Musings vol. III and Silly Gene, Socks Are For Plebs!

I was watching The Judy Garland Show today...again. Rich Little was one of the guests, and I discovered he wasn't as creepy when he was a young guy as he is an old man. (Who is?)

Anyway, that boy can do a heck of a lot of impressions. Which you all knew. Then it struck me-- I cannot. I mean, obviously I knew this for some time, but it's kind of a downer to consciously realize. My list of impressions can be counted on one hand. That is, if the hand in question is a relatively normal human hand, with at least 3 fingers.

Basically, I can do:

1) Peter O'Toole
2) Jodie Foster (but only in Anna and the King)
3) The blind Muppet from Muppet Treasure Island

Not too impressive, huh? Granted, my blind Muppet impersonation is just dandy, but still...
Ho hum. Any gifted celebrity impersonators out there?

Dodging around other people's blogs, I've noticed serials seem to be all the rage. Which I wasn't too enthusiastic about, as I currently have none. While I was attempting to come up with a halfway clever idea for a series, I stumbled upon (no, not literally) this picture of Gene Tierney.




And something felt off, you know? Not quite right. At first I thought it was her lack of make-up, but after much (okay, a few seconds of) thought, knew that wasn't the case...she's still pretty gorgeous, after all. It was the socks.

So there you have it, my series proposal. Sort of a backwards version of one of those "Celebrities-- They're Just Like Us!" you see so often in popular magazines.

Worst case scenario: I run outta pictures, in which case I'll come up with an excuse and ask politely for your forgiveness. Sound good? ;)



Was poking my nose around that WWBD site again, and came across a pretty cool (if Judy biased-- which is more than fine by me) survey. Warning: I'm pretty heavily obsessed with musicals, so if you're not...what are you doing here anyway? Scram. ;)

What is your favorite musical from the 1930s? One Hour With You...maybe. Eh, there's too much out there.

From the 40s? Heck, you expect me to decide? Hm...anything Judy did, or Good News.

From the 50s? Lili, Gigi or Singin' in the Rain.

From the 60s? Sweet Charity. If I must. ;)

From the 70s? Cabaret. Most definitely. What'd you think-- Fiddler?

From the 80s? Victor/Victoria. Not that there was a lot to choose from...

From the 90s to today? Each time I watch Chicago, I'm more and more impressed.

Out of these, which is your favorite? Probably something Judy did...Meet Me in St. Louis, or Easter Parade.

Who are your favorite musical actors? Gordon McRae, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, Maurice Chevalier...

Who are your favorite musical actresses? Judy Garland, Leslie Caron, Doris Day, Ginger Rogers, Virginia O'Brien...

Who are your favorite musical directors? Chuck Walters, Busby Berkeley, and Vincente Minnelli

Who are your favorite songwriters? Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, Irving Berlin, Kander and Ebb.

Who are you favorite dancers? Ginger Rogers, Eleanor Powell, Fred Astaire, Ann Miller, Buddy Ebsen

What is your favorite showtune? Ooh, toughie. "How About You?" from Babes on Broadway or "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" from Top Hat. Seems I like my songs to be interrogatory...

What is your favorite movie with Fred and Ginger? Carefree...or Top Hat...or Swing Time...or The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle...

What is your favorite movie with Mickey and Judy? Girl Crazy. Mm-hm.

What is your favorite movie with Nelson and Jeanette? Maytime's actually the only one I like. Nelson annoys me more than he did Jeanette.

What is your favorite Judy Garland movie? MMISL. Or maybe For Me and My Gal.

What is your favorite Gene Kelly movie? For Me and My Gal or Singin' in the Rain.

MGM or RKO? What? You can't do that. Both.

Pasternak or Freed Unit? Hahaha, that's allowed. Freed Unit, hands down.

Astaire or Kelly? Astaire.

Howard Keel or Gordon McRae? Well, I never liked Howard Keel, so...

June Allyson or Jane Powell? June, but both were good.

Barbra Streisand or Liza Minnelli? Oh c'mon! That's like Sophie's choice...only difference is I won't be choosing.

Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music? Mary Poppins.

Julie Andrews as Poppins or Audrey Hepburn? To be fair, I've only seen one scene done by Andrews, so I'm afraid Hepburn has it.

Favorite dance by Fosse? I'm cheating-- the one he choreographed for Liza with a Z..."Blackbird." But from a movie? "If My Friends Could See Me Now."

What is your favorite aqua-musical? Hahaha, so this pretty much narrows it down to Esther Williams, huh? Yeah okay, Million Dollar Mermaid.

What is your favorite non-musical scene from a musical? Heck, I dunno....there are too many to choose from. I like all of Ginger's hypnosis scenes from Carefree, so we'll go with that.

PS. I've always wanted to do this...

Movies! Movies! Movies! and Gal of the Week

I'm going away to college soon, and still I've no idea which movies to take. I wanted at first to take my entire collection, but shudder at the thought of packing them away under my bed or something. They need to breathe. ;)

There are certain films in my possession that I view just once, but others I go to again and again-- even if I watch only certain scenes.

I wonder what the difference is, of those movies. Instead of analyzing it (which would probably be somewhat interesting but rather difficult and time-consuming), I'm going to make a list of some movies I can watch over and over again. Less interesting for you maybe, but infinitely more fun for me.

1) Auntie Mame

I don't know what it is about this movie (actually, I suppose I do-- Ros Russell) ...it's not my favorite film in the world, but it has this unique quality to it that makes it incredibly re-watchable. Which means it's grand in my book.

2) Sybil

Oh the script! So much to choose from-- so many lines to quote!

My personal favorite? "They were Sybil's tonsils, but my throat hurt too."

3) Paper Moon

This is the most dependable movie I know...no one I've ever shown it to has disliked it. Thank goodness.

4) Love with the Proper Stranger

Steve McQueen is just adorable, especially near the end. Sometimes (and I don't blame her one bit) Natalie Wood is too much for me, but not in this one.

5) What's Up Doc?

The first Barbra Streisand movie I ever saw. Which means it still holds a special place in my... collection. ;)

6) Easter Parade

Judy. Fred. Not to mention (though I'll do so anyway) the songs by Irving Berlin...like a gazillion of 'em.

7) Stage Door

The movie that started my Ginger obsession. Oh, I owe it all to this one. Kind of odd that Kate and Mr. Menjou look so close on the poster.

8) Gone With the Wind

I don't even think I'm capable of explaining my love for this movie.

9) Wait Until Dark

When I was littler, Audrey Hepburn was tops as far as I was concerned. This one and Charade made me fall for old movies.

10) The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane

For this list, it was a toss up between this and Freaky Friday. Guess I'm feeling dark today, huh?

11) Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Might just be a matter of opinion, but this one's oodles better than What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, yeah?

12) Romance on the High Seas

Doris Day's first movie, also with my hero, Oscar Levant, who once said he knew Doris "before she was a virgin."

13) Laura

Never tire of this one. Clifton Webb's performance near the end always freaks me out tremendously. I think I like it.

14) Clueless

C'mon, there had to be one pick on here like this, right?


15) The Heiress

Each time I watch it, I'm more impressed with Olivia de Havilland's performance. Good stuff.

As for the gal in the title of this post, this week it's...

Julie London

1) Because Amanda Cooper from A Noodle in a Haystack mentioned her in a post and

2) ...because who else has such groovy (yeah, groovy) album covers?

That was a rhetorical question, by the way. ;)