As a follow-up to yesterday’s post which featured a superb Eleanor Powell number from ‘Ship Ahoy’, here’s Eleanor dancing a nifty number with Fred Astaire in ‘Broadway Melody of 1940’. Apparently this was her favorite of her own on-screen dances. That’s all the sparkling dialogue I’ve got for today–I’m late
Eleanor Powell, Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s tap-dancing super-star of the 1930s and early 40s, is now an oddly marginalized figure in the world of dance history. Perhaps it’s because the movies she appeared in–featherweight musical vehicles–are now mostly unwatchable. (I hate it when that happens). One of them, ‘Ship Ahoy’ (1942),
Here’s an excerpt of a musical sequence from an obscure 1944 Republic Studios movie called ‘Atlantic City’. The number is ‘Harlem On Parade’ and it’s a more-than-slightly-valuable documentation of three of the prime black entertainers of the 1930s/40s. I refer to the above mentioned performers who all are given a
'Pardon My Scotch' (1935) is our Three Stooges Saturday offering. Moe's fall at 3:25--not a stunt double--is truly awesome. #comedy #Violence #SlapFighting #TCM #FilmTwitter #comics https://raymonddefelitta.org/saturday-stoogefest-18/
Chico Marx plays championship #Bridge on a very strange 1960 #television show. Thanks to @MarxBrosPodcast for the excellent episode on Chico which inspired me to go in search of this gem. #comedian #TCMParty #cards https://raymonddefelitta.org/blog/
The Groucho Marx's are featured in a short #silent home #movie shot in #BeverlyHills in 1933. A very wistful and lovely glimpse of a #family and neighborhood now gone. #comedian #TCMParty #film https://raymonddefelitta.org/marxiana-pt-4-at-home-with-the-groucho-and-family/
Our Owl came back to Connecticut tonight for the beginning of its occasional spring residency.
The lovely Lillian Roth (not Susan Hayward) sings 'Why Am I So Romantic?' from the Marx Brothers 'Animal Crackers'. It's the only non-Marx musical performance in one of their movies that doesn't piss me off. #movie #comedy #singer #TCMParty #musical https://raymonddefelitta.org/marxiana-pt-3-lillian-roth-sings/
