Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry cartoons are by far, some of the funniest ever made! They always have a great jazz or classical soundtrack and show different lifestyles from the 40's and 50's. A lot of attention goes into details such as table settings, world events, popular music of the day, and usually the legs of any people involved. I enjoy when Tom or Jerry have love interests because they're always dolled up like screen sirens! Since they are set during the 40's and 50's, there are elements that capture how society behaved such as what they listened to, how they dressed and where they lived. It is a study in vintage civilization, albeit from a cat and mouse point of view.

"The Zoot Cat" shows us that a stylish suit is the difference between being corny and being with it! Tom meticulously grooms himself in preparation to court Toots, a real swingin' jazz baby. He struts confidently to her door, and is told to get lost after trying his hardest to impress her. Discovering that he needs to 'get hep to the jive', he fashions a Zoot Suit from a lamp shade and a hammock and Toots swoons with approval. Jerry's efforts to sabotage Tom's jitterbugging lead to disaster for the Zoot Cat.

In "Solid Serenade" we see Tom attempting to serenade his lady, much to Jerry's annoyance. Please note her bedtime beauty routine of curling her hair and plucking her eyebrows, and then her feverish excitement upon discovering him below her window, bass fiddle in hand. A little lipstick, mascara and powder and she appears at the balcony poised to receive her gentleman caller. Check out those red bows! Tom tries in earnest to woo his love in spite of the fact that Killer is hot on his trail.


"Mouse in Manhattan" is one of my favorites! The music is alluring and makes you want to pretend you are Ginger Rogers and paint the town! Jerry decides he is tired of country life and leaves for the big city. Arriving at Grand Central, he is easily impressed with all of the sights and amenities Manhattan has to offer. Checking out the gams in beautiful shoes, he quickly finds himself navigating through traffic and winds up at the Starlite Room. One of the highlights includes dancing on the tabletops with the doll place settings. His enchanted evening soon turns to a series of mishaps and finds himself running all the way home.

Backstage

To me, the best classic movies are the ones that involve the theatre, dancers, showgirls, burlesque, vaudeville etc. because you will most likely be invited backstage! The preparation and creation of the performer is an art unto itself, especially the showgirl. She is, no doubt, waiting for her big break and hoofing it in hopes of a more glamorous life of being a star and meeting the man of her dreams.

I love seeing the dressing rooms of these gals. There are always long makeup tables with the strip lights on the mirrors, cramped dressing quarters and possibly a folding screen of some sort for privacy. The tables sometimes have satin or linen cloths, others do not. There are powder puffs, jewelry, perfume bottles, hair brushes, false lashes, and lipsticks, maybe a flask. Adorning the mirrors are pictures of children, friends and suitors. You can pretty much count on flowers from Backstage Johnnies and two types of backstage mother~ the stern "no men allowed" marm or the mother hen all the gals flock to with their problems, stories and gossip! Regardless, there is always a comradery among them. Throw in a frenzied stage manager with a clipboard in one hand and a cigarette in the other and you have the makings of some good backstage antics!

Because it is a dressing room, there have to be costumes! Regardless of your profession (starlet, teaser or chorus line) everyone seems to be lounging in some sort of lovely and oft covered marabou feathered robe and matching slippers or pretty underthing. Of course your costume must be adorned with sequins or rhinstones and quite possibly come with a headress of sorts. Stockings, both seamed and fishnet, pasties, scarves and props. Love it!

The gals portrayed are stereotyped: the ingenue or the one destined to be a star, the well known and wisecracking seasoned veteran~ who sometimes befriends or vies for revenge of the new gals nipping at her high heels. There is also the vixen, the comedienne and sometimes the dumb one. If you are lucky, the film you are watching has the girl who is a bit naive and usually talks with a slang riddled New York accent... think Mia Farrow's character Sally, in Radio Days. "Hawk! I he-yuh the lions ro-aw!"

Some movies that have great backstage or dressing room moments are Cover Girl with Rita Hayworth, 42nd St. with Ruby Keeler and Ginger Rogers, Dancing Lady with Joan Crawford. Who could forget the great Lady of Burlesque with Barbara Stanwyck? A few modern films with classic themes are Chicago with Catherine Zeta Jones, Mobsters with Christian Slater and his flapper-dancer girlfriend played by Lara Flynn Boyle, and Bullets Over Broadway with John Cusack and Jennifer Tilly playing the dimwitted chorine turned doomed star. These scenes seem more interesting to me than the plot, at times. Maybe because I love makeup and glamour and wish that it was my bedroom, or maybe because I was one of them in a past life, who knows. If only I hadn't given up dance in grade school to play in the band!

Movies

Movie marathon last night. Suspicion (1941) with Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. He is perfect and can do no wrong~ she had the best cheekbones in Hollywood! This is another Alfred Hitchcock classic with a great ending. I wasn't impressed with her wardrobe until the scene where they come back from a dinner party at Isobel's and Joan is wearing the most beautiful full length fitted coat with two sequin appliqués; one on the shoulder and the other around her waist. Gorgeous! Cary Grant looked amazingly dapper in his pin stripe suits and it was a nice change to see him play a dramatic role, he can pull it off. Mel Berns, makeup & Edward Stevenson, costumes.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) with Carole Lombard and Robert Taylor. I don't particularly care for Carole Lombard, but I was curious to see how Alfred Hitchcock does light comedy and she fit right in. Robert Taylor and the supporting cast were delightful! It was cute and every now and then you could sense a Hitchcock type moment with direction and dialogue. Her wardrobe was fantastic and elegant, all of her boudoir ensembles were luxurious satin creations like slips and gentlemen's style pajamas. Sidenote- Carole could have benefited from some bangs. Irene, costumes.

Laura, (1944) with Gene Tierney was directed by Otto Preminger and is a fantastic murder mystery~ a real who done it. A very good ensemble cast including a pre-villainous Vincent Price. Gene's face is flawless and she had some eyelashes, alright! No wonder she had her share of suitors in this movie. Who could blame them? So striking is Laura that the detective called in to solve her murder falls in love with her after seeing her portrait. The gowns were lovely of course as they usually are in film noir. Guy Pearce, makeup & Bonnie Cashin, costumes.

I love watching classic movies and try to see ones I have always heard about, especially the dramas and film noirs. I normally like romances and comedies. I was raised on black & white movies and the Three Stooges (I love Curly) and an appreciation for that time period. Last month I saw many movies such as the Thin Man series~ how could I have gone this long without having seen them I will never know. Hilarious!! Who doesn't want to be Nick or Nora Charles?

I will tell you that the one movie that started the ball rolling was Top Hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. I remember being very very young and going to The Palace Theatre to see Top Hat on the big screen and I was hooked. All I have to say is Ginger Roger's ostrich feather dress! I read in her biography that it was light blue and she begged to wear it, and said it would look amazing on film while dancing and she was right. Fred was against it at first because feathers flew everywhere while they where dancing, but pleased with the results. I have seen so many old movies and could never tire of them. I couldn't begin to list my favorites! Even the bad ones seem good just for the sake of looking at the costumes, hair & makeup and performances.

I love to read the credits and research who people were. There were so many talented costume designers, makeup and hair people. Along with Irene, some other amazing designers were Adrian, Edith Head, Travis Banton and Orry-Kelly. Edith Head trained under Travis Banton and her biography is amazing! Interesting to note that Adrian created the shoulder pad look for Joan Crawford out of necessity for her to be comfortable in her gowns, as she had large shoulders. These designers were masters at concealing flaws and creating and accentuating features. During the Golden Era, Hollywood was the fashion trendsetter. What ever the studio designers were creating on screen was what the public emulated. It wasn't until later on during Dior's New Look phase and the breakdown of the studio system that independant designers created trendsetting fashions. It takes a lot of work to produce the most beautiful and talented people of the classic era!


http://www.tcm.com
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.silentmovietheatre.com
http://www.iatse-intl.org
http://www.costumedesignersguild.com
http://www.motionpicturecostumers.org
http://www.local706.org

2007

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