Elizabeth, just in case you still read this blog, I wanted to say that I saw the post on your Instagram about your new dance film. Do I have that right, that you are starting a new one? If so, that's fantastic news! I'm always rooting for you, you know, so please post anymore news as it develops, whether on Facebook or Instagram, and I will make a point of checking Instagram more often, though I don't have an account there myself. I also saw your most recent post, the picture of you facing the water with the giant rock in the background. Is that a Red Dress photo? It's spectacular in any case, and the poem you wrote to go with it is exceptional, very beautiful. I know I always say things like "keep shooting"!, "keep playing"!, etc., and of course I have also said "keep writing"! with regard to your music, but now I'll have to amend that phrase to include your words as well. So, keep writing, Elizabeth, both words and music.
And keep doing everything else too. ;)
Always remember that your art is what you really do. Your job is just for paying the bills, and your big break is coming. ////
I am writing from home tonight, off work until Dec. 27th, a full week. I can't imagine I'll do much, because I have a lot of music to study for the regular Sunday morning service in a couple of days, and also for the Christmas Eve service the following night. On Sunday, one of the pieces we'll be singing is John Rutter's "Christmas Lullaby", one of the most difficult tenor songs I've sung in my time with the choir. The lines are all in the upper tenor range, with a lot of jumps, all in legato style, meaning smooth singing. So you can't belt the vocal, yet it has to be intense but also very smooth, and it's way up at the top of my range.
I've sung it before and did an okay job, but this time I am gonna nail it, which means practicing in the car tomorrow and Saturday (hey, where else can I practice?), and also drinking a lot of water with lemon juice. I also have three other anthems to learn for the two services, but they are easier. We will probably be singing a lot of carols, too, and those are my favorite of all. This is my fifth Christmas with the choir and I hope it will be our best yet. :)
Tonight I did watch a movie, the perennial classic "Christmas In Connecticut" (1945), starring Northridge's own Barbara Stanwyck, and handsome Dennis Morgan. The story is pure hijinx, from start to finish. Morgan is a sailor in the Navy. During WW2, his ship is torpedoed, and he spends 18 days on a life raft before being rescued. In the hospital back in the States, he flirts with his nurse to get better food. She falls in love with him and elicits a proposal of marriage, though his heart isn't in it. All he really wanted was some good chow.
The nurse is a reader of a popular magazine, ala Good Housekeeping. Her favorite column, widely read all across America, is written by Barbara Stanwyck, a well-to-do lady who lives on a farm in Connecticut. She is sort of like a Martha Stewart, but younger. She can cook like crazy, can attend to the farm animals, can dress up, decorate, you get the picture. And she is married with an infant child. She is The Modern Woman who can Do It All, and her column is selling tons of subscriptions for Sydney Greenstreet's magazine. So, what happens is that Dennis Morgan's nurse writes a letter to the publisher (Greenstreet), suggesting a feelgood story for Christmas: How about if Miss Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) would agree to host a soldier, a WW2 hero recovering from his ordeal, at her farm for Christmas? Wouldn't that make a great story?
Publisher Greenstreet reads the proposal and agrees that it would indeed make for an inspirational Christmas column in his magazine.
So he contacts Stanwyck, whom he has never met, through her agent. Will she agree to host the recovering soldier at her farm for Christmas?
Oh boy, is she ever in a jam now. Because, you see, she is a complete fraud. She doesn't live on a farm in Connecticut, but in a New York City tenement. She isn't married, has no baby, and can't even cook! She gets all of the recipes for her column from a local restaurateur down the block. She is a talented creative writer who has completely made up a lifestyle and, with the help of her agent, sold this fictitious personalty to her publisher. And she has gone on to become famous.
Now what is she to do? Her publisher insists that the hosting of the soldier must take place. But she doesn't live on a farm........but wait! Hollywood to the rescue! (which is one thing I love about Hollywood, it always comes to the rescue). Stanwyck just so happens to know a gentleman who does indeed own a farm in Connecticut. He is a man who has been proposing to her, but for whom she has no feelings. Still, could his farm be used to host the soldier for the piece in the magazine? Could they pretend to be married while this is going on? Could they borrow a neighbor's baby to complete the illusion?
You'll have to watch for yourself to find out. The best thing about "Christmas In Connecticut", besides the non-stop Screwball and the great cast, is the art direction and the way they get That East Coast 1940s Wintry Christmas Feeling just right. There are legendary scenes filmed in the snow (and probably on a sound stage), with Stanwyck and Morgan riding in a horse-pulled sleigh at night, that are really mythological in the Hollywood scheme of things, as far as portraying the magic of the Christmas season. Watch for yourself and see.
I give "Christmas In Connecticut" Two Huge and Timeless Thumbs Up. You may have seen it already, and if you have you know it's a Holiday Classic. ////
That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. Much love until then. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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