FAVOURITE FLICKS

When I was a young shaver… in fact long before I needed a Chas and Dave, I became a big fan of the flickers. One Saturday I went to a morning matinee, an afternoon matinee, and an evening show. I spent so much time in cinemas that I could see in the dark!

However, I reckon the last time I actually went to the ‘pictures’ in person, was at least five years ago, when I took my grandson to see ‘The Muppets’, starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams… and… of course… the Muppets!

Nowadays, in charity shops and at car boot sales there are stacks of super-cheap, second-hand DVDs available, which one can watch as and when, in the comfort of wherever. Recently, I came across a copy of ‘On the Town’ for only 50p.

The sleeve note reads… “New York, New York, it’s a wonderful place – especially when sailors Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin have a 24 hour shore leave to see the sights… when those sights include Ann Miller, Betty Garrett and Vera-Ellen.

Co-directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen, based on the Broadway hit and set to an Academy Award-winning adaptation score, ‘On The Town’ changed the landscape of movie musicals, opening film-makers’ eyes to what could be done on location. And when brilliant location and studio production numbers are blended, it could be - as here - ebullient, up-and-at-‘em perfection.”

I’m not a great fan of movie musicals in general, but here you really have to marvel at the sheer professionalism… not just the singing and dancing in the main production numbers, but in the little bits of ‘business’, the timing, the reactions, the facial expressions, etc. etc.

Out of the six leading actors, the least known are Betty Garrett and Jules Munshin, but they match the stars in ability and appeal.

A graduate of the ‘Borscht Belt’ and Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre, Betty Garrett was a singer, dancer and comic actress, who starred in several Hollywood musicals and stage roles. She found fame on television in the U.S. sitcoms, ‘All in the Family’, and ‘Laverne & Shirley’.

Jules Munshin has, as far as I know, no connection with the little folk in the Oz books. He too served an apprenticeship in the Catskill resorts, where he was a popular song-and-dance man and comedian, and he became a Broadway star after starring in the musical 'Call Me Mister' in 1946. Apart from ‘On The Town', he had roles in the films ‘Easter Parade’ (1948), and ‘Silk Stockings’ (1957).

Interestingly from this Blogger’s point of view, Jules Munshin co-starred with Peter Sellers in the play "Brouhaha" in London's West End in the late 1950s, but he frequently fell out with Sellers as the latter would often improvise new lines and bits of business during a performance, claiming that sticking to the play's text bored him.

Oh dear!

Not to beat about the bush… or any other kind of foliage… I am not a fan of Peter Sellers, who is generally praised far too highly for my liking.

He is regularly described as ‘inimitable’, and yet, many Goons ago, when I was at grammar school, just about every one of my mates could do a passable ‘Bluebottle’… and… Bloodnok, Grytpype-Thynne, and Henry Crun were not too difficult. Clouseau is nothing more than ‘comedy’ French, and Dr. Kabir in ‘The Millionairess’ is likewise Indian.

Sellers appeared on the Parkinson tv show in 1974 and delivered what one critic described as a "masterful George Formby rendition".

Hecky thumpers! There are branches of The George Formby Society throughout the country. They hold regular monthly meetings, where juniors to geriatrics do a ‘George’.

If Sellars was bored with acting he was obviously in the wrong profession, perhaps for excitement he should have been a bomb disposal expert, a bullfighter... or a bobsleigh tester.

"I'm honest with my audiences. I never fool them… the public has learned that I will be there with every ounce of entertainment I can give. I respect my public." May Irwin quoted in 'Funny Women. American Comediennes 1860-1985 - Mary Unterbrink. McFarland & Co. 1987