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franklycharmed · 4 months ago

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TASK: TALENT SHOW

WEDNESDAY EVENING | SEPTEMBER 7, 2005 ♡ THE SPARE ROOM, WOODROW HOUSE

Before, when Frankie hadn't been standing in front of the most accomplished group of people she had ever known with two handles of liquor and sixteen glass teacups lined up as surrogate shot glasses, this really had seemed like a good idea.

But like the hosts of TRL said, probably, the show must go on.

Frankie clapped her hands. "Alrighty! Let's give a round of applause for fencing! You're going to have to show me how to do those moves, Mick." She dropped a wink in her direction. "I think I have a few exes where they could be put to good use."

With a press of the play button on a small CD player resting on a stool at her hip, the dreamy strings and first warbling notes of Judy Garland's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas started up. Frankie turned back to the tea table before her and picked up a bottle of grenadine, pouring it into a metal shaker.

"So, you all know that Richard was–" her pour slipped, splashing a bit of sticky liquid onto her hand. "Sorry!" she said quickly, shooting an apologetic look at Mrs. Tristan. She took a steadying breath, "You all know Richard is, like, super old. Spiritually, I mean. Old books, old scotch, old movies. TCM's biggest fan."

There was a bucket of crushed ice next to the glasses, and she dumped a large scoop into the shaker with a light laugh. "I remember I tricked him into seeing Clueless with me because I told him we were going to see an Emma adaptation. He was so pissed after, but you know, in his Richard way. Instead of grounding me, he made me read the book."

She grabbed a can opener and affixed it to a can of pineapple juice, chattering all the while. "Anyway, the only old movie we both like is The Wizard of Oz. Which Judy Garland is in, but we don't have a CD for that; I could only find Meet Me in St. Louis so we're listening to that instead." She gestured vaguely as she poured the pineapple juice into shaker as well. "But I feel like it still works."

The vodka bottle was cold against her hand, which was helpful, because Frankie was feeling increasingly hot, particularly behind the eyes. She swallowed thickly as Judy sang about golden days of yore.

"We would watch The Wizard of Oz, and omg he loved to talk about what a technological feat it was, doing the movie in color." One splash of vodka. On second thought, two. "That's why he thinks I liked it so much as a kid."

Grabbing the blue curaçao, she smiled at the room, a fragile, close to shattering thing. "It was the color, but it wasn't because it was cool."

Someday soon, we all will be together–

"It 's because that's how it felt coming to Woodrow House."

–If the fates allow–

"Like everything was black-and-white wherever I was before, and suddenly my life was technicolor."

Blinking quickly, Frankie added the curaçao, topped the shaker with a strainer, and one by one, filled the clear teacups with color. Blue. Green. Yellow. Orange. Red.

Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow.

For a moment, all Frankie could do was stare down at her work, lips pressed thin, eyes dangerously wet for someone wearing a thick application of mascara.

Then she inhaled sharply and lifted her head with a forced smile, spreading out her hands in a ta-da gesture. "'Somewhere Over the Rainbow Shots'. I thought everyone could use a pick-me-up to make things more fun. That's my talent."

#wrhq.task

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sianagrace · 7 months ago

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Meet Me in St. Louis_Roundtable 3

Meet Me in St. Louis follows the Smith family living in St. Louis the year before the 1904 World’s Fair. Esther Smith, played by Judy Garland, is the middle “child” of five siblings but is notably the most outgoing, and thus the lead, of her entire family of eight. Garland sings most of the featured songs, including those original to this film: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. Most of the remaining songs we popular during the time of the World’s Fair.

Social Context for Musical Relevance

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This film straddles two remarkably different eras of US history. The beginning of the 20th century (when the film is set) marked great changes in industrialization and first-wave feminism, while the 1940s (when the film was made) can be largely characterized by WWII and FDR’s final term. Two songs - “The Boy Next Door” and “Over the Bannister” balance these two times while mostly serving to satisfy the 1940s audience. “The Boy Next Door” follows a conversation between Esther and her older sister, Rose, who leaves her sister with the sentence “My dear when you get to be my age you’ll learn that there are more important things in life than boys”. The first few scenes of the film cover the fact that Rose, despite her “spinster” age, is not yet married. While this isn’t necessarily problematized it is heavily emphasized. Instead of following in her sister’s footsteps, Esther yearns for love and attention but seeks it out on her terms. Her relationship with the boy next door, John Truett, begins with these two songs. Last week we discussed Altman’s “inevitable couplings”: this pairing, despite falling into the heteronormative framework and finality of so many other musicals, does require effort and initiation from Esther’s character specifically. When John first kisses Esther, long after the performance of these songs, she hesitates. While this relationship is a goal for Esther, she prioritizes her family and personal needs. Rose and Esther’s overall characters and personalities are reminiscent of the feminist movement they harken from, but their ultimate decisions to settle down with comfortably wealthy men aim to please an audience engulfed in war, loss, and instability.

The Cultivation of Christmas Cheer and Nostalgia

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Though half the songs are original to the score, the pieces that make this a jukebox musical serve mainly to cultivate nostalgia and joy. Again, the films release during WWII shaped the messaging required or desired by audiences. “Skip to Ma Lou” is sung to the tune of “Yankee Doodle” and other short ditties popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but likely still familiar to adult audiences in 1944. This party scene as a whole evokes normalcy, making the plot and characters more desirable and relatable. Other songs included in the score are “auld lang syne” and “the first noel”, some of the oldest Christmas songs that maintain their relevance to this day. Meet Me in St. Louis is often categorized as a Christmas movie despite only the last 20 or so minutes being set during the holiday season. Including these familiar songs in the score sends clear messages about the persistence of peace and being in communion with one another. These songs don’t necessarily have specific or relevant histories but they do have age-old recognition.

Melodrama Meets Musical

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Meet Me in St. Louis combines opera, show tunes, and classical music to create a sound that effortlessly blends into the diegesis of the film. Erin Blakemore notes how the film lacks large, spontaneous musical numbers despite all the crowd scenes and possibilities for such fanfare. Rather, the creators integrated music into the Smith family’s regular routines: their parties and goodbyes, moments of comfort and joy. The rest of the score is used more like it would be in a non-musical drama as a sort of choral, background send-off. This movie is undoubtedly still a musical, but it's more “natural”, and perhaps more aligned with the folk musical, than the others we’ve analyzed.

@theuncannyprofessoro

#oxyfilmmusical #disguisedmusical #Youtube

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the-six-of-us-vs-the-world · 22 days ago

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Happy Halloween, love, Sixth Dimension-!

(Alexandra, Leland, Harlee, Mateo, Ezra, Troy)

(Left to right: Leland, Mateo, Troy, Ezra, Harlee)

It was Management’s idea. They thought a seven night Halloween concert series would be a great opportunity for the band to expand their musical horizons. 19 years old Alexandra “Lexa” Jones thought it was a great idea. After exchanging a nonverbal conversation with her fellow bandmates, she said, “We’ll do it, but we want to pick the set list and our costumes.”

“Deal,” Patrick, their agent, agreed. “We do want you to wear something daisy themed during the shows, Alexandra. The fans really seem to connect to the memory.” She nods, already planning to buy new daisy flower crowns to wear. Ever since their first group performance, when she first ever wore that daisy print dress, she’d received countless daisy themed items- the actual daisy flower, shirts, water bottles with the flower on it, she even had a Daisy Duck plush waiting for her in her bunk on the bus. The fandom even dubbed themselves the 6Daisies because of the performance, and it stuck.

The group loved their 6Daisies so much, they truly wouldn’t be a band without them. “Could all the proceeds go to advocacy of the protection of black cats?” Harlee asked. “During Halloween black cats are the most at risk for being attacked or killed by people because of the superstition that they’re bad luck.”

“We can make that happen- a portion of the ticket sales will go to the ASPCA for the advocacy of black cat protection,” Jenna said, their PR representative.

“Meanwhile,” Leeroy, Leland’s cousin and their choreographer for the tour, caught their attention. “Let’s get to the stage and start rehearsal! I’ve got a new dance I want you to learn by Saturday.”

It was already Wednesday.

Leland grabbed Lexa��s hand, squeezing tightly as the six of them made their way to the rehearsal room. “Seven nights of Halloween fun,” he said.

“Maybe we can do something like this for Christmas!” Christmas was Lexa’s favorite holiday, Leland preferred Halloween. It was part of why they were best friends.

——————-

Night one, they all decided to start with a classic group costume- the Wizard of Oz. Alexa was their Dorothy, and the boys all squabbled over who would be which character, until Alexa finally made the decision for them:

Leland would be the Tinman. Ezra would be the Scarecrow. Mateo would be the Cowardly Lion. Harlee would be Toto. And Troy would be the Wizard.

The night of the show, Alexa was in charge of makeup for the boys, being the biggest Wizard of Oz fan of the six of them. She started with Ezra, because of how intricate the Scarecrow’s face makeup. “Have a seat Ez,” she instructed as she finished her own makeup, which was natural and youthful, because Dorothy was only supposed to be roughly 13 years old. The blonde does as told, and when Lexa turned around she squealed excitedly when she saw his costume. “You look so handsome!” She said. The soon-to-be-18 year old smiled shyly, ears turning pink as she got her supplies ready. “Okay, I need you to be super still for me, okay? I don’t wanna ruin the makeup or poke your eye out accidentally.” He nods. “Just listen to my music and relax, it’s okay.”

The soundtrack to, “The Wizard of Oz,” was playing quietly, but Ezra could hear it perfectly as he sat still for his makeup to be done. Lexa hummed along softly, her fingers brushing his cheek occasionally. It wasn’t a secret that Ezra had a crush on Lexa, but neither was going to act on it until Ezra turned 18 in March.

It didn’t stop Ezra from thinking that Lexa was the prettiest girl in the world. She was so happy; and so nice; and she was one of the best musicians he’d ever known. She was always looking out for the six of them, making sure they took care of themselves and Ezra did the same for her, and it worked out well.

She finished and patted his shoulder, “You look wonderful, my Scarecrow. Can you please tell Leland I’m ready for him?” He nods, still lost in his thoughts as he went and grabbed Leland.

“Your turn mate.” Leland nods and smiles before walking away to find Aricka, his tinfoil hat and fake axe in hand.

Ezra loved seeing the bond between Lexa and Leland, it made him glad they had each other as childhood friends. Also it made him wish he’d been there too. Leland and Lexa were two of the best people he’d ever met; he wasn’t sure what he’d do without them.

Mateo was being helped into his Lion costume, and Troy was buttoning his Wizard costume up. Harlee was already zipped into his Toto costume, waiting for Aricka to do his own makeup.

Leland came out, face and hands painted alive with brown “oil” drips all over, and told Harlee it was his turn. The 16 year old grinned and jumped to his feet before practically skipping over to Lexa. The kid was too cute for his own good.

The other five were severely overprotective of him, as he radiated a rare innocence nobody wanted destroyed prematurely. Deeply sensitive and very shy, he opened up to his new bandmates slowly, at first only sticking to Lele and Lexa, which was fair since they met him first.

Harlee bounded out moments later, his nose now a bright pink, fake whiskers and freckles dotting his nose and cheeks as he told Troy it was his turn for makeup.

Troy was the second oldest, at 18, he was the second most sensitive of the six. He was a quiet observer, until you got to know him and then he was a loud, rambunctious prankster who loved making people laugh. He was the oldest of seven, so he often had a way of protecting the four younger boys without even realizing he was doing it.

Finally. It was Mateo’s turn. Which meant that there were only 30 minutes left til showtime. Mateo was last on purpose, because of how hot the Lion costume was. The makeup and wardrobe department worked to install a fan inside the costume so he wouldn’t overheat under the lights onstage but they were still taking every precaution they could.

Mateo was the other quiet member of the band. The middle child of four, he was also the only brother in his family. Going from that to having four brothers and another sister was an adjustment but he was already a middle child, so it wasn’t that hard. Him and Lexa also had another special relationship because of how they met, during the dance portion of the Starlight Showdown.

Ezra and Troy had met in line for the Showdown. They’d struck up a conversation and exchanged numbers in case either of them didn’t make it through. They also were stood next to each other during the elimination that lead to the formation of The 6th Dimension.

After that, Ezra had ran into Lele and Lexa, after his audition, at a pizza place not far from the competition headquarters. He remembered every detail of that moment- Leland was wearing blue jeans, a Batman shirt, and a blue backwards baseball cap, while Lexa was wearing a soft blue sweater dress and knee high boots, and her hair was curly and down. She had invited him to sit with her and Leland and they’d also quickly became friends.

After that, Ezra brought Troy to meet Lele and Lexa, who brought Harlee and Mateo. They didn’t even know they would eventually become a band at that point, they just all connected and became friends beforehand.

“15 minutes to showtime!” The P.A. announced.

“Thank you 15!” They all acknowledged, and Lexa came out with Mateo, and the other boys soflty complimented her outfit, and thanked her again profusely for her makeup assistance. They all huddle up, Lexa squished between Ezra and Troy.

“15 minutes. We’re gonna go out and have a great show, and come back here for some super greasy pizza and soda,” Troy said, making everyone laugh, loosening the tension they all felt.

“Hands in,” Leland says, and they put their hands in the middle of the huddle. Lexa waited, then put her hand on top of Ezra’s once he put his hand in. The two look at each other, both smiling shyly before looking back at their friends. “What are we saying tonight Harls?”

The youngest member of the band pauses for a moment, “there’s no place like home!”

The statement made them all grin and nod in agreement. “On three,” Mateo said.

“One..” Lexa.

“Two…” Ezra.

“Three…” Leland.

“There’s no place like home!” They cheer.

—————-

Harlee walks over and grabs Lexa’s hand, who immediately puts all her focus on him. “Can we skip onstage tonight?” He asks. Lexa grins and nods,

“Absolutely we can! C’mon Toto, let’s go-!” The two link arms, and on cue they make their way onstage, skipping all the way to the front, and the response frol the crowd was instantaneous- the stadium filled with cheers, screaming and applause.

They went through their scripted opening of the concert, helping scarecrow Ezra stand, fixing Tinman Leland’s rusted joints, and even welcoming cowardly Lion Mateo to join their ranks. And lastly, Troy emerged, presenting Leland Troy and Ezra with their movie accurate gifts.

Lexa did a stunning cover of, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” leaving the entire crowd in tears as they listened to her sing, and as it was an acoustic version, Ezra sat on a stool next to her and played guitar as she sang.

Leland had the crowd in stitches as he sang, “If I only had a brain,” dancing and stumbling enough to make Ray Bolger proud.

Ezra pulled out all the emotions he had for, “If I only had a heart,” dancing with Lexa for a pleasant surprise for the audience.

Mateo had the entire audience wrapped around his finger when he sang, “If I only had the nerve,” wherein himself and Harlee had a little dance break together, the two of them lifting the mood after the previous emotional songs.

Finally, Troy joined the other five in a rendition of, “The Jitterbug,” which was a deleted song from the original 1939 movie. Lexa had claimed Troy for her dance partner for the song, claiming since the Wizard didn’t have his own song it was only right for him and Dorothy to dance together.

———————-

After their little wizard of Oz moment, they sang five or six of their own songs, all of them interacting with the fans, smiling, waving and blowing kisses as they performed, and nobody in the audience missed the fact that Ezra and Lexa kept exchanging glance at each other very often, and at the end of the show, when they did their bows, they stood next to each other, hands intertwined and smiling as they acknowledged each band member for an individual bow, only letting go to acknowledge each other.

The six walk offstage together, Leland throwing his arm around Lexa and her doing the same to him, the fans screaming at the sight because they loved that bond more than almost anything else. Harlee was on Lexa’s other side, their hands clasped together and swinging front and back as they headed off. Ezra turned and waved, and Mateo and Troy were playing fighting as they walked off together.

Alexa rushed to get undressed and back in her street clothes so she could help the others take their makeup off before they headed to the bus. The six of them worked together to get their makeup and costumes off and put away before slipping their hats and sunglasses on, Harlee squeezed between Leland and Alexa, before they made the run to the bus.

The fans were watching and waiting, so they took some time to sign autographs and take pictures with a few of them, but soon they were ushered onto the bus to head to the hotel for the night.

Leland and Lexa shared a room, Harlee and Ezra shared a room, and Mateo and Troy shared a room. It was less expensive and more practical than to buy six rooms, plus the arrangements worked out really well.

The six of them met in Leland and Lexa’s room, where they argued over what movie they should watch before heading to bed for the night. Harlee won the game of rock paper scissors, so he picked Titanic since it was on. The six of them curled up together on Leland’s bed, a tangle of arms and legs as they settled down to watch the movie.

Leland and Lexa were at the head of the bed, Lexa’s head on Leland’s stomach. One of Lexa’s arms was wrapped around Leland’s waist as Leland ran his fingers through her hair. Harlee was on Leland’s other side, also resting his head on Leland’s stomach, and Leland was running his free hand over Harlee’s curls. Ezra was on his stomach, using Leland’s legs as a pillow, legs curled up close to his chest, Mateo mirroring him on the other side of the bed. Troy was by Ezra, his head in Harlee’s lap, feet resting on Ezra’s back. Harlee was messing with Troy’s hair, and all six were sleepy and quiet as the movie played.

Lexa was the first to fall asleep, face pressed against Leland’s middle, his hand moving from her hair to rub her back. Harlee fell asleep next, his head having ended up resting on Leland’s shoulder. Mateo woke up enough to move to the spare bed in Leland’s room, Troy going with him, only after waking up Ezra so he wouldn’t fall off the bed during the night.

Troy would speak to the person in charge of buying their hotel rooms if they could just have one room with two beds from then on, seeing as this was the third time this exact situation happened. But in that moment, Mateo curled up on the left side of the bed, Ezra curled up against his side, all Troy wanted was to fall asleep, safe in the presence of his five best friends.

So he did.

——————————-

@yeehawselfshipping @marriah19 @sierraalfaro02

#the sixth dimension #the six of us vs the world

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muppethollz · 2 years ago

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santa clause lore/headcanons

(bc disney is horrible at making up lore/continuing said lore in their other movies/shows.)

- elves are immortal (they stop aging once they reach a little over 1,050 years old.)

- the tallest an elf can get is 5’6” which is bernard’s height.

- there had been no other human santas before scott, but he can be given the option to live forever if he so desires to.

- when an elf is born they don’t age like regular humans do, for example 1,2,3 etc. after they’re 12 months old, they turn 100.

- elves can turn human if they so wish to, but not many do it because they don’t want to or they prefer being the way they are.

- the first santa was part elf.

- the elves came up with the names for the reindeer.

- each elf has a reindeer. for example, chet is curtis’ reindeer. even santa has his own reindeer, which is comet.

- bernard was given the honorary title of head elf by the previous santa before scott.

- all elves have soft spots for children. especially bernard.

- bernard sees curtis as a younger brother and can get very overprotective over him.

- bernard is very affectionate.

- curtis has a crush on judy garland but doesn’t know she’s dead. so uh don’t tell him or else bernard will get mad because you made curtis cry.

- carol and curtis binge watch judy garland and liza minnelli movies together on the weekends.

- bernard’s favorite christmas movie is national lampoon’s christmas vacation.

(i’m also doing this for my fanfic series i’m in the process of writing. it’s a bernard x oc kind of story, hehe.)

#bernard the elf #the santa clause #disney #headcanons

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ashleywool · 1 year ago

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What do I have left to be delusional about?

Back in late June, shortly after the Spectrum Club 7 found out we were going to make our Broadway debuts but we weren't allowed to tell anyone yet, we were processing all our feelings about it in our group chat.

All of us have faced some struggles to fit in, struggles to find and use our authentic voices in a world that wasn't designed for us. We had a lot of conversations about "imposter syndrome" and how it manifests in very specific ways in neurodivergent people--particularly women/AFABs.

"If I'm going to be on Broadway," one of us said, "what do I have left to be delusional about?"

That's something that's stuck in my head for the last few months, as I've hit career milestones that I never would have believed were possible for me as an openly autistic person. I originated a principal role on Broadway. I did an Instagram takeover for Playbill the day our show was announced. I performed at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry know who I am. People are flying in from all over the country to hand-deliver fan art to me. All while we're still in PREVIEWS.

And sometimes I feel like an asshole for saying all of this, because it sounds like I'm making it up for clout, or like it's some kind of self-insert fanfic, but it's MY ACTUAL LIFE.

But other times, I can process this as reality. And those times, I allow myself the freedom to dream even bigger. If this happened, what else can happen? What other pie-in-the-sky dreams might I put out into the universe? What, indeed, do I have left to be delusional about?

Here are a few of the things I've come up with:

Host my own Christmas special, in the style of Bing Crosby and Judy Garland. I want to sing with a huge orchestra and choir and have a giant Christmas tree on stage with me. It will be called "Ashley Wool's Chosen Family Christmas" and it would feature all of my friends who wanted to participate.

Play Kira in a Broadway revival of Xanadu. I can't go more than a week without mentioning this somewhere. Kira is to me what Fanny Brice is to Lea Michele, and she made that happen, so why not me?

Also, play more Golden Age roles. I'm happy to screlt my face eight times a week, but the only place I get to use my soprano register is in church choir. I want a shot at Sarah Brown, Julie Jordan, Amalia Balash, any of 'em.

Collaborate with Missy Elliott on HTDIO remixes. Or...literally anything. (Maybe Ludacris can put in a good word for me?)

Release a full-length album of my original songs. This is probably the most technically realistic goal. For those who don't know, I already have three original singles out there. I think they're pretty good, even though they are suffering from a lack of Missy Elliott.

Buy a house. Just one. Nothing fancy. But an entire house. With a full kitchen and a dining room where I could host Thanksgiving sometimes and a yard big enough for a catio and a water feature. You know, like people used to be able to do with a high school diploma and a minimum-wage job. Well, maybe not with the water feature, but still. A house. A house would be nice.

Contribute in some major way to affordable (and ACCESSIBLE and environmentally SUSTAINABLE) housing in New York City. And other places. But especially New York. Because people are always like "iF yOu CaN't aFfOrD iT tHeN mOvE" and like...no. I love this city, millions of people love this city, and people should be able to live reasonably well in any city they want without being kajillionaires. People should be able to afford to live in the city where they work ANY JOB. I don't know why this is radical. It seems pretty basic to me. Bla bla bla bleeding heart leftist bla.

Anyway. That's my "self-insert fanfiction" list for the end of 2023.

Maybe next year it'll be even more ridiculous.

#actually autistic #spectrum club 7 #how to dance in ohio #dream big #bucket list #broadway #musical theatre #self insert fanfiction

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mccraecook99 · 7 months ago

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MGM-100 Years of Entertainment Tribute

After WB and Disney had their centennials last year and Columbia Pictures had it’s centennial last January this year,another legacy Hollywood powerhouse studio has finally reached it’s centennial today.

On This Day,100 years ago,Louis B. Mayer merged his company,Louis B. Mayer Pictures with Metro Pictures Corporation and Goldwyn Pictures Corporation to form the Hollywood studio powerhouse,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer(AKA MGM Studio),whose logo of a roaring lion opened almost every picture the studio has produced and released to this day.

It was the studio that defined ”More Stars Than They Are In The Heavens”,that gave us beloved iconic Hollywood classics like Gone With The Wind,The Wizard of Oz, The Philadelphia Story, National Velvet,On The Town,An American In Paris,Singin‘ in The Rain,Forbidden Planet,Ben Hur,Doctor Zhivago,The Dirty Dozen,2001:A Space Odyssey,Shaft,Network,Logan’s Run,Fame,Poltergeist,Diner,A Christmas Story,WarGames,Moonstruck,Spaceballs,Willow,A Fish Called Wanda,Rain Man,Child’s Play,Stargate,GoldenEye,Legally Blonde,Barbershop and others and modern hits like the Creed and Hobbit movie trilogies,Bill and Ted Face The Music,Dog,Cyrano,Licorice Pizza,Candyman(2021),The Hustle,Bottoms,and The Beekeeper, established some of the biggest stars in the world such as Gene Kelly,Judy Garland,Spencer Tracy,Katherine Hepburn,Lana Turner,Elizabeth Taylor,Lionel and John Barrymore,Lassie the Dog,Clark Gable,and many others, introduced to the world two of the most memorable seven-time Oscar winning cartoon characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera(Tom and Jerry)and produced a series of fast-paced,off-the-wall masterpiece cartoons by screwball director,Tex Avery in the 40’s and 50’s and also,released and produced several animated features such as How The Grinch Stole Christmas(1966),The Phantom Tollbooth(1970),The Secret of NIMH(1982),Rock and Rule(1983),and All Dogs Go To Heaven(1989),it also produced TV hits like The Man from U.N.C.L.E,Wednesday,The Handmaid’s Tale,Harlem Coben’s Shelter,CHiPs,MGM Parade,Flipper,FX’s Fargo,and various modern game and reality TV shows in the 2010’s and 2020’s,acquired the rights to United Artists in 1981 and other film companies such as Orion Pictures,Nelson Entertainment,and American International Pictures,now having them become part of the Lion’s den and the studio eventually got acquired by Amazon in 2021 for $8.5 billion.

Happy 100th Anniversary to the Lion of Hollywood and the studio that gave us the best lavish movie musicals and later, the James Bond series of films,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer(AKA MGM Studios). Here is a special commemorative drawing I did for MGM’s centennial anniversary featuring Leo the Lion(the studio’s roaring lion mascot)in a tuxedo.

Thanks for 100 Years of Entertainment,MGM.

#mgm studios #metro goldwyn mayer #centennial #drawings #anniversary

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sarahw81 · 2 years ago

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Watch "Coming Christmas Week...What Judy means at Christmas!" on YouTube

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New trailer for our up and coming Christmas 🎄 podcast.

#judy garland #youtube #thegarlandgab #podcast #liza minnelli #the judy garland show #mickey rooney #lorna luft #joey luft #have yourself a merry little christmas #christmas #meet me in st louis #love finds sndy hardy #in the good old summertime

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citizenscreen · 2 years ago

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On December 26, 1924, Judy Garland made her show business debut at two-and-a-half years old. Singing “Jingle Bells” at one of her vaudevillist parents’ Christmas shows. #OnThisDay #JudyGarland

#judy garland

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sillyname30 · 1 year ago

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I rewatched Extraordinary Merry Christmas, the two deleted scenes and the bts videos in preparation for the next recap episode.

Rachel gives Finn a wish-list and is really pushing it.

Sue is volunteering at the Lima homeless shelter. She wants the glee club pitch in by giving the gift of song. (Blaine's first scene in Sue's office.)

The local station manager of Lima's PBS wants the Glee club to do a holiday special with Artie as director. Artie agrees and wants it to be inspired be The Star Wars Holiday Special and a hommage to the Judy Garland Christmas Show.

The taping of the show is at the same time as the Homeless shelter thing and only Sam and Quinn show up for that. The rest of the New Directions come later to the shelter, but only because their last number was cut.

Cringe moment: Sue: Wheels, Procelain, other gay. Sue called Blaine later young Burt Reynolds which is more a compliment than an insult. In season six we learn Sue is a Klaine fan.

best song: It's an impossible choice. I can say that I'm happy Darren had 2 duets and a part in My Favorite Things. And I want to mention that River is on his Christmas album.

best dance move: Christmas Wrapping

performance mvp: Chris, Darren, Lea and Amber in the Christmas Special. They all managed to talk and perform like this show was really from the 60's. (I'm pretty sure I heard Darren was watching Judy Garland Shows on YouTube as preparation.)

Deleted Santa Baby scene: Santana helps Finn pick out a present for Rachel and sings Santa Baby.

Deleted box scene: A cute little Klaine thing. Blaine gives Kurt a self-made promise ring.

Bts video: Chris said that he had problems with the riffs, runs and scats in Let It Snow.

#and that's what you really missed on glee #extraordinary merry christmas

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timidxtempted · 1 year ago

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9. I kinda swore off Christmas a while back. But I can't give up the music. Which, whatever, I'm weird, no surprise there. Also i'ma cry now.

Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy, David Bowie and Bing Crosby

The Christmas Song, Nat King Cole

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Judy Garland

10. Easier, this.

Season of the Witch, The Blues Brothers and Dr. John

Time Warp, Rocky Horror Picture Show

Werewolves of London, Warren Zevon

11. Oh. I like this question.

I Never Loved a Man, The Commitments

Heal Me I'm Heartsick, No Vacancy, School of Rock

Main Title Theme (You Can't Take the Sky From Me) , Firefly

#thanks for the ask!

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imaginedmelody · 2 years ago

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Look I’ve been tagged in a post and I’m actually doing it! For once!!

Thanks to my beloved @thewholedamnboulangerie for tagging me 💕

❥ name: Sarah

❥ sign: Taurus

❥ height: Um...5′3″ probably?? I used to be/thought I was 5′4″ but the last time I was measured at the doctor’s they said 5′2″. So maybe I’m shrinking. We’re gonna go with 5′3″ as a compromise.

❥ time: 8:39 a.m.

❥ birthday: May 15th

❥ fav band/artist: I love Nightwish, Vienna Teng, and Rufus Wainwright, although these days I don’t think I really have one concrete “favorite” band/artist.

❥ last movie: I watched our yearly viewing of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” on the 25th but nothing since then, as far as I can remember. I’ve been meaning to watch “Knives Out” but haven’t yet

❥ last show: "Girl Meets World”!

❥ when I created this blog: Sometime in 2013, I think? God, that was a long time ago

❥ what I post: a pretty even mix of cozy aesthetic reblogs and absolutely unhinged fandom nonsense

❥ other blogs?: I used to have one in 2015 but I haven’t used it since then

❥ do I get asks?: Almost never. Usually when I do it’s because I said I wanted to get stuff in my ask box for a post and then I don’t end up answering the questions anyway, because I am not a reliable person

❥ followers: 314 but lately a lot of them have been bots, so it’s hard to say what the number of actual humans is

❥ average hours of sleep: 5-7 on work nights and 8-9 on weekends, although lately my body has been legitimately forcing me to get 7-8 hours a night by knocking me out like a narcoleptic if I stay awake past a certain time

❥ instruments:Piano and voice! I’d love to learn the pennywhistle too but I just have not gotten around to it

❥ what I'm wearing: a blue and white pajama set, sweatshirt that says “everyone is born right handed, only the gifted overcome it”, a pair of sleep socks where one is red and the other green, a green and white fluffy bathrobe, and slippers with a cat on them who looks like my former roommate’s cat

❥ dream trip: @roseroserosered and I often talk about doing an England-Italy trip to introduce each other to the places we studied abroad in college, and I yearn to do that

❥ fav songs right now:

I discovered “Nostos” by Orion’s Reign a few weeks ago and have listened to it almost every single day since then. Usually multiple times a day. It is hitting something exactly right in my brain

"Live and Die” by the Avett Brothers has been one of my favorite songs for months now

any version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is a personal fave, but Rufus Wainwright’s version at his Judy Garland concert SLAPS

Tagging @roseroserosered, @slutabed, @1mechanicalalligator, and @lizardkingeliot!

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weaversweek · 6 months ago

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"Moon river" - Andy Williams

1961 Music: Henry Mancini; lyric: Johnny Mercer

"A movie without music is a little bit like an aeroplane without fuel."

A bonus ball in Let's Do It, my personal fifty favourite singles from 1954-76.

Very few songs have won both the NARAS Record of the Year and the AMPAS Best Original Song. "Moon river" turned the trick in 1961.

"Moon river" was written by legends of popular music: Henry Mancini always wrote music to bring out emotions, and Johnny Mercer had a tremendous style, telling a story through each lyric.

This one is an homage to wanderlust, the eddies and currents of an adventurous life, of something better being just around the corner. Lyric was inspired by Mercer's memories of picking huckleberries as a child, and of the full moon over a creek near his house in Savannah, Georgia. The melody is tossed around, from guitar to voice to a plaintive harmonica.

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In the film, it's sung by Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) as she's alone and wanting to move on. Hepburn wasn't a trained singer - she'd have been nowhere with "Iris" - so Mancini restricted the vocal range and allowed her to bring out the emotion.

And when you give a song with a small vocal range to a great crooner, he's able to give full range to the emotion. Andy Williams sung "Moon river" at the start of every episode of his NBC variety show. Named his production company "Moon river", and even the theatre he founded.

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Even though the television show tended to the square - established stars like Judy Garland, cleancut freshfaced youth like The Osmonds - he also gave room to dangerous new up-and-coming acts like Elton John. Andy Williams also crystallised the American Christmas experience, with a particular canon of songs, and schmaltz thicker than the fake snow.

Andy Williams did many things in his career - but he never released "Moon river" as a single. It would have ranked at number 5 had it been eligible.

#andy williams #moon river #henry mancini #johnny mercer #audrey hepburn #breakfast at tiffany's #huckleberry friend #georgia #let5d0it #let's do it #pop music #20th century #1954-1976

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superpeanutgarden · 11 months ago

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Christmas Emotions: Why I will never hang a shining star upon the highest bough

Content Warning: A massive rant about grief, plus personal trauma

I have a complicated relationship with the month of December. Not just in the traditional Living-in-the-northern-hemisphere-it's-dark-and-cold-and-I'm-depressed way.

You see, I experienced a traumatic separation from my adopted brother when I was thirteen. (I mean, my whole family did. it has left us all affected in different ways.) His birthday is in December.

We lost custody on Memorial Day weekend (a fact I did not remember until this year), but his birthday is halfway through December.

He turned 19 this year. (We lost custody 13 years ago.) The name we gave him (probably not his name anymore) was Jared. It sounds like a shitpost, but my sibling and I were robbed of- among other things- a whole year of "Jared, 19, never fucking learned how to read" jokes.

Grief is hard. It's messy and weird in ways you can never truly know or understand until you experience it. The longing of something that will never happen again, wishing that it was all a dream, hating how other people get to be happy and hating yourself for being bitter in the face of joy. The thing that annoys me the most is when people try to erase the ugly parts. (Not just of grief, but that's the focus of this blog post.) Specifically when people ignore how grief affects you for the rest of your life. It never stops, never fully goes away, never truly dulls. It only gets smaller, less frequent, more surprising.

December is a whole freaking month devoted to hope and community. The commodification of the sacred tradition of solidarity has sanitized the concepts to the point of being almost entirely repugnant. There were several years where I could not bear to listen to any christmas music written during the last 100 years because it was too happy and did not reflect the rage and emptiness I felt. Thankfully I am past that point, but it took a lot of reflection and intentional thinking to get here. We're talking three years minimum where all I wanted to listen to were hymns that focused on the fact that December is a month of darkness and cold, and how the concept of hope was once (and still might be) far away and hard to grasp.

To this day, there is a single song that sets me off every time I hear it. I call it "the cowards version of Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas". According to urban legend, the original lyrics were deemed 'too depressing' to be featured in the film "Meet Me in Saint Louis" by Judy Garland herself. I don't personally care why there are two versions around. One faces the reality that I have had to live with the past 13 years, that countless others face every year, and one erases it. It's not a big difference, there's only a single line that changed. "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" became "hang a shining star upon the highest bough." and that change infuriates me every time I experience it. Let me show you why

"Someday soon, we all will be together/ if the fates allow/ until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow/ and have yourself a merry little christmas now."

The song overall discusses how the singer is separated from their loved ones. Some, maybe even most, of the "faithful friends who are dear [...] gather near [...] once more", but there above quoted verse implies that there is someone still missing; perhaps more than one person. And yet, the singer urges the audience not to wait for those missing loved ones to return in order to find joy. Because sometimes it isn't that your sibling has moved out and your parents and little brother went up north to visit family and you have the house to yourself for Christmas Day. Sometimes the person you're missing is gone for years, sometimes they're never coming back. And what are you going to do about it? You can't just put your life on hold. TO quote another song entirely "the years start coming and they don't stop coming". Until they come back from vacation, or deployment, or self-inflicted isolation, or until you are all reunited in the afterlife, we all have to muddle through somehow. Can't go back, can't stand still, gotta move forward and find a way to have a merry little christmas with the people you still have.

Hope is beautiful, but it is also messy and those who need it most are often marred with blood and trench-dirt and rubble-dust and scorch-marks. (for God's sake, there's a fucking genocide going on in Palestine right now) Grief never goes away, but neither will I. My family will have to muddle through somehow for the rest of our lives, and by all the gods who care to listen, we will have ourselves a Merry Little Christmas right fucking Now, and we will honor the gaping hole in the fabric of our family but we will NOT allow it to rob us of more than it already has.

Anyway, Merry Christmas and Free Palestine

#you dont know me #but i know you #words words words #personal rant #sad thoughts #tw grief #grief journal #christmas

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