Weekend One-Hundred: Musicals 301-400

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Betty Grable and June Haver in “The Dolly Sisters”

Several of you requested to see my musical list, this is the last of the musicals on the list-in the order I watched and recorded them.  This list goes from October 2007 to March 2010. Enjoy!

301.) Strike Up the Band (1940)
302.) You Can’t Run Away From It (1956)
303.) Follow the Boys (1963)
304.) Shipmates Forever (1935)
305.) Sweeny Todd (2007)
306.) Pot O’ Gold (1941)
307.) On the Avenue (1937)
308.) That Night in Rio (1941)
309.) My Wild Irish Rose (1947)
310.) The Gang’s All Here (1943)
311.) Road to Hong Kong (1962)
312.) The Pleasure Seekers (1964)
313.) Ice Follies of 1939 (1939)
314.) The Fabulous Dorsey’s (1947)
315.) Torch Song (1953)
316.) Blue Skies (1946)
317.) The Merry Widow (1934)
318.) Pajama Party (1964)
319.) Kid Nightingale (1939)
320.) My Sister Eileen (1955)
321.) Smilin’ Through (1941)
322.) Las Vegas Nights (1941)
323.) Reveille with Beverly (1943)
324.) Winter A-Go-Go (1965)
325.) So This is Love (1953)
326.) That’s Right, You’re Wrong (1939)
327.) Excuse My Dust (1951)
328.) Across the Universe (2007)
329.) Robin and His Seven Hoods (1964)
330.) Jam Session (1944)
331.) The Benny Goodman Story (1954)
332.) The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
333.) The Dolly Sisters (1945)
334.) Guys and Dolls (1954)
335.) Syncopation (1942)
336.) West Point Story (1950)
337.) Fun in Acapulco (1963)

“Li’l Abner”: One of the worst musicals I’ve ever seen

338.) Roustabout (1964)
339.) Stage Mother (1933)
340.) Viva Las Vegas (1964)
341.) The Great Caruso (1951)
342.) The Jazz Singer (1927)
343.) Interrupted Melody (1955)
344.) The Great Waltz (1938)
345.) A Song to Remember (1945)
346.) One Night of Love (1934)
347.) G.I. Blues (1960)
348.) George White’s Scandals (1945)
349.) Rose Marie (1954)
350.) An Alligator Named Daisy (1955)
351.) Li’l Abner (1958)
352.) A Star is Born (1954)
353.) Around the World (1943)
354.) Let Freedom Ring (1939)
355.) Chasing Rainbows (1930)
356.) Vagabond Lovers (1929)
357.) When Boys Meet Girls (1965)
358.) The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
359.) The Gay Desperado (1936)
360.) Juke Box Rhythm (1959)
361.) Crooner (1932)
362.) Red, Hot and Blue (1949)
363.) Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
364.) The Big City (1948)
365.) Marianne (1929)
366.) Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
367.) Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934)
368.) One Hour with You (1932)
369.) I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
370.) Artists and Models (1937)
371.) Grounds for Marriage (1951)
372.) I Married an Angel (1942)
373.) Slightly French (1947)
374.) New Moon (1940)
375.) Playmates (1941)
376.) You’ll Find Out (1940)
377.) Music in Manhattan (1944)
378.) Carolina Blues (1944)
379.) Cabin in the Sky (1943)
380.) Mad About Music (1938)
381.) Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939)
382.) About Face (1952)
383.) Going Wild (1930)
384.) Rock, Rock, Rock (1956)
385. Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1931)
386.) Hot Heiress (1931)
387.) Daughter of Rosie O’Grady (1950)
388.) Sally (1929)
389.) Hearts Divided (1936)
390.) Time Square Lady (1935)
391.) Swing Fever (1943)
392.) Orchestra Wives (1942)
393.) Song of the Islands (1942)
394.) That Lady in Ermine (1948)
395.) She’s Working Her Way Through College (1952)
396.) Sunnyside Up (1929)
397.) Say One for Me (1959)
398.) Band Waggon (1940)
399.) Scrooge (1970)
400.) Coney Island (1943)

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page and Radio Waves Over Hollywood Facebook page.

Getting close to the end of “Radio Waves”

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Gary Merrill and Bette Davis

“Radio  Waves Over Hollywood” will be streaming live Thursday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m (Eastern time).

Sorry I haven’t been on the air. I was sick last week and had to also go home for an interview for the following morning.

Topics for April 14:
•Things I have learned from movies
•The worst movies I have ever seen
•Cliche themes in movies like “Romeo and Juliet” theme or “Cinderella” theme.
•Best Alfred Hitchcock scenes

So be sure to listen at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  live stream on www.winrfm.com (go to Listen Live) or  the old WINR website.

Call in at 803-323-2122, whether you know me or not, to contribute to the discussion.  I would love to hear from you!

And remember, non-Winthrop students can listen and call in too!

Also, if you listen to the “Radio Waves Over Hollywood” show, leave feedback for me in the comments area. Let me know what I need to work on or what you want to hear!

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page and Radio Waves Over Hollywood Facebook page.

Weekend One-Hundred: Musicals 201-300

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“Umbrellas of Cherbourg”- Candy colored beautiful film. Yes, its all singing in French, but its one of the most beautiful musicals Ive ever seen.

Several of you requested to see my musical list, so for the next four weekends I will post 100 of the musical on the list-in the order I watched and recorded them. This list goes from Ocober 2005  till roughly Ocober 2007.  Enjoy!

201.) Hollywood Hotel (1937)
202.)Sing Your Worries Away (1942)
203.) Stage Struck (196)
204.) Ship Ahoy (1942)
205.) Up in Arms (1944)
206.) Broadway Melody of 1936 (1936)
207.) Joker is Wild (1957)
208.) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
209.) Step Lively (1944)
210.) Sky’s the Limit (1943)
211.) Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
212.) Pal Joey (1957)
213.) Kid from Brooklyn (1946)
214.) The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
215.) Mother Wore Tights (1947)
216.) Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)
217.) The Chocolate Soldier (1941)
218.) April Showers (1948)
219.) A Hundred Men and a Girl (1937)
220.) San Francisco (1936)
221.) Rose-Marie (1936)
222.) A Song is Born (1948)
223.) Greenwich Village (1944)
224.) Pin Up Girl (1944)
225.) Dames (1934)
226.) Good Times (1967)
227) Balalaika (1939)
228.) Broadway Rhythm (1944)
229.) Girl Happy (1965)
230.) Footlight Parade (1933)
231.) My Gal Sal (1942)
232.) Dancing Lady (1933)
233.) Fashions of 1934 (1934)
234.) Maytime (1937)
235.) Camelot (1967)
236.) The Bamboo Blonde (1946)
237.) The Goldwyn Follies (1938)
238.) Little Nellie Kelly (1940)
239.) Belle of New York (1952)
240.) Star! (1968)
241.) Merry Andrew (1958)
242.) Naughty Marietta (1935)
243.) Damn Yankees! (1958)
234.) Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)
235.) Emperor Waltz (1948)
236.) The Kissing Bandit (1948)
237.) The Merry Widow (1952)

Betty Grable in “Mother Wore Tights”: Heartwarming and nostalgic

238.) The Singing Marine (1937)
239.) Wonder Man (1945)
240.) Get Yourself a College Girl (1964)
241.) Hold On! (1966)
242.) Ready, Willing, and Able (1937)
243.) Walk the Line (2005)
252.) Your Cheatin’ Heart (1964)
253.) Hootenany Hoot (1963)
254.) Five Pennies (1959)
255.) Student Tour (1934)
256.) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms (1938)
257.) Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
258.) That Midnight Kiss (1949)
259.) Swing High, Swing Low (1937)
260.) Lady Be Good (1941)
261.) Music in My Heart (1940)
262.) The Girl of the Golden West (1938)
263.) It Happened In Brooklyn (1947)
264.) We’re Not Dressing (1934)
265.) Flirtation Walk (1934)
266.) Broadway Hostess (1935)
267.) Old Man Rhythm (1935)
268.) Let’s Make Music (1941)
269.) Born to Sing (1942)
270.) Two Guys From Texas (1948)
271.) Al Jolson Story (1946)
272.) Bitter Sweet (1940)
273.) Down Argentine Way (1940)
274.) My Blue Heaven (1950)
275.) Deep in My Heart (1954)
276.) Joy of Living (1938)
277.) Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
278.) Bikini Beach (1964)
279.) Meet Miss Bobby Socks (1944)
280.) Three Little Words (1950)
281.) Inspector General (1949)
282.) Eve Knew Her Apples (1945)
283.) Broadway Gondalier (1935)
284.) Colleen (1936)
285.) Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
286.) Young Girls of Rochfort (1968)
287.)Little Miss Broadway (1938)
288.) Beach Party (1963)
290.) Let’s Fall in Love (1933)
291.) How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)
292.) Sweethearts (1938)
293.) Wonder Bar (1934)
294.) Three For the Show (1955)
295.) Jive Junction (1943)
296.) Clambake (1967)
297.) Summer Holiday (1948)
298.) Muscle Beach Party (1964)
299.) Billie (1965)
300.) Let’s Do It Again (1953)

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page and Radio Waves Over Hollywood Facebook page.

Radio Waves back on the air

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Beautiful Rita Hayworth on CBS radio

“Radio  Waves Over Hollywood” will be streaming live Thursday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m (Eastern time).

Sorry I haven’t been on the air. I was sick last week and had to also go home for an interview for the following morning.

Tonight from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., “Radio Waves” will have guest star Jeremy Allen, senior computer science major, will be discussing some of his favorite classic films. Allen is a fellow student at Winthrop who shares the love of classic film.

In the second hour of the show, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., I will discuss:

-Elizabeth Taylor’s death since I wasn’t on the air last week
-Some of my favorite musicals since I recently hit 400 musicals on my musical list
-Cliche themes in movies like “Romeo and Juliet” theme or “Cinderella” theme.

So be sure to listen at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  live stream on www.winrfm.com (go to Listen Live) or  the old WINR website.

Call in at 803-323-2122, whether you know me or not, to contribute to the discussion.  I would love to hear from you!

And remember, non-Winthrop students can listen and call in too!

Also, if you listen to the “Radio Waves Over Hollywood” show, leave feedback for me in the comments area. Let me know what I need to work on or what you want to hear!

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page and Radio Waves Over Hollywood Facebook page.

Weekend One-Hundred: Musical list 101-200

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"Blues in the Night"-Love Prisiclla Lane but this movie was a tad boring and furstarting because of her no good husband.

Several of you requested to see my musical list, so for the next few weekends I will post 100 of the musical on the list-in the order I watched and recorded them. This list goes from July of 2004 till roughly August or September of 2005.  Enjoy!

101.) Night and Day (1946)
102.) Shall We Dance (1937)
103.) Best Foot Forward (1943)
104.) Meet the People (1944)
105.) Date with Judy (1948)
106.) Roberta (1935)
107.) Fiesta (1947)
108.) Easy to Love (1954)
109.) Skirts Ahoy (1952)
110.) Jupiter’s Darling (1955)
111.) High Society (1956)
112.)Broadway Melody of 1929 (1929)
113.) Music For Millions (1944)
114.) Panama Hattie (1942)
115.) Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter (1968)
116.) It’s a Date (1940)
117.) Neptune’s Daughter (1949)
118.) On Moonlight Bay (1951)
119.) Holiday in Mexico (1946)
120.) Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
121.) The Gay Divorcee (1934)
123.) Going to Hollywood (1933)
124.) Born To Dance (1936)
125.) Happy Go Lovely (1951)
126.) Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
127.) Perils of Pauline (1947)
128.) Lullaby of Broadway (1951)
129.) April in Paris (1952)
130.) Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)
131.) Shine on Harvest Moon (1944)

"Shine on Harvest Moon"-Great Warner Brothers film. Dennis Morgan is dreamy and Ann Sheridan is beautiful

132.) Three Smart Girls (1936)
133.) Look for the Silver Lining (1949)
134.) Something in the Wind (1947)
135.) It Started With Eve (1941)
136.) First Love (1939)
137.) Can’t Help Singing (1944)
138.) Stage Door Canteen (1943)
139.) Hollywood Canteen (1944)
140.) Rosalie (1937)
141.) The Story of Irene and Vernon Castle (1939)
142.) Sunny (1930)
143.)Cinderella (1957)
144.) Cinderella (1964)
145.) Cinderella (1997)
146.) Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
147.) Road to Morocco (1942)
148.) Road to Utopia (1946)
149.)Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
150.) It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)
151.) Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
152.) Looking for Love (1964)
153.) Down to Earth (1947)
154.) French Line (1954)
155.) Follow the Fleet (1936)
156.) Road to Singapore (1940)
157.) Road to Bali (1952)
158.) Bundle of Joy (1956)
159.) Rich, Young, and Pretty (1951)
160.) Flower Drum Song (1962)
161.) Vogues of 1938 (1937)
162.) Moon Over Miami (1941)
163.) Springtime in the Rockies (1942)
164.) Gypsy (1962)
165.) Girl Crazy (1943)
166.) ‘Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
167.) I Love Melvin (1953)
168.) Bye, Bye Birdie (1963)
169.) Second Chorus (1940)
170.) Farmer Takes a Wife (1953)
171.) Tea For Two (1950)
172.) Honolulu (1939)
173.) DuBarry Was a Lady (1943)
174.) By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)
175.) The Opposite Sex (1956)
176.) I Dood It (1943)
177.) The Stork Club (1945)
178.) Too Many Girls (1940)
179.) Pigskin Parade (1936)
180.) I’ll See You in My Dreams (1951)
181.) Tonight and Every Night (1945)
182.) Presenting Lilly Mars (1943)
183.) Yolanda and The Thief (1945)
184.) Lucky Me (1954)
185.) Court Jester (1955)
186.) Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry (1937)
187.) Listen Darling (1938)
188.) Thousands Cheer (1943)
189.) Give a Girl a Break (193)
190.) Reckless (1935)
191.) Blues in the Night (1941)
192.) Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938)
193.) Pennies from Heaven (1936)
194.)Damsel in Distress (1937)
195.) Sweet Adeline (1934)
196.) Desert Song (1953)
197.) Four Jacks and a Jill (1942)
198.) Going Places (1938)
199.) Here Comes the Groom (1951)
200.) Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949)

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page and Radio Waves Over Hollywood Facebook page.

Actress Beauty Tip #11: Platinum blonde hair

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Hollywood’s original platinum blonde

Before Ginger Rogers, young Bette Davis and later Marilyn Monroe dyed their hair platinum blonde, Jean Harlow was the first.  Robert Osborne said in March “Now Playing” article that it’s hard to say anyone is the first:

“Since the movie medium is now well into its second century, it’s virtually impossible for anybody to be “the first” to do something cinematically. Make a 3D movie? Some folks still have aching eyes from when third-dimension movies were a craze fifty-eight years ago. Watch a film on an iPhone? Basically, people were watching movies that size when “flickers” were initially introduced in small machines called Nickelodeons over 100 years ago. Even in the early 1930s, when our TCM Star of the Month Jean Harlow began her spectacular career, it was not easy to do something in the film world no one had done before. But Harlow did have first-time bragging rights on one thing: she was the first in what became a long line of platinum blonde bombshells who have added sizzle, sensuality and sassiness to the film medium ever since.“

Osborne said before Harlow, dark haired vamps were the sex symbols in the 1920s like Theda Bera and Louise Brooks.

My new platinum hair! I even got bangs!

In honor of Jean Harlow’s 100th birthday on March 3, I decided to dye my hair platinum blonde. I’ve never dyed my hair before, so I thought “What the heck? I’m about to graduate from college so I might as well do it now.”  I wanted my hair to look like a field of silver daisies that someone would want to run barefoot through, like Franchet Tone said in “Bombshell.” I’m also a big Lady Gaga fan, so I wanted to look like her as well.

I used the same recipe studio’s used to dye Harlow’s hair the iconic blond hair, according to the beauty website “Steal Their Style.”

A mixture of:
•Peroxide
•Ammonia
•Clorox flakes
*They also used Luxe Flakes, but unfortunately those aren’t made anymore so I just omitted it.

There is a reason people don’t use this to dye their hair any more. It smells really horrible and wasn’t very comfortable.  I also look horrible with blonde hair since I have fair skin, as you can see in the picture above.

APRIL FOOLS! 🙂

My real hair. No hair dye for me!

April Fools is really silly but in honor of Jean Harlow’s 100th birthday in March, I thought it would be interesting to look at the dangerous mix of items they used on her hair.  I am wearing a horrible blonde wig I bought at Party City to dress up as Lady Gaga for Halloween 2009.

Several actresses who peroxided their hair in the 1930s and 1940s experienced problems with hair loss, brittle hair and thinning hair. Jean Harlow wore a wig in the movie “China Seas” (1935), because she was trying to let it grow back to it’s natural color, according to IMDB. Ginger Rogers also described problems with her hair in her autobiography “Ginger: My Story.”

I probably will never, ever dye my hair, but certainly not platinum blonde. Please, please, please don’t try this. I’ve always been told never to mix clorox and ammonia so don’t you try it either. If you do and you get hurt, don’t send your lawyers to me. If you feel so inclined to dye your hair bleached blond, don’t do it this way. Actually don’t do it at all. I know very few people who look good with peroxide blonde hair and several of them were actresses-not people I know in real life.

Check back in May for the year anniversary beauty tip!

And just in case you were curious…me as Gaga haha

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page and Radio Waves Over Hollywood Facebook page.

Attractive Stranger: RIP Farley Granger

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Farley Granger in 1953

In the shadows of Elizabeth Taylor’s death, Farley Granger died on March 27, at age 85.

Sometimes I think that Farley Granger was forgotten. He wasn’t as dynamic as other 1950s actors like Marlon Brando, and he was pretty awkward compared to suave Cary Grant, but Mr. Granger was one of my passing crushes when I first dove into classic film at the age of 14.

I’m not sure what attracted me to the tall, lanky and usually angry Farley Granger, but he was one of the many random actors (along with John Kerr, Peter McEnery and James Darren) that I had fleeting crushes on.

My favorite scene in “Strangers in a Train.” Farely is in the background holding on for dear life.

Granger was also in two of Hitchcock’s most well known films: the odd film adpatation of the play “Rope” and the thrilling “Strangers On A Train.”

I think the first film I ever saw Granger in was “Strangers On A Train” (1951). It’s funny that Granger has been so overlooked when he starred in one of Hitchcock’s most important and best films. “Strangers On A Train” is one of my all time favorite. I was intrigued by several of Hitchcock’s camera angles, particularly the shot through Miriam’s glasses at the fair.  It’s hard to find a flaw in “Strangers On A Train” because it is perfect-though I would have preferred another love interest over Ruth Roman.

I next saw Granger in “Hans Christian Andersen” (1952) with Danny Kaye. It’s such a quirky, silly movie but I love it. The etherial song “Wonderful Copenhagen” and the adorable “No Two People” had me enchanted.  Granger plays an angry fellow who is mean to Danny Kaye and locks him in a closet!  Granger then goes on to play an equally hot tempered man in “Small Town Girl” with Jane Powell.  I’m not sure why Granger was always cast as a hot head, but he could play a grouch very well.

Farley Granger and Ann Blyth in “Our Very Own”

A few of my other favorite films of his are “Our Very Own” where Ann Blyth finds out she was adopted, and, one of his first films, the war film “Purple Heart.”

Granger’s film career petered off in the mid-1950s and he acted mainly on television and then made a few films in the 1970s.  It’s sad that he entered and exited the film scene so quickly.  He only had substantial roles in half of them, while several of his others were small supporting characters.

Regardless of his screen time, I am sad that yet another star has risen. Farewell Farley Granger, you will be missed.

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page and Radio Waves Over Hollywood Facebook page.

Weekend One Hundred: Musical list 1 through 100

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Several of you requested to see my musical list, so for the next four weekends I will post 100 of the musical on the list-in the order I watched and recorded them. Also remember, 30 or 40 are ones I had already seen before I started the list. This list goes from September or October of 2003 to July of 2004. Enjoy!

I wasn’t all that impressed with “Carousel,” very dramatic and depressing.

1.) West Side Story (1961)
2.) South Pacific (1958)
3.) Blue Hawaii (1961)
4.) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
5.) Singing in the Rain (1952)
6.) Sound of Music (1965)
7.) Annie (1982)
8.) American in Paris (1951)
9.) Summer Stock (1950)
10.) For Me and My Gal (1942)
11.) Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
12.) Wizard of Oz (1939)
13.) The King and I (1956)
14.) Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
15.) Music Man (1962)
16.) Chicago (2001)
17.) The Pirate (1948)
18.) Anchors Away (1945)
19.) Kiss Me Kate (1953)
20.) Gigi (1958)
21.) White Christmas (1954)
22.) Holiday Inn (1942)
23.) Billy Rose’s Jumbo (1962)
24.) Duchess of Idaho (1951)
25.) In the Good Ole Summertime (1949)
26.) Young at Heart (1954)
27.) Grease (1978)
28.) Babes in Arms (1939)
29.) Show Boat (1951)
30.) 42nd Street (1933)
31.) Easter Parade (1948)
32.) Funny Face (1957)
33.) Cover Girl (1944)
34.) Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
35.) Romance on the High Seas (1948)
36.) My Dream is Yours (1949)
37.) It’s a Great Feeling (1949)
38.) Paint Your Wagon (1969)
39.) Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
40.) Victor/Victoria (1982)
41.) Babes in Toyland (1961)
42.) Mary Poppins (1964)
43.) Harvey Girls (1946)
44.) Summer Magic (1963)

I really enjoyed “Annie Get Your Gun.” It was my favorite for awhile.

45.) Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
46.) Hans Christian Anderson (1952)
47.) The Singing Nun (1966)
48.) You’ll Never Get Rich (1941)
49.) Calamity Jane (1953)
50.) Silk Stockings (1957)
51.) Gentlemen Marry Brunets (1955)
52.)There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954)
53.) Brigadoon (1954)
54.) My Fair Lady (1964)
55.) Royal Wedding (1951)
56.) The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
57.) On the Town (1949)
58.) Fiddler on the Roof
59.) Nancy Goes to Rio (1950)
60.) Luxury Liner (1948)
61.) Bathing Beauty (1954)
62.) Seven Sweethearts (1942)
63.) Hit the Deck (1955)
64.) Three Daring Daughters (1948)
65.) Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
66.) You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
67.) Oklahoma! (1955)
68.) Texas Carnival (1951)
69.) Words and Music (1948)
70.) Good News (1947)
71.) Two Weeks With Love (1950)
72.) Bells are Ringing (1960)
73.) Barkleys on Broadway (1949)
74.) Bandwagon (1953)
75.) Pagan Love Song (1950)
76.) Small Town Girl (1953)
77.) Athena (1954)
78.) Show Boat (1936)
79.)Dangerous When Wet (1953)
80.) Les Girls (1957)
81.) Easy to Wed (1946)
82.) This Time For Keeps (1947)
83.) Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
84.) A Chorus Line (1985)
85.) Two Sisters From Boston (1946)
86.) Toast of New Orleans (1950)
87.) Carousel (1956)
88.) The Pajama Game (1957)
89.) The Red Shoes (1948)
90.)The Glass Slipper (1955)
91.) The Glenn Miller Story (1953)
92.) Young Man With a Horn (1950)
93.) Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
94.) Flying Down To Rio (1933)
95.) Swing Time (1936)
96.) The Girl Most Likely (1957)
97.) Carefree (1938)
98.) Varsity Show (1937)
99.) Top Hat (1935)
100.) State Fair (1945)

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page and Radio Waves Over Hollywood Facebook page.

Lovely Liz: Goodbye to Elizabeth Taylor

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Miss Taylor was gracious enough to sign my photo when I wrote her in 2008.

I got out of yoga this morning around 10 a.m. ET and had four texts telling me Liz died. I have to admit I teared up a bit when I called my mom about it after that. One of my professors even said he was surprised I wasn’t wearing all black today.  No, Elizabeth Taylor isn’t one of my all time favorite actresses.  She isn’t one of the actresses I’m trying to see all of her movies, but only because I don’t care to see most of late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s films. I have seen all of her movies made up until the early 1960s.

I’m not going to go on about how Liz was married so many times.  Or  her work for AIDS, though I admire her work that she did for her friend Rock Hudson. I just plain want to celebrate Liz’s life and career.

She first caught our attention as Priscilla, Nigel Bruce’s granddaughter in “Lassie Come Home” (1943).  She stole our hearts-and kept them for decades- with her sparkling blue-purple eyes, adorable smile and her plead to her grandfather to keep Lassie the collie in his dog kennels. Originally wanted for the role of Bonnie Blue Butler in “Gone with the Wind,” Taylor’s father wanted to keep her out of movies, however, I wonder if he anticipated how big a star she would become.

Liz with her green eyeshadow in “A Date with Judy”

Taylor was one of the few actors who gracefully transitioned from child actor to teenager to successful adult actor. She was allowed to look like a grown up young lady in “A Date with Judy” with green eye shadow, grown up gowns and older Robert Stack. Jane Powell, who was still the same age, said she was a little jealous of this as she still dressed like a teenager in the film.

Miss Taylor grew up quickly. Taylor went from a sophisticated young woman to a sexy, shapely and independent woman in the mid and late 1950s.

I think Liz looked her prettiest in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and then, for me, she started to go downhill. She started gaining weight, the 1960s began and movies started to change.  I start to lose interest in her films once you get past “Butterfield 8.”  “The Sandpiper” is lousy, “The VIPs” is star studded but overly dramatic and I couldn’t even finish “The Comedians” out of boredom.  However, I haven’t seen “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” yet, but I have it taped and plan to watch it when I get the chance.

In her white gown in “Ivanhoe” with Robert Taylor

My favorite movies of Taylor’s are “Giant”, “A Date with Judy,” “Cynthia” and “Father of the Bride,” but there are so many other great ones.   She is a great bratty, selfish Amy in “Little Women” and   looks beautiful in “Ivanhoe,” especially the white dress she wears. “Father of the Bride” and “Father’s Little Dividend” are family favorites at my house. My dad is the only man in our family (3 daughters, mom and our female dachshund) so he sympathizes with Spencer Tracy.

Elizabeth Tayor was the last really big super star of the Golden Era.  Though Doris Day, Lauren Bacall and Esther Williams are still living, they aren’t on the same scale as Miss Taylor. Taylor was Hollywood royalty with her highly publicized life and two Oscar winning roles. No one was quite like her or ever will be.

So I bow down to the last royalty of the Golden Age. Farewell, Miss Taylor. You will be greatly missed.

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Celebrating 8 years, 400 musicals

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Betty Grable and Hermes Pan doing the “Kindergarten Conga” in “Moon Over Miami” (1941)

It all began in Coach Chamness’ World History class in the fall of 2003 during my 9th grade year.

The previous spring, I saw “West Side Story” for the first time and was hyperventallatingly obsessed with the movie. From that I went on a musical binge watching every musical that was on television.

While I wasn’t listening in class, I began a list of every musical I had ever seen.  It began with ones like “Blue Hawaii“, “Singin’ In the Rain,” “The Sound of Music” and continued.  After that, every time I saw a musical, I wrote it down on my folded up, worn piece of spiral notebook paper that I kept in a drawer in our den.

I’m not sure what made me decide to make the list. I think it was because I was seeing so many musicals I wanted to remember all the ones I’ve seen. I saw several thanks to TCM Musical Month in October 2003 which opened doors to “The Broadway Melody” (1929) and  “Footlight Parade.”

Jane Powell singing in “Nancy Goes to Rio”-remake of the Deanna Durbin movie “It’s a Date”

Looking through my musical list is almost like reading a memoir of my life, because I remember nearly what I was doing during every movie: Happily, blissfully watching the Jane Powell movie “Three Daring Daughters” on a beautiful spring day while my dad painted the house. Crying and being sad while watching “Chorus Line” after having my first break-up with a boyfriend.  Sneaking cookies and sitting by the Christmas tree while watching “The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady.”

The list started with about 50 musicals that I had already seen and today I have hit 400 musicals.  It’s a little crazy, I’ll admit. I sit and think back to all the musicals and it doesn’t feel like I’ve seen that many-and looking through the list I can’t remember what some of them are. I think I have literally seen all (or most) of the MGM musicals.

The first 10 musicals on my list were:
1.) West Side Story (1961)
2.) South Pacific (1958)
3.) Blue Hawaii (1961)
4.) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
5.) Singing in the Rain (1952)
6.) Sound of Music (1965)
7.) Annie (1982)
8.) American in Paris (1951)
9.) Summer Stock (1950)
10.) For Me and My Gal (1942)

The last 10 on my list are:
390.) Time Square Lady (1935)
391.) Swing Fever (1943)
392.) Orchestra Wives (1942)
393.) Song of the Islands (1942)
394.) That Lady in Ermine (1948)
395.) She’s Working Her Way Through College (1952)
396.) Sunnyside Up (1929)
397.) Say One for Me (1959)
398.) Band Waggon (1940) (An English film)
399.) Scrooge (1970)
400.) Coney Island (1943)

It’s funny to look at those two lists: the first 10 are mostly classic musicals that theater students and film fans have seen. The second list is a random list of musicals, unknown to many and have no correlation with each other at all.

I’ve seen alot of wonderful musicals, and I’ve seen a lot of terrible ones.  My least favorites have been “Kiss Me Kate” (1954), “Kismet” (1955), “Yolanda And The Thief” (1945) and “Down to Earth” (1947)- just to name a few. Some of my favorites have been “Romance on the High Seas” (1948),  “Rose Marie” (1936), “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964) and “Music for Millions” (1943).

The list will continue to grow with mostly Fox musicals like Alice Faye and Betty Grable. With 400 musicals under my belt, there is still alot to go!

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