This one . . . this one hits hard. This one's finally got me believing maybe 2016 really is cursed.

All three leads of my favorite movie are now gone. Rest well, Debbie, Gene, and Donald.

This popped up in my Facebook feed -- from someone's birthday post for Gene -- and I loved it so much I just had to share. Happy birthday, you adorable man, you. :-)

Doing some more research on musical films. Did you know that, in 10 films with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers got one dance solo? Just one.

I'm not dissing or judging Astaire (or their choreographers or directors) -- I love him and always have. He was an awesome dancer and a classy human being. It was just a different time.

And there's no question that Fred was the better and more experienced dancer, I don't care what they say about "backwards and in high heels." There's also no question that their partnership brought out the best in her. Also, things changed a good deal in his later films with other partners.

Still . . . one. That does seem a mite unbalanced.

(Possibly Gene Kelly has me spoiled. The man used to hand out numbers to other people -- both singing and dancing numbers -- like Halloween candy.) 

There's a PBS program on here this afternoon -- "Michael Feinstein's American Songbook: Let's Dance" -- that has some footage of Gene Kelly in Pal Joey on Broadway. If you're a Kelly fanatic, you know that such footage is harder to find than the Holy Grail. (They never even made a cast album -- at least, not until Gene had left the show.) I've seen about 10 seconds' worth of it -- fingers crossed that Feinstein's got at least a little more than that!

Anyway, just wanted to let y'all know in case you wanted to check it out. You'll need to check your local PBS listings.

Got this from Tumblr. Turns out that Danny Kaye's 100th birthday was actually two days ago (drat you, TCM, for misleading me!). And that wasn't even his REAL 100th birthday, because his daughter says he subtracted two years from his age. But I'm posting this anyway, because it makes me happy.

(I am SO sorry. Somehow I seem to be in a mood for dreadful puns these days.)

If you're a classic movie buff, the Warner Archive Collection is pretty much the greatest site in the history of time. They're putting out all sorts of rare movie and TV classics on DVD. (That is, on DVD-R, which, I'm told, will only play in a DVD player. I don't know why they went that route. Cheaper, maybe?) As stillsparkling pointed out the other day, they've got Jimmy Stewart's detective series Hawkins, which I don't think I ever got to see before.

AND they've got something I've been pining for, literally for decades: The Cross of Lorraine, one of Gene Kelly's few non-musical films.


( Gotta love those Irish Frenchmen )

The Gene Kelly Cross Stitch Pattern.

I haven't cross-stitched in ages -- never even finished the Snoopy I was making for my goddaughter when she was born, six years ago -- but I am so tempted to get this, you have NO IDEA.

In other "this is a thing that exists" news: The Narnia Wardrobe Ring. We've finally found a ring I wouldn't wear: For one thing, I'd have to sell everything I own, ever have owned, and ever will own, plus any potential firstborn child, to afford it. For another thing, the sheer size and weight of it would drag my hand all the way down to the floor.

But the concept's kind of cool, don't you think? Wonder if they make a pendant . . .

1. "Singin' in the Rain," Singin' in the Rain



Bless you and thank you, Gene, for all the joy over the years. Happy birthday!

ETA: And here's a little something I wrote for Gene today.

3. "Almost Like Being in Love," Brigadoon