When we think of White Christmas, we naturally think of the great music and the comedy and all the elements that made that movie the classic that it is. What's not as readily apparent, though, is that these characters do a lot of eating. There's food all over this movie. We can't always tell what it is … Continue reading I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas Sandwich
Songs, Schtick and Not Much Else
Remember the 1941 Abbott and Costello movie, Buck Privates? Maybe. Remember 1942's Private Buckaroo? No? There's a good reason for that. Two, actually. One, it stinks. Two, it has no plot, but we'll do our best. It all opens at a club, where Henry James is giving out with Helen Forrest and his orchestra on "You Made Me … Continue reading Songs, Schtick and Not Much Else
Stage To Screen: The Music Man
Few Broadway shows can touch The Music Man. It's probably in the top ten of the most well-known musical comedies, or just musicals in general. It's rousing, it's funny, it's winkingly naughty, it has a lot of cool plays on words, it feels like yesteryear. Most of all, who hasn't wanted to go marching out of the … Continue reading Stage To Screen: The Music Man
Five Reasons To See “White Christmas”
Few holiday movies are as iconic as 1954's White Christmas. Even those who haven't seen it all the way through have probably glimpsed it while channel-surfing. It's always somewhere. The film came about because Paramount felt it was time for another Berlin tour-de-force, and the prestigious songwriter was happy to comply. Conveniently enough, he was able … Continue reading Five Reasons To See “White Christmas”
Proud Olivia
Ms. de Havilland is back... In the nineteen-fifties, Olivia de Havilland was married and living in Paris with her husband and two children, but she still made films now and then. In 1958 she starred in The Proud Rebel opposite Alan Ladd. A somewhat gentle story for a western, the film follows a Confederate veteran as … Continue reading Proud Olivia
Taking Up Room 