#Best Romantic Songs of 1953

[queer-ragnelle]

Best of Arthurian Queens

Seeking recommendations for media featuring the Queens of Arthuriana?

Here’s a curated collection of Retellings, Films, TV shows, and more ordered alphabetically by Queen and oldest to newest. Each recommendation comes with a brief synopsis and review containing mild spoilers.

All PDFs link to my Google drive, videos to MEGA drive, and can be found on my blog. Each passage adopts the unique spelling of character names as used in the media.

♥ More Best of Masterposts ♥

Guinevere of Camelot

Books

The Defence of Guenevere by William Morris

In this famous poem, Guenevere gets to say her piece before the court and call out by name the individuals that wronged her.

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle

The Story of The Champions of the Round Table by Howard Pyle

The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions by Howard Pyle

The Story of the Grail and The Passing of Arthur by Howard Pyle

Queen Guinevere is regal, powerful, respected, & beloved in this series. The art featuring her is stunning.

Kairo-Kō: A Dirge by Natsume Sōseki

Japanese retelling with poetic prose that really sells the heart wrenching tragedy of Guinevere’s affair with Lancelot & the weight of her serpent crown.

Launcelot & Guenevere by Richard Hovey

A series of plays which showcase Guenevere’s marriage to Arthur & love affair with Launcelot facilitated by Galehaut. Numerous heart wrenching lines.

Guinevere by Sharan Newman

The Chessboard Queen by Sharan Newman

Guinevere Evermore by Sharan Newman

Follows Guinevere for her whole childhood, fleshes out her family, handmaidens, & friends, romantic first meeting with Arthur, magical unicorn, great chemistry with Lancelot, raised Galahad like her own son. One of my favorite portrayals of her ever.

A Camelot Triptych by Norris J. Lacy

A fascinating examination of misogyny’s part in Guinevere’s treatment concerning the Vulgate storyline. Guinevere gets the second of three chapters, but she’s integral to the entire collection. Her portion in the cold, lonely nunnery is heart wrenching & it really sympathizes with her situation to show her humanity & the forces acting against her.

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

A post-Camlann story. While first shown to be living unhappily at the nunnery, Guinevere later reappears as a participant of the Wild Hunt, & gets her own flashback chapter near the end. She’s an integral part of the plot resolution.

Movies

Knights of the Round Table (1953)

Elegant & queenly Guinevere with gorgeous styling & costumes. Childhood friend of Arthur. Gives her favor to Lancelot in exchange for a quaint necklace made from a coin she takes everywhere. Merlin is respectful & kind to Guinevere & has her best interest at heart, never talks about her behind her back to Arthur. Guinevere & Elaine on great terms, Guinevere gets to temporarily foster Galahad after Elaine’s death, & in the end, Arthur never entertained the idea of punishing Guinevere with death for anything.

Sword of Lancelot (1963)

Passion project of Cornel Wilde, who wrote, directed, & stared as Lancelot in the film. Cast his own wife Jean Wallace, to play Guinevere—the chemistry is fire. Many knights of the Round Table that adore Guinevere, including Dagonet who temporarily goes mad/missing after Guinevere’s sentencing to the stake. Well-meaning Arthur who nonetheless fails to uphold Guinevere’s agency & belittles her less than lady-like skillset including hunting, & ultimately loses her to Lancelot for that reason.

Camelot (1967)

Iconic Guinevere. Ride or die with “Wart” before she even knew he was her betrothed, Arthur. She shares in all his dreams & ideas, as a viewer you can feel how valued she is. Cherished by her champion knights, Dinadan, Sagramore, & Lionel. She wasn’t keen on Lancelot at first but obviously falls in love with him as much as Arthur did. Gorgeous costuming & many beautiful songs with her ladies & knights.

Excalibur (1981)

Sweet healer Guinevere who gets along with everyone including Morgan, has a seat at the Round Table, great chemistry with Arthur & Lancelot, beautiful costuming, talented acting.

Merlin and The Sword (1985)

Stunning Guinevere with an alluring deep voice. Awesome chemistry with all characters. Adored by Arthur who is animated & energetic but doesn’t quite “get” her & beloved by Lancelot who stares silently at her & throws himself into danger left & right for her. Pretty dresses & crowns throughout & her dilemma between the two men is especially tough here, which she’s able to explain in her own words which is a rarity.

Camelot: The Legend (1998)

Animated kid’s movie in which Guinevere is entirely devoted to Arthur & has her own interests & goals including gardening at Camelot. She’s taught how to sword fight by Lancelot which comes in handy later when escaping Morgan & Mordred.

Arthur & Merlin: Knights of Camelot (2020)

Powerful Guinevere in a story inspired by Alliterative Morte which leaves her stranded at Camelot with Mordred while Arthur & Lancelot fight in Rome. She refuses to accept Mordred as king & rebuffs his advances, intimidating him with her cold & direct rejections. She also banters with Antigone, Mordred’s accomplice, while remaining regal & poised.

TV Shows

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-57)

Guinevere appears in 11 episodes, has a seat at the Round Table, politically involved & valued by all. Confident & poised. Friends with Gawain, Kay, & Lionel. Great chemistry with Arthur & Lancelot. Matching costumes with Arthur. Socially progressive for the time, including an episode without Arthur in which Guinevere runs a market fair to trade with people from the East.

BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979)

Young innocent Guinevere with a seat at the Round Table, loves Arthur as king but best friends with Lancelot. Framed for killing a knight with poisoned fruit & championed by Lancelot. Beloved by the knights but victim to Morgan, Agravain, & Mordred.

Starz Camelot (2011)

Guinevere in episodes 3-10, engaged to childhood friend Leontes but loves Arthur. Friends with Igraine & Bridget. Her opinion is valued by all, involved in the resolution of several episode plots & overall organization of newly formed Camelot. Advocates for the other women. Helps defend the castle from invaders.

Games

Camelot Crush: A Round Table Dating Sim

Guinevere is one of six characters the player can romance. Adorable art & fun, exciting storyline. Guinevere is lovingly rendered & has a sweet, loving relationship with both Arthur & Lancelot, & potentially the player!

Herzeloyde of Wales

Books

The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions by Howard Pyle

The Prioress, as she's called, isn't here for very long. Yet it's very sweet that on crossing paths with Percival, Lamorack was on his way to visit their mother at the priory. So they go together to visit her, receive her blessing, & talk with her into the night. She survives the narrative!

Parsival - A Knight's Tale by Richard Monaco

This book has her pov, however briefly. It's very haunting to get her perspective on Parsival as he becomes increasingly violent with age & returns to her bloody from the hunt. Overall the book takes a disturbing turn I don't fully recommend it but the beginning is fascinating.

Spear by Nicola Griffith

This version draws on Welsh & Celtic mythology in which Elen has withdrawn from society with her daughter, Peretur, to avoid the wrath of the Tuath Dé after stealing the magic cauldron. It’s revealed later that Elen is the sister of Myrddin & he’s sustained despite Nimuë’s spells as a result of that connection.

Movies

Perceval (1978)

A French adaptation of The Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes set on a stage. Perceval’s mother follows her exact role from the book, cautioning her son about the world, & dying of heartbreak on his departure. She returns at the end as Mother Mary to compliment Perceval as Jesus Christ at the crucifixion. Costuming is colorful & detailed. Bonus points for removal of racism & antisemitism from the text.

TV Shows

Rising Impact (2024)

A cheesy sports anime that stars Gawain—but in season 2, Percival is introduced & both of her parents make an appearance when Gawain comes over for dinner.

Games

Granblue Fantasy

Herzeloyde is the wife of Gahmuret & mother of Aglovale, Lamorak, & Percival. After her death, Gahmuret became obsessed with resurrecting her, which he then passed to Aglovale on his own death.

Igraine of Cornwall

Books

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart

The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart

An interesting take on Ygraine who is married to an older Gorlois but actually consents to the affair with Uther facilitated by Merlin. Very noble & wise, she remains regal throughout her later life & maintains a relationship with Arthur.

Morgan Is My Name by Sophie Keetch

Igraine in love with Gorlois & empowering to their daughters is always an amazing interpretation. She’s a pious woman doing her best by them despite all the forces of the patriarchy working against her.

Movies

Excalibur (1981)

Igraine is introduced during a celebratory party at Tintagel hosted by Gorlois where she dances for the visiting knights. There Uther desires her & conspires with Merlin to have her. She already has her daughter Morgana with her when Arthur is sired & born. The last we see her, she’s screaming for Merlin to return baby Arthur to no avail.

TV Shows

BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979)

Loving Igraine & Gorlois are torn apart immediately when Uther takes a liking to her & demands Gorlois hand her over. When Gorlois refuses, he’s slain, & Igraine is chastised by young Morgan for “giving up so easily.” This Igraine has the saddest expression I’ve ever seen she sells the tragedy. After Arthur is taken by Merlin, Morgan is sent to live in a nunnery while Igraine flees to Orkney to live with her elder daughter Morgause, son-in-law Lot, & grandsons.

Merlin (1998)

Igraine is introduced with husband Gorlois & daughter Morgan after Uther defeated Vortigern. She wears beautiful matching red garments with her family & plainly loves her spouse & child. She’s heartbroken when Gorlois leaves her to fight Uther & freaked out when he “returns” after the battle to sire Arthur on her. Truly a victim of a tragic narrative.

Starz Camelot (2011)

This is the Igraine of all time. She’s in 9/10 episodes! A complex character that really highlights the struggles a woman goes through in her time caught between powerful men. Her approach is criticized by Morgan, her step-daughter, who berates her “weakness” in “allowing” Uther to kill her husband & take her to wife. Igraine tries to counsel Guinevere in her worries over marrying Leontes despite loving Arthur, befriends Ector after the death of his wife & the foster-mother of Arthur, & she does all she can to help Camelot succeed. Beautiful costuming & styling with intricate crowns & circlets to indicate her status as dowager queen. The acting is incredible especially during the magical body transformation that results in scenes portraying Eva Green’s Morgan pretending to be Claire Forlani’s Igraine. She ate. Phenomenal.

Comics

King Arthur: Legends of Logres by shoulderangel

Ongoing webcomic with a major focus on Igraine. She harbors a lot of anger toward Uther & trauma surrounding the ordeal which carried over to the relationship with Arthur. She slowly heals over the course of the story & rebuilds her connection with her son.

Isolde of Ireland

Books

The Story of the Champions of the Round Table by Howard Pyle

Belle Isoult is lovingly portrayed here & beloved by both Tristram & Palamydes. She's a skilled healer & raised by her bold mother to be an independent thinker. I love that she has black hair, it stands out compared to her other portrayals!

Restoring Palamede by John Erskine

Such an interesting & nuanced Isolde. She does switch places with Brangaine to avoid a wedding night with Mark but it feels less insidious here. Isolde’s relationship caught between Tristan/Palamede/Mark doesn’t feel misogynistic or as if she’s a plot device. Feels like a person who’s in an unhappy marriage, in love with Tristan, & great friends with Palamede. I especially liked that she was allowed to feel vulnerable, even depressive, & that Palamede was concerned enough to forego ceremony to make sure she wasn’t hurt. It’s a testament to their friendship.

The Ballad of Sir Dinadan by Gerald Morris

Not a particularly kind portrayal of Isolde considering it’s Dinadan point of view, but I still felt her love affair with Tristram was engaging & the ending did get to me even if the reader knew it would end badly. For some reason her manner of death shocked me. It was different & that stands out. It truly felt tragic.

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

Isolde the Blond only shows up in Palomides flashbacks, but his first encounter with her blew me away. Loved her description of having a slight overbite, we love normal teeth in historical fiction. But what really stands out is after Palomides slaughters a bunch of would-be rapists, Isolde is alone among the ladies undisturbed by the gore & cleans Palomide’s blade before handing it back to him. I understood in that moment. It would work on me too.

Movies

Lovespell (1981)

Isolt is introduced while hawking & gives some guy sass for trying to tell her what to do. Turns out that was Mark visiting Ireland & they hit it off despite the age gap. Later Tristan comes to pick up Isolt but he’s played by Nicholas Clay so obviously she falls in love with him. Bronwyn is a creepy sorceress hag who gives a love potion to Isolt to use with Mark but she uses it with Tristan.

Fire and Sword (1981)

Truly the most unhinged Isolde ever. The closest to her medieval counterpart I’ve encountered. The only person Isolde loves more than Tristan is Isolde. She’s also magical & sort of manipulates the story with that.

Tristan & Isolde (2006)

Adorable Isolde who lost her mother young & hangs out with older matron in waiting Bragnae. Rescues Tristan off the beach like a rotting fish & strips naked to hold him for warmth. So she has some of that unhinged energy. Tristan kills Morholt & accidentally wins Isolde for Mark but since Mark is played by Rufus Sewell, & he’s essentially Arthur here, he’s too good. A legit love triangle without the excuse of a love potion to fall back on. Sucks to be them!

TV Shows

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-57)

In episode 5, Mark captures Lancelot. Isolde is vocally opposed to her husband’s methods & when tending Lancelot’s injuries in his jail cell, slips him a knife. At the end she is granted leave of her husband, & goes with Tristan to her new castle.

Morgan le Fay of Rheged

Books

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle

The Story of The Champions of the Round Table by Howard Pyle

The Story of Launcelot and His Companions by Howard Pyle

The Story of the Grail and The Passing of Arthur by Howard Pyle

Morgana is the mischievous sister of Arthur, wife of Urien, & mother of Ewaine. She steals Arthur’s scabbard & returns it to the Lady of the Lake. She’s one of four queens who imprisons Launcelot & attempts to lay a spell on him to spite Arthur. At the end, she bears Arthur away on a ship to Avalon. The artwork throughout is beautiful. While antagonistic, she gets silly with it, threatening to curse the land with an evil worm after a magical ring doesn’t fit her finger. Despite her misdeeds, Ewaine always associates himself with his mother.

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck

The best Morgan with her own chapter! She’s cunning, ruthless, diabolical, & kind of silly when she disguises herself as a rock. It’s hilarious how blind Arthur is to her attempts on his life & blasé attitude about punishing her. Morgan tries to kill her husband, gaslights her son Ewain into believing he didn’t see what he saw, then still asks Guinevere’s permission to leave court. Goofy poltics. Later in Ewain’s chapter, he describes his mother most lovingly. It’s a compelling way to paint Morgan as a multi-dimensional character even when she’s off page.

Idylls of the Queen by Phyllis Ann Karr

Morgan helps Kay & Mordred in their investigation to track down the culprit who framed Guinevere for murder. She’s friends with Nimuë, who helps facilitate the meeting. Morgan’s an interesting mix of Christian & mystic, using magic to temporarily rewind time & show the knights events that took place the night of the murder. She’s manic & clever, I loved every word of her on the page.

Morgan Is My Name by Sophie Keetch

Le Fay by Sophie Keetch

This series is yet incomplete with a third book to come, but the first two are solid. Opens with Morgan’s birth & follows through all the events of her life from losing her parents Igraine & Gorlois to Uther, both her sisters Morgause & Elaine to their husbands Lot & Nentres, & eventually her own freedom when she’s sent to a nunnery. By book 2 she’s married to Urien & has her son, Yvain, who she adores & attempts to do right by. But her bitterness toward Arthur & Urien poisons the relationship. A compelling Morgan with anger issues & a kind of stale but sweet romance with Accolon that ends in tragedy.

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

Complicated Morgan who got to speak her mind explaining where her complicated bitterness toward Arthur came from. She lives in the Otherworld with the fairies & Green Knight. She’s keeping Arthur sort of alive after Camlann in Avalon & participates in the Wild Hunt. She has an amazing end game situationship with Palomides. Biggest gripe was Collum pilfered her son’s backstory with the lion but oh well.

Movies

Knights of the Round Table (1953)

Morgan is the wedlock daughter of Uther, sister of Arthur, who believes her claim to the throne is stronger & wants Mordred to be king. She’s the ringleader for all of Mordred & Agravaine’s plans, coaches them on all they should do, & stirs the pot on her own whenever possible, purposefully putting Guinevere into awkward positions. The costuming is amazing, all her veils & dresses are beautiful. She’s so catty here & her rivalry with Merlin is funny.

Excalibur (1981)

Iconic Morgana. Starts with her as a child who witnesses Uther in the guise of her father come to her mother & knows him for who he is. It’s said multiple times she watches with her father Gorlois’s eyes, through her, he haunts the narrative. She learns magic from Merlin & eventually uses that to seal him away & beguile Arthur into siring Mordred. She then raises Mordred all while tormenting the grail knights. Stunning costumes, veils & crowns, even armored bodice looks. Sexiest Morgana ever.

Merlin and The Sword (1985)

Funky redhead Morgan with the most perfect evil laugh. Her black feathered costume hints at her ability to turn into a crow. Auntie Morgan, as she’s called, coaches her nephew Mordred on how to work his way closer to his father Arthur while he & Agravain antagonize Lancelot & Guinevere. She conspires with some Pict warriors to have Guinevere kidnapped. She holds Ninian’s father hostage to get her to turn against Merlin. She’s a powerful sorceress with many abilities including potion making & summoning a dragon.

TV Shows

The Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949)

Morgan is a magic user who aids Galahad on his quest to recover Excalibur. She helps him avoid Merlin’s machinations & breaks him out of prison with the use of quirky spells.

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-57)

Returning after many years of banishment by her brother Arthur, Morgan appears in episode 26 with her son, Rupert. She hopes that helping him cheat will guarantee him a seat at the Round Table & secure her return to court.

BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979)

First episode opens with Morgan & her parents, Igraine & Gorlois, as Uther makes his untoward intentions known. Morgan loves her parents & never forgives Uther for killing her father & taking her mother. She learns magic from Merlin & kills Uther, after which she’s sent to a nunnery while her mother goes to live with Morgause in Orkney. She returns later as an inconspicuous nun Arthur never suspects of treachery & holds a seat at the Round Table after the death of Merlin. She teams up with Accolon to steal Excalibur’s scabbard & coaches her nephews Agravain & Mordred to stir trouble at court. Understated acting with subtle but intense emotion behind it.

Merlin (1998)

Morgan is introduced alongside her parents, Igraine & Gorlois, when they come to pay homage to Uther. She’s got a cute speech impediment she maintains into adulthood & has a heartbreaking Hector/Astyanax moment while wearing Gorlois’s helmet before he heads out to die against Uther. She formulates a long term relationship with the fairy Frik & eventually gets pregnant with Mordred by Arthur in an attempt to take the throne. She’s played by Helena Bonham Carter who ate the role up & looked like a stunning mall goth the whole time.

Starz Camelot (2011)

My favorite Morgan in anything ever. Immediately murders Uther. She’s ruthless & determined, evil & sly & clever while also continuously screwing up & having to recalibrate all her plans to undermine Arthur’s rule. Stunning costuming, styling of hair & jewelry. Eva Green’s acting is insane here. Morgan’s magic weighs on her like a curse, the generational trauma is palpable, & she maintains complex relationships with all the women in the story including Vivian, Sybil, Igraine, & Guinevere. She forms a temporary alliance with Lot that was very sexy.

Games

Camelot Crush: A Round Table Dating Sim

Morgan is an NPC character the player can encounter in game. Adorable art & fun dialogue!

Morgause of Orkney

Books

The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions by Howard Pyle

Margaise is minimal, but she & her husband Lot loves spoil Gareth rotten. Margaise brings Gareth to her bower where she tells him it's time he went to her brother's kingdom to join the Round Table with his brothers who "shine forth like bright planets in the midst of a galaxy of stars." She loves her children dearly.

The Marriage of Guenevere by Richard Hovey

Morgause is so sneaky here insinuating herself into Guenevere’s confidence to try & break apart her marriage with Arthur before it even begins. She tricks Ladinas, a knight of the Round Table, to do her bidding, dragging Guenevere’s brother Peredure along with them. Gawaine is only sixteen here & not yet fully assuming a position he can combat this. OC collateral damage be damned I support women’s wrongs.

Holy Isle by James Bridie

This play has an incredible Margause that rules the roost in Orkney. She’s “a tall, sinisterly beautiful woman” with no fear or uncertainty. Everyone except wifeguy Lot is afraid of her & she takes full advantage. Margause can read & Lot cannot so she directs him on how to handle matters of state. She ends up stowing away in a ship to a new island to insinuate herself into the goings on there. She’s dubbed “Queen” by the locals in lieu of her name.

The Book of Mordred by Peter Hanratty

Witch Morgause meets a tragic end rather quickly, but she loves Mordred & bends over backwards to protect him from her fate.

The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf

Morgause plays a small part compared to her sister Morgan, but Morgause raises her nephew Mordred as her own to keep him hidden from Arthur. She’s kind & considerate. After Lot dies, she marries Pellinore, who helps raise her children. After Pellinore dies, she marries Lamorak. She survives the narrative! Gaheris, who had been helping his mother run the estate, arrives at the final battle to secure the victory.

Morgan Is My Name by Sophie Keetch

Le Fay by Sophie Keetch

This series focuses on Morgause’s little sister, Morgan, but they have an interesting dynamic that Morgause teases Morgan by calling her “Morgana” to annoy her which inspired the series name. Morgause happily married young handsome Lot to become a queen which was refreshing. She also stepped up when Morgan needed protecting/explanation about Uther’s behavior toward their mother. Overall a rare positive portrayal.

Movies

Camelot (1998)

Morgause is one of the ladies of the lake whom Arthur meets during his childhood growing up in Avalon. She teaches him to dance & they fall in love & marry. It’s not indicated whether they are siblings at all, but it seems they aren’t. She’s the mother of Mordred who later comes to Camelot after Arthur had left to marry Guinevere.

Excalibur Kid (1999)

A plan hatched by Morgause results in Zack pulling the sword from the stone before Arthur can. She is ultimately fouled when Zack realizes the plot & foils her plans. Her costuming is cute & the actress is a pretty redhead with a sassy interpretation of the character.

TV Shows

BBC Merlin (2008-12)

Morgause is introduced in season 2 when she enters a tournament in full armored disguise. She summons Igraine’s ghost to explain to Arthur the true circumstances of her death & Uther’s culpability. Arthur doesn’t take this to heart & ultimately drives Morgause (& Morgana) to oppose him before the end.

Games

Granblue Fantasy

Morgause is the widow of Lot & mother of Gawain & Florence. She’s a powerful sorceress who developed a magical defense spell & took on trainees Florence & Lamorak.

[justforbooks]

In the childhood memories of more than one generation, Glynis Johns, who has died aged 100, will be best remembered as the Edwardian materfamilias of the hugely popular Walt Disney musical Mary Poppins (1964). Winifred Banks, married to David Tomlinson’s George W Banks, is the mother of Jane and Michael, the children in the care of the magical nanny played by Julie Andrews. A protester for the right to vote, Winifred delivers a spirited rendition of the song Sister Suffragette – “Our daughters’ daughters will adore us. And they’ll sing in grateful chorus: ‘Well done, Sister Suffragette!’” – as the children’s previous nanny tries to quit.

But the husky-voiced actor had other claims to fame from her more than 60 films and 30 stage productions. In 1973, Stephen Sondheim composed the song Send in the Clowns for Johns when she was cast in the leading role of the premiere production of his musical A Little Night Music, on Broadway. And she had won initial stardom in the British cinema as a mermaid.

In the title role of the film comedy Miranda (1948), she travels from Cornwall to London and causes romantic complications among the Chelsea set. Although the film’s whimsy may now seem strained, it was a great commercial success in its day, making Johns a top-liner in British movies. Miranda returned in a rather belated sequel, Mad About Men (1954).

By that time, Johns had moved almost completely from stage to films, where she was associated chiefly with lightweight roles, alternately fluffy and feisty. One of her most appealing opportunities came in the thriller State Secret (1950, released as The Great Manhunt in the US), playing a cabaret artiste in a fictitious Balkan country, and gamely singing Paper Doll in a wholly invented language.

It says something for her properties of youthfulness that at the age of 30 she could play a teenage schoolgirl in the melodrama Personal Affair (1953). The same year she played in two fanciful Walt Disney British productions, as Mary Tudor in The Sword and the Rose, and as the heroine wife of Rob Roy, and she went on to make her first Hollywood picture, the Danny Kaye comedy The Court Jester, in 1955. The following year she played a cameo role in the star-studded Around the World in 80 Days.

At the time Johns alternated between American and British films, generally in subordinate roles, but a rewarding one came in The Sundowners (1960), set in Australia, as a jolly barmaid who takes a shine to a visiting Englishman played by Peter Ustinov. It brought her an Oscar nomination as best supporting actress. Top billing came in a stylish horror movie, The Cabinet of Caligari (1962). She was well enough known to American audiences by this time to star in 1963 in Glynis, a TV sitcom series that ran for just one season.

In 1966 Johns returned to the London stage in The King’s Mare, as Anne of Cleves to Keith Michell’s Henry VIII. Her Welsh heritage came into play when she took the role of Myfanwy Price in a screen version of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood (1971) starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O’Toole, and two years later came her great Broadway success as Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music, which brought her a Tony award.

Glynis came from a show business background: her mother, Alice Steele (nee Wareham), was a concert pianist who performed under the name Alys Steele-Payne, and her father was the prolific character actor Mervyn Johns. He was a stalwart in particular of Ealing Studios films: father and daughter appeared together in an Ealing drama, The Halfway House (1944).

Though her vocal intonations pointed to her Welshness, Glynis was born in Pretoria, South Africa, where her parents were on tour. She was reportedly carried on to the stage at the age of three weeks, and it was not too much longer before she was appearing there in a professional capacity, making her performing debut at the Garrick theatre, London, as a dancer in a revue called Buckie’s Bears (1935).

Educated at Clifton high school, Bristol, and South Hampstead high school and the Cone School of Dancing in London, she rapidly graduated to juvenile acting roles in both theatre and cinema. Her first screen appearance came at the age of 14, as politician Ralph Richardson’s troublesome daughter in South Riding (1938), and on stage she was the young sister, another Miranda, in Esther McCracken’s comedies Quiet Wedding (1938) and Quiet Weekend (1941).

That year brought the opportunity to appear in the film 49th Parallel, starring Leslie Howard and Laurence Olivier in a spy thriller intended to bolster second world war support in the US. When the prospect of playing a mermaid came after the war, she was able to draw on her theatrical versatility: “I was quite an athlete, my muscles were strong from dancing, so the tail was just fine. I swam like a porpoise.”

Johns returned to the London stage in 1977, as Terence Rattigan’s choice to play the murderer Alma Rattenbury in his well-received dramatisation of the Rattenbury case, Cause Célèbre. Her acting appearances became sporadic, though in 1989 she starred with Rex Harrison and Stewart Granger on Broadway in Somerset Maugham’s The Circle.

She was occasionally a guest star in US television series such as Murder She Wrote and The Love Boat, and played Diane’s rich mother, Helen Chambers, in the first series of Cheers (1983) and Trudie Pepper in the sitcom Coming of Age (1988-89). By the time of her final films, While You Were Sleeping (1995) and Superstar (1999), she was a characterful grandmother.

Johns was married and divorced four times. Her first husband, from 1942 to 1948, was the actor Anthony Forwood. Their son, Gareth, also an actor, died in 2007. Marriages to two businessmen followed: David Foster, from 1952 to 1956, and Cecil Henderson, from 1960 to 1962. She was married to Elliott Arnold, a novelist, from 1964 to 1973, and is survived by a grandson and three great-grandchildren.

🔔 Glynis Margaret Payne Johns, actor, born 5 October 1923; died 4 January 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[scotianostra]

Folk singer Nick Keir was born in Edinburgh 14th March 1953.

Nick was born into an established Edinburgh family business, David Keir and Sons. He was never cut out to be a businessman and resolutely pursued his life as a poet and dreamer. He was one of the first intake at the new University of Stirling in 1971 and it was there that he developed his performance as a folk singer. He formed the folk-rock band Finn Mac Cuill in 1972. With the Finn McCuill Folkshow he toured Scotland with the poet Norman McCaig and had many wry anecdotes of those times. He then joined the leftist theatre group 7:84. In 1982, he was invited to join the McCalmans and remained with them for the next 30 years until the band dissolved, touring all over the world as one of the best known and most successful Scottish Traditional acts. In 2004 , together with the group, Nick was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame on the occasion of being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Prize at the Scottish Folk Awards, and in 2005 the group received the Danish Folk Music Prize at the Skagen Festival.

After the McCalmans, Nick performed across Europe with the acclaimed Tolkien Ensemble, presenting a musical spectacular with Sir Christopher Lee in The Lord of the Rings. He also played with the Holbaek Ensemble of Denmark playing an exciting mix of Scots and Irish Traditional music laced with the Baroque of Correlli and Vivaldi. He also found time to do four solo cds, the song American Accent being on the second release “All over this town”

In 2012 he was diagnosed with a serious illness and courageously battled on, delivering his final masterly performance in the Spring of this year at the Queens Hall, the McCalman’s home venue and within yards of where he had grown up and lived nearly all his life.

A modest and infinitely courteous man, his songs and music could capture the spirit of Edinburgh through the eyes of an unashamed romantic.

Close your eyes, listen to Fires of Edinburgh, and imagine yourself there wandering through the cobblestone streets, getting lost in the closes, staring up the volcanic rock of the castle walls, and sitting down for a pint in the back room of a pub, where a kind man with a penny whistle plays an old air for a lost friend.

It's a fantastic song be a very talented man.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[sailorblossoms-snowbaz]

The Same Old Story – list of media mentioned

When I wrote this, I incorporated lines from films in the story. I didn’t want to mention the name of the film if it didn’t feel natural for the character to mention it, so here’s a list for anyone who reads it and it’s interested (and also to have a link to include at the end of the fic lol). I’m also adding everything that inspired me in some way (that I remember) 

Chapter 1: 

As time goes by – It’s the theme song of the romance in Casablanca (1942)

Not ever explicitly referenced, but Laura (1944) inspired me when I was picking the elements: the portrait, a woman in front of her vanity as danger looms, and it’s what got me thinking about clocks. If another movie influenced me here… I don’t remember lol 

Chapter 3: 

The window idea was inspired in part by a scene reading from Maurice (1987). I’m totally going by memory here, I might be wrong about the details. Skip the italicized quote if you’re planning to watch it and don’t want the ending spoiled!

Steel bars from windows are often used to frame a character who is feeling caged or trapped in some way. (Or wooden bars, I remember Hitchcock using a stair to accomplish this in Shadow of a Doubt.) In the ending, Hugh Grant’s character (who is afraid of being outed/an outcast and married a woman for a better political position iirc) is closing the windows, but then he stops in front of one to contemplate his past romance with the titular character Maurice. He doesn’t close it: he’s wistfully remembering a simpler time (schoolboy days).

The visual language is communicating that he’s doing so from the inside of a cage. In the very last shoot of the film, we see husband and wife, behind bars. The steel bars remain so very visible (the fact that they’re white really makes them pop). Heteronormativity is a prison!

Chapter 4: 

The lonely people quote is from A Stolen Life (1946) (not the one from 2018, pretty sure that one doesn’t have Evil Twins. It certainly doesn’t have Bette Davis, which is a point against it)

Chapter 5:

I was thinking of Shadow of a Doubt (1943) when I decided I wanted to have a scene with a car in a garage. However, it ended up not being dangerous and more being about Feelings. 

Chapter 6:

I mention it in the chapter: Sullivan’s Travel (1941) There’s this neat little bit of commentary in the film that I used. 

The leading lady is never named in the film. When the credits roll, Veronica Lake’s character is simply “The Girl” – says a lot. 

Chapter 7:

The title Mad About The Boy is a song about developing feelings for a male film star, written in the 30s by Noël Coward (who was gay) but if I’m not mistaken, most famously performed by Dinah Washington in 1961 (which is the version I listened to the most). A banger, if you ask me. 

Chapter 8:

They’re watching The Lady Eve (1941) a movie where Barbara Stanwyck makes a fool out of Henry Fonda’s character for more than an hour and still gets her bag at the end. I wanted to use a Film Noir with her at first but I figured a more overly romantic movie fitted better here. 

Chapter 9: 

Prisoner of Love (1946) is the name of the song the husband hears. Perry Como’s version. 

They’re watching Sweet Smell of Success (1957). Why this movie? Because I wanted to use this: “You’re dead, son. Get yourself buried.” –  an absolute banger of a line said by an absolute psychopath of a character says before hanging up. And here I made it horny and gay.

Chapter 10:

I mentioned in the chapter: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). The title is part of the iconic Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend. I also mention Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston. "Loving yourself is the greatest love of all” – a message best heard performed live by the voice.

Chapter 12:

They’re watching Leaver Her To Haven (1945). Movie is wild as hell and in technicolor! It also influences most of what happens in the chapter. 

Chapter 13:

They’re watching City of the Dead (1960) also known as Horror Hotel. 

Chapter 14:

They’re watching The Apartment (1960). A Movie!!! This is Cinema, to me. This is a comedy, and it also just fucks you up. I might or might not have teared up multiple times while watching it.

Chapter 15:

Gaslight (1944) inspired the final scene in the house. It’s part of what inspired the whole fic in the first place, and it was one of the very first scenes I wrote (even though the final version is very different from my first draft). Since I did this first I knew everything that happened in the house would lead to this moment, but i didn’t sweat it. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, we can still say “the typos and mistakes we find along the way” are The Real horror (I didn’t have a beta and didn’t proofread with fresh eyes!).

And that’s all! (I think)

As a bonus, I wanted to use this quote from All About Eve (1950) (and bring up Bette Davis, an actress whose audiences were drawn to for her portrayal of unlikable women – something I would’ve used with Agatha, a character who can come across as unlikeable, which I think it’s an interesting part of her that both humanizes her and makes her go against trope) but alas, I couldn’t find the space for it. So my intentions shall live here: 

“Lloyd, honey, be a playwright with guts. Write me one about a nice, normal woman who just shoots her husband.” 

[byneddiedingo]

Is there anything better than Astaire singing Gershwin? And in Funny Face he sings five Gershwin songs with his impeccable phrasing and musicianship, which in itself would be enough to make this one of the great film musicals. Okay, maybe it's not up there with the best of the Astaire-Rogers films or The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953), but it's close enough. And he dances, too, with the same grace and vitality at the age of 58 as when he was much, much younger, especially in his great solo performance of "Let's Kiss and Make Up" and his duet with Kay Thompson on "Clap Yo' Hands." So Audrey Hepburn isn't in the same league as Ginger Rogers or Cyd Charisse as a dance partner, but she had studied ballet when she was much younger and her solo number parodying modern dance moves is one of the film's highlights. As a singer, she's a good actress, by which I mean that her big solo number, "How Long Has This Been Going On?", is memorable because of the way she sells the concept of innocence awakening to ecstasy, greatly aided by a big yellow hat and Ray June's gorgeous color cinematography. It's clear that she had a small, untrained singing voice, which is why Marni Nixon had to be called in to dub her in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964), a role that makes demands she probably couldn't have met vocally. There are those who are bothered by the nearly 30-year age discrepancy between Astaire and Hepburn, but she spent much of her career playing opposite much older men like Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, and Cary Grant -- in her prime in the 1950s and early '60s, there were very few leading men her age who could match her star power. Some critics also object to the film's mockery of French intellectuals -- Pauline Kael calls the lecherous philosopher played by Michel Auclair "a sour idea" -- but that's probably asking too much of the conventions of romantic comedy. The screenplay is by Leonard Gershe, but the real heroes of the film are Astaire, Hepburn, Thompson, June, Roger Edens in his dual role as producer and composer, costume designers Edith Head and Hubert de Givenchy, photographer Richard Avedon as "visual consultant," and most of all Stanley Donen, who not only directed but shared choreography duties with Astaire and Eugene Loring.

FUNNY FACE (1957) — dir. Stanley Donen

[sheetmusiclibrarypdf]

Best of Clifford Brown In Paris (1953)

Best of Clifford Brown In Paris (1953)TRACK LIST: Best Sheet Music download from our Library. Please, subscribe to our Library. Thank you! Clifford Brown

Best of Clifford Brown In Paris (1953)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Fdd5V-h0U

TRACK LIST: 00:00 - Blue and Brown 03:09 - The song is you 06:01 - Minority 11:31 - Keepin' up with Jonesy 18:40 - Strictly romantic 23:00 - You're a lucky guy 25:46 - Brown skins 31:54 - Come rain or come shine 36:07 - Salute to the band box 41:52 - It might as well be spring 46:51 - Goofin' with me 51:41 - All the things you are 55:35 - Baby 01:01:22 - All weird 01:06:39 - Conception 01:10:00 - I cover the waterfront 01:14:02 - Deltitnu 01:17:39 - Quick Step 01:20:23 - Bum’s Rush 01:23:36 - No Start No End 01:35:22 - Venez donc chez moi Clifford Brown is one of the greatest trumpet players in jazz history. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, but his influence on generations of trumpet players and musicians has been considerable. Clifford Brown was a virtuoso, an amazing and brilliant technician of the trumpet. His music is modern and completely timeless. This is a “best of” the songs that he recorded in Paris during memorable sessions that featured some of the greatest talents of all time: Gigi Gryce, Quincy Jones, Art Farmer, Jimmy Cleveland. The sound on this program has been digitally re-mastered to achieve what is perhaps the finest sound quality ever.

Clifford Brown

The trumpeter, Clifford Brown (October 30, 1930, Wilmington, Delaware, United States – June 26, 1956, Turnpike, Pennsylvania, United States), was born 30 October 1930, and at 22 years old, already was a star of the trumpet and had worked with Tadd Dameron, Art Blakey, and Lionel Hampton. With the vibraphonist was even a European tour of which, fortunately, are testimonies record. At the age of 23, he made the first recordings to his name (especially significant, was the topic of: "Easy Living" for the label, Blue Note), and the following year he was already in the training that gave him fame and prestige in the world of jazz: the quintet that formed in the drummer, Max Roach. The year was 1954 and the quintet that both musicians have put in place, and that lasted until the tragic death in a traffic accident in the trumpeter the June 28, 1964, was one of the props must-haves of the hard bop, a style that was born as a result of the summation of the bebop and the need to recover the roots of jazz, and in a certain way remade by certain instrumentalists white tucked under the formula of cool on the West Coast of the U.S. The impression that you made that quintet was extraordinarily positive. The first recordings for the label: Emarcy, was made on 2 August 1954 and the last on February 17, 1956. What contributed, Clifford Brown jazz? Based on the concise formal Fats Navarro had been applied to the bebop, Clifford released his music of the bands metric, applied to the variability of the volume, and it solved the problem of the subject in the sense of recovering the "story to tell" as the basis of the just, an item quite lost in the abstractions of the bebop; he created a sound open, sensual and virile, more of a tenor sax that of a trumpet, and helped to restore the figure of the soloist, composer, very important from then on, and what is fundamental, with a sound exquisitely trumpet-like. After the untimely and tragic death of Clifford – was only 26 years old - his albums are included among the best albums of the hard bop. Read the full article

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 12 February 1953

Coming up for Valentine's Day 1953, are we in a romantic mood with the charts? Two familiar voices will decide:

Everything I Have is Yours - Eddie Fisher (peaked at No 8)

Yes, we are in a romantic mood, with this song about Eddie Fisher's absolutedevotion to his love. Like a lot of the more straightforward love songs we've seen so far, this one seems pretty Route A, it really doesn't muck around.

The title tells you everything you need to know, really. Eddie would give his love anything that he possesses, and would do anything for them. It's sweet, and while it doesn't mention marriage, it also feels a bit like wedding vows, in its own way. So that's two weeks in a row.

There's a nice touch of melancholy to one of the earlier lines, as Eddie sings that "I would gladly give the sun to you / If the sun were only mine". He's sad that he can't give them everything - it's quiet and a little wistful, and I like it a lot.

Actually, the more I listen to this, the less healthy this all sounds. Giving the sun and earth and stars is one thing, then we get into "I'd be happy just to spend my life / Waiting at your beck and call" territory, which just sounds a bit desperate. Not the best dynamic, necessarily.

I genuinely like the line "You came and captured a heart that was free, / Now I've nothing left I call my own!" It's the most deliberately dark-sounding line in all this, a suggestion that he was freer when he wasn't in love - not that he regrets it, but it's an interesting line anyway.

And the music, throughout all of this, is fairly smooth and sweet, with a few accidentals creating tension at key moments. It's well-made stuff.

Faith Can Move Mountains - Nat King Cole (10)

We previously have heard this song, but Johnnie Ray's emotionally-charged original version. I went off on a tangent there about how knowing a bit about Johnnie Ray's personal life made it a more interesting song. Will Nat King Cole's version have the same charm?

It's much slicker, with its big string introduction, and Nat King Cole's slower, smoother voice. Where Eddie went for emotion, Nat King Cole is going for prettiness, I think, or smoothness.

There's this ethereal choir of people going "oooooh" behind Nat, at points, and I'm mad at how well it works. We need more songs nowadays with an "ooooh" choir.

The oboe that comes in to accompany the singing is very nice, just really smooth and classy, and the strings that come in after that are also quietly elegant.

The whole thing feels a little bit lullaby-like, especially with its back and forth bassline, which just keeps plodding along throughout the song, reliably present underneath the pretty instrumentation.

The brass swell at the end into "I can move mountains", and the big dramatic choir-and-brass ending makes it feel like the end of a Disney film, too, shaking us out of our sleep for just long enough to appreciate the song.

I do like this, in terms of raw quality, but I think Johnnie Ray's version is much better, in terms of performance. Both him and his backing band really sold the song, whereas Nat King Cole's delivery is a bit less authentic-feeling. Nice, but not as "real".

It also feels very soon for a cover version to be hitting the charts - the original barely just came out! I think this was possibly more common in the early days of the charts, but it does make you wonder if the same people were buying both of these, or if people had preferences?

Well, that concludes for today, with two decent songs. Both are romantic in a very guileless, Route A way, with a touch of melancholy. And both are very pretty and lush in their production. Still, my favourite is clear.

Favourite song of the bunch: Everything I Have Is Yours

[creatiview]

[ad_1]  The musical superhit film directed by Nasir Husain featured Asha Parekh, Jeetendra, and Aruna Irani completed 50 years on 5th Nov 2021 and was a super hit in India. You would be surprised to note that it was a super-duper hit in China when it was released eight years after its Indian release. In fact, Caravan, believe it or not, sold 19 million tickets in India – and 100 million tickets in China! One hundred million broke all records in China for a foreign film. One of the earliest Indian films to earn the big bucks in Chinese domestic markets was Raj Kapoor's 1951 Indian classic Awara. released in 1955.Caravan‘s amazing success in China was matched only thirty years later by Nasir Husain's nephew, Amir Khan with his 3 Idiots.The movie’s storyline was nothing great. A runaway heiress joins a passing caravan of gypsies, to escape the villain who murdered her father, then falls in love with the leading man, who eventually rescues her from the villain, etc, etc. The film's plot was loosely inspired by the 1953 film Girl on the Run, a little-known crime drama set against the backdrop of a carnival burlesque show, which was changed to a gypsy show in Caravan.Aruna Irani has a significant role in this film.The traveling troupe featured Madan Puri as the manager and a young Aruna Irani as the star performer Nisha. In fact, Irani nearly stole the show from the film’s heroine with her animated performances in the songs 'Chadhti Jawaani Meri Chaal Mastani', 'Dilbar Dil Se Pyaare' and ‘Ab Joh Mile Hain Toh’.The screenplay of the film was provided by Bhowmick, but the treatment of the film was all Husain, who turned it into the entertainer that it was. According to the film's star Asha Parekh in her biography The Hit Girl, Caravan happened accidentally.The highlight of the film was its music, composed by R D Burman, and lyrics by Mazrooh Sultanpuri. In Caravan, there was a song for every mood. There was the soft romantic duet ‘Kitna Pyaara Waada’, the road song ‘Goriya Kahaan Tera Desh Re’, the goofy performance number ‘Daiya Yeh Main Kahaan Aa Phasi’, and, of course, the most famous of them all, the cabaret track, ‘Piya Tu Ab Toh Aaja’ picturized on Helen, which brought singer Asha Bhosle her third Filmfare award for Best Female Playback Singer.Even after 50 years, the film is still refreshing, if you have not seen the film,i recommend you to see it today.If you liked this Blog, you would also appreciate my Youtube Channel, link is given belowhttps://youtu.be/ZEnEKZcyPjI[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEnEKZcyPjI[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbXhA0iZrlw[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdOWDrvOt-A[/embed]All Songs of Caravan [ad_2] Source link

[bollywoodproduct]

Lyrics Zindagi Pyar Ki Do Chaar Ghadi

Lyrics Zindagi Pyar Ki Do Chaar Ghadi

Lyrics in English | Zindagi Pyar Ki Do Chaar Ghadi | Anarkali-1953 | Pradeep Kumar, Bina Rai Zindagi Pyar KiDo Chaar GhadiHoti HaiZindagi Pyar KiDo Chaar GhadiHoti HaiChaahe Thodi Bhi HoYe Umra Badi Hoti HaiChaahe Thodi Bhi HoYe Umra Badi Hoti HaiZindagi Pyar KiDo Chaar GhadiHoti Hai…………. Antakshari Songs from “Z” Taaj Ya Takht Ya DaulatHo Zamaane Bhar KiKaun Si CheezMohabbat Se Badi Hoti…

[tcm]

“It’s still hard:” Asian Americans Paving the Way in Hollywood By Jessica Pickens

The 2018 film CRAZY RICH ASIANS was a success in many areas. Based on the best-selling novel by Kevin Kwan, the film became the highest-grossing romantic comedy in 10 years. An August 2018 article in Time Magazine noted that the film would “change Hollywood.” CRAZY RICH ASIANS was the first film since THE JOY LUCK CLUB (’93) to have an all-Asian American cast or an Asian American lead role. Nearly 60 years before, the all Asian American cast of FLOWER DRUM SONG (‘61) also hoped they were changing the way Asians were cast in Hollywood.

Since the silent era of films, Asian American actors have struggled to find quality roles and respect in Hollywood. Some, actors like Sessue Hayakawa and Anna May Wong, were frequently cast as vamps or villains — which in return put them in poor favor with Japanese and Chinese communities of their time. Miscegenation laws kept Asian American actors from having a romantic leading role with a white actor. In turn, Asians lost roles to white actors in yellowface, from Austrian actress Luise Rainer in THE GOOD EARTH (’37) to English actor Alec Guinness in A MAJORITY OF ONE (’61).

These actors helped fight and pave the way for the success of CRAZY RICH ASIANS:

Sessue Hayakawa

Today, actor Sessue Hayakawa is best recognized for his roles in THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (’57) and as the pirate in Walt Disney’s SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (’60). But from 1915 to the early 1920s, Japan-born Hayakawa was one of the top silver screen idols of the silent era in the United States and Europe. He was as famous and recognizable as Charlie Chaplin or Douglas Fairbanks, according to his biographer Daisuke Miyao in the book Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom.

Fame followed Hayakawa after playing the lead in Cecil B. DeMille’s THE CHEAT (’15), in which he gives a financial loan to a wealthy woman (Fannie Ward). When she tries to back out of their bargain, he won’t take money as payment, but sexual favors. His character also brands Ward to signify that he owns her. THE CHEAT brought Hayakawa success, but it also brought typecasting. His resulting characters were usually dangerous, forbidden lovers or sexy villains. Hayakawa was criticized by the Japanese-American community for his roles. The Los Angeles-based Japanese American newspaper Rafu Shimpo said THE CHEAT “distorted the truth of Japanese people” depicting them as dangerously evil and would cause anti-Japanese movements.

Hayakawa eventually grew tired of the stereotypical roles he was cast in. In 1922, Hayakawa went to Europe where he performed in England and France. He stayed in Europe until after World War II and returned to Hollywood in 1949. Hayakawa was recognized for his role in THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI with an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Anna May Wong 

She was rejected by China because she was “too American” and rejected in Hollywood because she was “too Chinese.” But Chinese American actress Anna May Wong achieved international fame by the mid-1920s, though she struggled with being stereotyped. Often cast as a vamp, sexual figure, slave or prostitute, the Chinese government said she played roles that demeaned China, and Graham Russell Hodges’ Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend recalls how the Chinese media and government resented “having their womanhood so represented.”

When Wong campaigned for roles that could potentially change her image, like O-Lan in THE GOOD EARTH, she lost out to a white actor playing yellowface. In fact, the Chinese government worked against Wong being cast in THE GOOD EARTH. Hodges states how General Tu, MGM’s Chinese government advisor, told MGM that her reputation was bad in China and whenever she appeared in a film, newspapers printed that “Anna May loses face in China again.”

When white actor Paul Muni was cast as the male lead of THE GOOD EARTH, Wong knew she had missed her opportunity because of miscegenation laws. Wong supported China during World War II through the Red Cross, USO and China Relief efforts. She also wrote articles in China’s support and created a cookbook of traditional Chinese dishes. On the first anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks, she was sworn in as an air raid warden, according to Hodge’s book.

In 1943, the First Lady of the Republic of China, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, visited Hollywood. She gave a speech at the Hollywood Bowl and a luncheon was held. Madame Chiang Kai-shek was flanked by actresses like Marlene Dietrich and Loretta Young, but noticeably not Wong. Madame Chiang had specifically requested for Wong to be excluded from the events. Anna May Wong continued to act sporadically and died just before she was to co-star in the all Asian American cast of THE FLOWER DRUM SONG.

Keye Luke 

Chinese actor Keye Luke started in films in the 1930s, usually playing a mild-mannered, polite and intelligent young adult Asian male. Often, Luke played young physicians, like in THE PAINTED VEIL (’34), MAD LOVE (’35) and the Dr. Kildare and Dr. Gillespie film series. Luke became best known for his role in the 1930s as Lee Chan, the No. 1 son of detective Charlie Chan, who was played by white actor Warner Oland. The film series has since been criticized for perpetuating Asian stereotypes and having a white actor in the lead role, but Luke defended the films.

“How can they be criticized when the character was a hero,” Luke said in a 1986 Los Angeles Times interview. “People respected him. Police departments consulted with him and called on him to help them.” However, despite this, Luke and other Asians faced racism in Hollywood. Luke said in the 1930s that Los Angeles was “segregated, but not formally.” He was only hired when they needed a “Chinaman.”

“One never saw blacks on Wilshire Boulevard. Parts of the city I avoided–all white areas like Beverly Hills. Even after working with somebody like a big Caucasian actor, I’d be ignored if we met on the street. Asians were invisible, you see. We knew our place: One step back. That’s why the Charlie Chan films were so important. They deflated a lot of the current racial myths. But even the Chan films had rules. Charlie never touched a white woman except as a handshake. I’d never have a white girlfriend, not that I wanted one in pictures,” Luke said in an interview published in Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era by James Bawden and Ron Miller.

After World War II, Luke found roles were harder to find, and many of his roles were uncredited. By the 1960s, more Asian actors were on the screen. In his interview with Miller, Luke joked that before the 1960s he and Korean actor Philip Ahn “divided the work.”

Philip Ahn 

Philip Ahn was a Korean American actor who only played a Korean character once on film. In Hye Seung Chung’s Hollywood Asian: Philip Ahn and the Politics of Cross-Ethnic Performance, he details how before World War II, Ahn was promoted as a Chinese actor and often nicknamed the “Oriental Clark Gable.” During World War II, however, Hollywood shifted its publicity and focused on Ahn’s Korean ancestry. The publicity articles discussed Ahn’s father, Ahn Changho, who was an activist against the Japanese government. Ahn was also promoted as “the man we love to hate” and the “leering yellow monster.”

During the war, Ahn was frequently cast as a Japanese soldier in the 1940s, something he later said that he didn’t mind, as he felt he was contributing to his late father's legacy. Despite these characters not reflecting Ahn’s personality, Chung recalls how Ahn received hate mail from audiences who confused his onscreen characters for real life. In the 1953 Korean War film BATTLE CIRCUS, Ahn and his brother Ralph both played North Korean prisoners. Ahn said while he played many nationalities, this was the only time he played a Korean character, according to his 1978 The New York Times obituary.

Miyoshi Umeki

Japan-born Miyoshi Umeki was the first Asian to win an Academy Award for a performance. Umeki won Best Supporting Actress for her first Hollywood film, SAYONARA (’57). Though Umeki was the first Asian to win an Academy Award, this “first” isn’t often discussed. Despite the accolade, Umeki was still stereotyped in Hollywood. Her characters were generally demure, humble, delicate and subservient. Umeki’s characters spoke in broken English with a sweet smile.

Her son Michael Hood later asked her why she agreed to play these characters. “Her answer was very simple: ‘I didn’t like doing it, but when someone pays you to do a job, you do the job, and you do your best,’” Hood said in a 2018 Entertainment Weekly  article. Umeki later threw away her Academy Award statue, according to Hood. As of 2020, Umeki is the only Asian female to win an Academy Award. 

Nancy Kwan 

Hong Kong-born actress Nancy Kwan burst on to the film scene in 1960. She was cast as the lead in THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG (’60) alongside one of Hollywood’s top actors, William Holden. Kwan was then cast in the all -Asian American cast of the Rodgers and Hammerstein film version of FLOWER DRUM SONG. With a strong start in films, a successful Hollywood career seemed likely for Kwan, but the roles weren’t there. William Holden told her, “You can do a big film and be very successful but in order to sustain a career, you have to have roles written for you,” Kwan shared in a 2018 NBC interview. Kwan was more successful than her predecessors, however, as Asians were starting to be cast rather than white actors in yellowface. Kwan was also cast in roles where she had white romantic leading men, like HONEYMOON HOTEL (’64) and THE WILD AFFAIR (’65). But Hollywood still didn’t know what to do with Kwan. She was cast in “exotic” roles like in the Walt Disney film LT. ROBIN CRUSOE, U.S.N. (’66) as an island girl. Kwan was offered a role in the film THE JOY LUCK CLUB, but she revealed in a 2018 interview at the TCM Classic Film Festival that she declined it because of a line criticizing SUZIE WONG. While she mentioned in a 1990 Los Angeles Times interview that “There are now many, many Asian actresses — but not many roles,” 18 years later she noted that the film industry had changed, but not enough. “There are more leading roles and not just small roles, but it’s still hard.”

[papermoonloveslucy]

ROUGH ROAD TO TOP

August 16, 1953

(1)

One of the more famous CBS-TV shows is “I Love Lucy.” 

Its two chief characters - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz - have had a rocky road to their present status as one of the top comedy teams in the country. 

At the end of Lucille's first year in dramatic school she was told by her teachers that she was wasting her time and money, that she would never become an actress. She was fired from all four of her first jobs as a chorus girl. Later, as a model, she almost lost her life in an automobile accident and was told she would never walk again. 

Revolution Factor 

It was a revolution in Cuba and a mishap in World War II which were fateful turns in Arnaz’ trip to stardom. The Cuban revolution destroyed his family’s wealth, drove them to the United States. World War II got him a broken kneecap in basic training, and since he had been a professional entertainer, he was placed in limited service and assigned to entertain hospitalized G.I.s'. 

Columbia Pictures gave Lucille a contract as a stock player, and, convinced that her luck finally had turned, she sent for mother, grandfather, and sister to join her in California. But, the morning after she wired her family, the studio decided to dissolve its stock company. When the family arrived, Lucille was working as an extra at Paramount.

Bit parts and extra roles in a number of pictures kept Lucille busy, but not prosperous, until she was cast in ’"Roberta.” RKO officials, impressed by her work, gave her a contract. When not busy before the cameras, she was a mainstay of the studio's Little Theater. (2)

Offered Stage Lead 

Her performance in the second lead in “The Girl from Paris" (3) drew Broadway's attention to Miss Ball and she was offered a lead in the musical "Hey Diddle Diddle.” After satisfying her yen to perform on the Great White Way (4), she returned to Hollywood for "Stage Door” and “Too Many Girls.” In the latter picture, she was costarred with Desi Arnaz. They were married Nov. 30 1940 in Greenwich, Conn.

Back from her honeymoon, Lucille walked into her first really big break a role in "The Big Street,” based on a story by Damon Runyon (5). Overnight it made her a star. 

Her first assignment at M.G.M. in 1942 was the title role in the Technicolor production "Du Barry Was a Lady” (6). Stellar roles followed in "Best Foot Forward” and "Meet the People" (7). After completing "Easy to Wed” with Van Johnson (8), she headed for New York to be with her husband, then out of the army and on his way to success in the orchestra business. 

Starred on Tour

Shortly after completing "Her Husband’s Affairs,” (9) Miss Ball went on tour as star of Elmer Rice's play "Dream Girl” (10) then worked with Sonny Tufts and Victor Mature in "Interference” for R.K.O. (11)

Lucille, Desi, arid their year-old daughter Lucy Desiree, live at Desilu, their five-acre ranch at Chatsworth, Calif. They raise cattle, chickens, dogs, and cats and dabble in farming. Enthusiastic fishermen they spend a lot of time on their boat.

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha was born in Santiago, Cuba, son of the mayor. Desi’s mother, Dolores de Acha, was considered among the 10 most beautiful women In Latin America. 

Three ranches totaling 100,000 acres, a palatial home in the city, a private island in Santiago Bay, speedboats, a fleet of motor cars, and a racing stable were all at the command of the youthful Desi during the pre-revolutionary days. His father, after eight years as mayor of Santiago, was made a member of the Cuban congress In 1932. 

On Aug. 12, 1933, came the revolution. Congress was dissolved. Its members jailed. The Arnaz property was confiscated, the homes burned to the ground. In 24 hours everything was gone except $500 Desi's mother had hidden. Desi and mother fled to Miami, devoted the next six months to efforts to free Papa Arnaz.  from prison. They were finally reunited in Florida.

For Desi, life in these United States for several years was hard but interesting: he worked at truck driving, train yard checking, taxi driving, bookkeeping, and, of all things, bird cage cleaning. Desi’s father managed to launch an importing business. It went broke when a shipment of fruit spoiled in transit.

Show business at this point finally caught up with Desi. His first job was playing guitar and singing with a seven-piece rhumba band at Miami’s Roney-Plaza Hotel (12). Xavier Cugat (13) spotted him, was impressed with this Cuban boy who was to be dubbed "The Tempo” by critics of modem music. After a year as featured vocalist with the Cugat band, Desi organized his own group of musicians and moved into the swank La Conga Café in Miami (14). 

George Abbott's Broadway hit "Too Many Girls” (15) was Desi’s next step up the ladder, in 1939. He played a Cuban football player, one of the leads, and played tropical drums. RKO bought the film rights and signed Desi to play his stage role. When the shooting was over Desi married the leading lady, Lucille Ball.

He spent from Feb. 1943 to Nov. 1945 in the Army, after which he toured the nation with his band playing theaters, dances, night clubs. He hasn’t been without a band since. In 1948, Desi made the Columbia film "Holiday in Havana.” (16)

He made a vaudeville tour with Lucille Ball and that convinced them they’d do well as a husband-and-wife team on television. The tour inspired the CBS-TV show “I Love Lucy,” which has been highly rated since it started. (17)

Desi Arnaz’s personality is as vibrant as the music he makes. He is friendly, direct in manner, has flashing dark brown eyes and brown hair. He’s an avid fisherman, rides and swims expertly: his tennis is the envy of his San Fernando Valley neighbors, Sue and Alan Ladd, Francis Lederer, Jackie Oakie, and the Andrews Sisters. (18) A good cook, he specializes in such tempting dishes as Ginger Beef and Bouillabaisse.

#    #    #

FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) The photo is from “Be a Pal” (ILL S1;E2) aired on October 22, 1951, nearly two years earlier.  There’s one thing missing from this file photo: Vivian Vance. The success of the show was its foursome, not threesome! If you look closely you can see the hands of the other poker players, Richard Reeves (Hank, left) and Tony Michaels (Charlie, right).

(2) Lucille did several plays at the RKO Little Theatre under the direction of Lela Rogers (above), Ginger’s mom.  When Lucille later bought RKO, she dubbed it the Desilu Playhouse, a training ground for new young performers, often hand selected by Ball herself. 

(3) “That Girl from Paris” (not “The” as the article states) was Lucille’s 33rd film. The light-hearted musical romance earned an Oscar nomination for Sound Recording. It was released on the first day of 1937. 

(4) Lucille was indeed cast in the Broadway-bound comedy (it was not a musical, however) “Hey Diddle Diddle!” It opened in Princeton, New Jersey, the first of several out-of-town stops on the way to Broadway.  What Lucille’s publicity omits is that the show never got further than Washington DC due to the serious illness of its leading man, Conway Tearle. So Lucy’s Broadway debut would have to wait - until 1960!

(5) “The Big Street” opened on September 4, 1942. It was based on a Damon Runyan short story about a night club singer (Lucille) embittered by an accident that left her in a wheelchair and her romance with a naïve admirer (Henry Fonda) named Pinks. Lucy later said it was her favorite of the many films she made.  It was her 55th film. 

(6) “Du Barry Was A Lady” premiered in August 1943. It was Lucille’s  57th film, but her first for MGM.  She nabbed the role from her friend Ethel Merman, who had done the Cole Porter musical comedy on Broadway.  It was filmed in color, and was the film that earned her the nickname “Technicolor Tessie” because of her bright orange hair - a color she committed to from then on, despite her roots!  This is the film that introduced Lucy to the song “Friendship”, which she would also sing on “I Love Lucy.” 

(7) In the musical comedy “Best Foot Forward” (1943) Lucille Ball played herself.  It was her 58th film. “Meet The People” (1944) was a romantic comedy for MGM, Ball’s 60th film. 

(8) In 1946 she released her 63rd film, “Easy To Wed” co-starring Van Johnson and Esther Williams. Lucille and Van had appeared together in “Too Many Girls” and he would appear on Lucy’s television shows. 

(9) “Her Husband’s Affairs” (1947) was a romantic farce with Lucy teamed with Franchot Tone. It was her 69th film. 

(10) Back to the stage, Lucille accepted the leading role in a revival tour of “Dream Girl” a fantasy comedy by Elmer Rice. Once again, the play launched in Princeton, but this time Broadway was not the goal. It had already played the Great White Way two years earlier. The play toured the country at select cities, landing Lucille back in California in late 1947. In one SoCal gig she was appearing simultaneously with Desi and his band just a few blocks away.  No doubt this was by design. 

(11) RKO’s “Interference” was re-named “Easy Living” (1949) and dealt with the world of professional sports, namely football. It co-starred Victor Mature and Sonny Tufts. It was Ball’s 71st film. 

(12) The luxurious Roney Plaza Hotel in Miami Beach was located on the corner of Collins Avenue and 23rd Street. It opened in 1925 and was demolished in 1968. The resort attracted a who's who that included Hollywood stars and even the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The hotel's Bamboo Room & Restaurant was the place to be seen on the Beach for decades.

(13) Xaviar Cugat (1900-1990) was a Spanish musician and bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music. In New York City he was the leader of the resident orchestra at the Waldorf–Astoria before and after World War II.  He was a mentor and friend to Desi Arnaz, who kept his name before the public by making him a rival of Ricky Ricardo on “I Love Lucy” where his name became a punchline. In reality, Desi was grateful to Cugat, not jealous of him! 

“I learned a lot from Xavier Cugat” ~ Desi Arnaz

(14) La Conga Café was located in New York City, not Miami, although the article may be referring to a different, lesser known establishment where Desi Arnaz performed.  He became a regular headliner at La Conga, even issuing a record titled “La Conga” in 1939. 

(15) Speaking of 1939 New York, Desi appeared in his only Broadway show in 1939, Rogers and Hart’s “Too Many Girls.”  When the film rights were purchased by RKO, Desi was hired by director George Abbott to recreate his role. It was while filming this movie that he met Lucille Ball. 

(16) “Holiday in Havana” was a Columbia picture released in October 1949.  The film is about a Cuban hotel busboy (Arnaz) who dreams of becoming a composer.  His love interest was not Lucy, but Mary Hatcher. 

(17) The Tour incorporated some of the same routines seen in the “I Love Lucy” pilot as well as early episodes of the series, most notably the “Cuban Pete / Sally Sweet” duet.  The tour culminated at the Roxy in New York City, where Desi was playing when he married Lucille in 1940. 

(18) Before moving to their Beverly Hills mansion, Lucy and Desi lived on a ranch in Chatsworth in San Fernando Valley. They dubbed their ranch home Desilu.  About their neighbors: 

Alan Ladd (1913-64) was a chorus boy when Lucille was an Earl Carroll showgirl in Murder at the Vanities (1934). He was married to Sue Carol (1906-82) from 1942 until his death. Carol’s name was mentioned on “I Love Lucy” in “The Fashion Show” when Lucy selects the same Don Loper original that Carol has chosen to wear in the fashion show. She does not appear on screen. 

Francis Lederer (1899-2000) was a Hungarian-born actor. In 1960 he did an episode of Desilu’s “The Untouchables”. From 1941 until his death he was married to Marion Irvine. 

Jackie Oakie (1903-78) did four films with Lucille Ball between 1934 and 1938, including both “Annabell” movies. 

The Andrews Sisters were the pre-eliminant close-harmony girl group of their time. The consisted of Patty, Maxine, and LaVerne. They were mentioned on “I Love Lucy” in “Be a Pal” in the same scene that the photo at the top of the article came from. In 1969, Patty Andrews guest-starred as herself on “Here’s Lucy”.  Lucy and Lucie played the other two Andrews sisters. 

[bybdolan]

HOLY GROUND - A Taylor Swift jukebox musical

“Holy Ground is a jukebox musical featuring the songs of American Singer-Songwriter Taylor Swift. The film’s plot is based on the 1953 classic Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, in which a runaway princess falls in love with a journalist over the course of a day spend in Rome.”

OR: A rather rough idea for a Taylor musical, inspired by the anon who asked me if I had more ideas regarding the edit the quote above was written for.

PLAYLIST

The movie starts with the title screen and credits (old-fashioned style), with an orchestral version of State Of Grace. Then, we are introduced to the princess, Mary, our protagonist. She's at a ball, surrounded by many people and the press, she's stressed and she feels lonely (mirrorball). The song is accompanied by a ballroom dance that is sort of mechanical and unnatural and the princess is tossed around by her partners. During the bridge, it almost seems as if they are pushing her around the way playground bullies do and she is lost and alone in the sea of twirling ballgowns.

There's a bit of dialogue where we get some information about Princess Mary (she's on a tour of the European capitals to strengthen the bond between the countries) and when she boards the plane to Rome, she starts to sing Love Story, daydreaming about real love. During the song, we are introduced to the journalist, Stephen, (Dev Patel), who is walking around Rome trying to write a story that is good enought to keep his employer from firing him. (He's struggling.)

We fast forward through a few meetings and press conferences until it's nighttime and Mary has a breakdown in her room because she is overwhelmed by her duties. She is given pills that are supposed to make her fall asleep within the next few hours. Finally alone, she takes a look out the window and sees a party going on in the streets. Intrigued by the laughter and the light and overcome by the wish to finally do something just for herself, she decides to sneak out of the hotel. She manages to get past the guards in a garbage truck.

Outside, she joins the parade (New Romantics). However, the pills start to kick in and Mary, all drowsy and unequipped to deal with the real world, decides to lie down on a bench to sleep. She is discovered by Stephen, who is worried that something will happen to her and takes her home with him. He doesn't recognize her. Due to her delirious state, Mary is a hassle to deal with and some antics ensue (for example: she demands that Stephen helps her undress and doesn't accept that she has to sleep on the couch). They both eventually fall asleep (Stephen takes the couch).

The next morning, Stephen accidentally sleeps in and misses his scheduled interview with Princess Mary. In order to not get fired, he pretends that he actually went to the interview in front of his boss. But he has bad luck: The princess' publicist has send out emails and articles that claim the princess had fallen ill and therefore had to cancel all interviews as a cover up for her disappearance. When his boss angrily shows him a picture of the article announcing the princess' illness, Stephen realizes that the she is the girl sleeping in his bed. He begs his boss not to fire him and tells him that he has an idea for a hit story about the princess. His boss reluctantly agrees to keep him employed, but tells him that he'll be out of a job if he doesn't deliver.

Stephen races back to his apartment where Mary is still sleeping. On the way there, he calls his friend, a photographer, and tells her about his plan to show Mary around Rome and asking her personal questions while his friend – Corinna – takes pictures for the article.

When Mary eventually wakes up and gets over the shock of being in a stranger's home, she asks Stephen if she could take a shower and maybe borrow some clothes, claiming that she needs them because her dress got dirty the night before. She keeps her true identity a secret, saying that her name is Marjorie. When Stephen tells her to choose an outfit, she picks baggy clothing and a baseball hat to hide her hair, in the hope that she won't be recognized. Stephen offers her a tour of the city, with assistance by Corinna, who he claims is the best tour guide he knows. Mary, having never been out and about alone and feeling unsafe without her entourage of bodyguards, agrees. They go to small café and make up little stories for the other customers there while waiting for Corinna to arrive, which is something Mary likes to do at political gatherings in order to combat boredom and loneliness (Begin Again). However, their plan to stroll around Rome and look at all the tourist hotspots gets foiled when Mary recognizes a guy in the streets as one of her guards who is looking for her. She grabs Stephen and steals a motorbike that's parked nearby and they drive away – since Mary doesn't know how to drive a motorbike it's a near death experience for both of them (I Know Places - Instrumental). They end up in a less crowded part of town and hide in a crowd of wedding guests. They stay a bit in order to listen to the band play and dance (Paper Rings – ideally with a celebrity cameo for the wedding band). Mary blames her bike freakout on her fear of big crowds, so Stephen offers her to show her his personal favorite spots of the city instead of the tourist attractions. They reunite with Corinna and spend some time in the small streets surrounding the city center. Mary finds herself developing a crush on Stephen (Hey Stephen/Fearless).

The day progresses without any major troubles, until they accidentally run into the guards once again. Mary and Stephen flee from them and hide in a small alleyway between two houses. Mary takes advantage of the fact that they are tightly pressed against one another and kisses Stephen. He reciprocicates. After the kiss, Mary tells him that she is the lost princess and Stephen confesses his plan to write an article about her. He promises to not do that now, but doesn't mention that that decision will cost him his job. They both agree that it is best to get Mary back to her hotel soon in order to keep her safe (Wildest Dreams). However, Mary asks for one more thing: She wants to make a wish at Trevi fountain. Stephen takes her to the fountain and Mary tosses a coin into it. They both think about the time they spent together (The 1 - BIG crowd dance scene that ends with people jumping into the fountain). Afterwards, Stephen takes Mary back to her hotel and watches as she goes inside, back into her gold cage (acapella reprise of the chorus of The 1).

The press conference that was cancelled due to Mary's "illness" is held the next morning and both Stephen and Corinna attend and stand in the first row. When being asked about which city in Europe she liked the most, Mary answers Rome and says that's she'll never forget her stay, all while looking at Stephen. She insists on personally greeting some of the members of the press. When she gets to Corinna and Stephen, Corinna hands her an envelope with the photos she secretly took of her tour of the city, and Stephen and Mary share a final dance in a dream sequence that mirrors the mirrorball scene from the beginning, with the exception that the room is empty except for them (Dorothea). When Mary leaves the press conference room, Stephen stays there for a long time, until everybody else has left (Wildest Dreams - Piano).

Holy Ground plays during the credits.

[dweemeister]

2021 Movie Odyssey Awards

With the 2021 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song in the books, the 2021 Movie Odyssey Awards are the latest they’ve ever been. As you might know, this is the annual awards ceremony to recognize a year of films that I saw for the first time in their entirety in the calendar year. Every single one of the films nominated below - with the exception of those in the Worst Picture category nominated for nothing else - are worth seeing.

The full list of every single film I saw as part of the 2021 Movie Odyssey can be seen in this link. Those are the films eligible for the below.

Best Pictures (I'm naming ten, I'm not distinguishing one above the other nine)

The Bad Seed (1956)

Chess of the Wind (1976, Iran)

The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

Elmer Gantry (1960)

The Father (2020)

Intruder in the Dust (1949)

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

Los tallos amargos (1956, Argentina)

So This is Paris (1926)

Yi Yi (2000, Taiwan)

You either had to be rated a 9, a 9.5, or a 10 to get up here in Best Picture. Not easy to do. In this slate, you have two psychological thrillers in the form of The Bad Seed and Chess of the Wind - the former arguably innovating the evil child trope and the latter a social commentary on class and gender in pre-Revolutionary Iran. Religious tenets and fidelity are tested in The Devil and Daniel Webster and Elmer Gantry. The former a Faustian allegory in nineteenth century America; the latter an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ satire on evangelical Christianity in the United States.

You’ll not find many better films on aging than The Father, and not as many Southern Gothic dramas as darker or as incendiary on racial relations than Intruder in the Dust. Los tallos amargos, like a handful of films in this lineup (Chess of the Wind, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, is lucky to have received a recent restoration taking the current print to its pristine visual glory. And it’s a reminder that sometimes non-American film noir could be better than the nation the subgenre originated from. So This is Paris is premier Lubitsch romantic farce, a wonderful comedy of manners.

And in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Yi Yi, you have two sprawling epics. The first from Powell and Pressburger on the justifications and justness of British wars, what it means to fight wars justly, and the idea of warfare as a “noble” exercise. For Yi Yi, it is a beautiful domestic drama following a Taiwanese family into the twenty-first century, as they all wrestle with others’ foibles and conflicting perspectives, the unknowable,. the misunderstood, and unspoken human truths in a place at once unmistakably Taiwanese,. but also rapidly Westernizing.

Best Comedy

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

A Chump at Oxford (1939)

Clue (1985)

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)

Follow That Dream (1962)

Hairspray (1988)

How to Steal a Million (1966)

The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)

Monkey Business (1952)

So This is Paris

Not necessarily the best film, but usually the one that I found the funniest this year. Sure, I laughed out loud more during The Mitchells vs the Machines, but there was a bit too much humor dating it in the 2020s for me. For simple wit and situational humor, I found Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn simply a delight to watch as they attempted to steal a forged artwork.

Other honorable mentions include Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (a terrible Universal Monsters movie, but perhaps the best A+C movie) and the manic, Tim Curry-starring Clue. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is here and in the next category as Seussian nightmare fuel.

Best Musical

Carefree (1938)

Down Argentine Way (1940)

The Five Pennies (1959)

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

G.I. Blues (1960)

In the Heights (2021)

Oklahoma! (1955)

Orchestra Wives (1942)

Romance on the High Seas (1948)

West Side Story (2021)

Oh what a beautiful mornin’ / oh what a beautiful day / I’ve got a sunshiney feeling / everything’s goin’ my way. And certainly it did for the adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!. A lush, CinemaScope adaptation of the R&H musical, Gordon MacRae is brilliant, as is a young Shirley Jones in her film debut (Jones was the only person ever personally contracted to the duo). Close behind were The Five Pennies (Danny Kaye as jazz cornettist Red Nichols in a musical biopic), Orchestra Wives (be still my ears whenever Glenn Miller is playing), and this year’s edition of West Side Story.

Best Animated Feature

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Encanto (2021)

Luca (2021)

The Mitchells vs the Machines

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

Very meager pickings in this category compared to the usual slate of animated features I do get to see. This one wasn’t even close. A sort of spin off from Batman: The Animated Series, one could really not ask for a better animated film to add to the Batman mythos. A stunning, haunting work from those creatives at Warner Bros. animation.

Best Documentary

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927, Germany)

City Hall (2020)

Đoạn trường vinh hoa (The Glorious Pain) (2020, Vietnam)

Freedom on My Mind (1994)

Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959)

The Kids are Alright (1979)

Les Rivières (The Rivers) (2019, France)

Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (1979 short)

16 Days of Glory (1986)

Tex Avery, the King of Cartoons (1988)

Jazz on a Summer’s Day is a concert film showcasing the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and contains performances from the likes of Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington, Thelonious Monk, and Chuck Berry (not a jazz musician, but undoubtedly jazz influenced). I also considered Frederick Wiseman’s City Hall and the official 1984 Summer Olympics documentary 16 Days of Glory for this award.

Best Non-English Language Film

Adoption (1975), Hungary

Chess of the Wind, Iran

The End of Summer (1961), Japan

Giòng Sông Không Nhìn Thấy (The Unseen River) (2020 short), Vietnam

Limite (1931), Brazil

Los tallos amargos, Argentina

Loving Couples (1964), Sweden

Tomka and His Friends (1977), Albania

Woman in the Moon (1929), Germany

Yi Yi, Taiwan

Best Silent Film

À Propos de Nice (1930 short, France)

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

Fanchon, the Cricket (1915)

Limite

Madame’s Cravings (1907 short, France)

Pardon Us (1931)

The Patsy (1928)

The Red Lily (1924)

So This is Paris

Woman in the Moon

A brief shout-out to Fritz Lang’s Woman in the Moon as his second film after Metropolis. Lang’s sci-fi movie introduced a lot of ideas that would be adapted for sci-fi (and real life) later on. The movie is a bit of a drag, though, during its Earthbound scenes.

Elsewhere, Lillian Gish is amazing as the title character in Fanchon, the Cricket. Alice Guy-Blache’s short film Madame’s Cravings was one of the funnier things I saw all year, and Berlin: Symphony of a Great City is a fascinating tone poem of a documentary, and of a place in between the World Wars.

Personal Favorite Film

Clue

The Devil and Daniel Webster

Dream Horse (2020)

Evil Under the Sun (1982)

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Minari (2020)

Murder Ahoy! (1964)

Silverado (1985)

To Each His Own (1946)

Yi Yi

Yeah, I’m a sucker for the Western genre. Silverado had somewhat of an offbeat cast for a Western (Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Scott Glenn, Rosanna Arquette, Jeff Goldblum as the villain, Kevin Costner and John Cleese), but holy hell was it so much fun. And having the year’s best film score does not hurt!

Elsewhere, Dream Horse was simple but it was the first film I saw in a theater after being doubled-vaccinated. Evil Under the Sun and Murder Ahoy! are Hercule Poirot and Ms. Marple movies adapted from Agatha Christie’s books, respectively. Both treatments and performances - from Peter Ustinov and Margaret Rutherford, respectively - were immaculately done. And To Each His Own ripped my heart out and sewed it back together in two hours. What an emotional rollercoaster that was.

Best Director

Mohammad Reza Aslani, Chess of the Wind

Fernando Ayala, Los tallos amargos

Richard Brooks, Elmer Gantry

Clarence Brown, Intruder in the Dust

William Dieterle, The Devil and Daniel Webster

Ernst Lubitsch, So This is Paris

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Frederick Wiseman, City Hall

Edward Yang, Yi Yi

Picking up their first ever Best Director award here are the duo of Powell and Pressburger, whom you may know better for Stairway to Heaven (1946) and The Red Shoes (1948). The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp always tends to be relegated in conversations about the duo, but it a highwire balancing act that earns them their win here. Close behind are Edward Yang and Mohammad Rezas Aslani.

Best Acting Ensemble

The Bad Seed

Belfast (2021)

Elmer Gantry

Intruder in the Dust

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Licorice Pizza (2021)

Man on a Tightrope (1953)

Minari

Take a Giant Step (1959)

Yi Yi

No standout performances, but on the average... the best-acted movie I saw all year. Subtle performances reflecting the loneliness and attempts to muddle through life of all of its characters involved. Challenging Yi Yi most closely were The Bad Seed, Intruder in the Dust, and The Joy Luck Club.

Best Actor

Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal (2019)

Carlos Cores, Los tallos amargos

Anthony Hopkins, The Father

Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry

Roger Livesey, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Fredric March, The Dark Angel (1935)

Ganjirô Nakamura, The End of Summer

Gregory Peck, The Stalking Moon (1968)

Paul Robeson, The Emperor Jones (1933)

Wu Nien-jen, Yi Yi

From my review:

For his turn as the eponymous lead, Burt Lancaster, known for his vigorous performances, provides Elmer Gantry with vigor aplenty. Modeling his performance off of the behavior of baseball outfielder-turned-evangelist Billy Sunday, Lancaster struts around the tent during revival meetings, his upper body animated in conversation and salesmanship outside those meetings. Even in stillness, Lancaster’s physicality swaggers, brimming with euphoria – his most private moments abound in sexuality molded by what his character might call the love of God. Even Lancaster’s haircut appears to be defying gravity more than usual in Elmer Gantry. The sweat on his brow, within the 1:66:1 frame, feels as if it is about to seep through the camera. As he delivers his lines, Lancaster masters the complicated beat – accelerating with certain turns of phrases and strategic pauses for emphasis – and wildly varying volume of Elmer’s sermons. “Love is like the morning and the evening stars,” he intones as Gantry (that is his signature quote), somehow making us believe in such bromides and other simplifications he sells to the revival’s attendees.

Hopkins was the only other performer I was consdering here.

Best Actress

Enid Bennett, The Red Lily

Katalin Berek, Adoption

Olivia de Havilland, To Each His Own

Nancy Kelly, The Bad Seed

Fakhri Khorvash, Chess of the Wind

Merle Oberon, The Dark Angel

Mary Pickford, Fanchon, the Cricket

Diana Ross, Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Eva Marie Saint, The Stalking Moon

Jean Simmons, Elmer Gantry

Also from my review:

Over the course of the story’s three decades, Olivia de Havilland must transform from a naïve young adult reveling in her attractiveness to men to a hardened, middle-aged spinster who has all but put her past behind her... Everything de Havilland has done up to this point in her performance – her witticisms and pointed requests, wordless joy and sorrow – suffuses the final half-hour with Jody’s regrets and desire to be the mother she never could be. All of Jody’s frailties and inner strength pour through in the end and we, the viewers, feel every hint of embarrassment, fortitude, desire, and self-doubt. This is a masterclass leading performance from Olivia de Havilland

De Havilland was in a class of her own this year.

Best Supporting Actor

Jonathan Chang, Yi Yi.

Soumitra Chatterjee, Teen Kanya (1961, India)

Ralph Fiennes, The Dig (2021)

Juano Hernandez, Intruder in the Dust

Walter Huston, The Devil and Daniel Webster

Vassili Lambrinos, Los tallos amargos

Frank Langella, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Arthur Kennedy, Elmer Gantry

Paul Raci, Sound of Metal

Anton Walbrook, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Walbrook, an Austrian actor working in Britain who was often saddled with playing “continental European” roles, plays an unlikely character in a British film at a time when Britain’s existence was under existential threat. Here, he plays a “good German”, who is the best friend of Roger Livesey’s protagonist, who is torn between two lands and his duties as a soldier and that of a friend. One of the performances of the year in my book.

I was also considering Juano Hernandez and Walter Huston here as well.

Best Supporting Actress

Eileen Heckart, The Bad Seed

Estelle Hemsley, Take a Giant Step

Shirley Jones, Elmer Gantry

Deborah Kerr, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Patty McCormack, The Bad Seed

Olga Merediz, In the Heights

Beah Richards, Take a Giant Step

Aparna Sen, Teen Kanya

Gyöngyvér Vigh, Adoption

Youn Yuh-jung, Minari

Aparna Sen appears in the third part of Teen Kanya (Three Daughters), an anthology film from Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray (who worked in Bengali cinema). Sen stars as an arranged bride in what is a starmaking turn for her. It was only her second film role, one to launch a lengthy career in the film industry (mostly nowadays as a writer/director). I was also considering Shirley Jones and Estelle Hemsley here.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Francis Searle, Cloudburst (1951)

Dan Totheroh and Stephen Vincent Benét, The Devil and Daniel Webster

Richard Brooks, Elmer Gantry

Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, The Father

Harry Kurnitz, How to Steal a Million

Ben Maddow, Intruder in the Dust

Amy Tan and Ronald Bass, The Joy Luck Club

Sergio Leonardo, Los tallos amargos

Richard Wright and Pierre Chenal, Native Son (1951)

Wendell Mayes and Alvin Sargent, The Stalking Moon

Best Original Screenplay

Paul Schrader, The Card Counter (2021)

Kôgo Noda and Yasujirô Ozu, The End of Summer

Heidi Ewing and Alan Page Arriaga, I Carry You with Me (2020)

Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Ava DuVernay, Middle of Nowhere (2012)

Lee Isaac Chung, Minari

Darius Marder and Abraham Marder, Sound of Metal

Charles Brackett and Jacques Théry, To Each His Own

Edward Yang, Yi Yi

Best Cinematography (TIE)

Houshang Baharloo, Chess of the Wind

Joseph H. August, The Devil and Daniel Webster

Lionel Lindon, Grand Prix (1966)

Georges Perinal, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Ricardo Younis, Los tallos amargos

Sven Nykvist, Loving Couples

Erik Messerschmidt, Mank (2020)

Meek’s Cutoff (2010)

Robert Surtees and Floyd Crosby, Oklahoma!

Yang Wei-han, Yi Yi

Couldn’t make up my mind here. How could I choose between the elegance of Baharloo’s cinematography amid those gorgeous sets and the nightmarish film noir camerawork from Younis (a Chilean trained by Gregg Toland, who shot Citizen Kane)? Far too difficult for me, this category.

Best Film Editing

Lasse Hallström, Malou Hallström, and Ulf Neidermar, ABBA: The Movie (1977)

Walter Ruttmann, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

Robert Wise, The Devil and Daniel Webster

George Amy, Doctor X (1932)

Yorgos Lamprinos, The Father

Fredric Steinkamp, Henry Berman, Stewart Linder, and Frank Santillo, Grand Prix

Myron Kerstein, In the Heights

John Seabourne Sr., The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Carol Littleton, Silverado

Uncredited, Woman in the Moon

Best Adaptation or Musical Score

ABBA, ABBA: The Movie

Victor Baravalle and Irving Berlin, Carefree

Emil Newman, Down Argentine Way

Joseph J. Lilley, G.I. Blues

Alex Lacamoire, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Bill Sherman, In the Heights

Leith Stevens, The Five Pennies

Morris Stoloff, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

Robert Russell Bennett, Jack Blackton, and Adolph Deutsch, Oklahoma!

Leigh Harline and Alfred Newman, Orchestra Wives

Ray Heindorf, Jule Styne, and Sammy Cahn, Romance on the High Seas

Matthew Rush Sullivan, West Side Story

Quite simply, the most fun musical score I heard this year. This category advantages original musicals over musical adaptations and scores that borrow heavily from existing music. If not Orchestra Wives, I might have gone for The Five Pennies here.

Best Original Score

Bruce Broughton, Silverado

Bernard Herrmann, The Devil and Daniel Webster

Germaine Franco, Encanto

Lee Holdridge, 16 Days of Glory

Fred Karlin, The Stalking Moon

André Previn, Elmer Gantry

Miklós Rózsa, Jungle Book (1942)

Shirley Walker, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

John Williams, How to Steal a Million

Hans Zimmer, Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Those horn rips. Those horn rips, man (to all other instrumentalists, a horn rip is a glissando). Silverado was a delight to watch but especially to listen to. Bruce Broughton is a perennially underrated composer and one who truly lets his themes develop in such a natural, beautifully flowing way.

Of special mention are Herrmann’s experimental, modernist score for The Devil and Daniel Webster and Shirley Walker becoming the first woman ever nominated in this category (there are not enough female composers in cinema and it’s a major problem).

Best Original Song

“Am I Blue?”, music by Harry Akst, lyrics by Grant Clarke, On with the Show! (1929)

“At Last”, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon, Orchestra Wives

“Đàn Chim Di Cư (Migrating Flock of Birds)”, music by Phạm Hải Âu, lyrics by Lê Minh Hoàng and Đỗ Hoa Trà, Saigon in the Rain (2020, Vietnam)

“The Five Pennies”, music and lyrics by Sylvia Fine, The Five Pennies

“The Greatest Love of All”, music by Michael Masser, lyrics by Lila Creed, The Greatest (1977)

“(I’ve Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo”, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon, Orchestra Wives

“Lullaby in Ragtime”, music and lyrics by Sylvia Fine, The Five Pennies

“The Name of the Game”, music by Benny Andersson, lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson, ABBA: The Movie

“No Time to Die”, music by Finneas, lyrics by Billie Eilish, No Time to Die (2021)

“Thank You for the Music”, music by Benny Andersson, lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson, ABBA: The Movie

Thank you to all those who participated in this year’s edition of MOABOS!

Best Costume Design

Michael Whittaker, The Black Rose (1950)

Howard Greer and Edward Stevenson, Carefree

Anthony Powell, Evil Under the Sun

Jean Louis, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

Malgosia Turzanska, The Green Knight (2021)

Ray Aghayan, Norma Koch, and Bob Mackie, Lady Sings the Blues

Trish Summerville, Mank

Motley (Sophie Devine), Orry-Kelly, and Charles Arrico, Oklahoma!

Gaston, Philippe, and Zanel, Princess Tam-Tam (1935, France)

Kristi Zea, Silverado

I was mulling between this and Evil Under the Sun for a long time, but which one was more memorable? Of course it had to be the film with the ludicrous “Happy Fingers” hat and whatever the hell else the cast wore in this film!

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Mel Berns, Carefree

Ruth Pursley, Ray Romero, and Perc Westmore, Doctor X

Rey Medrano and Eileen Buggy,The Green Knight

Van Smith and Christine Mason, Hairspray

George Blackler, Dorrie Hamilton, and Stuart Freeborn, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Ivar Hällqvist, Sture Höglund, and Gullan Westfelt, Loving Couples

Gigi Williams, Kimberly Spiteri, and Colleen LaBaff, Mank

Paulo Carias, O Ébrio (1946, Brazil)

Heba Thorisdottir and Janine Thompson, The Suicide Squad (2021)

Uncredited, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1961)

The two-strip Technicolor (an early form of Technicolor which brought out the reds and greens) really made Doctor X’s makeup look terrifically creepy. Outstanding work.

Best Production Design

Uncredited, Chess of the Wind

Anton Grot, Doctor X

Rudolph Sternad, Cary Odell, and William Kiernan, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

Vincent Korda and Julia Heron, Jungle Book

Alfred Junge, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Arthur Schramm and Fritz Seyfried, Man on a Tightrope

Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale, Mank

George W. Davis and Lyle R. Wheeler, People Will Talk (1951)

William A. Elliott and Ida Random, Silverado

Emil Hasler, Otto Hunte, and Karl Vollbrecht, Woman in the Moon

Achievement in Visual Effects

The Black Rose

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Grand Prix

Jungle Book

Malignant (2021)

No Time to Die (2021)

The Suicide Squad

Tenet (2020)

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver

Woman in the Moon

Worst Picture

Cult of the Cobra (1955)

Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966)

Kissin’ Cousins (1964)

The Monster (1925)

On with the Show! (1929)

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)

Sanders of the River (1935)

The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947)

Two Rode Together (1961)

Honorary Award:

Paul Robeson, for his uncompromising artistry on and off camera

FILMS WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS (excluding Worst Picture... 58) Eleven: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Nine: Elmer Gantry; Yi Yi Eight: The Devil and Daniel Webster Seven: Los tallos amargos Six: Chess of the Wind Five: The Bad Seed; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Intruder in the Dust; Silverado; Woman in the Moon Four: ABBA: The Movie; Carefree; The Father; The Five Pennies; In the Heights; Mank; Minari; Oklahoma!; So This is Paris; The Stalking Moon Three: Adoption; Berlin: Symphony of a Great City; Doctor X; The End of Summer; Grand Prix; How to Steal a Million; Jungle Book; Loving Couples; Orchestra Wives; Sound of Metal; Take a Giant Step; To Each His Own Two: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm; The Black Rose; City Hall; Clue; The Dark Angel; Đoạn trường vinh hoa (The Glorious Pain); Down Argentine Way; Encanto; Evil Under the Sun; Fanchon, the Cricket; G.I. Blues; The Green Knight; Hairspray; The Joy Luck Club; Lady Sings the Blues; Licorice Pizza; Limite; Man on a Tightrope; The Mitchells vs. the Machines; No Time to Die; The Red Lily; Romance on the High Seas; 16 Days of Glory; Teen Kanya; West Side Story (2021)

WINNERS (excluding honorary awards and Worst Picture; 29) 4 wins: Yi Yi 3 wins: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 2 wins: Chess of the Wind; Elmer Gantry; Grand Prix; Intruder in the Dust; Los tallos amargos; Silverado; So This is Paris 1 win: The Bad Seed; Batman: Mask of the Phantasm; The Black Rose; The Devil and Daniel Webster; Doctor X; The Father; The Five Pennies; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Godzilla vs. Kong; How to Steal a Million; Jazz on a Summer’s Day; Malignant; No Time to Die; Oklahoma!; Orchestra Wives; The Suicide Squad; Teen Kanya; Tenet; The 3 Worlds of Gulliver; To Each His Own; Woman in the Moon

100 films were nominated in 26 categories.

[scotianostra]

Folk singer Nick Keir was born in Edinburgh 14th March 1953.

Nick Keir was born into an established Edinburgh family business, David Keir and Sons. He was never cut out to be a businessman and resolutely pursued his life as a poet and dreamer. He was one of the first intake at the new University of Stirling in 1971 and it was there that he developed his performance as a folk singer. He formed the folk-rock band Finn Mac Cuill in 1972.

With the Finn McCuill Folkshow he toured Scotland with the poet Norman McCaig and had many wry anecdotes of those times. He then joined the leftist theatre group 7:84.

In 1982, he was invited to join the McCalmans and remained with them for the next 30 years until the band dissolved, touring all over the world as one of the best known and most successful Scottish Traditional acts. In 2004 , together with the group, Nick was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame on the occasion of being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Prize at the Scottish Folk Awards, and in 2005 the group received the Danish Folk Music Prize at the Skagen Festival.

After the McCalmans, Nick performed across Europe with the acclaimed Tolkien Ensemble, presenting a musical spectacular with Sir Christopher Lee in The Lord of the Rings. He also played with the Holbaek Ensemble of Denmark playing an exciting mix of Scots and Irish Traditional music laced with the Baroque of Correlli and Vivaldi. He also found time to do four solo cds, the song American Accent being on the second release All over this town

In 2012  he was diagnosed with a serious illness and courageously battled on, delivering his final masterly performance in the Spring of that year at the Queens Hall, the McCalman’s home venue and within yards of where he had grown up and lived nearly all his life. A modest and infinitely courteous man, his songs and music could capture the spirit of Edinburgh through the eyes of an unashamed romantic. They could also be humorous and clever like American Accent, which laments that without changing your accent you wouldn’t get radio airplay, much like the Proclaimers did in Throw the R Away.

American Accent

I loved it then and I love it noo, The Country and the Cajun and the Delta Blues There’s nothing like the tapping of a blue suede shoe, When it’s done in an American Accent. I loved the Memphis and the Nashville sound I tuned to “Lux” when the lights were down I sang like Elvis on my paper round And I sang in an American accent

Doesn ’t matter if it’s fast or slow Kind of high or way down low They’ll never play it on the radio Unless you sing in an American accent They’ll never play it on the radio Unless you sing in an American accent

I bought a guitar when I was just 14 I wanted to be groovy on the party scene, Looking kind of chubby in my Parker’s jeans I sang in an American accent Bobby Dylan he was all the rage, The denim-clad hero of the modern age Guess I was going through an awkward stage When I sang in an American accent

Doesn ’t matter if it’s fast or slow Kind of high or way down low They’ll never play it on the radio Unless you sing in an American accent They’ll never play it on the radio Unless you sing in an American accent

I sang a song on the BBC… They let me keep the tape for free I played it back: it didn’t sound like me I sang in an American accent Opened the curtains and I looked outside Saw the reality I could not hide: This isn’t Memphis, this is Morningside And I don’t have an American accent

[bm2ab]

Arrivals & Departures 04 May 1929 – 20 January 1993 Audrey Kathleen Ruston Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

Born in Ixelles, Brussels, Hepburn spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands. She studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam beginning in 1945 and with Marie Rambert in London starting in 1948. She began performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions and then had minor appearances in several films. Hepburn starred in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi after being spotted by the French novelist Colette, on whose work the play was based.

She rose to stardom in the romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953) alongside Gregory Peck, for which she was the first actress to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. That same year, Hepburn won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine. She went on to star in a number of successful films such as Sabrina (1954), in which Humphrey Bogart and William Holden compete for her affection; Funny Face (1957) a musical in which she sang her own song parts; the drama The Nun's Story (1959); the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961); the thriller-romance Charade (1963), opposite Cary Grant; and the musical My Fair Lady (1964). In 1967, she starred in the thriller Wait Until Dark, receiving Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations. After that, she only occasionally appeared in films, one being Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery. Her last recorded performances were in the 1990 documentary television series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn.

She won three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In recognition of her film career, she received BAFTA's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Special Tony Award. She remains one of only 16 people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards.

Later in life, she devoted much of her time to UNICEF, to which she had contributed since 1954. Then, she worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America, and Asia between 1988 and 1992. In December 1992, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. A month later, she died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Waters notable recordings include "Dinah", "Stormy Weather", "Taking a Chance on Love", "Heat Wave", "Supper Time", "Am I Blue?", "Cabin in the Sky", "I'm Coming Virginia", and her version of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow". Waters was the second African American to be nominated for an Academy Award. She was the first African American to star on her own television show and the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.

Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on October 31, 1896 (some sources state her birth year as 1900) as a result of the rape of her teenaged African-American mother, Louise Anderson (1881–1962), by John Waters (1878–1901), a pianist and family acquaintance from a middle-class African-American background. Waters' family was very fair skinned, her mother in particular. Many sources, including Ethel herself, have reported for years that her mother was 12 or 13 years old at the time of the rape, 13 when Ethel was born. Stephen Bourne opens his 2007 biography, Ethel Waters: Stormy Weather, with the statement that genealogical research has shown that she may have been in her late teens.

Waters played no role in raising Ethel. Soon after she was born, her mother married Norman Howard, a railroad worker. Ethel used the surname Howard as a child and then reverted to her father's name. She was raised in poverty by Sally Anderson, her grandmother, who worked as a housemaid, and with two of her aunts and an uncle. Waters never lived in the same place for more than 15 months. Of her difficult childhood, she said "I never was a child. I never was cuddled, or liked, or understood by my family."

Waters grew tall, standing 5 feet 9.5 inches (1.765 m) in her teens. According to jazz historian and archivist Rosetta Reitz, Waters's birth in the North and her peripatetic life exposed her to many cultures. Waters married at the age of 13, but her husband was abusive, and she soon left the marriage and became a maid in a Philadelphia hotel, working for $4.75 per week. On her 17th birthday, she attended a costume party at a nightclub on Juniper Street. She was persuaded to sing two songs and impressed the audience so much that she was offered professional work at the Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore. She recalled that she earned the rich sum of $10 per week, but her managers cheated her out of the tips her admirers threw on the stage.

After her start in Baltimore, Waters toured on the black vaudeville circuit, in her words "from nine until unconscious." Despite her early success, she fell on hard times and joined a carnival traveling in freight cars headed for Chicago. She enjoyed her time with the carnival and recalled, "the roustabouts and the concessionaires were the kind of people I'd grown up with, rough, tough, full of larceny towards strangers, but sentimental and loyal to their friends and co-workers." But she did not last long with them and soon headed south to Atlanta, where she worked in the same club as Bessie Smith. Smith demanded that Waters not compete in singing blues opposite her. Waters conceded and sang ballads and popular songs. Around 1919, Waters moved to Harlem and became a performer in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Her first Harlem job was at Edmond's Cellar, a club with a black patronage that specialized in popular ballads. She acted in a blackface comedy, Hello 1919. Jazz historian Rosetta Reitz pointed out that by the time Waters returned to Harlem in 1921, women blues singers were among the most powerful entertainers in the country. In 1921, Waters became the fifth black woman to make a record, for tiny Cardinal Records. She later joined Black Swan, where Fletcher Henderson was her accompanist. Waters later commented that Henderson tended to perform in a more classical style than she preferred, often lacking "the damn-it-to-hell bass."

She recorded for Black Swan from 1921 through 1923. Her contract with Harry Pace made her the highest paid black recording artist at the time. In early 1924, Paramount bought Black Swan, and she stayed with Paramount through the year.

She first recorded for Columbia in 1925, achieving a hit with "Dinah". She started working with Pearl Wright, and they toured in the South. In 1924, Waters played at the Plantation Club on Broadway. She also toured with the Black Swan Dance Masters. With Earl Dancer, she joined what was called the "white time" Keith Vaudeville Circuit, a vaudeville circuit performing for white audiences and combined with screenings of silent movies. They received rave reviews in Chicago and earned the unheard-of salary of US$1,250 in 1928. In September 1926, Waters recorded "I'm Coming Virginia", composed by Donald Heywood with lyrics by Will Marion Cook. She is often wrongly attributed as the author. The following year, Waters sang it in a production of Africana at Broadway's Daly's Sixty-Third Street Theatre. In 1929, Waters and Wright arranged the unreleased Harry Akst song "Am I Blue?", which was used in the movie On with the Show and became a hit and her signature song.

In 1933, Waters appeared in a satirical all-black film, Rufus Jones for President, which featured the child performer Sammy Davis Jr. as Rufus Jones. She went on to star at the Cotton Club, where, according to her autobiography, she "sang 'Stormy Weather' from the depths of the private hell in which I was being crushed and suffocated." In 1933, she had a featured role in the successful Irving Berlin Broadway musical revue As Thousands Cheer with Clifton Webb, Marilyn Miller, and Helen Broderick.

She became the first black woman to integrate Broadway's theater district more than a decade after actor Charles Gilpin's critically acclaimed performances in the plays of Eugene O'Neill beginning with The Emperor Jones in 1920.

Waters held three jobs: in As Thousands Cheer, as a singer for Jack Denny & His Orchestra on a national radio program, and in nightclubs. She became the highest-paid performer on Broadway. Despite this status, she had difficulty finding work. She moved to Los Angeles to appear in the 1942 film Cairo. During the same year, she reprised her starring stage role as Petunia in the all-black film musical Cabin in the Sky directed by Vincente Minnelli, and starring Lena Horne as the ingenue. Conflicts arose when Minnelli swapped songs from the original script between Waters and Horne. Waters wanted to perform "Honey in the Honeycomb" as a ballad, but Horne wanted to dance to it. Horne broke her ankle and the songs were reversed. She got the ballad and Waters the dance. Waters sang the Academy Award nominated "Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe".

In 1939 Waters became the first African American to star in her own television show, before the debut of Nat King Cole's in 1956. The Ethel Waters Show, a variety special, appeared on NBC on June 14, 1939. It included a dramatic performance of the Broadway play Mamba's Daughters, based on the Gullah community of South Carolina and produced with her in mind. The play was based on the novel by DuBose Heyward.

Waters was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film Pinky (1949) under the direction of Elia Kazan after the first director, John Ford, quit over disagreements with Waters. According to producer Darryl F. Zanuck, Ford "hated that old...woman (Waters)." Ford, Kazan stated, "didn't know how to reach Ethel Waters." Kazan later referred to Waters's "truly odd combination of old-time religiosity and free-flowing hatred."

In 1950, she won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for her performance opposite Julie Harris in the play The Member of the Wedding. Waters and Harris repeated their roles in the 1952 film version.

In 1950, Waters was the first African-American actress to star in a television series, Beulah, which aired on ABC television from 1950 through 1952.

It was the first nationally broadcast weekly television series starring an African American in the leading role. She starred as Beulah for the first year of the TV series before quitting in 1951, complaining that the portrayal of blacks was "degrading." She was replaced by Louise Beavers in the second and third season. She guest-starred in 1957 and 1959 on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. In a 1957 segment, she sang "Cabin in the Sky".

Her first autobiography, His Eye Is on the Sparrow, (1951), written with Charles Samuels, was adapted for the stage by Larry Parr and premiered on October 7, 2005.

In 1953, she appeared in a Broadway show, At Home With Ethel Waters that opened on September 22, 1953 and closed October 10 after 23 performances. 

Waters married three times and had no children. When she was 13, she married Merritt "Buddy" Purnsley in 1909; they divorced in 1913. During the 1920s, Waters was involved in a romantic relationship with dancer Ethel Williams. The two were dubbed "The Two Ethels" and lived together in Harlem.She married Clyde Edwards Matthews in 1929, and they divorced in 1933. She married Edward Mallory in 1938; they divorced in 1945. Waters was the great-aunt of the singer-songwriter Crystal Waters. 

In 1938, Waters met artist Luigi Lucioni through their mutual friend, Carl Van Vechten. Lucioni asked Waters if he could paint her portrait, and a sitting was arranged at his studio at 64 Washington Square South. Waters bought the finished portrait from Lucioni in 1939 for $500. She was at the height of her career and the first African American to have a starring role on Broadway. In her portrait, she wore a tailored red dress with a mink coat draped over the back of her chair. Lucioni positioned Waters with her arms tightly wrapped around her waist, a gesture that conveyed vulnerability, as if she were trying to protect herself. The painting was considered lost because it had not been seen in public since 1942. Huntsville (Alabama) Museum of Art Executive Director Christopher J. Madkour and historian Stuart Embury traced it to a private residence. The owner considered Waters to be "an adopted grandmother" but she allowed the Huntsville Museum of Art to display Portrait of Ethel Waters in the 2016 exhibition American Romantic: The Art of Luigi Lucioni where it was viewed by the public for the first time in more than 70 years. The museum acquired Portrait of Ethel Waters in 2017, and it was shown in an exhibition in February 2018]. 

By 1955, Waters was deeply in debt for back taxes; the IRS seized royalties of her work. She lost tens of thousands in jewelry and cash in a robbery.[35] Her health suffered, and she worked sporadically. Yet she had faced lean times before. A turning point came in 1957 when she attended the Billy Graham Crusade in Madison Square Garden. She entered the Garden that night a disillusioned, lonely, 61-year-old woman. She had become successful at giving out happiness, but her personal life lacked peace. She was in debt, had physical problems, weighed too much to perform comfortably, and was worried about her career.

Years later, she gave this testimony of that night, "In 1957, I, Ethel Waters, a 380-pound decrepit old lady, rededicated my life to Jesus Christ, and boy, because He lives, just look at me now. I tell you because He lives; and because my precious child, Billy, gave me the opportunity to stand there, I can thank God for the chance to tell you His eye is on all of us sparrows." In her later years, Waters often toured with the preacher Billy Graham on his crusades.

Waters died on September 1, 1977, aged 80, from uterine cancer, kidney failure, and other ailments, in Chatsworth, California. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Waters