#The Broadway Melody

[silentagecinema]

oh to cry is to feel

[citizenscreen]

Harry Beaumont’s THE BROADWAY MELODY premiered in Los Angeles 95 years ago today (1929). This was MGM's first all-talking picture, and the first sound film to win the Best Picture Oscar. #OnThisDay

Stars: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love

[thebestestwinner]

The top two vote-getters will move on to the next round!

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[crowdvscritic]

crowd vs. critic single take // THE LOST WEEKEND (1945)

Photo Credits: IMDb.com

What’s one weekend away? For an alcoholic, torture.

Struggling writer Don (Ray Milland) is dreading a trip with his brother Wick (Phillip Terry), who monitors what he imbibes. He keeps a covert stash in the crannies of their New York City apartment, but it won’t be easy to sneak it out of town alongside his brother and his girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman). Part belligerence and part willful ignorance convinces him perhaps it’s best not to go at all. A weekend spent only with himself—and a few fellow bar patrons—would be better.

CROWD // One of the reasons I love movies is they’re the closest to time travel we’ll ever get. Like Harry Potter dunking his head into the Pensieve, a screen always reveals more than the filmmakers intended because it's a literal portal into the past. The Lost Weekend’s portrayal of alcoholism feels melodramatic today, borderline heavy-handed, but in 1945, The New York Daily News called it "the most daring film that ever came out of Hollywood.” Turner Classic Movies notes it had a special relevance in a year when soldiers were returning from a traumatizing war, and it was “the first to treat drinking seriously and not play it for laughs. Gone were the inebriated Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man movies.” Just a few years later in 1949, Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell died when she was was hit by a drunk driver. When Malcolm Gladwell explored it on his podcast Revisionist History, he observed, “The fact that his drinking might have been the reason he was speeding somehow didn't seem to occur to many people... but in the mentality of the time, the driver was irrelevant. He was as unlucky as the victim." All that to say, how we feel about alcoholism has changed in the last eight decades. 

Though the context feels foreign today, the characters do not. If you’ve ever known someone struggling with crippling mental health issues, watching Helen and Wick waffle between support for Don and total exasperation will feel too familiar. You’ll also recognize the truth in Don’s statement that there are two versions of himself—the one who would love to be a writer, and the one who believes he’s a failure. One version wants to be the man Helen deserves and a responsible brother who pays the rent, but the other cons and manipulates them, even swiping the maid’s paycheck for his habit. (Writer/director Billy Wilder would create another unstable, manipulative character in Sunset Blvd., but Norma Desmond would add a sinister edge.) Even if The Lost Weekend doesn’t feel congruent with modern depictions of substance abuse, it’s still moving because its heart is empathetic to those struggling as well as their friends and family. 

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 7/10

CRITIC // That success is largely thanks to the cast. In another film, Don could have been a villain or comic relief—here is treated with as much care as Milland took in preparing for the role. His commitment is an early example of the strategy many Best Actor hopefuls still take today, volunteering a physical transformation to become this character. In addition to changing his diet to lose weight, he took the initiative to stay in Bellevue Hospital for a time (where some of the film was shot, though Bellevue later regretted it) to experience their treatment of alcoholics. Though he was unsuccessful at achieving drunkenness, he was successfully mistaken as public day drinker by acquaintances who were gracious enough to mention it to the press. Without Milland, Matthew McConaughey might have still lost weight for Dallas Buyers Club, Brendan Fraser might still have gained weight for The Whale, and Leonardo DiCaprio might still have gone through the tortures of The Revenant, but perhaps Milland's win is the source code for actors going to extremes to show commitment to their craft. 

In addition to nominations for editing and cinematography, Billy Wilder won his first Oscars for writing and directing The Lost Weekend. (He’d already lost five times, including for Ninotchka and Double Indemnity, and he’d win four more for Sunset Blvd. and The Apartment. Yeesh, what a career!) A Best Score nod brought to the tally to 7 total nominations, though that’s less impressive when you know the Academy recognized 47 nominees in 3 different music categories for the year of 1945. (The following year each category was narrowed down to the traditional five.) 

One more indicator of the Ghost of Oscars Yet to Come: The Lost Weekend is the first social issues drama to win Best Picture. Previous winners danced around what is now a staple during Awards Season, but Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Grand Hotel were really slice-of-life character dramas, The Broadway Melody and Going My Way were really musicals, and It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It With You were really comedies, although all six of those titles were conscious of money, class, marriage, and religion. The Lost Weekend is the first winner about everyday people facing a present day challenge not set during war or a historical period. For the first time, the Academy affirmed the value of a "small" story with its highest honor, giving dignity to people and concerns that could be mistaken as unimportant.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 9/10

[ensalada-de-lengua-de-pajaritos]

[oscarupsets]

The match-up for the 2nd Academy Awards was between The Broadway Melody, a romantic musical, and In Old Arizona, a western.

We've transitioned out of the silent film era, and these first few talking films don't hold up as well to the test of time, sadly.

The Broadway Melody was praised for being the "first talking musical comedy" with a perfect mix of visual effects and emotions. It also brought in a significant amount of money for MGM with a relatively small budget. However, Pare Lorentz of Judge warned viewers that it lacked a unique story.

I could not find budget info for In Old Arizona, but Fox was known for producing low to mid-range budget films at the time, including 1st Academy Award winner Sunrise. It received great praise from Photoplay and Variety, especially for its sound. Variety briefly mentions that the dialog interferes with the action, but clearly that did not stop people from coming out in droves to see it.

Current reception for these two films is, well, poor. Both films were groundbreaking for the time - The Broadway Melody for including singing and dancing, and In Old Arizona for its outdoor filming - but that's about it. Critics and the general audience describe The Broadway Melody's plot as a poor attempt at pulling together the musical numbers. Similarly, they find it difficult to get through In Old Arizona's poor plot and stereotyping.

There were 7 categories awarded in the 2nd Oscars ceremony, still with no official nominees. In the end, 7 films all received one Oscar each, the only time that has occurred. So far, the two upsets have received nominations for both Directing and Writing (screenplay), while the winners have not. These two are often used as current predictors. Both upsets have also beat the winner in total overall nominations.

I found The Broadway Melody difficult to get through, even at only 100 minutes long. The actual story line was muddled, and it relied too heavily on musical numbers. But hey, it was the first movie to do so!

In Old Arizona was also quite basic. It lasted 95 minutes but the entire plot was easily summed up by IMDb into one line. The dialog was also incredibly difficult to hear due to poor sound mixing and not speaking TOWARDS the camera! Oh well.

Not surprisingly, neither film took home the Photoplay Award at the time. Only In Old Arizona remains in the Academy Film Archive.

[hellothereimaloser]

Cherry, Marcia and Beverly!!! The iconic trio 💞

More musical fanart cause it deserves the best 😭💞

[clarulitas]

FRED ASTAIRE Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) dir. Norman Taurog

[asexual-juliet]

saw the outsiders musical last night (7/20/24) and thought i would make a little post about some of my favorite parts!! brody, sky & daryl were out so i saw trevor wayne as pony, josh strobl as johnny & henry julián gendron as two-bit!

there’s a bit after pony gets jumped by the socs where darry and soda are cleaning the blood off his face and when they’re done and have gotten up johnny comes and sits next to him and takes out a rag and starts also cleaning pony’s face <3 it’s so so sweet

henry does a couple little opt-ups as two-bit in both grease got a hold and hoods turned heroes where i was like “ooh!” i adore daryl tofa so i was a little disappointed when i found out i wouldn’t be able to see him but henry was SO fantastic!! such a talented dancer and you could tell he was having so much fun with the character! such a standout for me.

was deeply impressed by how many items were successfully thrown and caught in grease got a hold like holy shit dude

the LIGHTING in great expectations has pony pointing his flashlight at darrel on “darrel was on his way up in the world” & johnny on “johnny has no kind of chance in this world” and then as the verse goes on he points it at all of the greasers standing all over the stage and the light lingers on them for the rest of the song it’s so fucking cool-looking! and during the chorus the stage starts to look like a starry sky which is a choice they bring back for the little great expectations reprise at the end of far away from tulsa. 

the moment where pony & johnny do their little cool guy walks over to cherry and marcia at the drive-in with their popped collars was so precious to me

i ADORE cherry valance and i ADORE emma’s take on her!! her little convo with pony at the drive-in was really sweet and i loved that they chose not to make the dynamic feel like a crush on ponyboy’s part it was such a nice moment of two people finding and genuinely understanding each other so deeply <3

lighting sound & everything was so next-level during the fountain scene-bob’s death like i don’t even think i can describe it it was so much and so crisp and so visceral in the absolute best way

staging for run run brother was SO cool — there’s a part at the end where they use the tires and boards from the set to make two platforms that the other actors can roll them back and forth while johnny is on one and pony on the other and they roll them away from each other and they are both reaching out so desperately towards each other its so fantastic

i also really liked the part in run run brother where dally gives pony his jacket like he just wordlessly put it on for him it’s so nice

lighting & subsequent blackout at the end of run run brother as pb&j are in the air after jumping off the “train” was ELITE

pony is holding johnny’s switchblade during death’s at my door and at the end of the song johnny reaches out to take it from him but he doesn’t pull away so he’s just holding pony’s hand and then he puts his other hand over pony’s too and they sit there like that until the lights go down <3

LOVED what they’ve done with darry’s character here!! i know people have some nitpicky things with it but he is such a fascinating character and i’m so glad that the musical theater medium was able to do so much with him that the limited pov of the novel couldn’t — brent comer plays darry so so well and my heart aches for him like fuck dude he cares about his brothers so fucking much and he’s doing his best and he’s so so tired :((( give him a break!!

jason schmidt’s voice is SO fantastic holy fuck throwing in the towel was GORGEOUS!! and the little bit at the end where soda hugs darry and it looks like he maybe kisses him on the head a little is so darling <3

the entire “do i look like julie andrews?” scene is so fucking good… genuinely made me laugh out loud. “fine, paul newman, then!” “…no shit?” is so fantastic and johnny’s little “she is pretty as hell :)” about cherry is adorable. and ofc the “goldilocks and her ugly sister” line is fucking great

the way that johnny perks up when he hears “say hey to johnny for us :)” in soda’s letter is so cute

the church fire scene is perhaps the coolest shit i have ever seen onstage

ponyboy is crying so hard after johnny dies that has to sit down on the floor of the hospital room and soda sits behind him and just holds him <3

ponyboy is like actively crying as he narrates dally’s death its so fucking heartbreaking. i liked that they drew the parallels between the train crashes in order to make dally’s death meaningful despite its departure from the book. and the detail about the train derailing when it hit him was wonderfully written. 

there is a scene where ponyboy is like inconsolable sitting on the living room floor with his head in his arms after johnny and dally die and cherry comes by the house because she has been volunteering at the hospital and no one came to pick up johnny’s clothes after he died and she thought ponyboy should have them and she tells him there’s a letter in the pocket addressed to him and after she leaves he just sits there for a while and when he finally moves he picks up johnny’s jean jacket and fucking like hugs it and buries his face in it and it’s so so so heartbreaking and soda has to come over and start reading the letter to him before johnny appears and starts singing stay gold <3

johnny starts SR at the beginning of stay gold while pony is sitting on the car at SL but he is slowly moving closer to pony as the song goes on and right before they start singing in harmony johnny sits down next to him <3 <3 <3

josh’s stay gold made me CRY!! especially him and trevor singing “i have known a love that many never know / and that love lives on no matter where i go” holy shit. their voices blend together so beautifully

overall i fucking ADORED trevor’s ponyboy!! he embodies the role so so well and has such a fourteen-year-old boy vibe when he’s onstage that i definitely did not expect from an actor in his twenties! i’ve heard that his pony is a little more emotional than brody’s & josh’s and that was a choice i really really vibed with!! and his voice was like jaw-dropping, what a talent!!

stagedoor afterwards was so so wonderful! i made drawings for the entire cast and everyone was so so nice and seemed to really like them! the ensemble & understudies especially seemed really thrilled that i had made something for them

henry in particular was so so sweet and seemed like he couldn’t believe that i had drawn him! he was like “is this me for real?” and someone (i think it was trevor) told him to look at the back where i had written his name and a little note and he was really excited about it!! he actually was like “this is awesome i have to go inside and give this to my mom right now so i don’t lose it” and his family was right inside the stagedoor and he pointed me out to them and they were so excited! he gave me a hug too it was really nice :)

trevor was also really excited and was like “this is a drawing of me for real? not brody?” and he was so happy when he turned it around and saw his name <3

i gave melody and sarahgrace copies of the same drawing of both of them and as soon as i gave it to melody she immediately looked around to find sarahgrace and show it to her (she was still inside but it was very cute) and then she told me they were going to put it on the wall in their dressing room!!

sarahgrace was like “omg you even drew my bracelet!” and was excited when i pointed out the detail i put in for the pattern on her dress!

trevor yelled across the sidewalk to tell josh to stop talking to his (trevor’s) mom as a joke lmfao

everyone except jason & kevin c came out to stagedoor and they were all so so sweet!! got photos with most of them and they all signed my copy of the book!! overall such a fucking fantastic experience! the drawings were a lot of work but it was so nice to see the looks on the cast’s faces when they saw them!!

[throwing-in-the-towel]

one of the new promo videos from the recent content shoot!!!

[mikexfaisty]

i know there has been lots of problems/concerns over the stagedoor recently. but last night was super calm and everyone was being so nice and trying to make as much room for one another and it was super refreshing!

i asked brent if he had to audition again from la jolla to broadway for darrel and said yes… many times. I then rambled about how darrel is my favorite and how much i love his performance and he was so kind. 

melody’s sharpie ran out when she was signing my playbill so she asked brent if he had another one and he was like “yeah” and they were being really cute and funny as he tried rummaging through his backpack to find one “i’m holding up traffic”. he got her one, don’t worry.   

happy i finally got to meet renni! he and brent were arguing over what power ranger brent would be. brent was wearing a green power rangers shirt but renni was insistent he’d be red because he’s their leader. milena then asked what power ranger she’d be and renni goes “oh you know you’d be yellow power ranger! saber tooth tiger”. 

barton is soooo sweet. he told me he liked my spongebob tattoo and i commented how i liked his smiley face one. he then goes, “oh i’ll show you my ring!” and shows me the soc class ring he still had on. he then panicked about bringing it home and ran back inside to go put it back. he then finds me again and shows me his matching smiley face ring. he was all excited “guess which one i got first?!”. it’s the tattoo lol.

someone told emma her eyeliner looked nice and she was to grateful bc she said she had panicked 5 min before the show started bc she didn't like how it looked and for us to not look so close.

[citizenscreen]

Harry Beaumont’s THE BROADWAY MELODY hit theaters #Onthisday in 1929. This was MGM's first all-talking picture, and the first sound film to win the Best Picture Oscar.

[theemosiders]

(2/2) the socs on bway!! i gave these drawings to the actors on bway when i watched them!! 10/10 show would recommend

[sondheim-girly]

Fav moments in outsiders GMA performance (warning I’m gonna use actor names instead of character names cuz it’s easier for me, but please know that 95% of the time this isn’t about the actors lmao):

-when Brody and sky start singing together and you can see that they’re both genuinely smiling and laughing with each other and it’s so cute

-“they’ll do all that they can to keep you poor and scared”

-when all the greasers are revealed Brent’s kinda hugging Anna and it’s so cute

-at the same time Tilly’s messing with Daryl, then she reaches up to Renni, then kinda hugs Brent’s leg and he leans into her AND ITS SO CUTE HRHFJDH

-Daryl and Brody doing the handshake

-Jason greeting sky then audibly slapping Josh strobl with the rag 😭

-Jason slapping Brody with the rag

-the way Emma’s with kwp and they’re being all romantic and then basically immediately she’s lifted into the air by rj and kwp is forgotten

-melody and Barton are so cute before they start dancing together, just watch them lol

-Kevin csolak also holds saragrace up before the socs dance, but not nearly as high as Emma and it kinda looks funny 

-Brody spinning tilly

-kwp and Dan berry just chilling and watching during all the dancing is so funny to me

-Kevin csolak kinda tries to go to I think Brody, but sarahgrace pulls him back

-Jason hugging Tilly in the final pose

-and don’t forget all of Brody’s riffs in the entire song. Special shoutout to the run he does on “just one thing”

-whatever the fuck Trevi’s doing during “some of us are cool like James dean” KILLS ME LMAO

-Daryl having his arm around sky on the car is so cuteee

-Brody not being quick on his feet

-TREVI MEWING

-when Joshua Boone goes over to sky and they have this really cute moment and ugshhddhhf the tragedy hits 😭

-Anna and Josh strobl just vibing on the car for the entirety of ggah

-Trevi flipping and everyone doing their own thing after “no we ain’t got money, but we got something to prove”

-Trevi and Jordan chin doing the handshake

-Brody looks so blank when Jason is greasing his hair

-at the very end when Daryl pretends to throw dirt that isn’t there then motions to the camera 😭

-Renni hanging upside down on the bars

-just the fact that all the swings got to go and seeing their separate costumes and everything makes me so happy

ok that’s it for now lmao

[brodygrantdaily]

This video is NAWT good for my mental health

🎥: @/faif.lynn