HE'S HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN!

    A new oldie but goodie movie! I watched this one after "Easter Parade" and meant to review "Easter Parade", but I was so tired when I watched it, forgot most of it! Good thing it was so good, I'd see it again.
   But today, we do "Hans Christian Andersen." This was released in 1952, this time period was fantastic for musicals, the 40s and 50s. It clearly states that this is not a biopic: "Once upon a time there lived in Denmark a great storyteller named Hans Christian Andersen. This is not the story of his life, but a fairy tale about this great spinner of fairy tales". Let me tell you, this movie is AMAZING! And colorful too!
  Danny Kaye plays Hans, who is a shoemaker and teller of fairy tales. He tells stories to all of the neighborhood children, which usually keeps them late for school, and the teacher and some townspeople have had it. Before they can tell Hans to leave town, Peter (Joseph Walsh) a young apprentice to Hans, convinces him to leave the village for the city of Copenhagen.
  So off he goes down the road and on the boat to the capital of Denmark. He ends he ends up meeting a beautiful ballerina who needs new ballet shoes (played by Zizi Jeanmaire) and Hans is smitten. He is also upset to find that she is married and has a husband with a bad temper.
  So what does the Hans do? What happens to the ballerina? How does Hans Christian Andersen get to be famous near the end? All answers shall be revealed on DVD! Go get it from the library!
  There are some killer tunes here including the title track. There is "Inchworm", "Thumbelina" and "The Ugly Duckling", etc. "Thumbelina" might be my favorite. It would be impossible for me to go on a Danny Kaye quest, as there is not much of his at the library. I still would like to see "The Court Jester" and "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty."
   Yes. Before Ben Stiller, Danny Kaye was the Mitty. Ben Stiller is really funny, wonder if the old one is just as good! The trailer looks GREAT! Danny Kaye is second on my list of old time guys who throw me into hysterics. So funny! Of course, Jerry Lewis is first on my list. This movie is not exactly funny, but it is amazing!
   There is a ballet near the end with Zizi and the a bunch of other ballerinas dancing the "Little Mermaid". It was pretty cool, but I am more of a tap girl! This was good, my brother, sister and I dug it.
  Ok, about the real Hans. His stories were great, a lot of them made me cry. "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Little Mermaid" (the story one, not Disney) and "The Little Match Girl."
  Oh My God.
    The fest of tears had I reading this stuff. Can't decide which is sadder.
    Got this photo from Eil.com. It's the soundtrack cover. I've actually seen this in my lice. How dumb I am to not have picked it up! Back in the Days before Kaye.
How about you? Ever see this? What Hans story made you cry the most? If you are not prone to calling yourself a human faucet, which is your favorite? Let me know!

White Christmas in May.

    You may find this inappropriate, depending on your personality. It is scorching hot outside. Not a speck of snow to be found, thank goodness!
    Yet, I stayed up one night and watched "White Christmas." Must admit it, I am addicted to old school musicals! The vibrant colors, the music, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT! So I couldn't just wait until Christmas. Tell you the truth, it's not extremely Christmassey. Not a word. Life is too short for boring words!! Glitter! Sparkles! Phantasmagorical! Supercalifradulisticexpealadociois! Or how ever you even spell those words. Words that make you laugh, is what we need!
   "White Christmas" was released in 1954. The story of two Army buddies who go into show business after the war, played by Bing Crosby as Bob and Danny Kaye as Phil. They meet Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy (Vera Ellen) who are a sister act, doing the song "Sisters"! When Phil tries to play matchmaker for Bob, they end up heading to Vermont with the sisters,  for a White Christmas.
   Upon arrival there is no snow, much to their chagrin. Bob and Phil also run into their old General who is in financial trouble with his inn. What happens? Will the duo assist their General? Will there be snow in Vermont? Go check it out for yourself! So what if it is May?
    Lots of great tunes in here. My favorites besides, the ultra milky smooth title track, are "Minstrel Show/Mandy" and "Choreography." Vera Ellen was a fantastic dancer. If you watch "Choreography" she does this wildly fast tapping thing with her feet, hard to explain! It's great! Plus, "Choreography" is great for one Mister Danny Kaye, who is on my list. The man maketh me guffaw. He bringith the hardee har har. I drag myself to digress.
   You can watch this movie any time of year, it's not specifically Christmas like "It's A Wonderful Life", we watch that one once a year. But we do watch other Christmas movies year round. "Christmas With The Kranks." The "Santa Claus" movies.

  So, have you seen "White Christmas"? Have any favorite Holliday flicks? Let me know! Also, found photo on Moviegazetteonline.com

Messin' With PicCollage.

    There is an excellent free app in the Amazon App Store called "PicCollage". It's purpose is obvious, it allows you to take your favorite photos (from your life or the internet) and put together digital collages! Plus, you can use fonts and stickers. It's utterly fantastico. I'm going to put some here. Please note that I do not own, nor do I claim to own, any of the photos from Google. I give credit to Google.

 This is the first one that I made on PicCollage. Wyatt Scott, his brother and parents, love this boy, he is fighting hard, going through his second round of chemotherapy today.

 

This one is dedicated to all of the people who went purple for Wyatt, Thank you Aunt Deb, Aunt Susie, Mom, Dee, Eva and Aly. Also, a big thanks to the whole team! GO TEAM WYATT!

One for my sister, Darien (aka Dee or DD12) I really love my sister. She is a great person, very talented and funny.

Decided to indulge just this once, made a collage for the kid with the blog (note to self, do not speak to yourself in the third person, you are not Jerry Lewis!).

Been watching some cool old Danny Kaye movies as of late ("Inspector General", "White Christmas") so, here is my fun ritzy collage, because he's Danny Kaye, Darling!

The "Gotta Dance!" Collage, "Gotta Dance!" Were the words sung in "Singin' In The Rain". Top left, first column going down: Gene Kelly (duh), Donald O'Connor, Fred Astaire. Row two: A still from "West Side Story", Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien, Audrey Hepburn and Liza Minnelli. 3rd row: Gene Kelly with Debbie Reynolds, Debbie Reynolds and a rabbit, Vera Ellen, Rita Moreno. I love old Hollywood musicals!

My first Danny one that I did (surprised it came out decently, I did it one night before going to bed, was very tired.) Parts of a poem type thing that I wrote. I stay up extra late watching old movies, my Danny Kaye collages clearly state, "Go To Bed, Banana Head." "White Christmas" was de lovely, need to do a collage on that.

A collage dedicated to my favorite number uno cookie. Thank you, Wally Amos for putting happiness in a box and giving it to the people! My cookie line up goes like this: Famous Amos, Nilla, Keebler and Oreo. In that order.

   The app is lots of fun, you should go try it out! :)

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE!!!

      I know more about "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" then I should. In fact, I am almost an expert on it. I've only seen it twice in a week.
   My Dad got me into horror movies. Dad, Dee and I watch them together, it is kind of like a horror movie watching club! My Mother wants nothing to do with it. She has never seen "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", she never will.
   Ever since I was about seven, my Dad would tell me stories about the production of this crazy movie. It was made like No movie had ever been made. It was hot. It was Texas. The rooms in the old house were filled up with bones from veterinary bone yards. It smelled. The prop mistress accidentally injected herself with formaldehyde. Gunnar Hansen could not take off the LeatherFace outfit to be cleaned. Edwin Neal said it was worse then Vietnam, he fought there in the year 1969. The movie was released in 1974.
    After all of these years of lore, I finally decided to rent it from the library. It was the first time for Dee and I. For my Dad, it had to be the millionth.
  A group of teenagers go road tripping to a cemetery (Marilyn Burns as Sally, Paul Partain as her brother Franklin,  Allen Danziger as Jerry, William Vail as Kirk and Teri McMinn as Pam) to see if Sally and Franklin's grandfather's grave has been dug up. Graves were being robbed and a corpse was erected in the cemetery in a very crude way.
    They pick up a hitchhiker along the way (played by Edwin Neal) and eventually kick him out of the van for being nuts. I won't tell you what The Hitchhiker did, that would be a spoiler alert! The teenagers end up at a gas station with no gas and they go to their Grandpa's old place. It is abandoned. Pam and Kirk go off in search of a swimming hole. They see an old farmhouse and decide to go there and ask for some gas.
   They reach the farmhouse. Kirk knocks, no one answers, he enters the house. Who enters someone else's house if they don't answer the door? Especially a creepy old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere? STUPID. Inside, Kirk hears some crazy pig squealing. Being the law bending youth that he is, he goes towards the noise. THEN!! Out comes LeatherFace and---I won't tell you! Go see the movie! But it turns into a complete nightmare.
  Who dies? Who gets away? The gas station owner and the Hitchhiker may be involved? And why does the gas station owner look like Milton Berle? Who the heck is LeatherFace (played by Gunnar Hansen) ? This and more you can find out by watching the movie. IT'S INTENSE!
    This may be one of the scariest movies I have seen and it is not even laden with CGI! This movie is notorious and one of the best. I suggest you see it, but don't eat anything whilst watching it. It is not gory, but it has it's disgusting parts! Plus, you can almost smell the rotting bones in the Texas heat!
   So thank you Dad, for introducing this great movie to me, I dedicate this post to you.
   Ok, have you seen this movie? If so, what did you think? What is the scariest movie you have ever seen? If you see this movie, will you blog about it? Let me know, comment below! PS, here is the YouTube trailer. Remastered.

Life Would Be Better As A 1940s Musical.

      Here is a thought I have been entertaining. Wouldn't life be so much better in musical form? I'm not talking gritty musicals such as "Rent", even though it's soundtrack is darn good. I grew up on it too.
     I'm talking the classic 1940s/1950s musical. The lavish numbers. The glorious Technicolor. Every player a triple threat, (singer/actor/dancer) everything happy all of the time.  Nothing bad ever seems to happen and if there is, it's only a lover's quarrel or a slight misunderstanding-always resolved.
  I've dreamed about the movies for years. I had always wanted to be an actress. I was in several plays, no big name ones though. Just for church and such. As of earlier this year, I am retired from acting. I know what you are thinking. "She's 16, how can she already be retired?" Well, I have found these reasons:
1: To hard a profession to get into.
2: It wasn't about saying the lines to me. I actually wanted to BE the movie! Live it as life!
3: I have bigger fish to fry. My goal is to help others, I intend for it to be my life's work.
    But I will never stop singing and playing the Bass! The only time you might see me acting is on YouTube, doing funny movies with my family. I digress.
   Things were just so cute in the 1940s musicals! There were many cute musicals, all the way down to the 60s. I would love to have lived in "Singin' In The Rain", possibly one of the best and cutest musicals ever. You break out singing. You tap dance like mad. You run up the wall! You Moses Supposes!
   When you watch a musical, you get these good feelings inside. And you end up with feelings of awe! I mean, Donald O'Connor's mad tap dancing skills? Is it a crime that I paid more attention to him then Gene Kelly? No offense to Kelly, who is fabulous in his own right. I'm bananas, I saw past him in his own starring vehicle!
     Does anything truly sad happen in musicals? Well, beside "West Side Story", which had me crying and shaking my fist at the unfairness of the whole situation. Is any one going to be terrorized or get horribly sick in a  Mickey Rooney picture? I think not.
     That is why I would like to live in a musical. Nothing to worry about. No looking over your shoulder, no walking with a fist clenched. No hospitals. No needles. No pain. No evil people. Just colorful happiness, sweet dresses, and dancing with Donald, even though I can't dance. But this is a musical, so I automatically can. No biggie. And if I couldn't even then, there would be a wacky musical number where I learn how, and quickly, ala "The Rain In Spain" from "My Fair Lady", another great one.
Who wouldn't want to live in a classy and happy World? I'd take it in a heartbeat and dance all memories of an evil World as far as my tap shoes can kick it. What say you? Are there any alternate worlds you would prefer to live in? Let me know!

The Audrey Quest Part Six: "The Nun's Story.

      Last night, I finished another Audrey movie! Took me two days. It was 152 minutes. The movie I am talking about is "The Nun Story", which was made in 1959. Audrey plays an upper class girl, Gabrielle living in Belgium in 1930. She decides to become a nun.
    The movie follows her training at the convent, where she changes her name to Sister Luke. As a nun, she works in hospitals, her main goal is to go to the Congo to help there. Unfortunately, she has to work at a mental institution before she can get there. Oh! Colleen Dewhurst played a mental patient there, very brief. Before "Ice Castles"!!
     Sister Luke is constantly being tested. When she gets to the Congo, she can't even help out in the African hospitals as she had hoped, she has to work in the European hospital, with Dr. Fortunati, played by Peter Finch. I feel so bad at this point, Sister Luke is always in surgery and she looks SO EXHAUSTED!! Crazy bags under her eyes. She also gets sick, whilst in the Congo. Then she is to be sent back to Belgium. It is now war time, things begin to change drastically and.....You go see it!!
      I thought this was very fascinating, I was not in the slightest bit bored, I have always had a fascination with nuns. I believe you can see some similarities between Audrey and her Sister Luke character, they both went places and helped a lot of people! Audrey did a lot for UNICEF. She only got $1:00 for doing it, she did not want money, she just wanted to help!  That is one of the many reasons why Miss Audrey Hepburn is so amazing.
      So, I recommend this, it's pretty educational, if one would like to learn about nun life in the 1930s. I am probably going to check out "The Singing Nun" movie too, that sounds pretty intriguing. What movies have you seen lately? Let me know! PS, I leave you with a very nice photo of Audrey and a baby, in the Congo.

"Singin' In The Rain", AT LAST!

 

    Now THIS is quite exciting! I have finally seen "Singin' In The Rain"!! Of course, I knew I would eventually want to see it, but after listening to Taco's version of the title song, I decided to see what was what. I remember seeing a little a long time ago, my family was watching it. I thought it was boring----LITTLE RAVEN, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND????

     So this came out in 1952. Gene Kelly plays Don Lockwood, a silent movie star. Donald O'Connor played his friend and piano player, Cosmo Brown. After a big premiere at a theater, Don is mobbed by fans. So he ends up running from them and lands in Kathy Seldon's car (Kathy is played by Debbie Reynolds.) Kathy is a theater actress who does not want a whole lot to do with movies.....So she says. But anyway, they meet again later at a party, as Kathy is a chorus girl who jumps out of a cake and sings a really adorable song:  "All I Do Is Dream Of You."

     This takes place at the very end of the silent movie era, when the talkies were starting to be introduced. The studio has Don and his leading lady Lina Lamont (played by Jean Hagen) jump on the bandwagon. The only problem is, Lina has a horrible speaking voice, no amount of diction coaching can save her. When Don and Cosmo decide to make a movie musical (after the first talking picture of theirs bombs) they have Kathy dub Lina's singing and speaking voice. Don and Kathy start to fall in love, thus his joyous "Singin' In The Rain".

       So, I will let you find out the rest yourself. There is a lot of excellent music in this. I thought I would be able to chose between both versions of "Singin' In The Rain", but I just can't!! It's all too good!  Not only that, but the dancing is great in this.

    My favorite part is the musical number done by Donald O'Connor, "Make Em' Laugh." This has to be one of the most amazing things in movie musical history. It left me going "What? Woah!! How?? He did not just walk up a wall and do a back flip. Let me rewind this, oh right, the rewind button still does not work. Who is this man and where has he been??" I will post the clip here.

    This is one of those movies that is so flashy, colorful and just plain awesome, that you want to live it. You don't wish that you had acted the script of it, you wish that you could LIVE INSIDE MOVIELAND!! Seriously, blue skadoo.

Ok, before I begin some kind of rant on how Donald O'Connor seriously kicked Gene Kelly in the dupa in so many areas, I'm going to ask you a question. Have you ever seen this? What do you think? What other old movies should I see? Comment below!!

The Audrey Quest Part Five: "Charade".

    Today's Audrey movie is "Charade". This is one I have rented and renewed at least three times and never got around to watching it, don't know why!! So I decided to just get it over with, so I can have something to wrote about. Sorry for missing a day, I would have finished the movie yesterday, had it not been so late at night!!

   "Charade" came out in 1963. Reggie Lambert is played by Audrey Hepburn, a woman who goes skiing in the Alps. There, she meets a man, played by Cary Grant. This man's name is Peter Joshua---OR IS IT? (Cue suspense music, dun, dun DAAAA!)

   Upon returning home from her ski trip, Reggie finds her home ransacked and removed of all belongings, she finds out that her husband is dead! Not only this, but apparently, her husband had a fortune (unbeknowest to Reggie) and a gang of no goods are on the hunt for it! They think that she has it, now she is in trouble. So Peter decides to help her. This triggers a series of very strange events (see for yourself) and Peter Joshua is not who he says he is. Is this man a Peter, an Alexander, an Adam, or possibly a Brian? I feel so bad for Audrey in this movie because the woman is being confused, yet again.  I shall leave you in the dark about the rest of this caper.

     The score was done by Henry Mancini. Mancini did a lot of Audrey movie scores (see "Breakfast At Tiffany's", "Wait Until Dark") and it is very good. I am really growing fond of his beautiful sound tracks, the man is up there in my book with Herb Alpert!

   This is an interesting film, not only is it suspenseful and stylish (all Audrey movies are full of classy style), but it can be funny at parts too. Not a lot, but very subtle. Audrey wears more Givenchy, it seems that Givenchy did a lot of her movie wardrobes. If it is not broken, why fix it? :)

 This is back when women used to dress nice when they went put. Of course nice these days is having all your clothes on in a decent non messy fashion, nice is not pajama pants and a sweatshirt in public. But back then, nice happened when the ladies wore their hats and gloves. That went out in the 70s, I believe. I don't think I have seen any later photos of Audrey in gloves. I guess she wore them when they were in.

   I often wonder, if Audrey was born in the age of Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Lawrence, what kind of movies would she have been in? Thank God she was born when she was, things might have been quite different! What do you think? Let me know!

"West Side Story"!!!

      Alright, this is dedicated to all the people who said I should see "West Side Story", my Mother, my Uncle Scott, and my friend and fellow blogger, Diane Jaquay! Check out her blog, she is a wonderful maker of cards, I will leave you the link in the comments section! :) 

      "West Side Story" is a musical from 1961. In my opinion, this is the oldest musical (that I have seen, maybe there is more?) that had grit. Next would probably be "Cabaret" and the first "Annie" with Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan (I recognize my "Annie" movies by Miss Hannigan's, Carol will always be my favorite!)

    "West Side Story" stars Natalie Wood as Maria. Her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon, but that is some darn good lip synching on Natalie's part!! Maria is the sister of Bernard, leader of Puerto Rican street gang, The Sharks. Their rival gang is The Jets.

     One day, at a dance between two gangs, Tony, played by Richard Beymer, meets Maria and they fall in love. The only problem? Tony is one of The Jets. These two gangs are always at it, so soon after, war ensues. That's all I am going to say, otherwise, I will give the whole thing away!! 

     There is some GREAT music in this. "Somewhere" is beautiful. I have Wayne Newton on a record covering it. Also fantastic. The color on this is marvelous, amazing how things used to pop back then!!

      I finished this in two nights. It was around one in the morning when I finished it, whilst working on another preemie hat! The ending came---I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT ENDING!! :( By far this is one of the greatest, yet saddest musicals ever. I was sitting there, clutching my scissors and pom pom, crying and saying to the TV in my head, "It can't end now! What happens next? This is the most unfair and heartbreaking thing in musical history!!" 

    The beginning (Overture) leaves you trying to figure out what  those little squiggles on the screen are. Then, BAM! It's Manhattan, place of my dreams!! From that moment, I knew it was going to be good. I mean, what is cooler then snappy gang members dancing through the streets? 

     The bad thing was, the disc was all scratched up, probably from the previous renter. That person probably practiced their figure skating all over this. By the looks of it, they probably won the Olympics. Stop ice skating on DVDS of "West Side Story"! I don't know how else they would get scratched. :( 

   If you have not seen "West Side Story", what are you waiting for? It's got cool written all over! If you have seen it, what do you think of it? Favorite part? Least? Let me know in the comments below! :)

The Audrey Quest Part Four: "Wait Until Dark".

    I must say, "Wait Until Dark" was one of the most suspenseful older movies that I have ever seen. It was released in 1967, another stage play turned into a movie. Susy Hendrix is played by Audrey Hepburn. Susy has recently been blinded due to some accident and is trying to adapt as well as she can.
   One day, while her husband is out, three criminals (played by Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna and Jack Weston) come looking for a doll stuffed with drugs. One of their associates had given it to Susy's husband (who is out for the day) and they want it back.
   So they take advantage of her blindness by weaving a whole web of lies and disguises for her to believe, and she gets terrorized by Alan Arkin's character. My sister and I were saying, Alan Arkin was really "bringing the beans" on this. Which is our little thing for "that's some good acting right there", he actually creeped me out, even though I saw him in a bunch of nice guy roles! Apparently, he was one of the only ones who would take the role of Roat because most did not want to terrorize Audrey Hepburn on screen!
    This movie has one of the coolest jump scare scenes near its climatic ending---but I'm gonna let you see for yourself!! I'm just gonna say it is cool and Bravo Alan Arkin! Apparently,  a lot of movie goers were shocked by it, they screamed in the theater! Well, it was 1967, this was a pretty new concept.
    Audrey Hepburn did wonderfully as a blind lady. She did not even want foggy lenses for her eyes. Her hair is shorter in this one.
   In the trailer, they tagged on a warning. For the last 8 minutes of the movie, they would darken the theater to the maximum legal limit. All smokers should not light up, as to not disturb the effect. Very cool.
   Robby Benson was in the beginning as a boy playing ball. I had to go back to see it. You can't really see him close up, it was kinda far. But still, very neat!! I like the use of natural lighting in this movie. It's a good one! Here is a photo of Alan Arkin and Audrey near the end of the movie., Thanks Google! Go and check it out!! :)

The Audrey Quest Part Three: "Breakfast At Tiffany 's."

   This Is a movie that I have wanted to see for years. This is the perfect time, as I am on the Audrey Quest! "Breakfast At Tiffany's" was a 1961 movie based on the novella by Truman Capote.
   Audrey Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, a call girl socialite type who becomes attracted to her neighbour, Paul Varjak, played by George Peppard. Paul is a writer. Paul also finds out that Holly is not exactly who she says she is.....that's all I am going to say.
   The plot is a little confusing, it took a little while to see what it was really about. The opening scene has Audrey is a black evening gown and jewellry, eating breakfast in front of the fancy store, Tiffany's. She looked so out of place being so elegant yet, eating a Danish from a paper bag, with long gloves!! Now, eating in front of some high class store, is probably something I would do, after all, I try on fur coats in thrift stores just to look in the mirror and imagine myself ritzy, Ha Ha. Apparently, Audrey Hepburn does not like danishes.
   One of the oddest aspects of this movie is that Mickey Rooney, a totally Irish guy, plays Holly's Asian neighbour. Of course he wore a ton of makeup. I love Mickey Rooney, but I don't know why they couldn't get an actual Asian guy instead of making a stereotypical caricature.
    In this movie, Audrey actually did her own singing for "Moon River"! When she plays the guitar, you notice how long her fingers are. Wow! The only thing that was dubbed for her in this movie was her whistle. She could not do the two fingered whistle. Neither can I!! This is another movie where she plays a 19 year old and she is in her 30s, couldn't tell the differance!
   Her outfits were gorgeous in this movie. One thing I loved most was getting to see NYC. I've always wanted to go. One day I will! So, even though I could not understand a lot of it, I highly recommend it because everyone says you should see it. Plus, Audrey Hepburn is awesome and that is another reason!!! Stay tuned!

The Audrey Quest Part Two: "Funny Face".

   Part Two!! YES! Last night, I stayed up late to watch this sweet movie from 1957, "Funny Face"! Maggie Prescott (played by Kay Thompson) is an editor for a fashion magazine who is looking for the next big trend. Fred Astaire plays her photographer, Dick Avery. Together, they decide to find a nice gritty city backdrop for their model to pose against, so in a spur of the moment, they head to Greenwich Village and land in a book store.
    There, they find Jo Stafford (Audrey Hepburn) a girl working there. With their crew, they turn the place upside down, much to Jo's dismay. After, Dick stays behind to help Jo clean up, he likes what he sees and thinks that she could be a model in their magazine. I'm not going to give the rest away, but it is another "Transformation Audrey" movie, where they turn her into a fashion model. But she still remains a beatnik learning about philosophy, in her heart.
   There are a lot of great songs in this. AUDREY DOES ALL OF HER SINGING! No dubs here. "How Long Has This Been Going On?" Is fantastic and is one of my favorites. I heard Julie Andrews and Jerry Lewis do it first though. "Funny Face" is a cute song. "Think Pink" is really fab because they colored the movie so well!! Pink shampoo and toothpaste!!
   But my favorite scenes featured Kay Thompson. Before this movie, all I knew about Kay was that she wrote the "Eloise" books (LOVE, LOVE THEM!) And that she was Liza Minnelli's godmother. She is so cool in this! Her singing is great. "Clap Yo' Hands" was super.
  I also dug the scene at the cafe where Audrey dances. Also at the cafe, they have this jazzy instrumental rendition of "How Long Has This Been Going On?" As backround music, which I thought was pretty sweet. Maybe I should listen to some more jazz. Ok. Question of the day: What is your favorite musical and why?

The Audrey Quest Part 1: "My Fair Lady".

   A quest to see all Audrey Hepburn movies is what I have taken up. My Dad being the fan that he is, introduced me to "My Fair Lady" when I was teeny tiny, so I decided to watch it over, I forgot how it ended!!
   "My Fair Lady" stars Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a girl who sells flowers in markets and Rex Harrison, as a wealthy teacher of phonetics, Proffessor Henry Higgins. After meeting Miss Doolittle and being appalled by her speech patterns, he boasts that he can turn her into a respectable lady in months.
   So the Proffessor embarks on the journey of trying to rid Eliza of her working class, Cockney accent. I won't give the whole plot away. "My Fair Lady" was originally a musical on the stage, starring Julie Andrews. Most of Audrey's vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed vocals on "West Side Story" (note to self, must see that one too). I really enjoyed seeing all of the pretty Victorian dresses and picture hats!! Amazing how elegant the World used to be.
    I was quite surprised to find out that Audrey Hepburn was actually 35 when she played Eliza, who was in her very early 20s! Could have fooled me, she is so pretty. It took me three days to watch it because I usually watch TV late at night.
  I have had "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" in my head all morning! One of my favorite parts is when Eliza throws slippers at the Proffessor. Also when she finally grasps the brand new speaking pattern! Oddly enough, my Dad bought his video copy on Easter of 1993, and I rented the DVD from the library the day before Easter! He tells me he must have seen it 30 times, yes it is a fantastic musical, go out and rent it! If you have seen it, what is your favorite part? What is your favorite musical number? Let me know in the comments below! Here is a photo of Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison that I found on Google.