I have nothing to add to the million or so words that have been written and spoken elsewhere about this classic Christmas movie, aside from two observations based on the YouTube video called "Scene 14" (see below).
(1) The piano player whom we briefly see and hear pounding the ivories in the bar sequence (starting at the 1:12 mark) is none other than Meade Lux Lewis, one of the Big Three of boogie-woogie (the other two being Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons); and
(2) The last part of the video which shows George Bailey walking down a street in Pottersville (beginning at the 7:15 mark), lined with night clubs and dance halls, makes the alternative town look a lot more fun (and a town I'd rather live in) than Bedford Falls.
I was reading old newspapers and saw that from around 1950 in Sydney there used to be gangs of young men with Cornell Wilde haircuts, doing crazy jitterbugging at nightclubs and terrorizing respectable folks. The media and churches demanded something be done about them, the police were very concerned.
Cornell Wilde's hair was a symbol of teenage rebellion.
I found the reference to Wilde's hair somewhat baffling; I didn't know there was ever anything special about it (aside from the fact that it always looked nicely combed). But it seems that he wore it a special way in the movie, The Thousand and One Nights, and the style became a big deal among young men in Australia. Here's the lowdown: "THE CORNEL WILDE BOYS OF NORTH BONDI".
Big H/T to Bruce.
Jitterbugging! What's the world coming to?
ReplyDelete...lined with night clubs and dance halls, makes the alternative town look a lot more fun (and a town I'd rather live in) than Bedford Falls.
ReplyDeleteTo each his own, I guess. As someone who doesn't drink, and can't dance, those things wouldn't appeal to me at all. I wouldn't be a Karen about it, but I wouldn't be there, either.
I'd be there in double-breasted suit, flashy tie and two-toned wingtips, tripping the light fantastic, digging the swing music.
ReplyDeleteI was reading old newspapers and saw that from around 1950 in Sydney there used to be gangs of young men with Cornell Wilde haircuts, doing crazy jitterbugging at nightclubs and terrorizing respectable folks. The media and churches demanded something be done about them, the police were very concerned.
ReplyDeleteCornell Wilde's hair was a symbol of teenage rebellion.
Jitterbugging took off in a big way over here during the war, taught directly by US servicemen:
ReplyDeletehttps://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/bodgies_and_african_american_influences_in_sydney
Not just Bondi either but the whole of Sydney. Here's a contemporary article with lots of great pics, don't let the heading put you off it shows them having enormous fun:
ReplyDeletehttps://flashbak.com/a-youth-without-a-future-australian-teenagers-in-1949-420033/
'Without a British future' is what I think they mean, because the youth were so immersed in American culture just after the troops had all gone home. I've heard old timers talk about all the dancing during and after the war, now I see what they mean. My parents met at one such dance.
The previous 'dictionary of Sydney' article mentions that Sydney was flooded with 'V Disc' records during the war, and the ones issued to black GIs were especially sought after.
As far as I can tell, the "Cornell Wilde" hairstyle would be known in the United States as the "James Dean look". The only Cornell Wilde movie I remember is him running stark naked through Africa being chased by angry black men with spears.
ReplyDeleteGreat movie (The Naked Prey). If you haven't seen the psychological thriller, Leave Her to Heaven (1945), try to catch it sometime. Wilde plays a writer who marries a woman (Gene Tierney) whose obsession with him, and increasing jealousy, bring out the psychopath in her. The movie was nominated for a half dozen academy awards, and is, in my opinion, Tierney's best performance. Beautifully filmed, incidentally (it won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography).
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you haven't seen it, Catch Wilde fairly late in his career in the made-for-TV movie, Gargoyles. It's a very watchable low budget sci-fi film about an invasion by demons, who supposedly emerge from hell every few hundred years or so to try to conquer mankind.
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ReplyDelete