dress... I wonder if it was his idea to parody it in Easter Parade?

Quote

Heaven, I’m in Heaven / And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak / And I seem to find the happiness I seek / When we’re out together dancing, cheek to cheek

Reduced to…

Feathers, I hate feathers / And I hate them so that I can hardly speak / And I never find the happiness I seek / With those chicken feathers dancing cheek to cheek

The grace and sophistication of Irving Berlin’s original lyrics for the song Cheek to Cheek, written for the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film Top Hat (1935), were parodied by Astaire and Hermes Pan after an on-set flap started by the now infamous feather gown...

Needless to say Astaire was not pleased, but agreed to try the dress out for rehearsals. Feathers flew everywhere, sticking to his clothes and face, not to mention covering the floor. Director Mark Sandrich and Astaire tried convincing Rogers to wear a different dress, but she stood her ground and threatened to walk off the picture if she couldn’t wear the gown. After the wardrobe department pulled an all-nighter to reinforce each feather individually, Sandrich and Astaire, after watching the rushes of the dance number, admitted to the gown’s beauty and perfection in the scene. Afterwards and for the rest of their lives, Astaire called Rogers by his nickname for her, “Feathers”. Luckily for us, Ginger defended this gorgeous gown, allowing us to see its beauty on repeat screenings of Top Hat

http://prettycleverfilms.com/costume-design-film-fashion/ginger-rogers-the-infamous-feather-gown/#.W1-g0VBKg2w

[Cameron H. 23786]

By some weird coincidence, this is the second movie in a week that said putting a hat on the bed was bad luck (the other movie was Shadow of a Doubt). I just found that odd since I had never heard that before and here it was twice in close succession. I guess that's been a superstition for awhile, but maybe it was particularly a big deal in the Forties.

If you're wondering, this is what Dr. Internet has to say about it:

Quote

Although the exact origins of this superstition are lost to history, it's believed to have started because people thought evil spirits lived in the hair. Most likely, these evil spirits were actually static buildup. As people went indoors and removed their hats, the static electricity in their hair popped and crackled, a reaction attributed to the spirits that lurked among their locks and in their hats. By laying a hat on the bed, those same evil spirits would transfer onto the very place where they'd lay their heads at night [source: Today].

Leaving a hat on a bed isn't always associated with evil spirits. In some Jewish families, leaving a hat on a bed was believed to portend a death in the household that owned the bed [source: Losben-Ostrov].

While there aren't any records of anyone dying or encountering evil spirits after laying a hat down on a bed, there may have been a good reason to avoid the practice: head lice. People may have believed that placing a hat on a bed, particularly the hat of a guest, made them susceptible to head lice that migrated from the hat to the bed.

In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million lice outbreaks occur annually in children aged 3 to 11. To make matters worse, lice can be spread through contact with clothing — including hats [source: CDC].

Waking up to a head full of lice — or evil spirits — the day after a hat was put on your bed would give new dimension to having a "bad hair day."

 

[tomspanks 9039]

Re: Don's age, I totally think they were trying to age him down by a lot.  Not only is his friend a college student (although he seemed like a professional student, so he could've been in his late 20s, early 30s), Amazon described him as a "rising Broadway star."  Doesn't that sound like someone in their 20s?    

[Cameron H. 23786]

2 minutes ago, tomspanks said:

Re: Don's age, I totally think they were trying to age him down by a lot.  Not only is his friend a college student (although he seemed like a professional student, so he could've been in his late 20s, early 30s), Amazon described him as a "rising Broadway star."  Doesn't that sound like someone in their 20s?    

Yeah, I saw that "rising star" thing too, but they seem to be doing very well for themselves at the beginning with their Easter shopping sprees and canine accessorizing. They seem to be as risen as they were ever going to get...

[tomspanks 9039]

3 minutes ago, CameronH said:

Yeah, I saw that "rising star" thing too, but they seem to be doing very well for themselves at the beginning with their Easter shopping sprees and canine accessorizing. They seem to be as risen as they were ever going to get...

But how much did the shopping sprees and puppies really cost?  Hannah's meal of roast beef, pie, and milk cost a whopping 15 cents, the same price as an issue of Cosmo.  Was eating out really cheap back then or were magazines really expensive?  

Speaking of food, there were some weird things in the movie.  Did anyone else notice the bar at Hannah's restaurant:

A bowl of olives...on toothpicks.  Whose job was it to stick individual olives on toothpicks?  Also, in the background there's a bunch of eggs on in...egg display?  Is this for an Easter decoration or they just have hard boiled eggs out for the bar patrons?  

And here, at the fancy restaurant:

Nadine and whats-his-face start out their lunch with one olive for her and a stalk of celery for him.  Like, are they on a diet or something?  Oh, and in case you were wondering, he seasons the heck out of that celery with salt before setting it down on his plate.  Dude, no amount of salt is gonna make celery taste any less putrid.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

12 hours ago, CameronH said:

By some weird coincidence, this is the second movie in a week that said putting a hat on the bed was bad luck (the other movie was Shadow of a Doubt). I just found that odd since I had never heard that before and here it was twice in close succession. I guess that's been a superstition for awhile, but maybe it was particularly a big deal in the Forties.

If you're wondering, this is what Dr. Internet has to say about it:

For me it's the third time.  I've been screening The Great Gabbo starring Erick von Stroheim and he mentions it as well.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

15 hours ago, tomspanks said:

Guys I’m only 100 seconds into the movie, but the first line “Happy Easter, happy Easter” reminds me so much of “Good Morning” from Singin’ in the Rain. It’s driving me crazy that I can’t find the sheet music to Happy Easter to compare.

ETA: what’s up with the hip flaps on the women’s dresses? Ok, ok I’ll stop live blogging the movie. 

I wasn't thinking of Happy Easter but The Girl from the Magazine Cover reminded me of the fashion dress montage in Singing in the Rain (and I liked Singing's better).