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Reading Room:  Music Room  |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 23 2005 : 11:04:51 AM
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The five-disc set "The Astaire and Rogers Collection, Volume One," including "Top Hat," "Swing Time," "Follow the Fleet," "Shall We Dance" and "The Barkleys of Broadway," from Warner Home Video; suggested retail price $59.92. Each DVD contains a full-length commentary, a featurette and a cartoon and/or short feature. All titles also available individually; suggested retail price $19.97. (No release date has been announced for Volume Two, which would presumably include "Flying Down to Rio," "Roberta," "The Gay Divorcée," "Carefree" and "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.")
I'm going to have to check into it. It's kinda long, but worth the read - an article about meeting Ginger Rogers:
Ginger and me
By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic
I was twice in the same room as Ginger Rogers, and the first time I barely knew who she was. Late in her career, around 1980, Rogers was touring as Reno Sweeney in the musical "Anything Goes." My high school had just done the show, and a group of us got tickets when the tour came to Vancouver, B.C.
I knew that this Ginger Rogers, long ago, had made some movies with somebody named Fred Astaire, but had never seen them — this was before most people had VCRs and cable. The world she represented seemed very far away, but my parents assured me that she was a big deal, and that seeing her was something I would always remember.
From the second balcony, we watched a performance by a small, brassy-haired woman who danced rath
er carefully and unspectacularly, and who seemed a little old for the role, to my eyes. (Rogers would have been nearly 70.) But there were bursts of applause every time she stepped on stage, and the final ovation for her was thunderous, with people on their feet cheering. My friends and I rose, too, a little uncertainly — clearly everyone else had seen something we hadn't.
I went to college and didn't think about her for awhile — until "Top Hat" and "Swing Time" turned up in programming at the Neptune. Sitting in my theater seat, popcorn forgotten, I gazed up at a world that immediately transported me from my own. Astaire was marvelous, alternating silky-smooth steps with electrifying rat-a-tat tapping, but it was Rogers at whom I stared.
Tootsie with heart of gold
In those movies and the others that the two made in the '30s, she played the same character: a straight-talking but vulnerable tootsie with a heart of gold, a hat tilted at an impossibly jaunty angle, and a smile like a perfect June morning. And when she danced with Astaire, you got the sense that nothing could be better than this: that though he was the one who was singing, she was the one who was in heaven, whose heart beat so that she could hardly speak.
The way she gazed wordlessly up at him at the end of "Night and Day" (in "The Gay Divorcée"), or walked away, her beautiful shoulders slumped, before "Never Gonna Dance" ("Swing Time"), was as eloquent as any dialogue. They created something magical together, and I watched those films over and over, at the movies and later on tapes, loath to leave that silvery world, where every problem could be solved by dancing.
Over the years those films became a touchstone for me: sometimes a fantasy for days when the world needed a little boost, sometimes just a reminder that perfection was attainable, at least on an art-deco dance floor. There were other films I loved, like other dance partners, but there was something about the Fred-and-Ginger musicals — a deceptively simple language of lighthearted grace that no other movies seemed to speak.
What to say to her?
In 1991, Rogers published her autobiography, "Ginger: My Story." She came to the University Book Store for a book signing, and I sneaked away from work that afternoon and joined a long line that curved around the bookcases and around the edges of the store. Clutching my hardcover copy of the book, I wondered what to say in my few seconds with her. Should I tell her how happy her films had made me? Or that I sometimes chose shoes on the basis of whether they looked as if Ginger Rogers might have worn them? Or that I wished she'd gotten to do more films with Astaire like "Carefree," which broke a bit from the formula and gave her more of a chance to shine?
At the appointed time, a handful of assistants entered the store, one of them pushing a wheelchair in which sat a heavyset, elderly woman in a blond wig. I couldn't see her face, and for a moment I wondered if this was some cruel hoax — could this be the adorable sprite of the films, or even the workmanlike trouper I'd seen not so very long ago? As the line moved efficiently forward, I thought about the Ginger of the movies and the Ginger I was about to meet — about fantasy and movie magic, about what was real, and about what lingered.
When my turn finally came, there was only one thing that needed to be said. As an assistant opened my book to the right page and handed it to an obviously weary Rogers, I said quietly, "Thank you, Miss Rogers." I'd like to think she realized that it wasn't just the autograph for which I was grateful. Perhaps she did, because she looked up and smiled at me. Her once-dancing eyes were still very clear, and very blue. In a voice I didn't recognize, she said kindly, "Thank you for coming, dear."
As moments go, it wasn't much, but it was plenty. Like the movies, it was something to always remember, something that would never fade.
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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Edited by - Clare on Aug 23 2005 11:08:05 AM |
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goalieboy
True Blue Farmgirl
69 Posts
erik
moscow
id
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2005 : 1:05:25 PM
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I don't mind. I could use some flirting.
Ginger was somthin'. I like her spunk. She always gave Fred a lot of grief. I don't care much for Astair the dancer (he was a good guy, though) and watching him solo ain't my cup-o-tea, but with Ginger he rocked. I also saw her in an old movie called "Monkey Business" with Cary Grant. A very silly movie, but the way they lovingly interacted and covered each other with sugar kisses really makes me swoon for her. I know Cary fell head-over-heels for her in real life at one point and he and Howard Hughes were desperate to marry her and then she dumped them both for some other dude. Yaknow, she was the top salaried actor in Hollywood for a long time. She wasn't hard to sell, that's fer shure. Her autobio was boring though and i didn't make it very far. The only other grrl i've seen like her is Shirley McClaine. They both had a snarky/rebelious mouth, mischevious eyes and flying feet. Too bad Shirley is the only one to team up with Gene. |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2005 : 1:21:03 PM
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Erik, do mind sharing what your movie source is? Do you belong to a classic movie club or anything? They seem hard to come by in the rental stores around here. Thanks!
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2005 : 1:42:14 PM
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I don't know who this quote is attributed to but I have always loved it: " Ginger Rodgers did everything Fred Astaire did but backward and in high heels" AMEN!
with a happy heart |
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The Handmaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
214 Posts
Kim
Shreveport
Louisiana
USA
214 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2005 : 3:59:25 PM
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Clare, do you know about www.netflix.com? a great source for movies there and easy to rent and return.
Also, today is Gene Kelly's birthday!! So do a step or two in his honor.
"Faith shall finish all that Hope begins."
joan walsh anglund |
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goalieboy
True Blue Farmgirl
69 Posts
erik
moscow
id
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2005 : 4:39:42 PM
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Netflix is pretty cool. I did that for a little while but mostly i've found my movies at rental places. I bought several of the dvd's of Gene's movies 'cause they're like a midnight comfort food to me. He would've loved dvd's because the color fidelity is great. He said once that he couldn't stand watching his movies on tv because video tape slaughtered the color palette they struggled so hard to achieve. I believe it. An American in Paris's color's are incredibly lush, and Singin' in the Rain's are super intense.
I have a love/hate relationship with technology. Some of the fidelity characteristics of dvd's are in the love catagory. Summer Stock is still just VHS. |
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goalieboy
True Blue Farmgirl
69 Posts
erik
moscow
id
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2005 : 4:52:30 PM
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| Happy Birthday, Geno. The world would be a better place if there were more peoples like you. |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2005 : 5:20:08 PM
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Thanks for both tips! I may have to invest... but what a good investment!
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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ByHzGrace
True Blue Farmgirl
348 Posts
348 Posts |
Posted - Aug 24 2005 : 05:44:15 AM
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this takes many turns and acrosses many bridges...over the river and through the woods.
I play piano, mandolin, dobro, guitar, flute, clarinet.I dial up my music interest by sitting down and pickin with my friends or instruments mood.
And in the opposite direction I belong to a shape note group too.
Love the grand old musicals! could never get enough of the Golddiggers from the 30's. |
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goalieboy
True Blue Farmgirl
69 Posts
erik
moscow
id
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Aug 24 2005 : 12:32:06 PM
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Neato. What bliss that must be, Grace. Please tell me what a shape note is.
Those old Goldigger movies are a trip. It's hard to believe ol' Busby Berkley and those kalidescope directors weren't trippin' on somethin', either. |
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ByHzGrace
True Blue Farmgirl
348 Posts
348 Posts |
Posted - Aug 24 2005 : 12:50:53 PM
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Being as it got everyone from thinking about the depression maybe it was a mind tripping. I always wanted to dance down stairways! Or be like the icing on cakes and come alive to dance. Fancy camera work imagine what they would do with todays techno stuff?
Shape note is a type of acapella hymn singing, some call her sacred harp singing. Gets shape note name cuz fa is a triangle, sol is a dot la is square, and mi gets the diamond. you don't have to really read read the music. Do you read music or sing?
I grew up on the porch listening to my aunts and uncles singing shape notes on Sunday nights. Did you ever see Cold Mountain? That movie brought some folks to help revive our Sacred Harp group. |
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The Handmaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
214 Posts
Kim
Shreveport
Louisiana
USA
214 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2005 : 05:33:49 AM
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well ellen, i am just pea greeen with envy!!! you can play all those instruments and sing!!! i've always thought musically gifted people were so lucky to find soul expression that way. sometimes i can just feel my insides wanting that sort of release...you know, sorta like watching a bird with his chest held high and full and then he opens his beak to belt it out and ahhhhhhh. I promise my next life
i'm not gonna be standing behind the door when voices get handed out.
your shape group sounds very interesting! first time i've ever heard of that. might have to do alittle research. and YES! Cold Mt. was wonderful! the church singing togther was one of my favorite scenes. like you, i grew up listening to my father's brothers and sisters (16 of them!) playing the piano and singing gospel in harmony. sweet memories.
"Faith shall finish all that Hope begins."
joan walsh anglund |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2005 : 06:10:10 AM
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Heard this on my soft rock station last night. Must be a cross-over song. Anywho, it appealed to the eternal optomist, hopeless romantic and the fool in me.
RASCAL FLATTS LYRICS
"Bless The Broken Road"
I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
I think about the years I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there you understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
Now I'm just rolling home
Into my lover's arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you.
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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FarrarFarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
330 Posts
Lynda
Frohna
Missouri
USA
330 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2005 : 06:41:56 AM
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Thanks, Clare for the lyrics to that song. ONe of my best friends got married this spring and that song was one of the solos she selected to have sung at her wedding. I am putting together a photo album with the pictures I took and that will be perfect to include. I never thought about putting it in until I was reading through this topic. What a wonderful God-instance. Thanks again, good inspiration to get working on her album. Have a wonderful day of blessings.
In His hands,
Lynda
Pray in faith and you will not live in doubt. |
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Julie
MaryJane's Farmgirl
60 Posts
Julie
Moscow
ID
USA
60 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2005 : 10:08:40 AM
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Clare, funny you mention Rascal Flats. I’ve seen them 3 times in concert with my daughter; she turned me on to them. What energy they have. Music lovers for sure… Three years ago I came to a point in my live that reflects every word written below. This is the song that gave me strength to leave a situation that was killing me.
I consider myself a hopeful romantic and who cares if I act like a fool. Life is to short not to have fun with every word and every step or skip we take. I love you Clare, you are such inspiration to all of us.
I'M MOVIN ON
I've dealt with my ghost and I've faced all my demons
Finally content with a past I regret
I've found you find strength in your moments of weakness
For once I'm at peace with myself
I've been burdened with blame trapped in the past for too long
I'm moving on
I lived in this place and I know all the faces
Each one is different, but they're always the same
They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it
They'll never allow me to change
But I never dreamed home would end up where I don't belong
I'm moving on
I'm moving on and last I can see
Life has been patiently waiting for me
And I know there’s no guarantees, but I'm not alone
There comes a time in everyone’s life
When all you can see are the years passing by
And I have made up my mind, that those days are gone
I've sold what I could and packed what I could
Stopped to fill up on my way out of town
I've loved like I should, but lived like I shouldn't
I had to lose everything to find out
Maybe forgiveness will find me some where down this road
I'm moving on
Food Stylin' & Fancy Free |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2005 : 10:34:02 AM
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Thank you, Julie, soooo much... for sharing your song, for the affirmation and most of all for the acceptance of all of our vulnerabilities and the encouragement to live life to the fullest. Sending loving thoughts right back at you. Hugs....XXX
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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goalieboy
True Blue Farmgirl
69 Posts
erik
moscow
id
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2005 : 12:30:28 PM
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Hey, Ms Maiden.
Got your present today and everybody is having a good laugh. Three microphones! I had trouble blowing them up but now they're inflated and on my desk. I tried them out on the chickens in henhouse, cause i heard that help's'em lay eggs. There's even a song by the Hoosier Hot Shots about it. But i dunno, when i opened up my eyes after singing a soulful rendition of Paul Anka's You're Havin' My Baby they were all gone and there were no eggs to be found anywhere. I think the roosters are jealous though 'cause they were standing in the door giving me those evil eyes they have. Mebe i'll practice on the cows next. They'll sit through anything for a bit of sweetcorn. Backup singer's will help, too. I think some of the gals are game.
Thank you, Kim, for the thoughtful gift.
ej |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2005 : 1:16:52 PM
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Erik, You just gave me a good laugh! Like they say on those evil mastercard commercials... "Priceless"!
Being is what it is. Jean Paul Sartre |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2005 : 1:26:52 PM
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Where's a video camera when ya need one!?
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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The Handmaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
214 Posts
Kim
Shreveport
Louisiana
USA
214 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2005 : 10:26:44 PM
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sorry ej, i forgot to warn you they were hard to blow up. so glad you're having fun, even if the hens don't appreciate you. try again tho', sometimes they just need a different tune or could be they're suspect, you being male and all...try the farmgirl back up singers and that oughta do the trick. the cows on the other hand may follow you like the pied piper...i'm with clare...wish we had a video.
"Faith shall finish all that Hope begins."
joan walsh anglund |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2005 : 11:03:56 PM
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Will we be seeing a cd anytime soon from "Eric and the Apronettes" entitled "Songs to Run Afowl By" ,"Swillin' My Swine Tonight" or
my personal favorite "Ruminating Rhythms For Bovine Babes"?!!!
You could be accompanied by "The Fabulous Farmgirl Orchestra"!
with a happy heart |
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Fabulous Farm Femmes
True Blue Farmgirl
792 Posts
Diane
Lakebay, Tacoma
WA
792 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2005 : 01:09:14 AM
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| Bramble, you are hoot!! that cracked me up..especially "Swillin' my swine tonight".Don't know if my singing daughters know that one! |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2005 : 07:55:23 AM
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Now I know why Carol always signs herself as "she laughed and laughed". Anyone working at MJF must laugh all the time. These posts are hilarious! Bramble, you are funny too!
Here's another one for your CD - "Doin' the Bovine Bounce" - it could be one of the faster, catchier, easy to dance to tunes - maybe an 8 on the ole American Bandstand scale!
jpbluesky
heartland girl |
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The Handmaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
214 Posts
Kim
Shreveport
Louisiana
USA
214 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2005 : 08:51:49 AM
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TOO FUNNY, BRAMBLE! and very creative!! and entertaining!I was thinkin' he shouldn't just focus on the animals but include his beloved thistle, as well. Something along the lines of:
My T-H-I-S-T-L-E...is gonna be dyin' Today!...
(sung to the tune of " My D-I-V-O-R-C-E").
I also had a flash back last pm to my cartoon days and remembered a handsome rooster with the voice of Bing Crosby crooning to the hens in the hen house and they all promptly laid an egg and swooned. So that may be the ticket Eric...can you sing 'em alittle Bing?
"Faith shall finish all that Hope begins."
joan walsh anglund |
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goalieboy
True Blue Farmgirl
69 Posts
erik
moscow
id
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2005 : 5:54:07 PM
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Yes, Bing is how i sing.
But i only go whistling, when i go a thistling.
Actually the thistle aren't too bad at the moment. Emil, MJ & I got them all cut before they were able to bloom or seed and they pretty much gave up for the season. We went gonzo with the sythe and hoe right before Farm Fair in late June and have only needed to comb it a couple more times more in a few hot spots. There's been a few stragglers trying to sneak out and reproduce that we are careful to discourage, but really, it's been pretty easy going. Last year i waited too long, some of them got to bloom and i fought them into the fall. Since there's no seed floating around i'm hopeful that there may be even less to deal with next summer. Not that i''ll doubt it redoubling it's efforts at another invasion. I've noticed a lot of the commercial growers in the Palouse still have quite a few thistle, even with the supposed aid of chemistry. The stuff is scary, too, 'cause i've seen a number of fields where it's just taken over.
Here's an old Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin tune for all you Bovine Babes out there:
Long ago
and far away...
i chewed my cud one day...
but now my sweet corn's here before me...
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Reading Room: Music Room |
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Music Room
