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Post by dianedebuda on Mar 1, 2023 18:15:10 GMT
I found most of the beach movies that I've seen fun even though I'm not much of a fan of the music. Generally if it's not rap or hard rock and is classified as a musical... 👀 I enjoyed the comic support chars like Buster or Eric von Ripper.
Lucky Dan: I do hope you write about Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt. I'd never heard of it (such a surprise 😂) and looked it up on imdb. Be interested to see if you thought anyone could have made the premise work with this or an alternate cast.
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75° heading to 87°, partly sunny here today, so:
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 1, 2023 22:01:25 GMT
Yes, Dan, write up Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt. I used to have the well-illustrated paperback novelization but finally donated it to a friend who archived that kind of "ephemera". I definitely remember the tie-in photo spread in Playboy, similar to Jayne's for Promises, Promises. Playboy got to be a regular promotional stop for movies with any kind of skin at all. I even remember a "Girls of Funny Girl" spread using shots of the Ziegfeld girls from that movie, which was a bit of a stretch.
I'm going to throw in this one too, also from Call Me Madam. I think the common wisdom was that Ethel Merman was "too big" for movies but I wish studios or directors or whoever had tried a little harder to find the right context for her. She's a little on the overpowering side in this number but it was a revelation to me what a great ensemble player she was in There's No Business Like Show Business as a kind of mother hen to her show biz family. She didn't take over; she was totally in service to the picture, still showing all the brass and wit she was capable of.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 1, 2023 22:27:28 GMT
Presenting Lily Mars (1943) isn't strictly a musical, more a comedy with musical elements, so it might get overlooked, but I love the still fresh-faced youngster we see in it.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 2, 2023 0:05:06 GMT
It's pretty well-known that Lena Horne faced a problem which most movie musical performers didn't. Her screen appearances had to be crafted so that they could be cut in some markets without affecting the flow of the movie. I can't imagine what that must have done to her self-esteem. Anyway, the numbers still exist and she's still a legend. Someone's done some nice restorations, so here's a few from one of the great ladies of song.
From Broadway Rhythm (1944).
From Thousands Cheer (1943).
The practice of relegating her to isolated segments was seemingly still in effect in 1956 with her appearance in Meet Me in Las Vegas. This one actually makes a little more sense because The Sands Hotel was used for location shooting and Lena had contracted for appearances there, so it's not entirely random. RCA released a live album recorded at The Sands.
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Post by Lucky Dan on Mar 2, 2023 21:22:59 GMT
Yes, Dan, write up Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt. I used to have the well-illustrated paperback novelization but finally donated it to a friend who archived that kind of "ephemera". There was an illustrated novelization of Three Nuts? That's more new information than I've found elsewhere. More questions have been raised than answered in my mind so far, and there are a few bits of bad or conflicting info floating about. Noonan is an interesting study, though, and maybe a little survey of his career might be worthwhile.
Mamie, God love her, is still with us at 92, and she remains quite colorful. How believable she is is another matter.
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Post by dianedebuda on Mar 2, 2023 23:03:08 GMT
Mamie, God love her, is still with us at 92, and she remains quite colorful. How believable she is is another matter.
Ah, I think hers is a Gypsy Rose Lee kind of Rock ... and ... Roll. 😆
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 3, 2023 0:30:41 GMT
Yes, Dan, write up Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt. I used to have the well-illustrated paperback novelization but finally donated it to a friend who archived that kind of "ephemera". There was an illustrated novelization of Three Nuts?
It was an el-cheapo publisher who was relying on the pictures of Mamie in her beer bath to sell the thing. I did an image search and checked e-bay but it seems to have dropped off the face of the earth, which is probably where it belongs, except I know you would have put it to good use. I also donated Jayne Mansfield's Wild Wild World to the cause. Not sure if it was the same publisher, but it also relied heavily on naughty photos. ScreenPix has been showing a lot of Mamie lately, but mostly the gangster stuff. I wish they'd show Born Reckless (1958) because I don't have a copy. I wouldn't rule out dubbing in this case. There was one movie Mamie was in (I think Girl's Town) where Connie Francis did some dubbing, before her recording career took off. It was a jolt hearing that voice out of the blue.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 3, 2023 0:44:15 GMT
Robert Osborne premiered Greenwich Village (1944) on TCM about 15 years ago as part of a Latin America theme. As excited as I always am to see Carmen Miranda, the real standout for me was this number by The Four Step Brothers. I've checked around and they don't seem to have done a whole lot in feature films, though they did some stage and movie work with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and some TV work too. There are so many guys jumping around in this number that it's hard to keep track.
I found this number from Carolina Blues, also from 1944, which I've never seen but it's a terrific song and dance number.
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Post by Lucky Dan on Mar 3, 2023 1:21:28 GMT
There was an illustrated novelization of Three Nuts?
It was an el-cheapo publisher who was relying on the pictures of Mamie in her beer bath to sell the thing. My bet would be Tommy and Mamie had something to do with it. Mamie had a share in the Three Nuts profits, which was how Tommy got her into the tub.
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Post by dianedebuda on Mar 3, 2023 14:04:27 GMT
Robert Osborne premiered Greenwich Village (1944) on TCM about 15 years ago as part of a Latin America theme. ... I found this number from Carolina Blues, also from 1944, which I've never seen but it's a terrific song and dance number.
These are terrific clips. Don't have Greenwich Viiage in my library; have Carolina Blues but didn't remember this.
Back to Cole with Jane Wyman
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 3, 2023 14:39:03 GMT
On the subject of raunch, I always loved Hollywood's highly sanitized, family-friendly version of what went on in burlesque houses. Why, you could bring the kiddies to a matinee. Barbara Stanwyck in Lady of Burlesque (1943). "Take It Off the E-String". Virginia Mayo was a bookworm who moonlighted as "Hot Garters Gertie" in She's Working Her Way Through College (1952). If you can remember back, she's wearing the exact outfit Betty Grable did in the "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" number from Wabash Avenue, with a train added. Betty was at Fox and Virginia was at Warners, so I wonder how that happened. Did it all go to Western Costume and then people could pick what they wanted? I remember Marilyn's iconic costume from Bus Stop showed up again somewhere, but I'm having trouble remembering where. Anyway, here's another cleaned-up burlesque number; there'll be no police raids tonight. EDIT: Sorry, Diane, we overlapped again. While you were posting something wholesome I was keeping the raunch going. Apologies, and I love the Jane Wyman number. FURTHER EDIT: Leslie Caron wore Marilyn's Bus Stop costume in The Man Who Understood Women (1959), with Henry Fonda.
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Post by dianedebuda on Mar 3, 2023 15:36:45 GMT
I didn't post to be a shove to the wholesome side. You posted about Jane earlier and I remembered a good number, but not where I saw it, so this is a filler.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 3, 2023 17:45:56 GMT
I didn't post to be a shove to the wholesome side. You posted about Jane earlier and I remembered a good number, but not where I saw it, so this is a filler. I loved the number from Night and Day. The dancing canes were real movie magic. Somebody put together a nice, super-energetic Jane Wyman collage on YouTube.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 4, 2023 13:40:41 GMT
#1 on my wish list is the restored The Pajama Game (1957) which TCM showed at the Film Festival recently. There's a month-long tribute to Warner Brothers scheduled after 31 Day of Oscar so that would be the perfect opportunity to broadcast it. Fingers crossed. I've only ever seen it in the pan-and-scan VHS print. One of the things I love about it is the great ensemble of factory workers, on display here in one of Doris Day's big numbers.
And this classic number with Carol Haney which I'm sure everyone has seen, but it bears repeating for sure.
And, in honor of Fosse, I just had to add this from Damn Yankees (1958) with Bob and Gwen Verdon. You can already see the "Fosse-isms" which would come to full flower later.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 4, 2023 14:47:52 GMT
I'm a major Jane Russell fan. She maybe wasn't the world's greatest singer but, in my opinion, she could really sell a song. Even in non-musical films she was often given the opportunity to sing, especially when she and her husband formed their own production company. She continued to sing after she left her movie career behind and toured for years as part of a female quartet. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) gave her some great duets with Marilyn but also this solo number which was perfectly suited to her style, "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love?" This particular clip also includes some deleted sections which I had never heard before. Interesting.
I'm tempted to post the notorious "Lookin' For Trouble" number from The French Line (1954) which got the censors so upset and which Howard Hughes promoted all the way to the bank, but I'll settle for something tamer, from Son of Paleface (1952). Also, The French Line seems to only exist in a faded print and Jane looks so much better here.
And, lastly, a chance to just sing, from Macao (1952).
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