I Love Your Funny Face...

Saw Funny Face (1957) and fell in love with the beautiful Stanley Donen direction and amazing George and Ira Gershwin songs like "S'Wonderful and How Long Has This Been Going On?". Plus it has Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire in it. Both. There. At. The. Same. Time. And Audrey is playing an assistant in a bookshop. This film is full of "Well, that's something you don't see every day!", moments, and it is pretty awesome.

The story is that Head of a "Vogue" equivalent fashion magazine, "Quality", Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson) needs a good model for their spread for the intelligent woman who likes clothes spread, and finds Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn), an assistant at a psychology bookshop while using the shop for a shoot. Photographer, Dick Avery discovers her and convinces her to join the modelling world by breaking the news to her that she will be modelling in Paris, where she has always wanted to go and see her favourite lecturer. But when they arrive in Paris there is lots of other things that she wants to do besides modelling, but she finds herself falling head over heels for Dick Avery. But can everything work out with the entry of lecturer Professor Emile Flostre (Michael Auclair)?

It was such a sweet movie. While not one of my favourite Audrey Hepburn or Fred Astaire films, it still manages to rank pretty high just by it's nice atmosphere and all. I love the classic "Think Pink" scene where all the doors are painted pink and all of Ms. Prescott's minions don pink garb and one even dyes their hair pink (according to my sister, I didn't catch it though.) just like the amazing Kate Gabrielle, who rocks her new pink locks! (Hey, I'm a poet and I didn't know it!)

Pink toothpaste. Hmmmm.

I just love the songs in this film. I play the ukulele and sing and recently I've taken to covering classic musical / jazz standards on it and singing a cool arrangement and this film is full of great songs to do that with :-) I particularly love, "How long Has This Been Going On?" which I'd already heard either Dinah Washington or Billie Holiday cover, and it was nice to hear Audrey Hepburn singing it, as for My Fair Lady she is dubbed over.

Fred Astaire is amazing as usual. Me and two other close school-friends have established the Fred Astaire appreciation society.

This mainly consists of random conversations about how awesome it is that he danced on ceilings and how we wish we were Ginger Rogers. As you can tell, me and my friends are top of the cool list at school. As some of the boys in my class would say, "Yeez, innit blad!"

I. Want. This. Dress. So. Bad.

Now, I'm off to Greece tomorrow morning for two and a half weeks, and I'll miss you all so much!!! We managed to bag a brand new Audrey Hepburn box-set in English disc region compatibility which is great because my favourites like Sabrina, Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady are on american DVDs which don't work on my dad's laptop and now the new ones will work! I also came across an old penguin copy of Dasheil Hammet's "The Thin Man" (also known as the base upon the amazing William Powell and Myna Loy legend was built) and shall read that over the break! Also, just wanted to recommend "The Help" which I just read and my mum is about to start. I don't mention books a lot on this blog, but this book was super good :-)

No, I won't be fishing.

There should be posts a-plenty when I get back as I am free and on 6 weeks summer holiday as of now, so should have loads of time and ideas. See you in a bit!

~Bette

Photo Of The Day

Fred Astaire in Ziegfeld Follies (1946). Scanned from my book, "Hollywood Colour Portraits" by John Kobal.

He looks so happy! Just look at that pink! I think Fred Astaire is possibly one of the most amazingly and utterly fantastic dancers/actors/singers. I read that his original screentest had these notes attached to it: "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little." Boy those notes were wrong! I love all of his roles except I probably shouldn't really like Jervis Pendleton in Daddy Long Legs, a bit creepy.

I'm off to go and see Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and no doubt it'll be as random as they usually are, but I can think of worse ways to spend two and a half hours than watching Johnny Depp run around beaches and steer a ship as Capt. Jack Sparrow. 

~Bette

My Top 5 On Screen Couples

Here is a list of my all time top 6 on screen couples, in reverse order.
6. Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy:
One of the most tragic off screen romances as well as one of the most heartwarming on screen ones. tracy was married to a strict catholic, and a catholic himself, she refused to divorce his wife even though it was well known by the public and his wife that he and Katharine were involved in an affair for most of his marraige.

Favourite On Screen Pairing: Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967)

5. Bette Davis and George Brent:
Dispite brent's not-quite-amazing performances in all of the films that he and Bette starred in (11), the chemistry between them is very good. Perhaps that was helped by the Hollywood legend that they were always in a constant on-off relationship. The chemistry between Bette and a man is only equaled perhaps by Paul Henried (Now, Voyager, Deception), and Gary Merril (All About Eve, Another Man's Poison, and some other English movie I can never remember the name of).

Favourite On Screen Pairing: Dark Victory (1939)

4. Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant:
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman were only paired together in two films, Notorious and Indiscreet. A big mistake in my opinion. They have some strange on screen relationship that is caused by her laid back beauty and his akward charm that you can't force.

Favourite On Screen Pairing: Notorious (1946)

3. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon:
My only fear with the pairings of these two is that they will be soooo cute that I will be forced to go into a coma and never come out. How can you get sweeter? Greer's lovely warmth and Walter's soft lovely speaking voice, create a couple that will have you in tears in minutes, provided that that is what the film is attempting.

Favourite On Screen Pairing: Mrs. Miniver (1942)

2. Judy Garland and Fred Astaire:
I have only seen one film with them in it (Easter Parade, is that all?), and they are so good together that it made me want to cry! Judy crying over the fact that she thinks Ann Miller has run away with Fred Astaire singing "Better Luck Next Time" is soooooo moving.

Favourite On Screen Pairing: Easter Parade (1948)

1. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton:
The first film that I saw with them was Cleopatra, and was so entranced by them (and Richard Burton :D) that me and my mum got my dad "The Taylor And Burton Collection" as a sort of "Thank you in advance for letting us watch these" present, and I have been hooked ever since. When I watch The VIPs and see Richard Burton so upset and Elizabeth trying to show that she is not upset but is really devastated it the saddest thing i've ever seen! They are just romantic beyond words, and their charisma is so wonderful. Definately my tope couple EVAH!

Favourite On Screen Pairing: The VIPs (1963) and The Sandpiper (1965)

Well, that was a hard descision, but in my mind no one beats Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. Here is a funny "Lets prove Joan Crawford wrong" thing that I discovered on Tumblr.

On the set of “Baby Jane” Joan was asked about the differences between herself and Bette Davis, Joan stated: “Bette likes to rant and rave. I just sit and knit. She yelled and I knitted a scarf from Hollywood to Malibu.”

 I rest my case.

~Bette

Newsreels of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

Newsreels of Ginger making imprints at Grauman's Chinese Theater 1939,
receiving her Academy Award 1941,
Fred dancing and introducing his sister Adele at the Stage Door Canteen in London 1944,
Fred dancing on the streets of Paris 1944,
Fred and Ginger at the Oscar's 1967 (mute) and more.

Happy!! Easter Parade (1948).

Easter Parade(1948). Musical. Cast: Judy Garland, Fred Astaire and Ann Miller. featuring music by Irving Berlin, including some of Astaire and Garland's best-known songs, such as "Steppin' Out With My Baby" and "We're a Couple of Swells."

Loved the three musical scenes: first, Ann Miller's tap dance 'Shakin' the Blues Away'. Not only a great song, but a wonderful dance number. Then there is Fred in the toy shop ( blog video). The timing of the dance is fun to watch. Lastly, 'Down the Avenue' is a very cute song. I laugh every time I see Judy Garland and Fred Astaire dressed up as bums!! There are a few laughs, but I mainly watch this movie for the dance numbers. It is a perfect way to celebrate Easter.

The film won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. It also received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical. It was the most successful picture for both Garland and Astaire.

Gene Kelly was originally cast to play Don, but he broke his ankle in a volleyball game. It was his suggestion that he be replaced by Fred Astaire. Cyd Charisse was to play Nadine, but a torn ligament in her knees forced her to drop out. She was replaced by Ann Miller.