Here's a song, from 1939, that I absolutely adore. When I first heard this song/saw this musical short, something about it perfectly seized upon my imagination and my aesthetic longing for Romance (in both the capital and lowercase "r"sense of the word), and I was consumed with an obsession for a few weeks. While I have since cooled off on my fervor for this song, I still love it. Not only is Artie Shaw and his Orchestra a wonderful match with Helen Forrest's honeyed voice, but the video accompanying it is great. After a bit of Helen and Artie doing their thing, it segues into a nighttime garden scene and tells a little story that is both beautiful and melancholy.
A funny thing I have to add: Gracie mentioned to me that TCM recently played this short in between movies, and she was at her grandmother's house when she saw it. So she sat down and was watching it with her grandma, and they were both sitting in silence when the guy comes on with his cravat-ed dapperness. Her grandma turned to her and was like, "If you ever find a guy in a top hat, hold on to him."
Wise words, granny, wise words. We're totally on the same page here. And Gracie told her as much.
This song was actually first published by Peter DeRose as solely a piano composition in 1933, and it was a major hit, being played by the likes of Paul Whiteman. It wasn't until 1938 that lyrics would be penned by Mitchell Parish, after steady sheet music sales for the past five years proved the song had staying power. This probably only increased the song's popularity, as it was covered by tons of major musicians and continued to be covered into the late 70s and still hit the Top 20 charts.
Here's another version, by Larry Clinton and his orchestra, sung by Bea Wain. I don't love it as I do Artie & Helen's version, but I still do like it.
I really love seeing original content on other people's blogs - you know, outfit posts, hair posts, thrifting finds, or just random photos other bloggers have taken. I'd like to have more of this original content in my posts, but I am recently having camera issues, and (not so recently) photogenic issues. The former means that my Nikon D90 is acting up and is completely unreliable, the latter that I simply don't seem to photograph well. Add to this the lack of a self-timer or camera stand (I've tried finding places around the apartment I'm subletting to set it, but there really isn't a very good spot), and outfit posts especially become difficult. Ah well, they will happen eventually.
Anywho, in an attempt to post some me-made pictures, here are some recent finds. The brooches are all from a vintage fair that happens every Sunday in Boston, and the shoes/galoshes are all from different places.
As you can see, I have several pairs of vintage slippers and vintage galoshes - but no regular vintage heels (besides the first shown, which are a wee bit tight and fragile)! And this is not for a lack of trying. I'm starting to wonder if all the size 8 foot-ed women of the 30s and 40s only saved their non-everyday shoes.
Hope you are all enjoying the start to your weekend!
A gramophone. I've gotten a lot of wear out of this one so far.
Leo Fontan, a French painter, is an artist I've recently discovered and am quite mad about. His illustrations/paintings are just gorgeous, simple yet full of eye-catching details, and have a whimsy and often a sense of mischief that I love. If you look him up on Google images, you will find that he appears to be a "leg man" - I swear about 1/3 of the images were these stocking-clad leg portraits he's done! Anyway, I gathered up some other ones because his people portraits are his best, I think! From what I could find, he was born in France in 1883, and died in 1965. Apparently he started losing his eyesight towards the end of his life, but he continued painting. And no wonder! This was pretty much all I could discover, there was only a French Wikipedia page on him.
Enjoy!
Subtitle translated reads "Queen for a Day".
Okay, I took French for 8 years but I'm not sure about this translation - Title: "Honeymoon".
Subtitle/caption:
- "I am sure that you don't love me anymore"
- "But why, my dear?"
- "Ah well... one couldn't dispute this since this morning!"
... this is all with high-school level training in French, so take it with a grain of salt.
Translated, the title and caption read "Blue, White, Red" - "The Cockade of Mimi Pinson".
More archive images to set you swooning and sighing! I know I feel a little light-headed, but that may just be because I had to rush out the door this morning without eating breakfast...
The bib grows up indeed! I wish I owned a bib or two...
Two features begin in one week! Gee and I have also decided to do a recurring feature on songs that we really love. I know that this won't be everybody's cup of tea, but I also know that I like reading other blogger's music posts who have similar taste, so maybe a few people will enjoy these. I've actually discovered some favorite artists through other blogs, so hopefully this will do the same for at least a few people out there! The music I love is very dear to me and I would love to help keep the wonderful tunes of the past alive!
So, the first song: "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" performed and sung by my absolute all-time favorite, Judy Garland. The first is from 1938, and the second from 1935.
Despite Judy's seriously over-plucked eyebrows (she looks like a china doll!), you can see how adorable she was at the start of her career and you get a taste of her magnetism on stage. The funny thing is, this is actually not that good of an example of the typical Judy performance, she is rather held-back and reserved, not overly expressive in this video. I'm sure that has to do with the director or someone behind scenes in the film, because Judy loved to put on a performance, both in technical skill in belting tunes out, and in emotional expressiveness. Still, even in this toned-down performance, she manages to tug on my heartstrings (as she sings about her heartstrings). And the lyrics are simple but wonderfully sweet.
And here's the 1935 radio version, which I recommend for two reasons: first, it changes half-way through into a swing version, which is my favorite version of this song. Secondly, as the description for the video says, this is the version Judy sang on the radio while her father was in the hospital, and she sang with extra effort knowing her dad was listening. Pretty much every other adult relationship she had at the time was toxic or would soon become so (always the adult's fault. She was just a kid, and she was constantly used and/or abused - her mother, managers, perhaps Louis B. Mayer, etc) and her father was the one person she felt she could trust and who actually loved her. So what gives this song an extra heart-wrenching quality is that her father died in the hospital the day after she sang this, before she had a chance to see him again. She was only 13. I imagine she had some very sad/emotional associations with this song whenever she was requested to sing it in the future. Anyway, here it is:
- Emily
More from the archives, an article from McCall's in 1934-35 (I'm almost positive, it was with a bunch of other images from these years) that is a favorite of mine. Besides the funnyness factor in the somewhat contrived storyline and the obvious pattern promotion (hey, it was a McCall's magazine, it makes sense), this peek into the past is especially interesting considering the current societal debates on body ideals. It's crazy when you consider that the girl, shown in the "Before Makeover" picture, wouldn't pass modern designers' standards, and they would most likely require her to lose more weight before hiring her. But I won't go into a "modern beauty standards" rant, its all been said....
Anyway, the "After" picture is lovely (but I don't think the "Before" is that terrible), I do love her dress and hat and gloves... okay, everything. I've enlarged both the "Before" picture and the "After" picture for easier viewing.
By the way, I realize that I didn't photograph the rest of the article, but if I remember correctly, it ended quite soon on the new page anyway, so you aren't missing too much.
Click to enlarge and read the article!
Before clothing makeover. That hat is a little awkward and elongating with that outfit, but for goodness sakes, there's nothing that should make her go "When I look in the mirror, I could die of mortification - I'm so thin!"
Born in New York in 1877, Harrison Fisher worked from the turn of the century until his death in 1934. And that's pretty much all I know about him. I'm not too interested in doing a bunch of research, I'm content to just admire his illustrations. Here are a few favorites:
"The Evening Hour" - I'm pretty sure this is my favorite of all. The best part? This was done for Cosmopolitan. Now I know this would never happen today, but come on, isn't this so much better than the stock photos of pretty but forgettable-looking people straddling each other in their underwear (Cosmo's illustration of choice nowadays)? This illustration leaves more to the imagination, but I wouldn't say it's prudishly subtle - I mean, with that image, and that caption, you get the idea. But its lovely to look at at the same time!
I just love this - I can't settle on what adjective describes it best, it can be two totally different things, depending on how you look at it. Romantic or humorous? Dark or whimsical? Beautiful or beautiful?
