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.

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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.