I'm watching the Gay Divorcee

[KathyGriffinLovesYou]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 9:41pm

It's the first time I've seen it and it is absoloutely fabulous. Just very slow. I thought it would be made in the 50s. And am I the only one concentrating on almost everyones flawlessly waxed/ plucked brows?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 9:56pm

Oh, for crap's sake.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 10:00pm

LOL

Yes, it's all about the "1930s brows."

This is my favorite Fred & Ginger movie! I love the silly plot, the incredible chemistry between the leads. I love Alice Brady and Edward Everett Horton. And I love Eric Rhodes as Rodolfo Tonetti (and if you're a "Drowsy Chaperone" fan, this is the character that Aldolpho was based on!)

Best of all, I love "The Continental." It won the very first Oscar for Best Song (boy, have we gone downhill since then!), and the incredible production number is one of my favorite ever put on film.

I love the use of black and white costumes here. Notice how they keep shifting throughout the number. The guys in white jackets and black pants, the ladies in white gowns, then suddenly it switches! The ladies in black gowns and the men in switched suits. The design and art direction are classic.

Best of all, you have Fred & Ginger being Fred & Ginger. Really, it's the first time they came into their own as screen stars and personalities. She, the cynical, funny, sexy lady. He, the classy, goofy, suave man.

And the rest, as they say, is history!

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 10:32pm

Oh... you just let loose a FLOOD of memories.

When I was a kid - when VCRs weren't commonplace, if you wanted to see a classic movie on TV you often times had to wait up till 1:00 a.m.

It was the Late Late Show..(not to be confused with anything related with David Letterman).

So Channel 11 (KTLA?) in Los Angeles was trying something new to boost viewership for the Late Late Show. They hired sexy women to introduce the films and comment after each commercial break.

The women were dressed in silky lingerie and lounged around on a bed with satin sheets.

...

So I got permission from my parents to stay up late to watch THE GAY DIVORCEE, I forced myself to stay awake because this was one of the Astaire/Rogers films I hadn't seen yet.

So the show starts and this BEAUTIFUL woman with a throaty "come f me" voice starts seductively describing the film and sharing bits of trivia.

It was MIND blowing


Now.. someone recently started a thread asking when did you know you were gay...

All I need is an old TV Guide and I can pretty much pinpoint the exact date and time.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 11:38pm

And there is a desperately young Betty Grable to sing "Let's Knock Knees" with Edward Everett Horton and then disappear from the film just as quickly as she appeared...

And she disappeared from Hollywood not all long after that to come back to New York, get a featured part in Cole Porter's "Du Barry Was a Lady" starring Bert Lahr and Ethel Merman, introduce "Well Did You Evah?" and go back to Hollywood as a hot property and become a star.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 12:08am

Here's a shout-out to Betty in a Cole Porter lyric from "Let's Not Talk About Love," a song Cole wrote for Danny Kaye in the musical Let's Face It:

Let's write a tune that's play-a-ble,
A ditty swing-and-sway-a-ble,
Or say whatever's say-a-ble
About the Tower of Ba-a-ble,
Let's cheer for the career
Of itty-bitty Betty Gra-a-ble,
But let's not talk about love!

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 2:17am

Oh, I love this movie so much! I can never pick my favorite. It's either The Gay Divorcee, or Top Hat but both are so wonderful! I have such a huge crush on Fred Astaire!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 8:37am

My favorite is Swing Time.

[Hest882]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 3:31pm

Ah, "The Continental"! However, I also count Swing Time as my favorite.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 6:04pm

The two numbers from Swing Time that never fail to put me in awe and wonder:

"Never Gonna Dance"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K3YQDhB7eM


"Waltz in Swing Time"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1OzenVli6U

[courtnyj]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 8:16pm

Swing Time is my favorite too.



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