Just for Fun ~ Fabulous Footwork Quiz

Let's dance in the new year and celebrate great choreography in the movies. Can you guess the owners of these famous gams? Bonus - Name the movie in which they are dancing.

1)

New Year Reflections ~ Life's a Banquet

I'll be honest. Auntie Mame (1958) is not part of my annual holiday lineup. I prefer to save this film for a day when life has got me down, and I "need a little Christmas," as Mame of the musical version would say, "Right this very minute!" Maybe subconsciously I know this is how Mame would intend her film to be used--should characters be able to hop the fourth wall and converse with their audience.

Nonetheless, this year Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell) keeps popping into my head. I desperately wanted to finish an email reminder to read over Winter Break with Mame's famous line, "Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" I refrained, knowing that most parents and students would not get the reference and might focus too heavily on the "sucker" part. Here, however, I can share the line and know my readers will delight in the line as I do. Mame's advice is wise--there is so much to learn if only one opens his/her mind (or for the purpose of my email, opens a book) and applies his- or herself.

Hope in the Night

Remember the Night (1940) and I met quite by accident. One might think between my affinity for Fred MacMurray, admiration for Barbara Stanwyck, and passion for all things Christmas, I would have discovered this holiday film years ago. Alas, I happened to flip on the channel, and there it was, waiting for me. Kismet. 

At first I questioned the premise. An attorney (Fred MacMurray) taking home a thief (Barbara Stanwyck) over the holidays? Really? Who would do that? But as I continued watching, the film pulled me in. There is a much deeper message than the surface summary would have you believe. The story is about the difference between being on the wrong versus the right side of the tracks, and what that can do to one's spirit.  

I Feel Pretty - The Musical Side of Beauty

Keeping with last week's theme...

Movies have also taught us that glamorizing oneself is part of the fun of womanhood. Being a musical-lover, I can think of several films in which young women joyfully sing about the benefits of being a female--and a beautiful one at that. 

Here are three that come to mind:

West Side Story (1961) - "I Feel Pretty"

 

Flower Drum Song (1961) - "I Enjoy Being a Girl"   

Bye Bye Birdie (1963) - "How Lovely To Be a Woman"