Another musical challenge over a Jingle, Jangle, Jungle who created this fun challenge where you don't need to be a musical aficionado to join in. I'm learning a lot from the others. So here are the 3 themes she chose this week.
1. TV Theme
2. A Coin
3. Time of day
1. BEWITCHED WRITTEN BY JACK KELLER & HOWARD GREENFIELD-1964
I love this tv show and I love the song so much. I find it sparkling, sophisticated and just fun. It is from another era that I miss. Have any of you noticed that the tv theme song seems to have gone by the wayside. They just play a couple of bars and start the show. We no longer hear a song or see the names of the people before the show started. I miss that.
2. 10 CENTS A DANCE SUNG BY RUTH ETTING BY ROGERS & HART-1930
This song was made famous by Ruth Etting and her life was quite a dramatic one made famous by the film, "Love Me Or Leave Me" starring Doris Day and James Cagney. I heard her sing this song when I was a kid and I loved it...yeah, I guess I was a weird kid.
3. TUESDAY AFTERNOON BY THE MOODY BLUES-1967
I didn't hear about the Moody Blues until I was in High School and when I heard "Nights in White Satin", I had to learn more. I bought the record and was enthralled. I consider it one of the best albums ever and this song is just so good. It has a melancholy tone to it...to me anyway.
What would you pick and do you think TV shows today are into the fad of not truly having a theme song? I love the Game of Thrones theme so am I just missing them all because they are on the 30,000 streaming networks?
I grew up on a sawmill and have quite fond memories of my family home. You know that men from a lumberyard can be quite, shall I say, salty. One morning, my dad was wondering what the hell was wrong with the men not starting up the mill, so he went out right at 8am instead of 10 minutes later. Now, some time has passed and still no start of the mill, my mom decided to go out and I followed because I had to know. Apparently, a mommy rabbit made a nest and gave birth to 6 bunnies. The men didn't know what to do as they didn't want to disturb them. My mom, ever the pragmatist, said to just put them outside but it was still cool out so she created a nice nest in some soft sawdust away from the machinery and they started the mill. The bunnies were very cute and soon the little bunnies were scampering about and the men brought lettuce and carrots and making sure they would not get harmed. I thought that was the cutest thing..the rough men were all goo goo over the rabbits.
This was a quick card with 2 different embossing folders used on the green and brown cardstock run through the cuddlebug. The Kraft colour was run through the sizzex machine with the die cut image frame to create that nice image that the bunnies are adhered to. I took pop up dots to make the 3D look. I finished the card with 2 different coloured green heart gems and placed them on the 4 spots you see. surrounding the rabbit.
Any Bunny stories to tell...and no Playboy bunnies:)
Oscar, Oscar! Oh...I wish I had an Oscar Meyer Wiener... sorry..that just popped into my head. We are back to Oscars and this time it is about Best Actor and Best Actress which is full of delights from ones who deserved the Oscar to others that you just shake your head at. I am not going to talk about controversy or if she/she should have or shouldn't have won but just about the actor/actress that won in a film that I like and I also like the performance. Wandering Through The Shelves created this great theme fest and every year, she knocks it out of the park. OK, here are my choices and I am choosing 3 Best Actor and 3 Best Actress...
1. JAMES CAGNEY IN YANKEE DOODLE DANDY-1942
Mikhail Baryshnikov was a huge fan of James Cagney and his dancing style. When the AFI(American Film Institute) awarded Cagney with a tribute, Baryshnikov was one of the stars who showed his admiration and stated that Cagney was one of the reasons for Mikhail going into dance(he is a premier ballet dancer). Cagney portrayed the famous George M. Cohan who is known as the man who owned Broadway and is credited for originating the American Musical Comedy. Cohan was a dancer, actor, composer, etc... Cagney knew how to create the bigger than life character including the style of dancing which stuck with Cagney as well. We know Cagney mainly as a gangster or a cop who is rough around and inside all the edges. This is a full on, patriotic, dancing filibuster of a movie that came out when the U.S. was entering WW2. I do groan when I see Cohan's parents come out as Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty but it was the sign of these times and Cagney gives it his all.
2. WILLIAM HOLDEN IN STALAG 17-1953
I love this film which is a dark comedy. William Holden plays it straight and he is not well liked by most of the men in the camp. He can squire anything, is sarcastic, doesn't play nice and dislikes most of them men as well, so that makes them even. When information keeps getting linked to the German guards, Holden is the first one they look at and quickly beat up believing he is the fink. You also learn about many of the men who live on the barracks which includes the 2 biggest oafs who always do something funny or stupid...or both. They are played so well by Robert Strauss and Harvey Lembeck that they almost steal the show. This is a great war film that inspired Hogan's Heroes.
3. SIDNEY POITIER IN LILIES OF THE FIELD-1963
This is the first time that an African American won best actor and the 2nd time an African American won the Oscar(the first was Hattie McDaniel). I really liked Poitier's performance in this film where he matches wits with a German nun and, despite living a nomadic lifestyle, ends up helping a bunch of German nuns set up shop, sort of speak, in a small, desert-like community. It is quite a good film and the leading reason is Poitier and his relationship with the nun, played by Lilia Skala. He stumbles upon their abode and before he knows it, he is helping them build a church and both become enriched by their friendship. I would love to see this film again.
Now on to Best Actress...
1. BETTE DAVIS IN JEZEBEL-1938
Apparently, Bette Davis landed this part when she lost the role of Scarlett O'Hara(Thank goodness) and, boy, does she know how to make a performance Oscar worthy. This is the Deep South when we are supposed to respect this high society and their, um, genteel ways(how they got to be known as genteel when they had slaves, I will never understand). Now, remember this was a film from a different time so we must watch it in this way. We have spoiled snot Bette Davis who is engaged to the handsome banker, Henry Fonda. She is always up for a fight(just like Davis) and speaks her own mind(oh my!). She wants to prove that she has her own mind and flips the bird at genteel convention by actually wearing a red dress at a ball, instead of white, even though she is single(I would be wearing red too...bring on the jezebel). Things don't go as planned and she feels mortified especially when Fonda leaves after dancing with her. When he finally returns, he comes with a wife but Davis has no idea. This is quite a good film with wonderful performances by all but Davis shines as the snotty little bitch.
2. OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND IN THE HEIRESS-1949
Talk about a juicy part in an excellent film that truly shows what a great actress Olivia was. This legendary actress passed away last year at the age of 104 and, with her, one of the last of the great film stars of yesteryear. She lives with her cold, unloving father and her aunt and is considered an old maid where her father berates her for not being pretty enough. In comes the beautiful Montgomery Clift who has eyes only for her and possibly her inheritance. Despite her father's nasty attempts to show her the truth about the man, she refuses to believe him and waits for her handsome betrothed to take her away from her miserable father. Will he take her away? What happens to her? The change in the young woman, all shy and sensitive to someone bold and all knowing could only have been played by an accomplished actress like De Havilland.
3. JUDY HOLLIDAY IN BORN YESTERDAY-1950
I just re-watched this film about a week ago and Judy Holliday is pure magic. It is such a shame she died too young from cancer (43) but, at least, we have a few gems like this classic comedy, with dramatic overtones. We have this brutish, stupid bully(no, he is not orange in the face with truly horrible hair) who comes to Washington DC to buy a few senators to get his own way but he feels his girlfriend needs some "classing up and to not make her so dumb looking". Enter William Holden who was to interview the bully but decides to take on the prospect of teaching Ms. Holiday some pointers about what makes their Country so great. From his teaching, she begins to learn that there is more to life than jewels and fur and she realizes she has a lot more brains and understanding of human nature than the oaf she has spent most of her life with. She creates a character that you fall in love with because she is eager to learn and, watching her outwit the numbnut she is with, is just very funny. The Gin Rummy game is justifiably famous.
Which actors and actresses, who have won a best Oscar would you choose?
Jingle, Jangle, Jungle hosts this weekly song challenge where she provides 3 topics/themes and one has to come up with 3 songs that cover this challenge. The 3 topics this week are:
1. Song About An Angel
2. A Song With Bad Grammar In The Title
3. A Number
1. SEND ME AN ANGEL-REAL LIFE-1983
There are so many angel songs I could have gone with, but I am trying to choose songs that pop right into my head and this was the first. Annoyingly, it won't pop out of my head.
2. AIN'T MISBAVIN'-SUNG BY BILLIE HOLIDAY- ORIGINAL 1929 BY FATS WALLER
I do like this song that was originally composed by Fats Waller, Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf(lyrics). I know there was a musical done in the 1970's with the same name and the song was sung by Nell Carter. This song was sung by many greats over the years.
3. 867-5309-SUNG BY TOMMY TUTONE-1981
How well, I remember this song when it came out and it was played, ad nauseam, in many dance bars/discos, I went to. The song is actually supposed to be a telephone # and sung..8675, 309 which is fine in song but I really hate it when someone tells me their phone # saying the first 4 digits then a slight pause followed by 3. Hey! It is not that way! You say the first 3 digits then the 4!! Geeez. I have a had a few clients, not from other countries but born here, who decide to screw things up and state their phone # in this most irritating way. This song caused quite the stir because many people started calling this # up and disrupting the lives of many people. I think this may be one of the reasons(correct me if I am wrong) why all #'s in films and movies start as 555.
I used color bursts in yellow and blue pearl for the background by spritzing the card with water and just sprinkling the color on top which bursts into these great colours. Once dry, I took some paper pieces I have and glued them on top. I stamped my cottage scene in black dye ink and coloured them with my gelatoes. This is not the tasty ice cream, but are like crayons although nice and creamy. I scribbled the colour on a plastic lid and then took some water on a paintbrush and put the brush into the crayon colour. Picking up that colour, I painted the scene which turned out quite nice I think. I might add a saying or not..haven't decided yet.
This card is for the wonderful Shady who offers his vast knowledge in music which started in the Dell. He grew up with many other teens spending many a day and night dancing and hanging out at this establishment run by a husband and wife team, named John and Helen Ettline who provided a refuge from the world. This image is his backdrop he has on his blog which, I believe, is off one of the walls at this shady glen.
I took a dark red and green color from the distress inks and used a sponge to colour the backdrop. I then looked at his picture on Shady's blog and drew the scene using a pencil before colouring it in with my tombow markers adding the graffiti as best as I could. I stamped the time piece on gold and embossed it in gold powder and added the heart. It is of a time past but never forgotten and always loved. If Shady has trust in me, I will gladly send this to him and add 8 picture corners because I thought he could add a photo of Helen and John on the inside. Hope you like it and, for some reason, I felt I had to make it for you. That feeling would not leave me until I did.
Should I be so jaded and say...finally! Absolutely no disrespect to the revered Wanderer, but I am now having my fill of romance. That does sound horrible doesn't it? Anyway, it is the last Thursday in February(EGAD!! Where the hell is time going?) which means it is TV time and we are celebrating the love triangle. I have never been in that kind of threesome but I know it exists and I had to pick 3 TV shows that have this angle. Let's see what I have come up with and then, check out Wandering Through The Shelves to see what everyone else chose. So many TV shows are now on Netflix, Disney, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Gulu, Zulu that I don't see any and refuse to dish out more money. I actually long for the days with ABC, CBS and NBC had all the shows. I lucked out since I watched a ton when tv was actually free(OK we had to put tin foil on the antenna to get a better quality picture but, it worked). Did I rant again? Anyways(Don't count how many times I use that word), here are my 3...
1. GENERAL HOSPITAL-1963-PRESENT
Yes, I watch this show, got a problem with that(trying to use a Brooklyn gangster accent there). This is now the longest running show still in production in the U. S. and I am still enjoying it with all the angst, anger, deceit, lust, love, improbable situations, murder, mayhem, dogs and cats living together, well, you get the idea. My mom watched this show right from the beginning so I grew up on this show and remember the original love triangle between Dr. Steve Hardy, Nurse Audrey and other nurse Jessie. Alas, poor Jessie, Steve only had eyes for Audrey who was a real slutty slut slut pulling Steve's..er...chain until finally realizing that Steve was the man for her. Later, we had Scotty, Laura and, yes, Luke with Luke winning Laura(never mind the rape incident..pishaw!) and marrying her in the biggest daytime event in TV history. From there, we had many other love triangles with young ones doing a quad triangle..wait..you know what I mean. I love that some of the people that were around in the 1970s are still on the soap.
2. SOAP-1977-1981
This is a hilarious show that took its cue from all the ridiculous plots from the soap operas on daytime TV. It has 2 sisters who love each other, one married a middle-class slob while the other married into a very wealthy family. The down to earth sister, who married the nice working man slob, has an adult son from a previous relationship who is supposed to kill his step dad. She has another son who is gay(Billy Crystal) wondering if he should have a sex change operation but who also is like his mom-nice and down to earth. Finally, her husband has a son who is nice but his ventriloquist dummy is a sarcastic a-hole. Meanwhile, the sweet, naive, daffy other sister(Katherine Helmond) is married to a jerk who sleeps around. They have 3 kids a nice older sister, a not so nice other sister and a young boy who gets some time in with his teacher. The sisters' dad has dementia and thinks he is in WW2 while the Butler(Robert Guillaume) is excellent in sarcasm and leaves to get his own show(Benson). Of course you have love triangles that are more than a few plus a priest who falls in love(that created a big stir in the news), murder, mobsters, aliens, a demon child plus so much more. It always ended on a cliff-hanger that you had to tune in next week to find out what happened. It was very funny(especially when Crystal's character is hypnotized, but can't break free and believes he is an old Jewish man. If you are looking for political correctness, you will not find it here.
3. LOST-2004-2010
I was a major watcher of this show and would still watch it again with all the intricate goings on in this TV show. It starts off when a plane leaves Australia and crashes with the front half of the plane on one side of this F%$@-up island and the other half(you learn later) on the other side. You find out, soon enough, that something is not quite right on this island when a man who could not walk, can now and a woman, who had terminal cancer, is now cancer free. The leader of this wreck is a nice guy, a spinal surgeon, who soon develops feelings for one tough gal, Kate, who is a fugitive. Rounding out the trio is Sawyer a bad ass con man that loves Kate too and she is not sure which way to go-the angel surgeon or the nasty devil..Sawyer. There are many other major twists and turns this series takes which made my mom lose interest in once the plot went nuts. She liked the simple people on an island and learning who they are plot lines but once other people came into the picture including some dark killing mass, she gave up.
I believe this is week 8 hosted by Jingle, Jangle, Jungle where she gives 3 themes per week and one has to choose a song that is in the title, the artist or in the lyrics. The 3 themes are:
1. A Body Part
2. A Flower
3. An Instrumental
1. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes- Jerome Kern-1933
I fell in love with this song when I heard the beautiful Kathryn Grayson sing it in a compilation of MGM musicals called "That's Entertainment". She sang this in the musical "Lovely To Look At" (1952), a remake of Roberta, where this song originated from. I know the Platters made it more famous but I love this version. I have to admit I always loved the change in lyrics by Hawkeye Pierce (M.A.S.H.) while he showers..."Ask me how I knew, her brassiere was blue..."
2. Honeysuckle Rose-Fats Waller-1929
Yeah, on the same film as above("That's Entertainment") I was introduced to the exquisite Lena Horne who sang this song in the musical, "Thousand's Cheer"(1943) and made me want to see more of her. Unfortunately, unless she played something typical like a maid, she wasn't greatly utilised.
3. Wheels- by the String a Longs(who knew??)-1960 I know it from Billy Vaughn-1961
My mom had this song and always recalled how my brother would start to dance to this song. This was a vivid and happy memory my mom loved speaking about. Somewhere, there is an old film reel showing my brother dancing when he was maybe 1 or 2 yrs old(my older brother was born in 1961.
Honestly, these were the first 3 that popped into my head.
