That’s Entertainment TV Cat

[from Perkins and Teeny Tuxedo’s cat adventures blog]

Friday, December 29, 2017, 12:39 am — Hey, Perkins! … What’s that shiny comet on the … could it be … new tv?! … Ta-da! … twin of the 55″ 4K Ulta HD Samsung in the livingroom … replaced 50″ Samsung SmartTV (originally in livingroom) … new home with ZG … to replace the 46″ non-smart Samsung from me, April 2013 …

Perky has a decision … box vs. The Band Wagon, 1953 … she chose … the box!

Finale of the “That’s Entertainment!” number … Jack Buchanan, Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant (always on the verge of somnambulism) … Turner Classic Movies

Jack : Everything that happens in life
Can happen in a show
You can make ’em laugh
You can make ’em cry
Anything
Anything can go….

The clown with his pants falling down
Or the dance that’s a dream of romance
Or the scene where the villain is mean
That’s entertainment!

Nanette : The lights on the lady in tights
Oscar : Or the bride with the guy on the side
Jack : Or the ball where she gives him her all
All : That’s entertainment!

Nanette : The plot can be hot simply teeming with sex
Oscar : A gay divorcee who is after her ex
Fred : It could be Oedipus Rex
Jack : Where a chap kills his father
And causes a lot of bother

Nanette : The clerk who is thrown out of work
Oscar : By the boss who is thrown for a loss
Fred : By the skirt who is doing him dirt
All : The world is a stage,
The stage is a world of entertainment

The doubt while the jury is out
Or the thrill when they’re reading the will
Or the chase for the man with the face
That’s entertainment!

Nanette : The dame who is known as the flame
Jack : Of the king of an underworld ring
Oscar and Fred : He’s an ape
Who won’t let her escape
All : That’s entertainment!

It might be a fight like you see on the screen
A swain getting slain for the love of a queen
Some great Shakespearean scene
Where a ghost and a prince meet
And everyone ends in mincemeat

The gag may be waving the flag
That began with a Mr. Cohan
Hip hooray!
The American way
The world is a stage,
The stage is a world of entertainment

Torch Song

Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 4:30 pm — What’s on TCM now? … The 3rd installment, That’s Entertainment! III, 1994, just finished … Gene Kelly hosted … (Fred Astaire died in 1987 … Gene in 1996)  … Better than I remember …

Included Joan Crawford‘s “Two-Faced Woman” number, Torch Song, 1953 … Her return to MGM after 10 years …  and first Technicolor film …

Important Trivia! … What’s the Torch Song / The Band Wagon connection? … Both 1953 … Joan’s “Two Faced Woman” number was originally done by Cyd Charisse for The Band Wagon, then cut …

Triplets Song

Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 2:00 pm — What’s on TCM now? …  That’s Entertainment! II, 1976 … This time, only two hosts … Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly … The true cream of the MGM musical crop was in the original … but here’s a number that qualifies as la crème de la crème …

Triplets, The Band Wagon, 1953 … Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan …

What a catchy, witty, fun song  … Over the years I can sing it fairly accurately without ever having looked at the lyrics … until now … Perhaps the only song that mentions Walla Walla, Washington!

Three little unexpected children
Simultaneously, the doctor brought us
And you can see that we’ll be
Three forever and a-e-i-o-
You wouldn’t know how agonizing
Being triple can be
Each one is individually the victim
Of the clinical day e-i-o-
Every summer we go away to Baden Baden Baden
Every winter we come back home to Walla Walla Walla

We do everything alike
We look alike
We dress alike, we walk alike
We talk alike
And what is more
We hate each other very much
We hate our folks
We’re sick of jokes on what an art it is
To tell us apart!

Fred : If one of us gets the measles
Jack : Another one gets the measles
All : Then all of us get the measles
And mumps and croup.
How I wish I had a gun
A widdle gun
It would be fun to shoot the other two
And be only one.

Fred : Mrs Whifflepoofer loves to talk to
Mrs Hildendorfer of the fatal natal day
She had her silly Willy

Nanette : Mrs Hassencooper loves to talk to
Mrs Goldenwasser
Of her major operation
When she had her twins.

Jack : But when Mother comes along
She silences the others
She accomplished something
That is very rare in mothers.

All : MGM has got a Leo
But Mama has got a trio
She is proud but says three is a crowd

Oh, we do everything alike
We look alike
We dress alike, we walk alike
We talk alike
And what is more
We hate each other very much
We hate our folks
We’re sick of jokes on what an art it is to tell us apart.

We eat the same kind of vittles
We drink the same kind of bottles
We sit in the same kind of highchair
Highchair, highchair!

How I wish I had a gun
A widdle gun
It would be fun to shoot the other two
And be only one.

Watch it on YouTube …

That’s Entertainment

Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 11:20 am — What’s on TCM now? … That’s Entertainment, 1974 … the original … My Bible of MGM movie musical history … I was in the theater when it came out … Rushed to get the soundtrack double album … Two records, not just one! … All the songs are memorized … Came along on my 2-year jaunt (1977-78) to San Diego, CA … Sang with Fred Astaire, “I’ll go my way by myself …” in my studio apartment north (or south?) of the San Diego Zoo …