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This Day in GINGEROLOGY


GingerTelevision...

Next GingerFilm(s) (on TCM - all times Eastern):

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Ginger Rogers Blogspot...

...for Clarissa! AND, as she so wisely brings up, the title above hopefully throws Gingerology into the mix when a Google Search is performed on VKM! Thanks for the suggestion, CS! I have Googled 'Ginger Rogers' and 'Gingerology' a few times, and you are correct in that G-ology strangely enough does not appear right off...I am not trying to be the 'big dawg' here or anything, but would REALLY just like to see more folks interested in Ginger to visit the site...

...NOW, for SassyGinger! AND PinkGinger! The question from PG was, "What color was Ginger's (well, Susan Applegate's) 'after the ball' dress in Major and the Minor?" The answer (via photo) from SG is...well, see below!

...so, hope this answers it properly! Although, there ARE a few pics of her in this dress shown 'colored' in green - which DOES look pretty awesome as well! Again, see below!

...ok - one more 'topic', while I am thinking about it...to two of our newest Gingerologists, PinkGinger and princesskay... both of y'all have set up awesome websites which are VERY Gingery! AWESOME!!! But...(seems like I always have a big but...) - I cannot figure out how to 'comment' on posts of either site... now, it may well be that y'all don't wish to HAVE anyone comment, which is totally fine... but just wondering if I am missing a 'magic button' somewhere to allow commenting... any info would be MOST helpful and VERY much appreciated! Bottom line, I'm a comment junkie!!! :-}

OK - well, as 2010 is about to give way to 2011, and all of us here at G-ology hope all of y'all have a simply BEGUILING New Year's celebration!!! This will most likely be the final G-ology post for 2010, so... see y'all next year! Remember, it's Ginger's 100th in 2011, so it's gonna be GREAT!!!

KIG!!! - and also FUN, and SAFE this weekend, y'all!!!

Sincerely,
VKMfanHuey
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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Kitty turns SEVENTY!!!

Happy Birthday to Miss Foyle from Huey and all the folks at Gingerology!!! Still pretty dang AWESOME for a Septuagenarian, Miss Kitty!!! The Natural History of a Woman, indeed!!!

If ya ever wonder...yeah, Huey's ALL-TIME fave GingerFilm is... Kitty Foyle. Of course, it's an awesome Academy-Award winning performance, but on top of that, the film itself is just 'wall-to-wall' Ginger! It HAS to be the most 'camera time' Ginger receives in any of her films, as of course, it's all about Kitty!


The movie was released on December 27, 1940 by RKO Radio Pictures, with much anticipation, for the role was much sought after by many Hollywood actresses. Ginger's studio, RKO, bought the rights to it, and gave her 'right of first refusal' for it. She initially balked at the role after reading the 'uncut' novel - she recalled in her bio that "...there were explicit love scenes in it that were quite disturbing to me. As I read these passages, I found myself passing judgement on them. "That could never pass the censor board. So what good is it for me to spend time reading it? I was really embarrassed that RKO would send me something like this."
For example, Kitty and Wyn never marry in the book, but all the other 'events' DO happen... of course in 1940 this was not acceptable, so RKO had to marry them 'up front' to pass the glare of the Hays Office. And, I'm pretty sure Ginger was in line with the more 'proper' storyline as well (...she was such a good girl, y'all! :-] ) While the final film script was quite 'toned down', it was still a bit 'edgy' for mainstream audiences at the time.

Ginger had been wanting to do a 'drama' for awhile. She had just finished up a 'semi-dramatic' film, 'Primrose Path'; it was part drama, part comedy, part romance...and it 'whetted' Ginger's appetite for a 'full' dramatic role. She still had reservations about Kitty's storyline, but the producer (David Hempstead) sent Ginger the 'revised' script, and as she recalled in her bio, "I realized it was one hell of a script, and was convinced that whoever played the role would end up with an Oscar. I saw it that vividly."
Ginger played the role to perfection, and she 'owned' the part - it's hard to imagine anyone else as Kitty. Her performance not only earned her an Oscar, but it galvanized her as an actress that could rub elbows with Hepburn, Fontaine and Davis and not end up with tennis elbow (bah-dum-dah... :-} ), and it solidified her 'Hard-Working American Girl' persona, which she portrayed so well in many subsequent films, and endeared her to an entire generation of moviegoers.
And the rest is cinematic history, as they say... Kitty Foyle was a pretty major story in its day, and for Ginger to play it was the 'watershed moment' which vaulted her to the pinnacle of her career...and proved to all that, as an actress, she could pretty much nail any role that was presented to her, in grand fashion...including Kitty Foyle, by Judas Priest!!!
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Interesting stuff...

- The role of Wyn was sought by David Niven, Robert Montgomery, Ray Milland, Laurence Olivier, Franchot Tone, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., George Brent and Melvin Douglas...but NOT Dennis Morgan; Morgan was originally considered for the role of Mark Eisen (the doc), along with Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Jeffrey Lynn, Patric Knowles and James Craig, who eventually was picked for the doc role.

- Molly, one of Kitty's roommates in New York (the blondish one), was played by director Sam Wood's daughter, Katharine (K.T.) Stevens.

- In order to get in a 'somber, tear-inducing mood' for the 'Kitty gives birth' scene, Ginger went to her dressing room and listened to Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet".

- The December 9, 1940 edition of LIFE magazine featured Ginger as Kitty Foyle on its cover - Ginger's second appearance on LIFE's cover. The article was about filming specific scenes of the movie, and did not really have much Ginger info, save for a few pictures.

- Of course, Ginger won the 1940 Best Actress Oscar for her role as Kitty, but the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Sam Wood), Best Screenplay (Dalton Trumbo), and Best Sound (John Aalberg).

- In the movie Ginger made just before 'Kitty', "Lucky Partners", Ginger's character (Jean Newton) works in her aunt's (Spring Bynington) bookstore; in one scene, Jean is looking out the store window (where she is observing Ronald Coleman across the street), and the book "Kitty Foyle" is displayed in the window.

- When Ginger won the Oscar, she was greeted on the set of "Tom, Dick and Harry" the next day at RKO by staffers and actors dressed in top hats and tails.

- The dark sleeved dress with white collar and cuffs which Ginger wore in the movie is still known today in the garment trade as a "Kitty Foyle Dress".

- The movie was RKO's largest hit of 1940, earning $869,000.

- MGM's Tom and Jerry animated series gave it a nod in the title of 1948's short, "Kitty Foiled". The cartoon itself had, of course, nothing in common with "The Natural History of a Woman."

And finally, here is an overview of Kitty Foyle, and in Ginger's career in general, from none other than Mr. Robert Osborne, the 'overseer' of Turner Movie Classics, and probably one of the top 'classic' movie historians of our time. It was taken from the back cover of an LP of Ginger's radio production of Kitty Foyle - hopefully Mr. Osborne won't mind if I transcribe this here for all Gingerologists to read... interesting that it was written in 1975, exactly mid-way between Kitty in 1940 and where we currently sit. (BTW, in case Mr. Osborne or anybody else at TCM is reading this, please feel free to contact me regarding filling the 'guest host' spot in celebration of Ginger's 100th birthday on 07/16/11... yeah, I'll do it for FREE... or at LEAST for a lot less than Baldwin is being paid.. :-] )

Ginger Rogers once told a reporter, “Kitty Foyle was my first picture. It was my mother who made all those pictures with Fred Astaire.” The lady was kidding, of course, but there is no denying that everything connected with the spectacular Rogers career dates B.K. (Before Kitty) and A.K. (After Kitty). The Foyle role fit her like a coat of enamel, won her an Academy Award and kept her from being known solely as part of something called Astairenrogers.

Kitty Foyle was made at RKO Radio Studios in Hollywood in 1940, long after blonde and bouncy Ginger had been established as Fred Astaire’s most popular on-screen partner. She’d also proven her solo box office worth in a few comedies of her own. Up to that point, however, she hadn’t been established as an actress (and no fault of her own, but critics and the public have always assumed performances in musicals and comedies require no acting prowess, only nervous feet). One day she’d had quite enough, put down her foot – one of the unnervous ones – and divorced Fred as a partner. “No more musicals!” she told her bosses. While they ran for the aspirin bottle, Ginger started looking for a juicy role.

Enter Kitty Foyle, the most popular literary heroine of the day – and the timing couldn’t have been better. Kitty was the creation of author Christopher Morley, a hard-working white collar girl who was fed up to her typewriter ribbons. “I read about the guts of the pioneer woman, and the woman of the dust bowl, and the gingham goddess of the covered wagon,” says Kitty. “What about the woman of the covered typewriter? What has she got when she leaves the office?” It wasn’t all work for Kitty – she also had to choose between a liaison with a rich, married socialite and a romance with an industrious young doctor. But the public loved her, and every actress in the movie world wanted to play her. RKO, meanwhile, bought the screen rights and Ginger snapped it up. She darkened her hair, replaced the usual maribo feathers with a working girl’s wardrobe and went to town on the part, turning in a performance that made one critic clap his hands in glee, writing “Ginger Rogers plays Kitty Foyle so well it’s hard to remember she ever danced her way to fame.” The flourishing, epic touch came when she won that hard-to-get Oscar over the likes of Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Martha Scott and Joan Fontaine. Goodbye, Fred!

In the years that followed, Ginger got to play everything from gum-chewing molls and ex-convicts to Dolly Madison and Dolly Levi, all thanks in great measure to that first encounter with Ms. Foyle. Her movie career has been long winded (36 active years, 73 major films), quite dazzling, an audience pleaser, always fun to watch. And despite the enduring fame of Astaire n’ Rogers, Rogers n’ Astaire, she is still best remembered as Kitty Foyle, the white collar girl. Their names remain synonymous. This is a permanent record of that collaboration – and proof the lady known as Ginger could do very well indeed without the hint of a Carioca, a Continental or a Castle Walk in reel three.

ROBERT OSBORNE, author of Academy Awards Illustrated and four other books on motion pictures. (circa 1975)

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Finally, one of my fave Ginger pics ('screen captures') from the movie, from the 'Kitty meets the fam' scene... I think the 'black dorito' hat is just SO cool... with the black lace stuff...and the frilly, puffy collar...yow, that works, y'all :-] ...and of course, this scene is where Kitty gets her Irish up to the Nth degree (i.e., 'maximum' SassyGinger), so, yep...a great scene.


Well, hope this was informative and fun for y'all... of course, I can think of no better way to celebrate this occasion than by watching Kitty Foyle tonight...I believe I'll just do that!

KIG (AND Kitty-like!)

VKMfanHuey
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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Merry Christmas...

...to all you Gingerologists out there! Hope that Ho-Ho gets y'all ever what ya need this Christmas... And y'all have a happy, safe, and reflective Christmas weekend, and of course, remembering the TRUE reason for the season...
Here's just a neat little pic I have had hanging around - not sure what the deal is, except that Ginger is hanging onto some type of big, stuffed varmint, which could very well be connected with Christmas... dang, I wish I was a varmint! :-]

Anyway, I HOPE to be getting some stuff set up for G-ology 2011... the 100th Anniversary of Ginger's Birth! It's gonna be a great year, y'all... my Gingey senses are telling me so...

In the meantime, y'all go check out some awesome recent posts by PinkGinger at ClassicGal, and of course Ms. OGRE (Katie) over at Objects Of my Obsessions, where she has dumped her pic stash onto one humongous post! Merry Christmas, indeed!!!

Once Again, Have a great, big, honkin' Gingery Christmas, y'all!

KIG!!!
VKMfanHuey
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Saturday, December 18, 2010

GingerHaiku

...OK, y'all...now for a bit of an 'interactive' post, as a 'change-up' in the Holiday Season...time to break out your 'creative licenses' and PARTICIPATE in the First Edition of GingerHaiku!!!
The pic above has Ginger in a 'Far East' costume for the occasion, well, the parasol and er...whatever else she is wearing...wowzers... they don't make table legs like THAT anymore, y'all... ...dangdangDANG! Merry Christmas to Huey! <:-P
well we better get on with the post...although this pic could EASILY be a post within itself... "GingerGams" would be a wickedawesome post, no? Probably sometime in the future, if my heart can handle it...
Oh-Kay...again, really, BACK to the topic, y'all... :-]
I assume that most of y'all are pretty well-versed in what a haiku is, but just in case... generally, this is a VERY old form of Japanese prose, which generally is characterized by the following two traits: ONE: The haiku consists of three lines of verse, with line one being five syllables, line two having seven syllables, and the last line having five syllables. TWO: The haiku usually has to 'invoke' the time of year the verses are 'set' in, such as spring, winter, etc...(for example, noting 'snow', 'bees', 'leaves', etc., or just mentioning 'autumn', etc...) AND, of course, in our case, Rule THREE, the most important... it MUST be GINGERY!!! duh! :-] Neither of the first two rules are 'set in stone', but you should try to meet them if at all possible (the 'season' one is REALLY easier said than done, as I didn't get that in on ANY of the ones I have posted below) ...and of course, Gingerness IS required!
OK - so, here we go - I will start off the proceedings with three pretty neat ones I came up with, proceeded by an appropriate pic for it (not a requirement for YOU, but thought it might be cool for these, anyway...) Hope ya like them...


From Ginger and Fred
Bounds forth the Perfection of
The Dance Eternal



Beginnings reflect
from that Beautiful Science
Gingerology




Mighty sound Stage Door
Radio-Keith-Orpheum
...unforgettable

OK - well, hopefully that will get y'all going - not that this is a contest or anything, but just interested to see what y'all will crank out... Again, don't get TOO hung up on the 'haiku rules', other than to Keep It GINGERY, of course!

KIG!
VKMfanHuey
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Sunday, December 12, 2010

...just checking in...

...with a few odds and ends...

Well, first, thanks to all who voted on the 'Ginger-would-be-Christmas-movie' poll... "Miracle on 34th Street" eked out "Christmas in Connecticut" by a few votes. funny thing is, these are the only two movies of the four listed which I have actually seen! So there ya go... I 'have' "Remember the Night", which I need to check out soon.

Second, just watched "The Tenderfoot" again (bought the WB Archive edition...not a bad copy, and also has a 'trailer'...funny that a few of the 'snippets' from the movie differ than what made the 'final cut'...) this is a pretty neat little movie, really - it is only just under 70 minutes as well. Ginger is pretty dang Sassy in it, but in a very 'controlled' way...plus, the dude falls for Ginger's character (Ruth) so quickly and completely, how can you not like that?
I have posted this pic from "The Tenderfoot" before, but... hey, here it is again, since it is just so dang BEAUTIFUL!!! It is pretty neat that this pic is actually USED in the movie, when the dude is thinking of popping the question to Miss Ruth, or at least to tell her how he feels about her... and just talks to this pic first to get it straight... yep, that's about as far as I would get... and then I would totally pass out when she actually walks through the door!

Third, I ALSO just watched my WB Archive copy of "Bachelor Mother"...also a pretty fair copy...of course, I don't need to tell y'all my feeling about THAT one... just quite possibly my ALL-TIME fav GingerFilm not named "Kitty Foyle"... :-]

Well, not a WHOLE lot else cooking here... Gingerology, along with a lot of other awesome blogs out there, seems to be in 'hunkering down' mode for the rest of the year... I hope to be getting some stuff up and running over the holidays, but ya know, all that time seems to just get 'spoken for' in pretty short order! Don't fret, tho, y'all KNOW I will block out some time for Ginger!

Until then,
KIG in GingerDecember!
VKMfanHuey
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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Ginger December...

...Greetings, all!!! Hope the advent of the Holiday Season is an exhilarating experience thus far for all of you, and at least relatively stress-free! Honestly, I do not have that many GingerChristmas pics... of the following three, only one is obviously Christmas, although the other two seem to fit the topic as well...


First off, a 'programming note'... TCM will air Upper World tomorrow at 5:30 PM Eastern... a pretty good movie, even without a full complement of Ginger... cause even a LITTLE Ginger is FAR better than none...right? :-) ...It's worth watching, if only to get 'powder-puffed'! Trust Huey on this one... :-]

Second (minor) issue, yet burning a hole in my noggin until now... the pic that CS linked to of Ginger leaning on a desk with the weird 'finned' column deal on it... Well, after further digging and just plain ol' observation, the conclusion is that the pic is a publicity pic for the film 'Shall We Dance', as the pic below shows - when Miss Keene makes arrangements to fly the coop, quite literally...
...so, your first answer is usually the right one, Lady Fioraon!!! :-) Now that I look at it, it is SO obvious her hair style in the 'pub' pic is EXACTLY what it is when she does 'They All Laughed' - perhaps my fave Ginger Performance EVER...

OK - on to the 'topic' of this post... It's kind of a 'bummer' (to me, anyway) that Ginger didn't do a 'full scale' Christmas movie...of course, 'Bachelor Mother' and 'I'll Be Seeing You' are her two movies which take place during the holidays, and they are honestly two of my all time fav GingerFilms. BUT, neither one is really 'centered' around Christmas, which is ultimately what makes a Christmas movie, right? SO, I was thinking, with all the talk of the classic Christmas movies floating around, I wonder... which of the classics would Ginger have been best suited for? So... you guessed it... POLL TIME!!!

Simply put, which of the following Classic Christmas films would Ginger have fit the best in as the Female Lead?

Remember the Night (Barbara Stanwyck / Fred MacMurray)...

...Christmas in Connecticut (Barbara Stanwyck / Dennis Morgan)...


...The Bishop's Wife (Loretta Young / Cary Grant)...

...or, Miracle on 34th Street (Maureen O'Hara / Edmund Gwenn)?
Notice that the obvious choice of "It's a Wonderful Life" isn't included, since most of us know that Ginger turned down this part, primarily because she thought it was too 'bland'... but I think we all would LOVE to see her and JS back together, especially in the all-time Christmas fave, thus it would be VERY hard not to vote for it. I also left out "Holiday Inn", for the somewhat obvious reason that it would re-unite Ginger with Fred, thus again most likely 'skewing' the poll results.
Of the films listed, each has an interesting 'male lead'... whether this is the sole reason to vote for a particular movie for Ginger, is up to you; but consider the movie as a whole as well...

Well, that's it...vote early and often... and...

Keep It Gingery!!!

VKMfanHuey

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Awards...Thanks, Y'all!!!

...I TRULY appreciate these, and the kind words regarding this blog...thanks for all the inspiration I have drawn from each of your blog sites, which are all awesome in their unique ways!!!
It is my hope that I can continue to make 'G-ology' interesting and informative regarding the 'Beautiful Science' of VKM, which is SUCH a great topic!!! ...And remember, your comments are what make Gingerology click - so keep cranking them out!

Thanks again, JW

Awarded by Gingerella on 11/18/09 AND by Sally on 01/31/10

Awarded by Gingerella on 11/18/09 AND by Sally on 01/31/10
Thanks, Gingerella and Sally!!!

Awarded by Amanda Cooper on 11/21/09

Awarded by Amanda Cooper on 11/21/09
Thanks, AC!!!

Awarded by Maggie on 02/10/10 AND by Kate Gabrielle on 02/11/10

Awarded by Maggie on 02/10/10 AND by Kate Gabrielle on 02/11/10
Thanks, Maggie and Kate Gabrielle!!!

Awarded by Camille on 03/25/11 AND by Anna on 03/29/11

Awarded by Camille on 03/25/11 AND by Anna on 03/29/11
Thanks, Camille and Anna!!!

Hometowns to Hollywood Busby Berkeley Blogathon 2018

Hometowns to Hollywood Busby Berkeley Blogathon 2018
...including the Gingerology entry of 'Gold Diggers of 1933'...