Bookworm Room

Follow the Fleet (1936) is one of my favorite Fred and Ginger movies.  Since I belong to the Navy League, and often post about the wonders of the U.S. Navy, I thought that this wonderfully clever Irving Berlin song might be a fun homage to the sailors:

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I was reading the news — none of it good — and desperately felt the need for a little joy and beauty.  This number, from the 1936 movie Swing Time, beautifully brings together one of America’s great popular music composers (Jerome Kern) and two of the most elegant, exciting dancers who ever set tap to [...]

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One of the lesser known gems of MGM’s great musical era is a 1945 Fred Astaire movie called Yolanda and the Thief, with Fred as the thief and Lucille Bremer as Yolanda.  (Lesser know, probably, because it was a huge box office bust with end-of-the-war audiences.)  The plot is paper thin, but the visuals are [...]

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I’m a huge fan of Hollywood musicals, and one of my favorite numbers has long been “Dancing in the Dark,” from the Band Wagon (with Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire).  Turns out it was her favorite too.  Here it is for those of you who haven’t seen it before or haven’t seen it recently: Those [...]

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…and we deserve some beauty in our lives:

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Because they weren’t top billed, many people forget that Fred & Ginger were together in 1933′s Flying Down to Rio, when Ginger was the bigger star.  It’s a wonderfully fun movie, with beautiful location shots from Rio, gorgeous costumes, wild music and great dancing.  Here’s Ginger in a great solo piece:

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