Sunday, March 29, 2009

Sabrina's Dress | Givenchy Designs Edith Head wins Award

The Dress!
Although Edith Head won an Oscar for Best Costumes designed for Sabrina, most of Hepburn's outfits were created by Hubert de Givenchy and chosen by the star herself. Edith Head refused to be shown alongside Givenchy in the credits, so she was given credit for the costumes, although the Academy's votes were obviously for Hepburn's attire. Edith Head did not refuse the Oscar. The film began a life-long association between Givenchy and Hepburn (it has been reported that when Hepburn called on Givenchy for the first time in Paris, he assumed that it was Katharine Hepburn in his salon.)

Sabrina is a 1954 film directed by Billy Wilder, adapted for the screen by Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor, and Ernest Lehman from Taylor's play Sabrina Fair (in the UK, the movie has the title Sabrina Fair). It stars Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden.


Latvian finds TCManiacs Googling up 'Huckleberry Finn film'


Real time web analytics is amazing! Omniscient! I love seeing evidence of the internet and specifically social networking media allowing connections unimaginable before this decade. The screen shot above documents a visit to @TCManics.blogspot.com that arrived via googling 'Huckleberry Finn film' from Latvia. I find it thrilling that a film adapted from the best of American novels exemplifying the US southern culture is being queried from a country in Eastern Europe that I've never heard of. naturally I immediately wikipediaed 'Latvia'...

Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika) is a North European Baltic country. Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden. The territory of Latvia covers 64,589 km² and has a temperate seasonal climate. The Latvians are a Baltic people culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian, but not with the Estonian language.

The capital and largest city is Riga. Latvia has been a member of the United Nations since 17 September 1991, of the European Union since 1 May 2004 and of NATO since 29 March 2004.


yada yada who cares about geopolitical....but what found delightful...

Unlike in other countries around the world, stand-up comedy is not yet developed among Latvians, although some Russian comedians are popular among audience, who understand russian language. But this does not amount to a Latvian humour scene.

Latvians find it more funny to play around with words, twist one's words and turn them into an inside or dirty joke on the fly before one finishes speaking, still preserving neutrality. For example:

A Latvian goes to the doctor, and says "I am going to work in Estonia and I really want to fit in, so I want 25% of my brain removed." The doctor says "Fine, such surgery is possible" - and the Latvian has part of his brain removed. However, after the surgery, the doctor comes to see him and says "I'm really sorry, we got things mixed up and instead of removing 25% of your brain, we left you with only 25% of your brain," to which the patient responds - Gerai, gerai! ("Good, good!" in Lithuanian language)

Get it? Cute, but it doesn't explain the Latvian googlers purpose for reaching this destination. Maybe he's a poor student who could care less about Huck Finn, but he's looking for film adaptations to cram for a quiz on Mark Twain novels ( he hasn't read) for this obscure America course he had to take. Doubtful that he's a TCM maniac, but their visit was welcomed and I hope they return.

Fred Astaire & Rita Hayworth sing I'm Old Fashioned & You Were Never Lovelier - Video

You Were Never Lovelier is a 1942 Hollywood musical comedy film, set in Buenos Aires. It starred Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou and Xavier Cugat, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by William A. Seiter.

This, the second of Astaire's outings with Hayworth, avoids wartime themes, and benefits from lavish production values – a consequence of the box-office success of the earthier You'll Never Get Rich. Kern here created a memorable standard with "I'm Old Fashioned", and there is a faultless trio of classic dance routines; but sugary sentimentalism enters, and rather eccentric art direction. Initially, Kern was unhappy about the selection of Cugat and his orchestra; however, when production was complete, he was so pleased with the band's performance that he presented him with a silver baton. Although Hayworth had a fine voice, Harry Cohn insisted on her singing being dubbed throughout by Nan Wynn.

The film follows the usual conventions established by Astaire in his earlier musicals, such as an anti-romantic first meeting between the two leads, a virtuoso dance solo for Astaire, a playful dance duet and a romantic dance duet.

Fred Astaire And Rita Hayworth -- "I'm Old Fashioned"



The famous dance under moonlight from their last pairing on screen: "You Were Never Lovelier" in 1942.

Jerome Kern wrote the classic song "I'm Old Fashioned", with a lyric by Johnny Mercer, for this film.

Looks crazy to hear Astaire (in any role) say "I am strictly from corn!", but he (the actor) really was born in Omaha!


The title song from movie classic "You were never lovelier" with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth from 1942.


It Happened One Night | Gable and Colbert's famous hitchhiking scene


It Happened One Night is an American 1934 screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra, in which a pampered socialite (Claudette Colbert) tries to get out from under her father's thumb, and falls in love with a roguish reporter (Clark Gable). Filming began in a tense atmosphere as Gable and Colbert were dissatisfied with the quality of the script. However, they established a friendly working relationship and found that the script was no worse than those of many of their earlier films. Capra understood that they were unwilling participants and tried to lighten the mood by having Gable play practical jokes on Colbert, who responded with good humor.

Both Gable and Capra enjoyed making the movie. Colbert however continued to show her displeasure on the set. She also initially balked at pulling up her skirt to entice a passing driver to provide a ride, complaining that it was unladylike. However, upon seeing the chorus girl who was brought in as her body double, an outraged Colbert told the director, "Get her out of here. I'll do it. That's not my leg!" Through the filming, Capra claimed, Colbert made "many little tantrums, motivated by her antipathy toward me," however "she was wonderful in the part." After her acceptance speech at the Oscars ceremony, she went back on stage and thanked Capra for making the film.

Roman Holiday | Worth Retweeting



Worth Retweeting

Roman Holiday

babajee Posted 17 minutes ago from SocialScope
babajee
Watching Roman Holiday (1953) "She's fair game, Joe. It's always open season on princesses"

RadioConelrad Posted 25 minutes ago from TwitterFon
RadioConelrad
I don't know how not to fall in love with Audrey Hepburn every time I watch "Roman Holiday". I look at her and I can't stop smiling.
MadMcCullough Posted 34 minutes ago from Web
MadMcCullough
If I woke up in Gregory Peck's bed on a Roman Holiday, I don't think I'd leave to go looking for exciting experiences. But I'm no princess.
sacchari Posted at 2:25am from Web
sacchari
The forces of nature knows I am unhappy - Roman Holiday is on TMC. ♥
5T4CKH0U53 Posted at 12:40am from mobile web
5T4CKH0U53
@TCManiacs you gotta be fucking kidding me?!? You always play Roman Holiday way too late so I can't stay up!!
Ballyhoo Posted at 12:32am from Web, in reply to TCManiacs
Ballyhoo
@TCManiacs Sigh,, Roman Holiday :) I LOVE that film and when I visited Rome remebered every moment of it
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Audrey Hepburn | Roman Holiday screen-test -- Full Video

Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy. The film introduced American audiences to Belgian-born actress Audrey Hepburn, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert co-starred. The movie was directed and produced by William Wyler.

Hepburn was cast as Princess Ann ('Anya Smith') after a screen-test. After she had performed a dignified, subdued scene from the film, the director called "cut", but the cameraman left the camera rolling, capturing the young actress suddenly become animated as she chatted with the director. The candid footage won her the role; some of it was later included in the original theatrical trailer for the film, along with additional screen test footage showing Hepburn trying on some of Anya's costumes and even cutting her own hair (referring to a scene in the film). It is sometimes claimed that Roman Holiday was Hepburn's first American acting job. In fact, she appeared at least once on U.S. television in 1952 — a CBS Television Workshop production of Rainy Day in Paradise Junction .


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Who is the mysterious TCManiac?

First, I'll tell you who I am not. I am not affiliated with TCM. I am not some superbot created by software developers. I am not being paid by TCM or anyone else to dedicate my time to tweeting. I am a real flesh and blood human being. I am a real maniac for TCM. I really do keep my TV tuned to TCM 24-7. I created the TCManiacs twitter as a result of my sincere passion for watching Turner Classic Movies.

How I got started?
Well, I've been a fan of TCM since its inception. As I lay flat on my back recovering from a disabling health crisis unable to do little more than watch TV and surf the internet, I found refuge watching TCM round the clock. I soon developed an obsessive habit of keeping a browser tab open for the TCM schedule and beating Robert Osbourne's introductions to finding out facts for upcoming movies. My entire day and night became defined by the TCM line-up. At the beginning of 2009 I decided to check out twitter and lucked up on some fellow TCM fans to friend. During the 31 days Oscar I decided to dedicate a twitter just to share my TCM obsession by tweeting about every movie every day of February. I was totally overwhelmed by the number of fellow TCM maniacs that became my following. Its been a WIN WIN in everyway for me. I have had the opportunity to share fun stuff with some incredible fellow classic movie lovers and bloggers. With so many followers I became committed to maintaining the twitter schedule and finding fun stuff for upcoming TCM movies.
How may followers show appreciation?
As I mentioned before, I am not employed by anyone nor being paid for my time maintaining tweets and blog. However, you may express your appreciation for my labor of love by dropping a token of your appreciation in the hat. Simply click the Donate button below. Any amount your heart moves you to give no matter how small will be graciously accepted.
What you mean to me?
Even if you decide to skip tipping the hat, please take the time to comment or send a message with your thoughts and suggestions. Send ideas on more fun stuff you would like featured. Send me links to your own classic movie websites. I just want to hear from you! Let me know what sharing my little obsession is worth to you. Every follower is priceless to me!

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