Topic: HAPPINESS IS JUST A THING CALLED JOE (Read 24746 times)

Matt H. · « **Reply #240 on:** August 21, 2005, 08:26:56 PM »

In the commercial for the DVD of BROADWAY'S LOST TREASURES III, they showed THE HAPPY TIME excerpt from 1968. At least it's going to have the entire segment including "A Certain Girl" with the wonderful Michael Rupert and David Wayne.

Matt H. · « **Reply #241 on:** August 21, 2005, 08:30:15 PM »

Page 9 Dance!!!!

Matt H. · « **Reply #242 on:** August 21, 2005, 08:42:46 PM »

Another day is drawing to a close for me, so I'll say good night.

Uh, good night.

vixmom · « **Reply #243 on:** August 21, 2005, 08:55:07 PM »

Quote Wrom: BGJSNBOHMKHJYFMYXOEAIJJPHSCRTNH

Quote

Yesterday bk said that Princesses includes references to ...Do these peopele do it for the shock value or do they really think that its appropriate for kids? Are they so out of touch with main stream American as to think that parents don;t care what their kids see and jhear or are Vixdad and I so out of touch that we are the only ones who still do?

Quote from :derBrucer Yesterday

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No, Vixmom, it's just that you have turned into a Republican.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

vixmom · « **Reply #244 on:** August 21, 2005, 08:56:18 PM »

"Happiness is a thing called Joe"

Well our dear but E & T DR WFO cetainly seems to think so!!!

bk · « **Reply #245 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:02:08 PM »

The NY get-together sounds faboo, but we'll be here having our own wonderful get-together with dear reader Hisaka at the same time. What fun we shall all have. I, for one, will be wearing a kimono.

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #246 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:18:48 PM »

Sorry, Der Brucer, Lena is a lovely-looking woman, but she cannot PASS for white by any stretch of the imagination Yeah, it was easy to let her sing a Julie number in one of those specialty number song-fests because the songs have no context.

It wasn't racism, latant or blatant, it was just wrong casting for the character to cast a woman who is obivously black (no matter how light her skin)in a role that requires a woman who is supposed to be black passing for white. As far as I know, it has always been played by a white woman.

Jason · « **Reply #247 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:21:24 PM »

Good eve, all.

DR Jose: Welcome home!! Let's get together (yeah, yeah, yeah!) sometime this week.

Things are funky with the Greek now. I hadn't heard a peep from El Greco since the random "Thank you for being a friend" call, so I sent an instant message this afternoon and the conversation was very short and strange. We're supposed to get together sometime this week. We'll see if it happens, and if it does, we'll see if it's weird.

The play that I was supposed to do at the Fashion Playfest has been "postponed" due to the terrible condition of the performing space. BERNICE and her mullet have officially been withdrawn from the festival and the producer, director and writer are currently looking for another venue in which to present the show for a longer run than originally intended. We'll see if and when that happens. Ah, well...that's showbiz, kid!

I've become slightly obsessed with the score to CARNIVAL! "She's My Love" and "Her Face" are particularly meaningful to me right now - "Still the one heart I own hungers lost and alone, for my love's never known she's my love!" Preach it, brother.

With that, I'm off to to relax in a pool of my own dirt. In the vernacular, I'm going to relax in a bath. I might even do a sea salt scrub to help relax myself.

Bon soir!

Jason · « **Reply #248 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:23:40 PM »

Quote from: Charles Pogue on August 21, 2005, 09:18:48 PM

...a role that requires a woman who is supposed to be black passing for right.

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #249 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:28:16 PM »

Yeah, Jason, i just proofed and changed it. My dsylexia strikes again. There were a few other mistakes in the post. Might still be some.

Jason · « **Reply #250 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:31:44 PM »

Reminds me of a line in HAIRSPRAY:

"We've got to lead them in the white direction. I mean the RIGHT dir...oh, you know what I mean!"

vixmom · « **Reply #251 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:35:59 PM »

Quote from: George on August 21, 2005, 03:52:28 PM

Danise, I think I got that same e-mail! Those pictures are incredible! We've all posted pictures here before, so I don't see why it should be a problem. But we certainly can post links to websites: click HERE and you'll go to a site with a few photos of his drawings...and one of photos was taken from the wrong side! (If you've never seen them, you'll understand when you see it.)

And HERE is his website and HERE is another site with more pictures. The man has talent!

Thank you for sharing these sites. I know I will be passing them on.

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #252 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:37:27 PM »

Quote from: Charles Pogue on August 21, 2005, 09:18:48 PM

Sorry, Der Brucer, Lena is a lovely-looking woman, but she cannot PASS for white by any stretch of the imagination Yeah, it was easy to let her sing a Julie number in one of those specialty number song-fests because the songs have no context.

It wasn't racism, latant or blatant, it was just wrong casting for the character to cast a woman who is obivously black (no matter how light her skin)in a role that requires a woman who is supposed to be black passing for white. As far as I know, it has always been played by a white woman.

I take it you are unfamiliar with MGM's bio-musical "Till the Clouds Roll By" which was a tribute to Jerome Kern.

There was quite an extended "Show Boat" segment, totally "in context," in which Horne was the perfect Julie.

It was nothing but racism that prevented her from being cast...the studio feared public rejection of a "real" black woman (and with makeup, she most certainly could have "passed for white" as easily as Gardner donned "darker" makeup to be more black....and oh yes she did) in a role that has her married to a white man.

It's not lack of believability at all. It's acceptance of mixed marriages.

And Horne passed for white plenty of times...on screen...when folks didn't realize she was black. Happened frequently until they were "educated" to the truth.

As for her specialty numbers in other musicals, they were deliberately filmed out of context of the entire pictures so that they could be cut for release in the South without ruining the flow of the film.

vixmom · « **Reply #253 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:50:38 PM »

Well I must get some sleep so I can spend my day off tomorrow frolicking in the water park with the Vixter

vixmom · « **Reply #254 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:51:57 PM »

Quote from: bk on August 21, 2005, 09:02:08 PM

The NY get-together sounds faboo, but we'll be here having our own wonderful get-together with dear reader Hisaka at the same time. What fun we shall all have. I, for one, will be wearing a kimono.

Hisaka will be visiting California in October? How wonderful!! I hope you all have a lovely visit and takes lots of pictures to share with we east coasters

vixmom · « **Reply #255 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:56:23 PM »

Sad to be all alone in the world... guess I 'll go to bed.

DearReaderLaura · « **Reply #256 on:** August 21, 2005, 09:57:36 PM »

Good evening, fellow Dear Readers. I think that's all I have to say today.

bk · « **Reply #257 on:** August 21, 2005, 11:10:08 PM »

Where in tarnation did everyone go? Everyone went to sleep at ten?

I simply don't think Lena Horne was a big enough movie name at the time of the George Sidney Showboat. She's had lots of specialty numbers, but had never really starred in a film.

George · « **Reply #258 on:** August 21, 2005, 11:47:44 PM »

Quote from: Matt H. on August 21, 2005, 08:11:41 PM

Well, BROADWAY'S LOST TREASURES III finally made an appearance on one of our PBS stations. I looked at one "act" until the pledge break came on, and then I flipped it off. The DVR is getting it so I can skip through those lengthy breaks tomorrow when I watch the whole thing.

It's showing here now, too. It started at 9:00 p.m. and it's not yet finished. I'm taping it so I didn't watch too much of it, but I don't think that there's much more...there were a lot of pledge breaks. I do want to see the "bonus" songs that will be on the DVD. AND the "Lost Plays" DVD sounds interesting, also!

George · « **Reply #259 on:** August 21, 2005, 11:48:51 PM »

Quote from: Matt H. on August 21, 2005, 08:12:23 PM

It was nice to see "Step to the Rear" from HOW NOW DOW JONES again.

I didn't know what show this came from. I don't know HOW NOW DOW JONES at all. I really liked the song and Tony Roberts was quite attractive in his younger days!

bk · « **Reply #260 on:** August 21, 2005, 11:53:48 PM »

Has Ann caught up?

George · « **Reply #261 on:** August 21, 2005, 11:55:17 PM »

Now I have to watch "We'll Take a Glass Together" from "Broadway Lost Treasures II." That's been my favorite, so far.

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #262 on:** August 21, 2005, 11:57:07 PM »

Sorry, Ron, I just don't buy it. I'm very familiar with M-G-M musicals...and the extneded sequence of which you speak. It may have been economics (economics based on the fact, the movie wouldn't have played in the racist South), but I don't think it was an overt act of racism on M-G-M's part.

Besides which Bruce brings up an excellent point...which again stresses economics... M-G-M's thinking: "Let's see, major, big, big star Ava Gardner...or Lena Horne...Cabin in the Sky and what else has she done?...Besides dealing with the economic and social realities at the time, the studio also had to figure that just purely on an artistic level, there was no guarantee that Lena Horne could carry a major role like Julie in an major motion picture. Did she ever after that? How is she in DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER, I've never seen it.

When Showboat came along, I think, aside from Cabin in The Sky and Stormy Weather, everything else was purely musical spots. And there in lies the crux. Lena was more a singer than an actress...which is another reason I don't put much credence in her lament about losing the part.

I did say I can't ever remember a black woman ever playing Julie, but am I wrong about that? I have some vague memory that Lonette McKee may have played it at one time. It's been a long time since I've seen Lonette McKee but her in the role sounds much more believeable to me than Lena.

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Author Topic: HAPPINESS IS JUST A THING CALLED JOE (Read 24746 times)