Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑August 4th, 2023, 2:32 pm
Rita did have a sad life, much like Helen Walker.
Don't forget her ultimate Other Woman role in THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR.
Helen Walker has given some lovely performances. Although I enjoy her comic turn in Murder, He Says, I think my favorite Helen Walker performance/role is in The Man in Half Moon Street.
I've never seen THE MAN IN HALF MOON STREET and want to very badly!
Lucille Ball couldn't pronounce 'l' if it was the second letter in a word. "Please" always came out "pwease". Has anyone else ever noticed this? (Regardless, I Love Lucy)
Ginger Rogers had a natural voice that sounded like Minnie Mouse. She worked hard to lower it. You can hear Minnie in Ginger's very early performances.
Lenore Aubert and Mona Maris do not get nearly enough attention.
Dargo wrote: ↑August 4th, 2023, 4:57 pm
And now a couple more ladies who seemed to be cast in this type of role quite often:
Nina Foch
Celeste Holm
(...and who I recall getting confused with each other in my younger days)
I can't believe it! (paraphrasing Bette in JEZEBEL) "You're funnin'!"
So Bronxie, are ya sayin' you don't see how I could've ever confused these two actresses?
And speaking of "Helen Walker" here, and not that I'm now sayin' I've ever "confused" her with the following name here, but she's always kind'a reminded me a bit of Alexis Smith. Both being tall, blonde, thin and cool drinks o' water with what you might call beautiful but "blank" faces.
Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑August 5th, 2023, 7:47 pm
Lucille Ball couldn't pronounce 'l' if it was the second letter in a word. "Please" always came out "pwease". Has anyone else ever noticed this? (Regardless, I Love Lucy)
Dargo wrote: ↑August 4th, 2023, 4:57 pm
And now a couple more ladies who seemed to be cast in this type of role quite often:
Nina Foch
Celeste Holm
(...and who I recall getting confused with each other in my younger days)
I can't believe it! (paraphrasing Bette in JEZEBEL) "You're funnin'!"
So Bronxie, are ya sayin' you don't see how I could've ever confused these two actresses?
And speaking of "Helen Walker" here, and not that I'm now sayin' I've ever "confused" her with the following name here, but she's always kind'a reminded me a bit of Alexis Smith. Both being tall, blonde, thin and cool drinks o' water with what you might call beautiful but "blank" faces.
(...can you see this one?)
None of them! But I say this with love.
For myself I must confess that for the longest time I confused Fay Bainter with Spring Byington. Then when I saw them in the same movie together it really blew my mind, lol.
Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑August 5th, 2023, 7:47 pm
Lucille Ball couldn't pronounce 'l' if it was the second letter in a word. "Please" always came out "pwease". Has anyone else ever noticed this? (Regardless, I Love Lucy)
Maybe Kay Fwancis did.
Kay of course famously could not pronounce "r" but it did not stop her from becoming one of the most popular actresses (and imo an underrated one) of the early to mid-1930's.
I've been searching high and I've been searching low, looking for my Shanghai Lil....
Ain't she been through the mill.....
Don't you wish you had a time machine returning to the world of 1930's Warner Bros. movies, where everyone said "Ain't", "Say" "Sister" "Get wise" "Swell"......
Said she wouldn't be mine for all of Palestine, oy!
Ruby Keeler was adorable but I have to agree with Robert Osborne -- while dancing always looked like she was stamping out cockroaches. Yet I always felt sorry for Ruby, putting up with Al Jolson all those years, even though w/o him I suppose she wouldn't have become a movie star of sorts. Keeler was a class act, though -- never spoke about him after their divorce.
Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑August 8th, 2023, 8:08 pm
Don't you wish you had a time machine returning to the world of 1930's Warner Bros. movies, where everyone said "Ain't"
I am amazed that I hear "ain't" ALL the time in elementary school. Kids don't understand why I correct them since everyone at home says "aint". And we are NOT even in the South!
Agree Ruby Keeler was adorable. I had no idea she was the one who urged Patsy Kelly into show business. Apparently, they became good friends as 12 year olds attending dance school in NYC. So yes, Keeler took dance lessons but obviously "clogging" was her preferred (or coached) style.
Some pics of their reunion 1970-75 in No No Nanette on Broadway:
"ain't" in elementary school? I can imagine the kids from The Little Rascals slipping into that usage but in this day and age, and from any part of our nation, it almost doesn't sound like real life, lol. (lots of "aint's" in many New Yawk-set Martin Scorcese movies, plus remember SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, etc.) All In The Family's Edith and Archie also said it a lot. Queens, you know, lol. I'm from Da Bronx but my family was more refined, ha!
I didn't realize Ruby and Patsy had a history together, great info! The only time I find Keeler non-clunky is FOOTLIGHT PARADE when she hoofs with Cagney up on the Shanghai bar. Great footwork from her and also some style.
I like the movie GYPSY starring Rosalind Russell as the mother of Gypsy Rose Lee and also like Rosalind Russell's performance. (I know there are many who don't.)
It's common knowledge today that Rosalind Russell's singing in the movie by dubbed by Lisa Kirk (with the exception of the first part of the final song "Rose's Turn"").
Is it possible that Rosalind Russell really believed that the singing used in the movie was all her as she states in her autobiography LIFE IS A BANQUET?:
At first I was only to act the part; Rose's singing was dubbed by a professional with a big trained voice. When I heard it, I got sick. "It isn't me," I said. "I'm bad, but I can't stand to hear that. Everybody knows I don't sing operatically, it throws the balance off." Warner Brothers agreed and rescored the picture, and I sang my own part. People still say that I didn't, but that's Roz, and nobody else, as Rose on the soundtrack of Gypsy.
While Lisa Kirk modulated her voice to sound more like Rosalind Russell, the voices are different.
Here's the version "Some People" sung by Lisa Kirk that was used in the movie:
Here's the recording of "Some People" that Rosalind Russell made herself:
HoldenIsHere wrote: ↑August 11th, 2023, 2:31 pm
I like the movie GYPSY starring Rosalind Russell as the mother of Gypsy Rose Lee and also like Rosalind Russell's performance. (I know there are many who don't.)
It's common knowledge today that Rosalind Russell's singing in the movie by dubbed by Lisa Kirk (with the exception of the first part of the final song "Rose's Turn"").
Is it possible that Rosalind Russell really believed that the singing used in the movie was all her as she states in her autobiography LIFE IS A BANQUET?:
At first I was only to act the part; Rose's singing was dubbed by a professional with a big trained voice. When I heard it, I got sick. "It isn't me," I said. "I'm bad, but I can't stand to hear that. Everybody knows I don't sing operatically, it throws the balance off." Warner Brothers agreed and rescored the picture, and I sang my own part. People still say that I didn't, but that's Roz, and nobody else, as Rose on the soundtrack of Gypsy.
While Lisa Kirk modulated her voice to sound more like Rosalind Russell, the voices are different.
Here's the version "Some People" sung by Lisa Kirk that was used in the movie:
Here's the recording of "Some People" that Rosalind Russell made herself:
Maybe they told her that they kept her voice on the distributed print, and showed her the undubbed version in the screening room? After all, she probably never wandered into a theater to watch it after its release. I doubt that they did that, though, because that would be treating her in a very Norma Desmond-like way, and Roz was a smart cookie. But how else to explain her stated belief?
