August 1, 2006
Happy Place!!
There's so much I love about the image below.
1. The random pair of legs in the air. The girl is upside down. I love her. I want to be her. Can you see the grin on her upside-down face, too?
2. Look at the diversity of the crowd. This was taken in 1939. I just love how mixed it is - the true democratic spirit of good music, huh? - and good dance - and all the smiles on everyone's faces.
3. I love that pretty girl way over to the left, looking back over her shoulder, her eyes going off-camera. It's such a spontaneous moment. She looks like she's having fun. She's lovely. Like a teenage Jessica Lange.
4. I want to be there!
5. Check out the dancing dude in the center - with the horizontal striped shirt. He is SO having to ALL!! I love his suspenders, too.
Posted by sheilaThat's so gear, daddy-o.
Posted by: Emily at August 1, 2006 10:42 AMDrum boogie!
Posted by: red at August 1, 2006 10:53 AMDrum boogie provided by Gene Krupa...Benny Goodman soloing on clarinet, Harry James on trumpet. No way you can stay in your seat. Or maybe the Duke Ellington Orchestra letting fly with "Rockin' in Rhythm," jump style.
Posted by: Ken at August 1, 2006 11:43 AMAll the years I was in high school, and for a couple of years after I graduated, our prom had big band music -- with a real orchestra!
It was the cat's meow.
Posted by: Lisa at August 1, 2006 11:47 AMCoincidentally, my kids were watching a Tom and Jerry where Tom gets a zoot suit and learns to swing dance to win back his girlfriend. My 4 year old daughter turned to me and asked, "Daddy, what's a 'hep cat'?"
Posted by: JFH at August 1, 2006 11:57 AMJFH - hahahaha that's adorable. And did you reply: "The correct definition is: Your father"?
Posted by: red at August 1, 2006 12:00 PMI wish! Instead, started a dissertation on the Big Band era that ended in about 30 secs when my daughter said, "Daddy, I can't hear my favorite commercial"
JFH - you consistently just crack me up. Seriously. You're so damn funny.
Posted by: red at August 1, 2006 12:15 PMDid you ever see the Barbara Stanwyck movie where she sings and dances to Drum Boogie?...Gawd love her, she was working the room. Krupa was on the drums. And she finishes the number playing drums with a couple of match sticks and lighting them! What was the name of that picture?
Posted by: Susan at August 1, 2006 12:33 PMBall of Fire!!!
Posted by: red at August 1, 2006 12:35 PMI feel so lost. I l0ve the picture, there SO much going on. but where's it from???
Posted by: alli at August 1, 2006 2:08 PMIt's a swing dance club in LA in 1939. That's all I know - I found it on some random swing-dance website. I want to take jitterbug classes again, and I somehow tripped over that photo. You're right - there's so much going on!!!
Posted by: red at August 1, 2006 2:12 PMThis is about twenty seconds before the floor opens up and dumps everyone into the swimming pool...
Posted by: Nightfly at August 1, 2006 2:18 PMAlfalfa was the dude that opened the pool, did y'all know that?
Posted by: Lisa at August 1, 2006 2:23 PMI never did trust that guy...
Posted by: Ken at August 1, 2006 2:27 PMLisa - really? I had no idea!
Posted by: red at August 1, 2006 2:43 PMLisa - no joke? Wow. It makes perfect sense that it would be him, too.
Posted by: Nightfly at August 1, 2006 2:48 PMYep. Carl Switzer, who played Alfalfa, is the guy who Mary blew off to dance with George, so he opened the floor so they'd fall in the pool.
Posted by: Lisa at August 1, 2006 3:30 PMHelp me out here, WHAT is the song, the famous big band song, with the great drum solo in the middle of it, what is it called? It's the one that is always referenced when something is on about big bands, and I never, ever, remember the name of it.
Posted by: Carrie at August 1, 2006 5:05 PMCarrie - I don't know but now I NEED to know!!
Anyone know?
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummersolo.html
Sing! Sing! Sing!
Zoot suit riot? I dunno. (Thats the only one i've heard referenced, but I haven't listened to very much big band....)
Posted by: alli at August 1, 2006 7:23 PMSusan is correct. You've heard the song if you remember that old "Thousand Chips Delicious" campaign from Chips Ahoy.
Posted by: Nightfly at August 1, 2006 10:04 PMSusan nailed it's "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman. While Glenn Miller's "A String of Pearls", "In the Mood", "Pennsylvania 6-5000" and "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" (to name a few) are more famous by title AND the music with it, "Sing, Sing, Sing" has almost become a background music cliche for flashbacks to the early 40s.
Listen to the sample of song 20 of this "Best of" album:
Sing, Sing Sing
Damn, Nightfly beat me because of my verbosity... still follow the link if you don't know what song Carrie is talking about.
Posted by: JFH at August 1, 2006 10:19 PMJFH - anyone who knows me well knows how ironic it is that I beat ANYONE because they were wordy. I have to re-read Strunk and White every year to keep my pith at acceptable levels. =)
Posted by: Nightfly at August 1, 2006 11:24 PMOne of my guilty (well, not really guilty) pleasures in movies is 1941, and my favorite sequence is the dance contest. Good music behind that one, recalling "Sing, Sing, Sing" (John Williams has a knack for that).
Posted by: Ken at August 2, 2006 9:13 AMYes!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! THAT's the one!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! This has been a nagging issue for me for so many years - thank you for solving this. YAY!
Posted by: Carrie at August 3, 2006 5:53 PMYay!!!! hahahahahaha I love it!
Posted by: red at August 4, 2006 6:16 AM