That movie meme.

[elderberrywine]

Alrighty then - gacked from semyaza. Based on the list she gave me, my favorite movies for each actor/actress given. If you'd like a list, I'll try to oblige, although my mind goes inconveniently blank, when called upon. I'd blame it on age, but it's always been thus. :P



I’m answering these in the order of ease – ladies first.


Marilyn Monroe – oh, this is just too easy. Some Like It Hot – oh what, was she ever in anything else? ;)

Debbie Reynolds – Singing in the Rain, just singin in the rain! What a glorious feeling. . . I think I can sing every song in this one by heart (Moses supposes. . .OK, I’ll stop now.)

Shirley Temple – an embarrassment of riches, that kid was crazy talented. And as much as I’m drawn to the dance routines with Bill Robinson, I have a soft spot in my heart for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. N’awwww.

Ginger Rogers – well, she’s delightful on her own, but with Fred? Awesome. But I have a particular fondness for the first – Flying Down to Rio – surreal and so very fun!

Olivia de Havilland – Well, Gone with the Wind really can’t be ignored. Although The Heiress is pretty yummy as well.

Joan Crawford – Not much of a Joan fan, but her dance routine in Our Dancing Daughters is unintentionally hilarious (haven’t seen the rest of it). Whatta heifer!

Mary Astor – good grief, she was a busy thing, wasn’t she? But unfortunately, the only thing I remember her in is the obvious, The Maltese Falcon.

Sophia Loren – The Millionairess. Hee.

Kay Francis – I always get her confused with Kay Thompson.

Kim Novak – Vertigo - purely for Coit Tower.


And now for the gentlemen.

Bob Hope – Road to Morocco. I loved all the Road movies, but the first was the best. He and Crosby were such a great comedy team. But he was a good time in just about any of his movies, at least up until the ‘50s.

Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Throw in James Mason, and you’ve got quite a trifecta there.

Gene Wilder – Young Frankenstein. Mel Brooks’ best too. YES. YES. Say it. He vas my... BOYFRIEND. *cue the dramatic music*

Sidney Poitier – To Sir With Love – Awwww. Makes my teacher heart melt.

Burt Lancaster – Local Hero, without a doubt. Loved that movie.

Kevin Costner- he makes a good baseball player. Bull Durham and Field of Dreams were both fairly decent. Not quite in The Natural territory, though.

Marlon Brando – Guys and Dolls. And pretty much only that.

Robert Mitchum – drawing a blank here. For me, he mostly seemed to show up in things. Oh, look, there’s Mitchum.

Lee Marvin - Oh, man, don’t know. See Mitchum.



Hmmm. Looks like a fair number of musicals. I blame it on the music.

I Like to Singa!

Comments

[xylohypha.livejournal.com]

...but Moses supposes erroneously!

That's a nice selection of titles guaranteed to get the earworms busy. Soundtracks from musicals formed the core of my parents' record collection when I was growing up, so I heard a lot of them.

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Our annual ASP musical (All School Production) was by far and away the high point of my high school years. It was the real deal. My high school rented the actual scores and costumes for the road productions. I was in the orchestra, and it was my introduction to a pro score. Abbreviations everywhere, and not even the right cleft. Deal, kiddies, this is the big leagues now. The whole school (and the neighboring junior highs) came to the dress rehersals, and the whole town turned out for the show. The auditorium had 1200 seats, and pretty much every show was sold out.

We did My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, The Music Man, and South Pacific.

So you see why I might be just a little bit partial to musicals. . . .

[xylohypha.livejournal.com]

That's pretty doggone impressive!

I wasn't ever in theater or band or orchestra--but I could probably hum all the tunes in all those productions--and remember most of the lyrics (given a little time to hum to myself to coax the memories out of hiding).

One of my ex-co-workers had apparently had exposure similar to mine to musicals and other older popular music, and was an inveterate whistler--and hummer--and he sang now and then. As he was on-key and had an enormous repertoire, it was more amusing and entertaining than irritating. (I don't know that I've ever heard anyone else whistle "Tippy-Tippy-Tin"!)

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

OK, I had to google that, and apparently it's from an Our Gang episode entitled All About Hash AND is the source of Tipper Gore's name? Bwahahahaha! All righty then!

We had an honest-to-God orchestra pit, where we lurked, patiently sitting through run-through after run-through, but sometimes. . .

I remember once we all stashed a grapefruit during the Music Man, during one number referencing a grapefruit brought in on the Santa Fe(?) where the director thought it would be cute if someone from the orchestra pit would toss one up during the number. Needless to mention, that time they got bombarded with grapefruit.

And our brass section was always ready, at the appropriate moment, to break out a particularly raunchy version of The Stripper. Bruaaaaaaadunt duh, da duh dunt duh. *wolf whistles*

[xylohypha.livejournal.com]

Huh. I didn't know it had an Our Gang association. I'd heard it on one of those "Hits of the 30's" (or maybe 40's...) compilations put out by (I think) Reader's Digest, or possibly one of the Big Bands compilations. You learn something every day!

*snrk* That and a well-timed rim shot can add so much to an experience.

[addie71.livejournal.com]

Lee Marvin - Paint Your Wagon. Well, it's a muscial!

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Hee - you know, I almost put that. And then I realized that even though I knew most of the tunes, I couldn't remember actually ever seeing it. And I know I would have remembered Marvin belting forth, if I had.

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

He was great in that. I liked it so much I bought the soundtrack and I'm emphatically not a lover of musicals.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Cat Ballou where Lee Marvin also starred? :)

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

We're must be twins. :D *see comment below*

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Alas, no. That came to mind right away, but I wasn't a Lee Marvin fan
then, or a Western fan, and so I never saw it.

Have you seen it?

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Years ago and I love it. :D Jane Fonda was there. It's very funny! :D

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Y'all are convincing me. *adds to wanna see list*

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

Never seen Cat Ballou? Tsk.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

\o/

This post made me hunt for Cat Ballou! :D

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

I honestly had no idea there were that many Cat Ballou fans on my flist! :D

I suppose I really need to check into it one of these days.

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

Lee Marvin is fabulous. They're having a 'B Movies in the Park' festival next month (which I'll miss). They use an inflatable screen and everyone sits on the grass. 'Cat Ballou' is one of the films. I wouldn't call it a 'B'. More of a cult classic.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Sidney Poitier was wonderful in Lilies of the Field too.

Kevin Costner starred with Elijah in The War, and I thought he was better in that than anything else I've seen him do.

If you ever see Night of the Hunter you'll remember Mitchum.

And I see I'm not the only one who remembers Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Totally agree on the Lilies of the Field. In the Heat of the Night was pretty fine, too.

That's the one Costner movie I'd love to see - nothing to do with Costner, of course. ;)

[romeny.livejournal.com]

It's very interesting how most of the 'old time' actors/actresses could all sing and dance and it was expected of them back then.

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Isn't that the truth? But on the other hand, that was expected of the general populace, to some extent, as well.

In my childhood, piano lessons were pretty much a matter of course, for any family that could swing it. And we all sang in elementary school. Opened every day with a "patriotic song", as well as the pledge of allegiance, and we had nifty song books and learned such a wonderful variety of songs. It was every bit as important to our school day as memorizing the multiplication tables or practicing our penmanship.

And dance? Well, in 4th grade, we learned to square dance (which I wildly adored, for whatever reason), and in junior high, part of the P. E. curriculum was Ballroom Dancing. Fox trot, Waltz, Cha-cha-cha, Rumba, and the Tango(!!!), we learned it all. Part of a well-rounded education. *sighs for those by-gone days*

[romeny.livejournal.com]

Agreed to all of the above. I hadn't thought of it in terms of the general population but you're exactly right, more was expected from kids. Only thing different was that we never had ballroom dancing, that would have been fun. Now don't get me started on the required PE course compared to now. lol

[shelley6441.livejournal.com]

First, I wanna say that I love your icon. comments in so particular order: Did you ever see Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe in 'River of No Return'? that's a good one!

What about Burt Lancaster in Trapeze with a very young Tony Curtis and Gina Lollabrigida? Also, he was in a lot of pirate movies!

I adore 'To Sir With Love.' The dance scenes at the end with the cool music, and how Sir gradually wins over the student's respect, and yes, love.

And yes! to anything with Peter Lorre and James Mason. Did you ever see James Mason in Prince Valiant playing the Black Knight? It's an old fav of mine.

Thank you for sharing!