Ella Fitzgerald, a picture book and Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)

It was very common back in the day for established musicians to grace the silver screen with a cameo in a motion picture. There are a few notable appearances among Jazz greats in classic films. Examples include Louis Armstrong in High Society (1956) and Pennies from Heaven (1936), Duke Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in Cabin in the Sky (1943), Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne in The Man with the Golden Arm (1959), Chet Baker in an Italian-movie-you'll-never-see-because-it-was-destroyed, etc. Musicians appeared in the popular Abbott and Costello films including The Andrews Sisters, Dick Powell and someone I didn't quite expect to find: Ella Fitzgerald.

Let me start by expressing my love and adoration for Ella Fitzgerald and her music. There isn't a song of hers that I don't enjoy and my iPod/iPhone is filled with Ella's music including some of her duets with Louis Armstrong. There is a sense of joy in her music that always seems to be cut in turn by sadness. It's as though she's elated to be belting out these tunes but they come from a place that is melancholy at best. Her songs are heartfelt and they sound and feel that way. And then some of her songs are just downright sexy! My favorite of her songs include: April in Paris (from 1956), I Let a Song Go out of My Heart, How About Me?, All the Things You Are, Just One of Those Things, From This Moment On, The Man I Love, I'm Beginning to See the Light, Love You Madly, and I'm particularly enamored with her Dream A Little Dream of Me duet with Louis.

I enjoy the opening lyrics of How About Me?. And the way Ella sings them just about breaks my heart:

It's over, all over - And soon somebody else - will make a fuss about you - but how about me?

For those of you who are not already aware, my day job is at a children's book publisher. I've been in the book business since I was 17 (which is ::mumble:: years now) and as a classic film fan I'm really happy to see that the book industry and my hobby find many ways to connect with each other. However, it doesn't happen often at my work.

Back in December, I near fell out of my chair when I found out that we were publishing a picture book about Ella Fitzgerald. It's called Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald written by Roxane Orgill and illustrated by Sean Qualls. There are so many wonderful things about this book. Orgill, who writes picture books about historical figures (including one on Fred and Adele Astaire!), is a fabulous writer and Qualls' illustrations are rich and lush (I can't stand faded pastels that are so common in kids books these days).

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald

I was trying to figure out something unique to call out the title on the company's Facebook page. So I took a moment to read the inside flap of the dust jacket to learn more about the author and illustrator. The company tries to include quotes from the author or illustrator about what inspired them to write or illustrate the book. This is the quote from Orgill:

"Although I'd known Ella Fitzgerald's singing for ages, I didn't 'get' her until I saw a film clip of her singing 'A Tisket, A Tasket' standing in the aisle of a bus. She was both guileless child and determined adult, a combination I had never encountered. The image plus the sound was like opening a door."

Film clip? Film? What film? A classic film? Wait what? A clip from a classic film inspired this picture book?!

I immediately did Google searches and found the following clip from the Abbott and Costello film Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942):

Lyrics to A-Tisket, A-Tasket

A-tisket, A-tasket

A brown and yellow basket

I send a letter to my mommy

on the way I dropped it

I dropped it, I dropped it

yes on the way I dropped it

a little girlie picked it up

and put it in her pocket

She was truckin' on down the avenue

with not a single thing to do

she was a peck peck pecking all around

when she spied it on the ground

She took it, she took it

my little yellow basket

and if she doesn't bring it back

I think that I will die

Oh dear, I wonder where my basket can be?

Oh gee, I wish that little girl I could see?

Oh why was I so careless with that basket of mine?

That itty bitty basket was the joy of mine.

A tisket, A tasket

I lost my yellow basket

won't someone help me find my basket

and make me happy again

A-Tisket, A-Tasket was a very important song for Ella. She wrote the song, based on an old nursery rhyme, while she was traveling with the Chick Webb band. It was the first song that became a major radio hit for the band and put Ella Fitzgerald on the map in 1938. Four years later, she would sing the song again in her very first appearance in a motion picture.

I posted the clip of Ella singing "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" on Facebook almost immediately after finding it on YouTube. What better way to pitch the book than by showing the film clip that inspired it's creation? Then I e-mailed my good friend and co-worker Frank who just happens to be an Abbott and Costello enthusiast. I had never seen Ride 'Em Cowboy, nor any other Abbott and Costello film for that matter, and I didn't even know Ella Fitzgerald was ever even in a movie! Frank lent me the The Best of Abbott & Costello, Vol. 1 which contained the film so I could see it for myself.

Ella Fitzgerald doesn't just have the "A Tisket, A Tisket" scene, she has a minor role in the film as Ruby, a member of a traveling rodeo. That's rodeo pronounced "row-day-oh" not "row-dee-oh". She has one other musical number singing "Rockin' and Reelin'" with The Merry Macs. You can watch that clip here.

If you are a fan of Ella Fitzgerald, make sure you check out both Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) as well as Orgill & Qualls picture book!

P.S. There is a giveaway on Goodreads for a copy of the book. I highly encourage you to sign up for the contest if you are a Goodreads member! The contest ends on Monday so hurry up.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat

by Roxane Orgill

Giveaway ends September 13, 2010.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Noir 100 at the Brattle ~ The Sleeping City (1950)

The last film in the Brattle's Noir 100 series was The Sleeping City (1950). My good friend Kevin and I got a chance to see this last night. I had come to the film only with the knowledge that it was a noir starring Richard Conte. I had no understanding of the plot. And by the time I got to Harvard Square to meet with Kevin for dinner, I had completely forgotten the name of the film. This may seem strange to some people but one of my favorite ways to watch new films is to come to them completely ignorant. Everything about the film-watching experience is a surprise. I come to it with no previous expectations or preconceived notions. My reception of the story starts off as a complete blank allowing the directors, producers, cinematographers, writers, costume designers, actors, actresses and everyone else involved in the creation of the movie an opportunity to take their paintbrushes and paint the story for me on a nice clean canvas.

The Sleeping City (1950) is directed by George Sherman and stars Richard Conte. Conte starts off the film with a documentary-style introduction telling the audience about the famous Bellevue Hospital in New York. This intro serves as a reality check to the audience (it's just a movie folks, it didn't really happen!). However, in one way the intro is misleading. You think the film will be a synecdoche in that this smaller story will in some way represent the bigger picture; the significance of a hospital and the lives of its doctors and nurses. But it doesn't. What it does do is focus on the story at hand. This film was evenly paced with the story sucking you in at the very beginning and spitting you out only at the very end. The plot goes along at a decent clip. 

So what the heck is this movie about? Glad you asked...

An intern from Bellevue has just been shot at close range and murdered in broad daylight. No one knows who did it. The local police recruit a detective, Frank Rowan (Richard Conte), who has some medical experience to pose as an intern and work at the hospital in order to derive clues about the murder from the other doctors and nurses. He gets in deep, romancing pretty nurse Ann (Coleen Gray), befriending disturbed intern Steve (Alex Nicol) and gambling with hospital worker Pop (Richard Taber). But when another person is murdered, can he find the killer before he becomes the next target?

If you get a chance to see this film, please do. It's not available on DVD so lucky schmucks like myself, Kevin and the 20+ other people at the theater last night got a real treat.

Special thank you to Kevin for coming with me to this film. Watching movies with you is always a pleasure.

Noir 100 at the Brattle - A Rain Day, Double Feature, Noir Matinee

August has been a hectic month and I've been out of the loop of everything online that is classic film related. I've been MIA from this blog mostly because I've been spending every spare moment working on moving in with Carlos. I haven't had much time to ::gasp:: watch any movies or ::double gasp:: write about them. Carlos and I worked non-stop all day on a Saturday, Sunday and a Monday. By Tuesday we were exhausted (heck by Saturday evening we were exhausted) and even though there was so much more to do, we needed a break. We took all of last week off for the move but for the first half of the week it rained. And rained. And rained. Which made moving rather tricky. In fact by Wednesday, the heavens must have open the flood gates because it was just pouring buckets of water. We needed a break. Something to do that was NOT moving.

So what does one do for fun on a rainy weekday? Go to a mid-afternoon matinee noir double-feature at a repertory theatre of course! And what a luxury it was...

The first film on the bill was Murder, My Sweet (1944). To me, this movie and Double Indemnity (1944) have always been the two films from which the noir stereotype derives its main characteristics. All the key elements are there: a jaded man, a dangerous blonde, a sweet brunette, a convoluted plot and narrative voiceover. Murder, My Sweet is a decent film and enjoyable to watch but please don't try to follow the plot too closely. Also, don't worry too much about getting the character names and their individual straight. If you do, you won't enjoy the film. Just sit back, relax, munch on some popcorn and enjoy the ride.

Carlos hadn't seen this one before and when he asked me about the plot I made a valiant effort to try to explain it. However, my memory had escaped me and I ended up sounding like a dimwith. What I should have down was just shrug my shoulders and grunted out an "I don't know". If he were to have asked me the same question after the film, I probably should have done the same thing.

The second feature was The Big Sleep (1946). This one was a surprise as we were actually expecting to see Key Largo (1948), another Bogie-Bacall flick. I've always really enjoyed The Big Sleep and prefer it over Key Largo so I was very happy about the switch.

The thing I love the most about The Big Sleep is that the film is oozing with sexuality. If sexuality were a sauce, it would be dripping out the corner of your takeout box if you took this film to-go.

First of all there is the electric chemistry between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart. By the time of this film, Bogie and Bacall are already married but the passion hasn't died down at all. The way they look into each others' eyes, you expect them to rip off each other's clothes at any moment and start procreating right in front of you. Both Bogie and Bacall were so effortless in their movements. Each motion seemed sensual and sexual. Whether it was a smile, a firm grip on the arm, the smoking of a cigarette, it all screamed SEX.

Then there is delightfully young space cadet Carmen played by the luscious Martha Vickers. Watch her movements. She never seems to be able to stand upright on her own. It's as though her limbs don't function at full capacity. Carmen is always falling into a man's arms or into a chair or resting against a wall. However, these seem like temporary places for her to rest. It's as though her proper place should be lying prostrate on a bed! Besides, she's too high or drunk to notice what you are doing to her anyways, so have at it. If people only looked a little more closely at classic films, they would realize how blatantly sexual and scandalous they really were!

My favorite scene is the one in which Philip Marlowe (Bogart) walks into a bookstore across the street from the Geiger Used & Rare Bookshop (which doesn't actually sell any books) and asks the bookstore clerk for information about Geiger. They flirt like mad and they exchange some hot and heavy zingers.

Marlowe, when he notices that it's raining outside, "I'd rather get wet in here."

Marlowe offers the clerk some rye from a bottle in his pocket, she closes the front door, turns the sign from Open to Closed and she replies: "It looks like we're closed for the rest of the afternoon."

Hot damn! She takes off her glasses and lets down her hair and Marlowe replies with a "Hello!". I almost expect there to be a huge bolt of lightning and some thunder and for the camera to pan away while they make love on the bookstore floor. Alas, my dirty mind gets carried away with itself sometimes and things didn't quite work out that way. But good grief that was one sexy scene! Worth the $7.75 we paid for the double feature alone.

-------------

On days like this, I count my lucky stars that I have a place like the Brattle which shows quality films like these for discerning patrons like me. Next up, Kevin and I see The Sleeping City (1950). The last film in the Brattle's Noir 100 series.

DVD Boxed Set Review ~ TCM Spotlight: Errol Flynn Adventures

Errol Flynn. Saving the world, one country at a time.

This assignment came as a surprise. I'm not a war movie type of gal nor do I watch many Errol Flynn flicks. In fact, I was looking forward to another blogger reviewing this boxed set. However, the stars aligned and it seemed like Errol and I were meant to be together, for nine hours at least. Errol Flynn, although gone some 50+ years, was already charming me with his bad boy image and delicious accent (which may or may not come from lips that are dressed by a killer moustache). So watching this boxed set was just meant to be.

Watching this was far more enjoyable than that Film Noir Collection Vol. 5 atrocity I recently reviewed. Possibly because I came to the experience with no expectations. It also helped that the collection of films were pretty even in quality and content. In fact, I had looked forward to tasting something different than my usual fare.

In one way the films in the set are formulaic and run-of-the-mill. Errol Flynn's character fights against Nazis in 4 out of 5 of the films and all 5 are WWII films dripping with patriotism or anti-German/anti-Japanese sentiment. The first three are almost completely identical in terms of basic plot. It was like having three chocolate cakes, each with different frostings.

Desperate Journey (1942) - Errol Flynn plays an Australian who becomes a prisoner of war when captured by the Nazis. He must try to escape and fight against the Nazis for the sake of his country.
Edge of Darkness (1943) - Errol Flynn plays a Norwegian who becomes a prisoner of war when he is lined up for execution by the Nazis. He must try to escape and fight the Nazis for the sake of his country.
Northern Pursuit (1943) -  Errol Flynn plays a Canadian who becomes a prisoner of war when he is held hostage by underground Nazis. He must try to escape and fight the Nazis for the sake of his country.

The next two are a bit different which is refreshing after watching the first three.

Uncertain Glory (1944) - Errol Flynn plays a professional criminal in occupied France who is about to go the guillotine. An air bomb kills everyone in the prison, except for him, just as he is about to be executed. He is captured by a French officer who has been following him for years. Nazis have 100 Frenchmen held hostage and will execute them if the person responsible for bombing a bridge doesn't come forward. Flynn and the officer work out a deal to save the 100 Frenchies but things get complicated when Flynn falls in love.

Objective, Burma (1945)- No Nazis here. Two American troops are dropped off in Burma to complete a mission of blowing up a Japanese radar site. Everything goes well but just as they are about to leave things get really complicated.

No matter how formulaic the first three may be, watching all 5 films back-to-back provides you with a very varied WWII-movie watching experience.

Things I enjoyed about the boxed set:
1) Errol Flynn takes you on adventures through Germany, Norway, Canada, France and Burma. Movie goers back in the mid-1940s must have felt like they were traveling the world with Flynn. I know I did.
2) Each DVD has a set of extras including short films, war-related newsreels, musical numbers, cartoons and movie trailers. You can set up the DVD so as to watch all the extras first before watching the movie. This kind of gives you a cinema-experience in your own home. And while many of the extras are strange or just plain propaganda, they are still fun to watch.
3) Desperate Journey was by far my favorite film. It was funny, suspenseful and at certain points quite sad. Flynn and his tag team of soldiers are being chased by the Nazis and it's fun to see how they escape over and over again. The scene where Ronald Reagan's character deceives a Nazi general by confusing him with double-speak is hilarious!
4) Objective, Burma is worth the purchase of this set alone. You follow the troops through everything. While they are on the plane, making their way through the jungle, waiting for an approaching group of Japs, etc. You don't get the highlights, you get every single excruciating moment. Sometimes the minutae is just as interesting as all the guts and glory.
5) The boxed set design is gorgeous as are the last few Warner Bros. sets I have reviewed.

Interesting to note: Errol Flynn was the quintessential war hero on screen during the 1940s however unlike many other stars (such as Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Burgess Meredith and Ronald Reagan), he never fought during WWII. Not that he didn't try. He attempted to enlist in almost every branch but his poor health. IMDB says he had a bout of malaria and tuberculosis on top of back problems and a heart condition. I'm sure it didn't help that he was an alcoholic with a penchant for opiates. Even though Flynn didn't fight on the battlefield, he did help bring homebound Americans in the 1940s adventure tales and gave them a sense of what was going on abroad. If anything, that's a service in itself.

The TCM Spotlight: Errol Flynn Adventures  is available right now (and I think it might be on Blu-Ray too). If you enjoy war films or like classic adventure stories, I highly recommend this set.

Full disclosure: A special thank you to Warner Bros. for sending this to me for review!

Here are a couple clips for you to enjoy:

Summer Under the Stars - Norma Shearer on TCM

This starts tomorrow. Here are the Raquelle-approved reasons why you should watch each and everyone (except for one). And if you are not a Norma Shearer fan there is something wrong with you. Watching TCM Summer Under the Stars tribute to Norma Shearer can cure you of your atrocious malady.

Lady of the Night (1924) - Joan Crawford absolutely despised and envied Norma Shearer. Especially because Shearer had an established career and dated and then married MGM bigwig Irving Thalberg. Crawford had to play Norma's double in this picture. I bet that got Crawford's goat! Plus Norma Shearer wears a wicked feather headpiece and dons a busca-novio. Excellent!

A Lady of Chance (1928) - A late silent watches like an early silent. It's Art Deco splendor and by far my favorite Norma Shearer film of them all. Read my previous post about it.

Their Own Desire (1929) - It's even more Art Deco splendor. The film was shot on location at the Norconian Resort which is now a rotting Art Deco relic. It's also the first film in which Robert Montgomery and Norma Shearer co-star. They went on to make several films together.

Complicated Women (2005) - It's a documentary which features Norma Shearer but mostly discusses actresses and films from the Pre-Code era. It's worth watching.

The Divorcee (1930) - Norma Shearer's husband Chester Morris cheats on her with some tramp. So Shearer cheats on Morris with Robert Montgomery. Morris can't take it so he divorces Shearer. Then Shearer goes and nails every rich guy she can get her hands on including Conrad Nagel. Heck yeah! Plus I dressed up as Norma Shearer in The Divorcee for Kevin's Birthday party.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) - The start of Norma Shearer's prestige film career (period pieces with costumes and big productions). Charles Laughton co-stars as her tyrant father.

Riptide (1934) - A Montgomery-Shearer vehicle. Watch it for the adult-sized bug Halloween costumes. Excellent!

Escape (1940) - This is one of my least favorite Shearer films mostly because it's very depressing. But if you like depressing WWII movies, this is right up your alley.

Idiot's Delight (1939) - Norma's outrageous wig, canned oyster soup and Clark Gable singing and dancing to Puttin' on the Ritz.

The Student Prince of Old Heidelberg (1929) - Classic story of reluctant prince falling in love with a peasant girl (civilian). Shearer & Novarro's chemistry is sweet and playful, not passionate.

Private Lives (1931) - Watching a bickering couple go from hot and cold was never this fun, especially a couple on their honeymoon, WITH OTHER PEOPLE!

Romeo and Juliet (1936) - I would actually say pass on this one. Shearer and Leslie Howard are far too old to be playing Juliet and Romeo respectively.

Marie Antoinette (1938) - The pinnacle of Norma Shearer's prestige films. Thalberg's final gift to her. It's grandiose and over-the-top just as it should be.

Strangers May Kiss (1931) - Football, men in fur coats, airplanes, awesome. And why can't a girl have fun and not have to worry about her reputation?

Out of the Past, Into the Now - Celebrate Norma Shearer's Birthday, Ke$ha style

Today is Queen Norma Shearer's Birthday. I wasn't going to do a post but I just couldn't help myself. Jennifer, avid Norma Shearer devotee and curator of the official Norma Shearer Facebook fan page, posted this very enjoyable mash-up of Ke$ha's song Tik-Tok along with clips of Norma Shearer in motion and dancing from various films. It's superb. The timing is excellent. What better way to celebrate the Queen's birthday by watching this over and over again?

Summer Movie Blog-a-Thon ~ I was NOT a movie-watching child

That's right. I admit it. As a child I did not watch movies. It was a pretty rare occasion. And when I did, it usually meant a trip to the Cinema 1 and 2 back in the old Shoppers World in Framingham, MA.

(sidenote: check out Brandon Schaefer's fabulous art work, especially the art work based on the long lost structures on the Golden Mile in Framingham/Natick, MA at his Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandonschaefer/)

I remember seeing E.T - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cinderella (1950) (re-release) and a handful of other movies at that theater. My mother rented some movies from Blockbuster and the local Star Market. For some strange reason, I loved horror films as a kid. Anything with killing, blood & guts I was all for. Then I saw Prom Night 3: The Last Kiss (1990) and in one scene a person is electrocuted and in another a person's fingers are cut off by scissors. Don't ask me why, but I was put off of horror films permanently afterwards. 20 years later, I still can't stomach them.

And even though movies were not my thing, I was a story-loving kind of a gal with a wild imagination. Being an only child, I used to create stories with my dolls and toys. None of them really made sense but it was just to please whatever notion popped into my head that I wanted to explore. My favorite doll Cricket had a built in tape player in her back and she would tell me stories and teach me new things (for an only child this was perfect!) I also read quite a bit as a child. My favorite stories involved animals, especially dogs. My mother would tell me stories about her life in the Dominican Republic and these would keep me entertained for hours. I made up stories with my friends and created my own biographical stories from my travels and adventures as a child.

Most of all, I loved television. And boy did I watch a lot of it. I had a very long laundry list of TV shows I watched on a regular basis. Cartoons, live-action kids shows, entertainment shows, classic shows, etc.

My favorites were a motley assortment including: JEM, Care Bears ,He-Man and the Masters of the Universe , She-Ra, The Monkees, Punky Brewster, Gidget, Clarissa Explains it All, The Jetsons, The Flinstones, My Little Pony, ALF, Golden Girls, Saved by the Bell, Underdog, Small Wonder, Popeye, Loony Toons, Tom and Jerry, Laverne and Shirley, Alvin and the Chipmunks, You Can't Do That on Television, Ducktales, TaleSpin, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Fifteen, Garfield, Jackson 5 (Animated series), Sesame Street, Mister Rogers Neighborhood, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Gummi Bears, Gumby, and on and on and on.

TV shows were really just fluffy time-filler for me. Otherwise, I'd rather be playing outside making my own stories.

My love for movies was a gradual process. It started when I saw Congo (1995) at the age of 14. It's not a terribly good movie but I felt really cool watching it at the theater and not being scared of a few of the scary scenes (maybe Congo made up for Prom Night 3?). In my teenage years, I started to develop an intense love for classic literature. I adored anything by Louisa May Alcott, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen and Henry James. I particularly gravitated to stories of repression and isolation because I was a very lonely and very religious teenager. Films like Sense and Sensibility (1995),Little Women (1994) , The Portrait of a Lady (1996), Emma (1996) and Jude (1996) really spoke to me. I started to develop an interest in period pieces. I wanted stories to take me away from reality and to a completely different time and place. I wanted contemporary reenvisionings of the past, I wasn't quite ready to travel into a more real representation of the past.

In college, I took a film course and I got hooked onto classic films. Out of the Past (1947) and Citizen Kane (1941) were mostly responsible for my new developed love for classic films and having TCM nurture it. I was almost derailed by watching The Quiet Man (1953) for an Irish Literature and Culture course I took in college before I took the film one. I still think that is one of the worst movies ever made and if all classic films were like that, I wanted no part of it. Lucky for me, Out of the Past (1947) came to the rescue. During the early part of the 2000s, I watched a whole lot of contemporary films but then I started watching more and more classic ones and fewer contemporary ones. My taste changed over the past few years and it will change in the future too.

Looking back on my childhood and teenage years, I ask myself the question: should I have been a movie-watching child? Not really. I don't regret not seeing all the classic 80s and 90s kid flicks that people my age seem to hold dear to their hearts. I just wasn't a movie watching kind of kid. I was perfectly happy with playing, making stories with my dolls and watching TV. And you know what, that's ok!

God Speed Patricia Neal (1926-2010)

(1926-2010)

and thank you for this scene in Fountainhead (1949). It's by far one of the sexiest scenes in film history.