Walter Huston {Song of the Week}

For the longest time, I had to put up with this conversation with my younger brother whenever I mentioned Walter Huston:

Me: I watched the best Walter Huston film last night. He played...

Kyle: Isn't he that crazy old jumping guy in that movie with Humphrey Bogart?

Me: Yes, Kyle. But...

Kyle: (begins to imitate Huston as the crazy old jumping guy, and I leave the room.)

Finally, after force feeding Kyle some helpings of Dodsworth, American Madness and Ann Vickers, he realized that Walter Huston wasn't just a character actor, playing a supporting role in a Bogart film (although I do think he was darn good as the crazy old jumping guy!) He was a fantastic actor who held his own, and then some, in many of the great films of the 1930's. He was the patriarch of one of the most talented families in show business. And if history was just, he would be considered an all-American icon like Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda.

Walter Huston is one of my un-sung heroes; people who I think deserve so badly to be remembered today as one of "The Greats." Not only did he have that corn-fed all-American accent, and boyish grin, and stoic good looks, but he could play nuanced deep characters, oftentimes much better than his iconic counterparts. And believe you me, if you haven't seen Dodsworth yet, you've really let yourself down. It's one of the best films ever made, easily falls into my top five, and features performances by Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor that will stick with you for eternity. And it's on DVD, so you have no excuse not to see it.

And on top of all that, the guy could sing. Well, let me rephrase that. He sang. Whether or not he "could sing" is kind of debatable... Personally, I'm not the kind of person who looks for flawless vocality in a song. Emotion, feeling and the voice are more important to me than whether or not they can hit that high note. But you decide for yourself... here's Walter Huston singing "September Song"

Listen to it

Buy it

To listen to previous songs of the week, click here.

My adventure in time travel, my weekend in NYC, my small celebrity encounter and I won an award!

time travel

Last weekend I had a three day art show across from Washington Square Park in New York. I'm an awful procrastinator, so on Friday night I had a million things left to do to prepare.

Around 12:00am I went up to my bedroom to start making business cards. I remember the time exactly because I had on a Farrah Fawcett documentary on MSNBC, which was airing from 12am- 2am, and it had just started when I went to my room. I spent about an hour making business cards, and then started assembling a binder of images of my flappers to take to the show. At 1:40am I decided to take my shower. I specifically remember that it was 1:40am because I thought to myself, "if you just wait 20 more minutes you can see the end of the documentary... oh well, it will be on again, just go take a shower." So I skipped the last 20 minutes and went in the bathroom.

I take pretty long showers, and I know I was at least 45 minutes, probably an hour. So imagine how shocked I was when I got out of the shower and saw that the bathroom clock said 1:40am! I thought it must have stopped, so I hurried up and ran back to my room, where the clock said -- 1:40am!! I was POSITIVE that 1:40am had already passed an hour ago!

Well, I thought to myself, if it was in fact 1:40am now, that would mean that the Farrah Fawcett documentary would still be on, right? It was airing from 12am-2am. So I turned on the tv and the documentary had ended! Something else was on! But the little "info" button still told me that Farrah's Story was on.

Either I time traveled back to 1:40am, the clocks all turned back an hour, or I got stuck in some kind of little time warp. All I have to say is.... Come on, universe! If you were going to send me back in time couldn't it have been 80 years instead of 1 hour?!

my weekend

I spent the better part of Saturday morning relaying my time travel story to all those who would listen, before settling down into my art show routine. My mom was sick last weekend so my dad and my brother and I attempted to do the show ourselves (harder than that sounds since my mom is the brains of the outfit) In between the many snack runs and bathroom breaks (the manager at the Cosi's near my show must absolutely despise me & my family!) the show was definitely a success. Much better than the last two so far this year-- I'm hoping this means the economy is improving!

Here's a picture of my display from the show. I have a much smaller display at this one, so the giant wall of pop art wouldn't fit :(

When business slowed down on Monday, me and my brother took a walk through the park and took some snapshots for me to post here. I love New York so much, not least of all because of the little pockets of serenity like Washington Square Park. It's just so peaceful and pretty.

This car was from England, and it was parked

outside of the art club where I had to drop off my

artwork for jurying. I love how you can see the

Empire State Building in the background.

my celebrity encounter

I watch new televisions shows so rarely that the stars from all the hit tv shows could be my customers and I'd really have no clue who they were. However, there is one current tv show that I do watch, and cross my heart, I saw the star at my show this weekend.

Stacy London from What Not to Wear was walking around the show looking at the art, and she stopped at my table for about five minutes. I'm not the type to go up and say anything (especially after I saw a girl bombard her only a few seconds earlier with "OMG I LOVE YOUR SHOW!!! Ahhh!! -- I did NOT want to be that girl! lol) So I just watched intently from behind my table. She said "Oh, I love Eloise!" whilst looking at my flapper doodles, held up my Theda Bara painting to show her friend, and (I thought this was neat) actually knew who Barbara Stanwyck was! So anyway, just the idea that she liked my art, since I'm a fan of her show, was pretty neat and, I thought, worth mentioning on the blog :)

(my pathetic photoshopping)

I won an award!

Perhaps the most exciting highlight of my weekend-- I won fourth place in Oil/Acrylic!! Yay!! I enter the art competition at this show every year, and when I have to go pick up my artwork from jurying, I'm like Jean Arthur-- I don't have butterflies in my stomach-- I have wasps!

I walked up to the table, and gave my name, practically holding my breath waiting for her to say "oh, you didn't win, go pick up your artwork." but that's not what she said! She said I won a prize!! I got a ribbon, and a giant ego boost and went back to my booth, a lot more awake and happy than I had been a few minutes before!

Here's a picture of the winning painting:

It's titled "The Kiss" (Here's a picture of the original-- my pun is that instead of two people kissing, it's a Hershey's Kiss) And it's 22kt gold leafing and acrylic on masonite.

my future

Ginger at Asleep in New York did this online MASH quiz (remember them from when you were younger? I used to practically hold my breath hoping my crush would be picked from the list of husbands, as if MASH would actually determine the outcome of my life!) and I decided to take a stab at it, too. Surprisingly, my future seems pretty nifty! (not usually how these used to turn out for me back in the day!)

Ginger ended up in Paris with Richard Conte. Not too shabby. However, I believe most of the ladies will agree that I hit the jackpot. Yes, Dana Andrews. And I played the game fair, too, including Randolph Scott (yuck) as my "for the love of grapefruit, please don't let it be him" option.

I also included silly choices for professions too (and was actually rooting for a different one besides artist.. let's see if you can tell which one I was hoping for) Artist, Professional Sidewalk Chalk artist, President of the United States and Professional Grapefruit Juice Drinker.

You should really try this thing out, it's a fun flashback to the days of unrealistic crushes (I know what you're thinking, and for your information, Dana Andrews, albeit not living, is totally realistic) and a nice break from the monotony of the daily grind, or something like that.

Make sure if you do this to list your answers on your blog so everyone can see! And since it was Ginger's idea, I'm going to graciously go link to my list in her comments.. (Well, and rub it in that I got Dana Andrews...)

ps. Millie-- Keep in mind that it is cheating if you write Dana Andrews in all five slots. Might I recommend a nice helping of Randolph Scott ;)

Charley Grapewin

Today I have guest art on Richard's blog, Riku Writes. It's kind of the opposite of my guest bloggers (instead of someone sending me their post for me to do accompanying art for my blog, I sent Richard the art and he did an accompanying post for his blog!)

You can read his fantastic post about the wonderful character actor Charley Grapewin here.

Joan Crawford {Song of the Week}

Please forgive the fact that I am re-using a sketch that I did months ago, and that this is a veryyy short post... I have a three day show this weekend (today was day #2) and I am WAY too tired to do a sketch or long post for song of the week! But I didn't want to skip it entirely either, so here it is!

Personally, I like the way Joan Crawford sings, and of the few songs I've heard her sing, this is my favorite. I like the words, the tune, and her voice so much that this is a standard on all of my mix tapes and playlists.

"I Never Knew Heaven Could Speak"

Listen to it

Buy it

I'll be back Tuesday to announce the winners of the Epic Artwork Giveaway, tell you a little about my show (and my teeny tiny celebrity encounter) and my eerie, bizarre experience with time travel (seriously!) See you then!

Ruthelma Stevens, revisited

Last month I did a post on the forgotten starlet Ruthelma Stevens, an actress whose performance in the B movie "The Circus Queen Murder" bowled me over, but whose career thereafter sort of petered out.. 

My friend, and fantastic artist, Vivienne Strauss did a marvelous painting of Ruthelma this week, and I just had to share it. The title is absolutely heartbreaking. 

"Ruthelma Stevens was no stranger to life's many injustices and disappointments." 

You can click on the image to visit Vivienne's etsy store, and while you're over there, please take a peek at all of her other prints and originals as well. She's one of my favorite artists, and I bet she'll be one of yours, too, after you've visited her shop :)

ps. She also does wonderful collages that you can find in her other etsy shop, here.

Ricardo Cortez

Ricardo Cortez is one of those great 1930's stars that is close to being entirely forgotten today, and it's a darn shame. I always look forward to seeing him on screen, whether he's playing a gangster, romantic lead or heavy dramatic role, he is always excellent.

I did a bit of research whilst looking for his picture today.. here are some tidbits: He was actually born Jacob Krantz in Vienna, before he was transformed into Spanish born, Latin lover Ricardo Cortez, in an attempt by studio heads to bring competition to Rudolph Valentino. He was the only star to ever have billing over Greta Garbo, in her first American film. Tragically, his wife, actress Alma Rubens, died in 1931 after they had only been married for about five years.

If you ever get a chance to see Symphony of Six Million, make sure you do. I just watched it this evening and I think it may just be Ricardo Cortez's best performance. Instead of being typecast in a typical gangster or Latin lover role, he plays a Jewish doctor from the slums who rises up to become a famous, wealthy doctor despite his own desire to run a humble clinic in the area he was raised. This role really gives Cortez the chance to shine, and show his acting chops, and I highly recommend it.

On a slightly more racy note, Cortez is also in one of my all-time favorite pre-codes, Midnight Mary (one of the most blatantly pre-code pre-codes there are.) Here's a link to a scene from the film-- scroll ahead to 8:00 to see what I'm talking about :)

Ann Sheridan in Nora Prentiss

If you like older music, you're probably accustomed to hearing grainy, tinny recordings of good songs, so hopefully your ears will be able to stand the grainy, tinny, really bad version of these two songs that I recorded. I wanted SO badly to have an mp3 version of the songs from Nora Prentiss that I got out my copy of the film (an old, deteriorating VHS tape that sounds grainy and tinny enough already) then set up my digital camera near the tv and recorded the songs. Then I put them on my computer, and saved the songs as movie files in imovie, then converted them from mp4 to mp3 files on media-convert.

The end result? Really bad, tinny, grainy versions of the two songs from Nora Prentiss. I'm going to ask my more-camera-and-technology-savvy brother if he can either clean up the sound files or re-record them somehow in a way that would turn out less grainy and tinny, but until then, I thought I'd just post them anyway. Just keep the volume sort of low, because the tinniness gets worse as the sound goes up. Also at the beginning of Who Cares What People Say there's a little bit of noise from me moving the camera a little.. sorry about that!

I'm pretty sure this is actually Ann Sheridan, but if you know otherwise please let me know :)

And if anyone actually has a better version of these (sung by Ann Sheridan or whoever this is) please point me in the right direction! The only real version I have of Who Cares What People Say? is by Mel Torme, and while it's good, it's just not this good.

Well, try your best to enjoy :)

Would you Like a Souvenir?

Who Cares What People Say?

ps. This isn't actually the song of the week, I just felt like posting it-- but I'm tagging it as "song of the week" for anyone who likes browsing through all the songs on the site...

Glenn Ford {180 tag}

Since I started blogging earlier this year, I've seen tons of awards and tags go around, about 90% of which have nothing to do with film (which seems to be the tie that binds most of our blogs) -- so I decided to start a tag myself... and this time, it has to do with film! And also, I'm really curious to see what everyones response to this will be :)

So this is the 180 tag. Name an actor, actress or director that you started out despising (or just really not liking) but ended up loving. Or vice versa, someone you started out loving and ended up despising (or just really not liking) -- and explain why.

For me? Glenn Ford.

Ever since I started liking classic films, I would turn off the tv the minute I saw him. There was just something about him that bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The mere fact that he had a career in film puzzled me-- why on earth did producers hire him? His appeal was completely beyond my comprehension.

Then in 2007 I saw The Mating of Millie. I was cleaning my bedroom, and I had been watching the film that was on before it. My room being quite a disaster area, the remote was nowhere to be found, so I just reluctantly left the tv on, trying my best to avoid eye contact with the screen when Glenn Ford was on camera. And then something strange happened... he wasn't that bad. I actually (grits teeth) liked him! I ended up sitting on my disheveled bed and watched the rest of the film, my brain tied in knots with the simultaneous thoughts of "but he's Glenn Ford" and "I hope it's on again soon since I didn't tape it!"

That night I had a dream that I lived next door to Glenn Ford, and he was the sweetest man on the planet. (Yes, I'm one of those people that is influenced by how I dream. Nice in my dreams? Must be a darling in real life!) Before I knew it, I was actually highlighting his films in Now Playing. When I missed A Stolen Life on TCM I nearly cried.

He's still not in my top five, or even my top ten, but he is somewhere on the favorites list now, as opposed to the "Gosh, I can't STAND this person" list (see: Randolph Scott & Marlon Brando, who have not budged from the list since I started it in 2000)

SOOOO.... now let's spread this around the little blogging circle. Each person tags 4 people. I tag:

Raquelle of Out of the Past

Millie of Classic Forever

Lolita of Lolita's Classics

Elizabeth of Oh by Jingo! Oh by Gee!

If you guys want to add anything to the tag, feel free :D

Gail Patrick

by C. K. Dexter Haven

of Hollywood Dreamland

Guest Blogger

Have you ever seen a movie and find that it’s one of the second-tier stars who gets your attention, and that you find yourself waiting for their next fleeting appearance onscreen? This happened to me years ago when I saw Gail Patrick (1911-1980) in the 1936 Screwball Comedy, My Man Godfrey. This is the film that introduced me to the Golden Age’s definitive “Other Woman.” Patrick’s best-known roles have her trading deliciously catty barbs with Hollywood’s greatest stars, most notably in this film, and also in Stage Door (1937), opposite Ginger Rogers.

In My Man Godfrey, her most-famous role, Gail plays Cornelia Bullock, one of the daughters of the impossibly-wealthy Alexander Bullock. The entire family is an out-of-touch rabble afflicted with having too much money during the Great Depression. I don’t want to spoil the entire plot, but what I like about Gail’s role is that she’s the only character who comes full circle and ends up growing as a person. Cornelia is completely different at the end of the film than she was at the beginning. Of course, I didn’t catch on to this plot development until many years and several “Godfrey” viewings later.

From the first time I saw Gail Patrick--I dubbed her the Deco Dame-- I was enraptured and intrigued by the actress who was often characterized as a huffy, stand-offish, statuesque beauty; I’d add that she had a great speaking voice, too. She was someone I sought out in any 1930s film I was watching and I would perk up at the sight of her name in the credits. I didn’t see her in many movies, but when I did it was an event. You see, Gail was the first “bad girl” that I had a cinematic crush on. Normally, I tend to prefer the girl next door types, like Ginger Rogers or Myrna Loy, but Gail changed the dimensions of that daydream. There was a radiant beauty, but I sensed that Gail possessed a keen intelligence. This was merely an assumption on my part, but it would turn out to be true, given her post-acting career accomplishments.

My Favorite Wife (1940) is another of Gail’s better-known films. Gail’s ability to barely contain her annoyance at Cary Grant’s kids’ piano recital is her most memorable comedic moment. However, she managed to make me sympathize with her because she really wasn’t a bad person. We’re supposed to want Cary Grant to be able to get away from Gail, and so the flawed script had to make Irene Dunne more desirable to him, so Gail was sacrificed on the altar of “The Hollywood Ending.”

My favorite Gail Patrick role is in Love Crazy (1941). She’s teamed again with her My Man Godfrey co-star, William Powell. Here Gail plays a lighthearted variation of her “other woman” persona in the role of Isobel Grayson, who’s more of a playful vixen than a catty ex-girlfriend. Isobel has moved into ex-fiancée Powell’s apartment building and of course she causes trouble, if unknowingly, with Powell and his wife of four years, played by Myrna Loy—and on their wedding anniversary. Of all her movies where she’s a supporting player, Love Crazy is the role that lets Gail be bubbly, fun, flirty, yet mischievous. She steals every one of the few scenes she’s in, and has one of the best lines in the whole movie, when she’s covering up for William Powell when the latter is trapped in her shower.

Gail’s movie career ended in 1947. She started her own children’s boutique that catered to the Hollywood clientele she knew so well. However, her most significant off-screen accomplishment was serving as the producer of the Perry Mason television series. It was Gail’s suggestion that Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, and William Talman be cast in the long-running courtroom drama. She was close friends with Perry Mason author Erle Stanley Gardner and he trusted her decisions. In fact, Gardner only allowed the show to exist if Gail would produce it! It would seem as though the tough-as-nails persona Gail honed onscreen also extended to her real-life business career.

Gail Patrick would die from leukemia in July, 1980. She had been both a respected actress and a powerful producer in her extended entertainment career. I still get that sense of excitement every time I watch My Man Godfrey. Of course, there’s the nostalgia when I think of the first time I discovered Gail in My Man Godfrey, but now there’s that newfound knowledge that she imbued her characters with a drive, determination, and intelligence, that is plainly evident in all of her performances.

*The drawing at the top is marker on white paper, mounted on black paper.

Walter Pidgeon {Song of the Week}

Yes, that's right-- Walter Pidgeon will be singing the song of the week. It's part of a new summer-long series of movie stars singing. I already have a few songs picked out for the next few weeks... prepare yourselves to hear Joan Crawford, Charles Boyer, Clifton Webb and Walter Huston.

But enough about the upcoming schedule... let's talk about Walter Pidgeon, shall we? You may know him as the other half of the Garson-Pidgeon team that was so popular during the 1940's, but Walter Pidgeon began his career studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston! To be frank, I didn't actually know this tidbit until tonight when I was researching Walter Pidgeon for this post. I was under the impression that this was a one-time thing; a movie star singing on radio, maybe as a promo for his upcoming film or something. But no, he was actually trained at singing! In fact, he was apparently such a good singer that he was offered Allan Jones' role in the original Show Boat, and turned it down to prevent being stuck in musicals for the rest of his career! Now that I know this, I've started wondering if he ever recorded an album, or any more songs... imagine-- a Walter Pidgeon album!

So far, this is the only song of his that I've managed to find, but I am going to scout the universe for more. His version of "What'll I Do?" is my absolute favorite, and this coming from a die-hard Sinatra fan... usually if Sinatra sang a song, his version is my favorite. But with "What'll I Do"... this is just not the case.

If you have any other Walter Pidgeon songs please send me links to the cd/record/song, because I adore his singing & would love to hear more!

What'll I Do?

By Walter Pidgeon

Listen to It

Buy It

Notice, I actually have a sketch accompanying this post? It's part of my new plan called "willpower" where I actually do the things I'm supposed to from now on. Revolutionary, eh?

ps. If anyone has an mp3 or knows of a YouTube video of Ann Sheridan (or the person who dubbed her?) in Nora Prentiss singing "Who Cares What People Say" and "Would You Like a Souvenir" can you send me a link? I want the audio of these so bad.. someone really needs to release a CD just of songs from the movies that aren't on CD yet. Remember years ago when TCM & Rhino Music teamed up? Something like that... (Hint Hint TCM!)

*Walter Pidgeon trivia courtesy of imdb.com

Two years ago today, I met my cat.

For my brother's 13th birthday, on May 17, 2007, he asked me, my mom & dad to volunteer with him at the local no-kill shelter. I was recovering from deviated septum surgery, and it was the first day I was actually leaving the house. I felt totally miserable. Before we left the house, my mom set down some ground rules. No matter how much we love the cats, none of them are coming home. Do not ask for one as a birthday present. Do not get mad when I say "no." Period.

So naturally, my mom fell in love with a cat, and wanted to bring it home. This particular cat broke two of my mom's other ground rules for cat-adoption: we will never have a light-furred cat, and we will never have a long-haired cat. Period. But as soon as my mom picked her up, and held her in her arms, all bets were off.

Bringing her home was such a delight -- she kept me company for the next week or so that I was relegated to sleeping on the couch, often sleeping on my stomach or my back, and greeting me with a loud chirp when I woke up. Having her company for the following week of recovery was something I'll always cherish.

When we first met Hypatia (who was named Sara at the time) she had just been brought back to the cottage after spending a few months in a foster home, and we were told that she was about three years old. Her and another cat, Sadie, were found in the winter with matted fur, starving to death. Her foster parent, Carol, told us that she was one of worst cases they had ever brought in, she was so sick. The day we met her, she was quiet as a mouse, shy and frightened.

Two years later, we've been through so much together. She isn't as shy and quiet as she was that day, rather she is one of the most talkative cats on the planet. And she isn't three years old.. more like nine or ten. We found that out last February when she completely stopped eating and started hiding under the bed all day. Assuming that she had cancer or FIP, our vet scheduled an ultrasound to find the root of the problem. That's when we learned that she had a small benign growth on her kidney that is only found in cats nine and over. Luckily, though, it wasn't cancer or FIP. She had stopped eating because of a severe case of gingivitis, for which we give her monthly shots (and possibly may have to have her teeth pulled soon.) But I'll take gingivitis over cancer any day.

I'm actually allergic to cats, so for the first 8 months or so, Hypatia was not allowed in my bedroom. But after her health scare in 2008, I started letting her in, and she's made my room her sanctuary ever since. She has her own pillow on my bed (though she still steals mine most of the time) she keeps me company while I'm working, and follows me everywhere. When I get up in the morning and go to my laptop to check my emails, she follows me and gets cozy near my feet. At night when I watch movies, she keeps me company. If I get up to go to the bathroom, she waits outside of the door until I come out. She's become my little shadow.

She's the sweetest cat in the universe, and I just had to share her story with you. If you're like me, and you just love cats, then I'm sure you understand my motherly gushing ;)

Hypatia at the Kitty Cottage on May 17, 2007

To see more pictures of Hypatia and my other

darling, Chloe, click here to view their set in

my flickr photostream.

*Song of the week coming up later tonight, with a new theme that I'm going to have for the summer-- and, surprise surprise, it will actually have art with it this time! I know, shocking!*

Crazy Eights {I am ready for my close up}

I was tagged by Graciebird.

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Finalizing my DVDs

2. Checking my e-mails in the morning

3. Dinner, as long as its pasta or pizza or something w/o meat

(When it is meat, I need to cook a separate meal for myself since I'm a Vegetarian)

4. Nighttime when my cat gets cozy near my head.

5. The end of allergy season

6. Overhauling my bedroom

7. Checking the snail mail in the afternoon

8. The first cold, refreshing glass of grapefruit juice in the a.m.

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Created a new blog to showcase my favorite artists, spiffy

2. Watched The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance

3. Helped my dad with his t-shirt business

4. Got some things ready for an art show this weekend

5. Worked on a commissioned painting

6. Reluctantly made my own dinner since burgers were on the menu,

I ended up eating a combination of beans, rice, leftover pasta & green beans. yum.

7. Read some of God Bless You Mr. Rosewater (Kurt Vonnegut)

8. Went to the arts & crafts store

8 Things I wish I could do:

1. Move out of NJ, pronto (I disdain it!)

2. Go back in time to the 1920's or 30's

3. Learn the harmonica

4. Have Dana Andrews time travel to 2009.

5. Travel the world on an ocean liner (scared to fly!)

6. Cook some kind of vegetarian dish that tastes like fish. It's the one thing I miss, and nobody sells fake-fish in the US, that I know of.

7. Make lots of money so my parents could retire.

8. Have a mute button for my brother.

8 TV Shows I watch:

1. Alfred Hitchcock Presents

2. You Bet Your Life

3. The Good Neighbors

4. What Not to Wear

5. Get Smart

6. I Dream of Jeannie

7. Bewitched

8. As Time Goes By

8 People to tag:

This is going around quickly, so I might be double tagging..

1. Elizabeth (Oh By Jingo! Oh By Gee!)

2. Matthew (Movietone News)

3. Ginger (Asleep in NY)

4. Richard (Riku Writes)

5. Genevieve (Classic Film Oasis)

6. Alicia (1000 Follies)

7. John (Robert Frost's Banjo)

8. Casey (Noir Girl)

Fred Astaire {song of the week}

Fred Astaire would have been 110 years old today, so it is most fitting that he should be the voice behind the song of the week today.

However, since this is Fred Astaire we're talking about, it isn't the song of the week. It's the SONGS of the week. How could I choose only one?! Even narrowing it down to two was tough. Needless to say, this will not be the last time that Mr. Astaire is the star of my song of the week series!

I like every single movie he made, but - cliche as it may be - I do like his Ginger Rogers films the best. Their movies are absolutely perfect, and I just can't hide it... I'm a sucker for a Fred and Ginger movie. Maybe it was their chemistry together, the fantastic supporting casts they had (Eric Blore, Edward Everett Horton, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Erik Rhodes to name a few) the music, the direction, the writing or the choreography -- something just clicked when these films were produced that destined them to greatness.

I'm very wishy washy about which is my favorite. I'd say Follow the Fleet, or Roberta, but darn it! Do they have to have Randolph Scott around to ruin it for me?! (I'm with Millie on Mr. Scott) With those two out of the running (yes, his presence is irritating enough to effect the ranking of these films) I'd have to say that Shall We Dance, Swing Time or Top Hat is my favorite. (Though I do love Carefree too..)

Luckily, nobody is holding a gun to my head and making me chose my favorite Fred and Ginger film, so picking a favorite isn't really all that necessary, is it? For now, I'll just love all of them equally and shower them with my attention on a daily basis. What's that? You didn't know that the AMA has replaced the age old adage "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" with "one Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie a day keeps the doctor away" ? Shame on you for not keeping up with the medical journals!

If you can't manage 1.5 hours every single day for some movie watching, a Fred Astaire song should do the trick. He has so very many to choose from, all of which are sure to make you feel better instantly! My two picks for the week:

Things Are Looking Up

Listen to it

Buy it

I'm Old Fashioned

Listen to it

Buy it

The painting that goes with this post is called "Astaireing Contest" -- I painted this early last year before I had started any of the classic movie art. To see more of my silly paintings, click here.

To browse through the Songs of Weeks gone by, click here. All of them are still available for download or listening.

off subject { J.D. Salinger }

In jury duty today I was re-reading two of the short stories in Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger, my second favorite short story collection (1st favorite goes to Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut) 

First I re-read Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut, which is the story that "My Foolish Heart" was loosely based upon, and which I love to read over and over and over. 

Then I re-read De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period. I'm not sure if you are familiar with this story, so I'll give you a little background- An art student living in NYC sees an ad for one of those mail-order art schools (send us your art & we'll have a real artist critique it for you) in Montreal, and applies immediately-- seriously padding his resume and dropping names left and right. (Picasso is his oldest family friend, dont'cha know?)

When he arrives in Montreal and meets his employer, Mr. Yoshoto, he is ridiculously nervous and eager to please him and this situation makes for the most hilarious paragraph ever. (Well, maybe not ever, but it did have me trying, and failing, to contain my laughter in the middle of a very quiet courtroom) 

He started to apologize for the fact that there were no chairs in his son's room--only floor cushions--but I quickly gave him to believe that for me this was little short of a godsend. (In fact, I think I said I hated chairs. I was so nervous that if he had informed me that his son's room was flooded, night and day, with a foot of water, I probably would have let out a little cry of pleasure. I probably would have said that I had a rare foot disease, one that required my keeping my feet wet eight hours daily.)

Maybe it's just me, but I cannot stop laughing when I read this. I can picture it so vividly in my mind! Reading De Daumier Smith's Blue Period and Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut got me to thinking about J.D. Salinger's decision to refuse selling his stories to Hollywood.  Apparently, My Foolish Heart was not what he had in mind at all when he wrote Uncle Wiggly (though it's one of my favorite films!) and, so upset was he, that he decided to never again let Hollywood make one of his stories into a movie.  I think this is a darn shame. 

Here's why: if, IF, J.D. Salinger ever changes his mind, or if his estate changes this rule after he's gone, the movies will be made in present day Hollywood, with present day actors and actresses. Nobody today could do justice to his stories like they could have in the 1940's or the 1950's. Okay, so he didn't like My Foolish Heart. Then try selling one to a different studio; request a specific director! His stubbornness may have cost the world a few really fantastic films.

I for one would never go to see a modern Salinger movie, not if you paid me a million dollars. (Okay, maybe a million, but no less!) Since the chance at seeing one of his films made the right way is long gone, I'll have to be content to imagine his characters in my minds eye, which, I guess, isn't so bad after all.

** The picture of the chairs behind the crossed out mark was taken by my brother, Kyle. It's a beautiful picture of chairs that he saw on a hillside in Vermont. Please take a look at the original (before I photoshopped all over it) here**