Monday, December 1, 2014

Yowza!


Film; "You Were Never Lovelier".
Music; "Bossa Nova Baby" by Elvis Presley.
Dancers;  Fred Astair and Rita Hayworth

Result; FAAAAABULOUS!

5 comments:

  1. Yowza would be the word. I never knew Hayworth could do this! I somewhere got the idea she was just a pinup, so I never made the effort.

    How familiar are you with "Flying Down To Rio"? There are several yowzas in there; particularly the whole "Carioca". Eye-popping. I'm riveted every time I see it; and I love to introduce it to people with the eyes to see, but who don't know it. Then we learn that not only was this Rodgers' first movie with Astaire- but she did not know how to dance when this was shot. Once you know that, you can indeed spot several places where she is totally faking it- well, of course. She practiced a lot afterwards!

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  2. Rita had this...thing. She was firmly planted in something authentic always. I find her so endearing and wonderful- and the way she danced! She just had this spirit of abandon that carries you away with her!

    "Flying Down To Rio" is on my list for my next rainy Sunday!

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  3. "Rita had this...thing" Yep. Some women literally radiate a pure "femininity" - or something. Very elusive to quantify or study! Marilyn had it; Jayne Mansfield did not. Ingrid Bergman had it; watch the lower-left window here: http://tinyurl.com/psp7gdk
    If you strip her personality out- she's not even "pretty"; personality in; she's blinding. There are thousands, literally, of reasonably scientific studies on "beauty"; but I have yet to see one that has any real handle on it. I sometimes wish I were less familiar... one of the few I wrote by request from a friend (whose shoulder I was using.)

    Sixty 12/7/96 For Dean

    In China they know
    one woman
    in a million
    may not be
    a woman at all.

    Fox spirits
    they call them

    and when he can
    any sane man
    flees

    inhuman
    unearthly
    soul blinding beauty

    more destructive than flood
    less predictable than typhoon
    more painful than famine

    and as powerful
    as all

    a fox spirit
    may not
    be actively malicious

    may only be
    not human

    no one can say
    no one knows

    All that is known
    is that sensible solid men
    may throw

    everything

    away

    trying to follow
    or capture

    such a creature

    as you.

    I have feared you might be
    some spirit

    remote and enchanting
    as you are.

    But one difference exists
    that keeps me bound.

    I might free myself
    I think
    from an inhuman sprite

    they have no heart

    and never see nor feel
    the harm they do.

    And you
    have a woman’s heart

    so tender

    I cannot turn away

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

    One of my shoulder friends, when I told him grimly "she could be Ingrid Bergman's twin..." immediately, grimly, responded "Oh, that's not good."

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  4. Am I freaking you out here?
    Hopefully not. I just enjoy the interactions of our wavelengths.

    :-)

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