I Smell Birthday Cake!

 

Since I am celebrating another birthday today, I thought I would share with you the film celebrities that also get another candle on their cakes today as well!

Arthur Godfrey, b.1903, d.1983

Arthur Godfrey promo shot for The Glass Bottom Boat, 1966)

Most people don’t remember Arthur Godfrey (unless you were my grandmother’s era), but Arthur made his mark in the recording industry and television. But since he did star in The Glass Bottom Boat with Rod Taylor and Doris Day, he makes the list.

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Chris Tucker, b.1972 

(the Big 4-0)

Rush Hour (1998) with Jackie Chan

 I’m not really a fan, but I did enjoy Rush Hour.

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Warren Berlinger, b.1937

Just in case you can't place Warren - here's a photo from his heyday.

This one’s for Mom.  For those who know me personally, I shared my birthday with my mother until I was 23. So Warren also makes the list, as he is the age my mother would have been this year. Warren had a full television career, as well as roles in films such as The Wackiest Ship in the Army, The Shaggy D.A., The Cannonball Run, and That Thing You Do!

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Buddy Hackett, b.1924, d.2002

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) with Michey Rooney

 Buddy also had a lengthy and successful career, dabbling in many entertainment media.  He had roles in The Music Man, Muscle Beach Party, Walt Disney’s The Love Bug, as well as Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid. He also co-stars in one of my all-time favorite films, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World being paired with Mickey Rooney (and Jim Backus) in some of the funniest moments in this slapstick romp for buried treasure. 

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James Coburn, b.1928, d.2002

One of the classiest actors we had on this planet 

 James also had a successful and multi-facted career.  He was such a believable chameleon.  He could be a cowboy, a soldier, or a spy.  Derek Flint is one of my favorite film characters (In Like Flint and Our Man Flint), but he rivals himself as Britt in The Magnificent Seven and Sedgwick in The Great Escape.  His unmistakable naturally deep voice was his hallmark calling card, which he used so delightfully just a year before his death, as Mr. Waternoose, the C.E.O. of Monsters, Inc.  I admit I still have a crush whenever I see him on a screen.

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Last but definitely not least -

Richard Gere, b.1948

Not just another pretty face!

I put Richard in the “certainly aged well” category with a handful of others that have earned the title, and when I watch his older films, it is often like watching another person.  He has had his turn with film failures, but he weathers the storm of box-office poison and comes back to make us appreciate him again and again.  An Officer and a Gentleman, Internal Affairs, Final Analysis, Shall We Dance, First Knight (which makes my ‘best kisses’ list), and Chicago (‘A Tap Dance’ makes my best dance sequences list – to be revealed in a few weeks) are not only films I like seeing his ‘pretty face,' but I really do enjoy these movies themselves.

 So, here’s to my celebrity birthday pals!  I am glad to share my day with all of you!  Thank you for the gift of movies! And just to tell you guys, I don’t need to return any of your presents - They all fit perfectly!

Our Love is Here to Stay

As a birthday gift when I turned 15, I received the book, The Films of Gene Kelly.  A few years earlier, I had already begun a life-long love affair with, yes, I’m just gonna’ go ahead and say it - the greatest dancer on film.  I know, I know, I’m going to get rebuttal after rebuttal, but hey! this is my blog, and my turn to say what I think. 

I love dancing.  I wanted to take tap dancing lessons as a child, but I was given 6 years of piano instead. I am grateful, however; but unless you’re Oscar Levant, there isn’t a real great need for on-screen piano players!  I not only love dancing, I love the dancers - Eleanor Powell, Fred Astaire, the Nicholas Brothers, Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron, Bobby Van, Donald O'Connor and the list goes on. I even love the actors who weren’t technically considered dancers, but danced with Gene and anyone else: Dan Dailey, Phil Silvers, Van Johnson, Frank Sinatra, and even Debbie Reynolds. Why, because I cannot dance (like that) and I so appreciate that gift and talent.

Some of my Gene Kelly memorabilia & ephemera

Biographies on stars are a dime-a-dozen, and if you have been reading my blog with any consistency, you know that is not what this blog is about.  It’s my little corner of passion for 'all things cinema.'  Today marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Gene Kelly.  (Did I already mention he’s my favorite dancer of all time?) I got to thinking about why this was true for me, because I do love this craft, and all that it requires and releases, and I don’t even have time to begin to mention my favorite films.  For most people who discuss this, it’s that question of “Fred or Gene?” I love Fred, please don't misunderstand me; he is the foundation for every dancer that has come out of Hollywood.  Always striving for perfection and new ideas for film, I agree, but there’s an aristocratic air that goes with the package.  For me, Gene is everyman.  He’s a guy you’d meet on the street and would be himself to you.  It’s the build - true and athletic in nature. No one could wear a pair of trousers or loafers like Gene.  The polo shirt was tight across the chest and the bands on the sleeves fit snugly around his biceps.  Now, ‘everyman’ doesn’t always look like this, but he does in my dreams.  He’s the guy who cares about himself, but doesn’t.  He’s just being who he is.  The sweater goes across the shoulders, ties over his chest. He slaps on a cap, and he’s good to go.

He’s a sailor, a pirate, hunter, stuntman, artist. He’s someone you might know. And, when he meets the girl, he’s always a gentleman.  She may not think so, but he has the right words to say, and the right ways to say them.  Gene didn’t like his voice, but the world did.  When he spoke in that slight-rasp and lilt, I melted like butter.  I still do. 

Let’s not forget about the scar. “I’m not a glamour boy. If they don’t like me with it, they’re not going to like me without it.”[1] When he was around 6 years old, he fell off his tricycle onto open cast iron, which cut his face over his lip. He never got to attribute it to anything ‘heroic,’ but it adds character to eyes that twinkled and a smile that sent girl reeling.  It’s the way he slowly puts his arm around Leslie Caron in the “Our Love is Here to Stay” number that makes this 50-year old woman feel young again.

Gene’s creativity was ground-breaking: dancing with animated characters, breaking newspaper in halves and quarters, performing gymnastic tricks high in the air on ladders, trading shoes for shoe skates, taking a George Gershwin masterwork and turning it into the best picture for 1951.  These are the actualities of a visionary of the likes of Gene Kelly.  I believe his best work was his vision.  He was able to take the concept and turn it into reality, and although this ‘reality’ was and still is imaginary, we believe every moment of it and want to be there, too.

Hear Gene Kelly's first wife, Betsy Blair talk about Gene in her words:

PBS's "American Masters: Gene Kelly"

In 1985, the American Film Institute (finally) recognized Gene Kelly for his contribution to film. (He was the 13^th recipient).  He won an honorary Academy Award in 1952 “In appreciation of his versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film.”  He was a director for film and television, and even made an appearance with the Muppets on The Muppet Show in 1980.

His body of work goes on and on.  Years could be spent on just discussing his dancing on film. Add another year for directing and choreographing and another for just television work.  With a recent surge of discussions on "where are the ‘real men'?," I believe those of us who love the work of Gene Kelly know where they are and what to look for.  Perhaps if we spent more time discussing his films and bringing his style to the forefront of conversations, those 'real men' might just re-emerge.

In the Pyramid book series on the history of the movies, Jeanine Basinger writes, “Kelly’s home studio, MGM, tackled this criticism head on by having Kelly allegedly issue such statements (on his lack of fan magazine appeal) as, “I’m just Joe Average.  I’ve got a wife, a kid, a car and a house.  There’s a million guys like me.”” [2] I dare disagree.  There is and never will be anyone like Gene Kelly again.

And now for your enjoyment:

                                                   Summer Stock (1950)

                                           It's Always Fair Weather (1955)

In a few weeks, I will reveal my favorite dance sequences captured on film. I hope you will tune-in for that.

Oh, I finally took those tap dancing lessons a couple of years ago…

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[1] Jeanine Basinger, Gene Kelly – Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies, (Pyramid Communications, 1976) 18.

[2] Ibid. 10.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...

Growing up in the 60’s & 70’s, the world was still ‘small’ – no internet, no cellular devices, no cable television - for the common man, anyway. There was no such thing as ‘surfing’ or hundreds of other choices from which to watch. We had 7 or 8 basic channels that came through on our televisions, so we were at the mercy of the broadcasters for what was airing on any given channel.   So why does another weekly blog open by mentioning television?  Television was the medium with which I soaked up as many movies as I could.  We had the “Early Show” on CBS, there was a late-night movie on virtually every network, not to mention the local station; there was a movie of the week for almost every night of the week and sometimes even two!  Why television rejuvenated the television careers of many former movie stars, and even inspired films such as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? 

Print ads for "The Early Show" on the local Los Angeles CBS affiliate

My "Early Show" ads are from my
John Wayne scrapbooks

But it was these summer nights that I have special memories of television movie nights.  School seasons were different and from the middle of June to the middle of September, we had 3 full months of ‘nothing to do.’  This is when I was able to take advantage of the late show and as many as I could talk my mother into letting me view.  I would pop out the hide-a-bed from the family room sofa, get a blanket & pillow and get as close to that television as possible. With the sound down low, I could see the likes of Showboat, On the Town, The Seven Little Foys, and The Paleface.  These movies increased my 'film-viewing-ography,' if you will, and formed the foundation of what has become my life-long obsession with this storytelling medium.

Life is different these days, I still stay up late, but for different reasons.  I am thankful that television has expanded and the choices are many.  However, on a sleepless night, there still is nothing better than finding an old movie on the air.  It’s like having slumber party with an old friend.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Earlier this week (August 6) marked the birthday of Lucille Ball, who came to Hollywood to be a model and movie starlet.  Learning the ropes from Ginger Rogers' mother, who took these hopefuls under her wing, she eventually found her way as a B actress and then broke through the cracks to the A list. But her destiny was made in the newly-forming small screen of television in a little show called, I Love Lucy.  Therein lies history, and really, no further explanation is necessary.

But why do I write of I Love Lucy in my movie blog?  Well, the fourth season of the series (and a portion the fifth season) finds Lucy & Ricky Ricardo and their best friends, Fred & Ethel Mertz, on a trip to Hollywood, California.  Now Lucille Ball, who had already been paired with the likes of Henry Fonda, Red Skelton, Gene Kelly, and the Marx Brothers on the big screen, is now portraying 'every woman' on the small screen and taking that which the viewers can relate to greater depths.  Who wouldn't want to rub elbows with the rich and famous by having lunch with Richard Widmark, dancing with Van Johnson, and getting into a picture yourself? I know I would!  "Lucy Gets in Pictures" is my favorite episode of the entire I Love Lucy series.  The scenarios and dialog Lucy shares with Bobby the bellboy,  the Mertz's, and especially the director who is unfortunate to have Mrs. Ricardo on the set are absolutely priceless, and yes, words that I would say!  Every scene makes me laugh hysterically and fall in love with Lucy once again.

Lucille Ball understood the 'regular Joe' who was watching her program and made Lucy Ricardo that much more relatable; her star-struck character was believable and lovable at a time when Lucille Ball was the biggest star in Hollywood herself.