Danny Kaye, with his curly blonde hair gets to be the inspector general for a Russian? French? town. They can’t seem to decide which it is. But it doesn’t matter, because Danny Kaye isn’t either one.
It’s very silly and funny. Danny Kaye does vocal acrobatics with his sound effects. The main plot device depends on the fact that Danny (a poor gypsy boy) cannot read.
I’d never seen Danny Kaye before. He’s pretty good.
She is SO bewildered. He is SO un-forthcoming.
What HAS happened with Mr. De Winter’s first wife, Rebecca?
I have to use capital letters, you see. This movie is highly melodramatic. It’s such a great story for it, too. Rebecca, who is the beautiful first wife. The current Mrs. De Winters, whose name I somehow never caught, is left to feel very inadequate and second class.
Rebecca must have been some act to follow, she thinks.
Of course, it’s totally different than she thought. And WORSE!
This is one of those great old classic movies. They over acted, I think because they were still getting used to being able to talk. Over acting was the way you did in the silent movies…
At my favorite open mike night, the only one I go to really, I got to hear Gina Loring.
She huffed and puffed and blew my house down. She’s a poetry slammer, the kind that make me think I can’t write poetry, that I have no idea what it’s about anyway. And she can sing so beautifully. She actually mixes the two, poetry and singing, which is amazing, really.
Really amazing.
She’s been on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, which is a show I have not seen, but have heard great things about.
Amazon does not have a DVD of her performance available (Darn them!). But there is a def poetry on broadway performance. These kinds of things are worth seeing. So check it out.
This man was incredibly talented, and his “Make ‘Em Laugh” routine in Singing in the the Rain will bring joy to the hearts of many for years to come.
Dancing can be such an expresson of joy and humanness, and I loved the way that O’Connor moved. He loved what he did; there is no way he could have learned the types of moves that he mastered without that love.
Just finished the movie, and I am left really thinking about a lot of things. That’s what make s a movie good, right?
It’s about piano playing, and it’s about mental illness. Kind of both. David was supposed to be this raging genius, but right when he showed everyone that he was so extraordinary, he goes insane.
Or just gives in to his insanity, maybe.
What I can’t help thinking about though, is what Gillian was thinking. What woudl life be like married to an insane person?
Of course, insane has many levels. David’s level seemed to be mostly pleasant. But what kind of partnership would a marriage like that be? I guess there are all kinds of marriages, like there are all kinds of people. It blows my mind. I cannot imagine myself in that position.
It’s also interesting to think about what constitutes genius and what constitutes insanity. Haven’t we all been aware of the relationship between the two?
An insane person sees things differently than regular people. A genius does the same. Maybe it’s only a matter of labels.
I also wonder about the idea of classical music. I play the piano. Rather badly at this point. Technique was never anything I worried about. I just wanted to play. And I always wanted to play new things. I hated practicing. I wanted to learn to play a song, and then just PLAY.
Originality is key. Play the same song, but play it in a new way. Put a new twist on it. Practicing seemed going backwards.
But classical musicians play the same stuff over and over and over. 8 hours a day of practicing. Insane! How could you do that?
Don’t get me wrong. I love the idea of reinterpretation. I think that the jazz standards can be done endlessly, and always be new.
But I will never understand the idea of playing the same thing, exactly the same as the guy before you. Maybe this is a throwback to a time before we had recording technology.
Interesting that jazz took off right after we had the ability to record stuff. Hmm….
Well, I recommend the movie.
They had a Gene Kelly movie marathon on this weekend. Oh man oh man…I love those musicals!
On the Town
An American in Paris
Singing in the Rain
Summer Stock
Summer Stock is one i hadn’t seen or even heard of before. But it has the COOLEST dance scene in it. You know how STOMP is a performance with all kinds of sound-making objects?
Gene Kelly does this dance that incorporates a creaky floorboard and the way a newspaper on the floor makes his tap shoes sound. My god, it is thrilling!
On the Town explodes, and it has the stellar voice of Sinatra in the harmonies. It’s great! And I love the strong female roles.
An American in Paris is one I’m going to have to sit down and watch carefully again. It was very artistic. Yes, it’s a light musical, but there are incredible interpretive moments that grab your attention. Dance is art, not just entertainment, and Kelly wanted the viewers to see that.
And Singing in the rain has no rivals. It’s a classic for all time.
I am thinking that it is a crying shame that I have reached this stage of my life without learning to tap dance. Something must be done about this!
I have gotten more interest in my post about Queer Eye than almost any other post I’ve ever done. This just illustrates that the show kicks butt!
Bravo, Bravo!
First of all, Carson is the star. He is the witty quipper of the show. Love him! And I loved the episode where he tried on the speedos. Oh my! And he says he doesn’t work out! Liar liar pants on fire…
But my second favorite is Ted, the food guy. He does have very good food ideas, and he’s so nice. I mean, he comes up with little digs every once in a while, but he is very careful to try and get food things that are what the straight person likes. I can’t believe he sent to florida to get kosher Foi gras! Is that sweet or what? He’s so earnest and I like his deep voice.
The rest blur a little for me…Except Kyan, the grooming guy. He ATTACKS the bathroom for styling products.
But here are the questions that must be asked:
What happened to the black guy? THere was a black guy, a culture guy, on one or two of the episodes. Did he disappear? I found no mention of him on the website yesterday. Umm…what is going on?
I thought that maybe they were doing a rotating thing, bringing on a “guest Gay guy.” That would be cool, don’t you think? I’d like to see the gay guys flirt with each other a little…You know? Add some chemistry. Right now, they are mostly teasing the straight guy. That’s funny too, but the more the merrier! I could totally see having a guest gay guy working out.
Take a clue, bravo!
I will say, I am thinking more about my own home now. What would Kyan think of my bathroom? I know Carson would not approve of the things in my closet right now. I need to go shopping.
And I need to redecorate.
Maybe everyone has felt that way. I know I have. You want to throw away all restraint and be FREE. To walk barefoot in the park.
But then there is that person who hasn’t hit the same moment of abandon you have, the one the says, “It’s cold and wet in the park.”
Then, if that person is married to you, you begin to doubt that you will ever have the same moments of abandon. You wonder whether this person has anything in common with you at all.
Neil Simon’s a funny guy. This play is about a newlywed couple making their way through that exact situation. He has some great one liners in there. And the people are too human
You know, the world is not the perfect place we all wish it was.
And I think most of us would readily admit, a least in the abstract, that we are imperfect too. Which is why the world is imperfect–it’s made up of us imperfect people.
This drama tells the story of Captain Queeq and his officers. The first mate relieved the captain of his command in the middle of a battle in World War 2.
This story starts after all the action happened; the first mate is on trial for mutiny. The main characters are the defense lawyer and the first mate.
I am not giving anything away by saying the defense attorney was not very pleased to be given this assignment. His reluctance to do his job is paralelled by the first mate’s reluctance to serve under Captain Queeq.
Of course, the resemblance of the attorney’s performance in the courtroom and the mate’s performance on board the ship seem at first glance entirely removed from one another.
But I think that those two are the real crux of the drama. The fact is, every one of us is often required to do things in the line of duty or work that are unpleasant. Sometimes they are possibly out and out wrong.
What do we do about that? how do we handle it with character? What is really important?
The attorney’s impassioned speech at the end about his mother raised some questions that seem simple at first hearing. But when you really take them to heart, it is a tough truth.
This is a great story.
Viola, the Perfectly Pious young woman.
Sir Andrew Aguecheeck, the hypocritical
Sebastian, the sissy
Orsino, the dreamy
This play is one of Shakespeare’s more serious comedies. It is a tough topic, really. How far should the ruler apply the rules? And how strict should the individual be on themselves?
Viola is swoongling ready to dedicate her life to God as a nun. Her brother Sebastian is not as ascetic as she is, he’s getting busy with a girl. He’s going to marry her any day now, so he’s not worried about it.
Until…
The good and just Duke leaves town, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek is in charge. Sir Aguecheek is a staunch Puritan-type, and he’s not going to stand for the loose morals this town is coming to. He catches sebastian in the act with his lover-girl and plans to make and example of him.
Viola is persuaded to go to Sir A. and plead for her brothers life, even though she herself condemns his actions. And what do you think happens?
Sir A. falls in deep lust of Viola! What do you suppose he proposes to Viola as a way of “buying” her brothers life?
Viola loves her brother, but she is in love with her own purity too. Whatever shall our heroes do?
I studied this one in college, and enjoyed it very much.
TONIGHT, I get to see it live! I’m very excited. Live, outside, and FREE! and on the coast, so I won’t be hot.
Here in LA, there is a lot of opportunity to see shakespeare for free. So many people here are into that sort of thing–acting, I mean.
I encourage all of you out there to check and see when your community might be having some theater. There is really nothing like seeing a play done live in front of you. It’s totally different from reading it.
If you don’t know this particular play, check out the pelican version.