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You
have just entered room "Chat 12950515432344520407."
Beth
Kenobi
: hi
MamaLion27
: I guess it is
pre-movie days. Jessi, what is the topic?
Kirifan2
has entered the room.
Kirifan2
: hi everyone
Beth
Kenobi
: not sure
Kirifan2
: :-)
Beth
Kenobi
: I didn't talk to Ginny so I
don't know who won the poll
DIXC
: Glad to hear from all:-)
Kirifan2
: whats the topic?hope all are well
MamaLion27
: Christine thought
it was Balalaika.
Beth
Kenobi
: sounds good
DIXC
: OK
Dugan EK
: Balalaika was unique among Hollywood musicals -- a British stage
operetta that went straight to Hollywood without stopping at Broadway.
Dugan EK
: Only the title song was used. Everything else was crafted anew.
Dugan EK
: It would be great fun to find a score of the stage show and see what
the original songs were like.
MamaLion27
: I think Nelson was
very comfortabkle in this role and loved the Russian theme.
Alicefaye3
: Was the story the exact same?
Dugan EK
: I don't know -- again, that would require some research. Probably not.
Beth
Kenobi
: It seems that they rewrote
things alot in that era
MamaLion27
: I heard that the
plot was unchanged but most of the original music was gone.
DIXC
: One of my favorite songs in one of my favorite musicals "At the
Balalaika" when sung by N.
Dugan EK
: Well, they were taking stage operettas intended for two sets of lovers
and usually several important comedian parts and trying to make a
vehicle for two stars.
Alicefaye3
: I think Nelson was superb in this one...
DIXC
: Yes
Beth
Kenobi
: Wasn't Nicky and Marsha one?
Beth
Kenobi
: Sorry if I got thier names
wrong
Dugan EK
: Yes, but they don't sing -- Yes, they fulfill the traditional roles of
comedian and soubrette.
Dugan EK
: Masha I think --
MamaLion27
: Yes, Masha. And of
course Ruggles as Nicky was the comedic relief.
Beth
Kenobi
: I knew him from Parent Trap
Dugan EK
: As I say in my book, I'm very disappointed with the way the plot was
wrapped up. Very haphazard and undramatic.
Dugan EK
: Could have been a huge emotional high as in Marietta and Maytime.
Dugan EK
: Without anyone dying, of course.
Beth
Kenobi
: I thought it did. The part
where he turns around and sees her for the first time in most likely
years.
MamaLion27
: I heard on one of
the interviews that the director Schunzel was no help when Ilona was
trying to get her English pronunciations correct.
Dugan EK
: But Hollywood had a HUGE problem with the Russian Revolution. NO film
about people on opposite sides, in my opinion, really works. Hollywood
was terrified of getting on the wrong side of the Soviet Union -- yet
regretted the loss of
MamaLion27
: His broken German
only added to her problems.
Dugan EK
: the nobility. In "Ninotchka," even Lubitsch can't decide
which side he's on.
Dugan EK
: I just saw Schunzel in a German silent -- about an enchanted bookstore
-- also starring Conrad Veidt. Long German title.
Dugan EK
: He was an actor before becoming a director.
Dugan EK
: Probably in Hollywood he could find more work directing if his English
was poor.
MamaLion27
: Yes, I have at
least one of his films in my collection...as an actor.
DIXC
: Ilona was not the equal of Jeanette, Gale or Risa Stevens in voice or
acting.
MamaLion27
: My favorite scene,
being the romantic I am, was the Silent Night in German at the front.
DIXC
: Was well done.
Dugan EK
: Yes Silent Night was great!!
Alicefaye3
: That was beautiful, but my favorite was, and I'm sorry that this will
be the wrong title...but didn't he sing about the Volga Boatmen???
Dugan EK
: Yes, that was a gREAT scene too!!
Alicefaye3
: Pardon me, but what's the correct title of that song?
Dugan EK
: "Song of the Volga Boatman." I may have said that I never
knew what a boatman was until
DIXC
: He was in great voice and was a great actor in that film
You
have just entered room "Chat 12950515432344520407."
Beth
Kenobi
: Testing...
Beth
Kenobi
: k]
Beth
Kenobi
: lost the connection for awhile
Alicefaye3
: I just remembered that...as I said, it's been a long time...lol
Dugan EK
: I think they pulled cargo -- like on the barges in the British canals
and the Erie canal in NY state.
Dugan EK
: Slow and cheap.
MamaLion27
: Yes, we seem to
have caught you in a revolving door!
Dugan EK
: Can anyone suggest a more dramatic and emotionally satisfying rather
than her just appearing one day?
Dugan EK
: ENDING that is --
Dugan EK
: Like his finding her -- remember the finale of "Orphans of the
Storm" where Lillian Gish is trying to find blind Dorothy Gish. My
kids wept and wept.
Kirifan2
: must run
Kirifan2
: sorry everyone i will read the rest of the chat
Kirifan2
: have a great evening
Dugan EK
: So long --
Beth
Kenobi
: byes
Kirifan2
: :-)
Kirifan2
: thanks for the invitesO:-)
Kirifan2
has left the room.
MamaLion27
: I think the ending
was a bit too pat. It needed much more.
Beth
Kenobi
: I thought they should have had
a kiss instead of the cheek to cheeck thing
DIXC
: I was hoping they could have him sing one more song before it ended.
Alicefaye3
: WHY is it that I'm blanking on the ending?
MamaLion27
: Ah, spoken like my
granddaughter. Romance is not dead. I heartily agree.
MamaLion27
: Because the ending
at the mirror was so bland, cuz.
Dugan EK
: I think he should have sung to her at the country inn -- establish a
love theme, then be reunited through the song.
MamaLion27
: Good thinking..and
then the kiss!
DIXC
: That makes good sense.
Alicefaye3
: I hate to do this, but I have to run kids....I'll talk to you all
later!
Dugan EK
: Ah, why didn't Hollywood hire me? Maybe because I wasn't born yet?
MamaLion27
: Bye, cuz.
Alicefaye3
: Toodles! :-)
Alicefaye3
has left the room.
Beth
Kenobi
: Hey, at least they don't have a
set thing about your suposed to like as they do with Teens.
MamaLion27
: I was born but not
cognizant of what was going on in Hollywood at that tender age.
Beth
Kenobi
: *what your
Beth
Kenobi
: It annoys me that they seem to
think they know what I want when they really don't. But then I am odd. I
have friends who only go to see movies because of Hot guys while I go to
see the plot *hot guy a good thing though*
Dugan EK
: Yes -- Director Robert Altman is on my negative list after saying of
Gosford Park that "Plots don't matter." I find his films
insulting to anyone who requires a coherent story line. It is like a bad
practical joke to put energy into
Dugan EK
: following a story and then find that it makes no sense.
Dugan EK
: But, oddly, the less "plot" in a J&N musical, the better
it seems to have been.
Dugan EK
: The simple story, pushed along with song and strong emotions, made
their classic films.
Beth
Kenobi
: Well at least it had a somewhat
plot. Some of the movies today try to ride on good looks attracting
teens.
DIXC
: The music was MOST IMPORTANT.
MamaLion27
: Jessi, grandmother
taught you discrimination. She introduced you to Nelson. Ek is right..J
& N could do more with less.
Dugan EK
: Ah, yes, but just great music can't make a dramatic product. Look at
all the music performed in concerts that is "from such-and-such
opera" -- but the opera can't be performed today because it is just
garbage.
Dugan EK
: The marriage of great music and strong, simple plot is what makes
GREAT DRAMA (or comedy).
Dugan EK
: (Down off my soap box.)
DIXC
: Your right I have a friend who went to a 5 hour Opera, to hear ONE
ARIA. ... ?
MamaLion27
: Balalaika also
allowed Nelson to use his command of Russian, a language rare in opera
where French and German are prevalent.
Dugan EK
: Adrianna Lecouvrer -- just one aria. Thais -- one entr'acte.
MamaLion27
: There were also
seven songs copyrighted to be used in the film that never made it. I am
going to check and see if Nelson ever recorded any of them.
Dugan EK
: I don't think so.
DIXC
: He was very bright for one not in school and SELF taught.
Dugan EK
: Many very bright people never got extended education. This is a recent
phenomenon.
MamaLion27
: It is sad that
probably some good music may have been forever overlooked.
Dugan EK
: Under the French school system until 50 years ago, most stopped going
to school at age 12. Yet out of these people came many world-famous
writers, politicians, etc. But they CRAMMED in the education --
Dugan EK
: Ah, rediscovering "lost" music is a constant occupation and
delight. When I was a child, NO ONE played Mozart!! Then in the 1970s he
was rediscovered.
Dugan EK
: Maybe late 1950s - 1960s -- I remember a "rediscovery" of
Abduction from the Seraglio.
MamaLion27
: Well, some big
names were listed as writing the music they didn't use..Kahn, Lehar,
Romberg, even Stothart.
Dugan EK
: When they did Rosalie, they threw out the original song by Gershwin
and had another written by Cole Porter!!
MamaLion27
: Sad what we lose
along the way.
MamaLion27
: Any ideas what to
do for the next session?
DIXC
: Speaking of Cole Porter, I found one recording of Nelson singing my
favorite song "Begin the Beguine"
Beth
Kenobi
: How about Songs
Beth
Kenobi
: Like where there any songs that
Nelson or Jeanette had an attachment to
DIXC
: In ? or ALL?
MamaLion27
: That would be a
good idea. Perhaps we could all talk about favorites. And Jessi, I have
tried to save this for you.
DIXC
: The public liked Shortning Bread which he hated and did anyway.
Dugan EK
: Well, it's 6 PM -- I need to gol Have a great week, everyone. Happy
beginning of Channukah and ending of Ramadan.
MamaLion27
: I loved everything
he did. My cell phone plays Tonight We Love because I love his version
of it.
MamaLion27
: Bye EK
Dugan
EK has left the room.
DIXC
: Have to leave too. Thanks for the visit. Take care.:-)
MamaLion27
: Bye, Dick. Okay,
Jessi. I will try and send this to you.
DIXC
: Bye :-). Ok Thanks.
DIXC
has left the room.
Beth
Kenobi
: I have it
Posted
May 24, 2003 |