But Beautiful

I write these on Friday and usually get around to visit others late Saturday night or Sunday.

It's been cold and windy here with some rain but most days are brilliantly sunny.   Lovely time to be alive except that the weather is hurting my spine so badly and  I've had a tummy bug for a few days now. The Little did as well but I am still battling here on Friday.   The weather meter for arthritis pain is in the purple of Saturday.. not good at all but, we will see how things go.

Saturday 9: But Beautiful (1947)          

Cover of the Album 

This is a song Bing Crosby sang to Dorothy Lamour in the movie Road to Rio.  

Unfamiliar with this week's tune?     Here is a nice version of the song.

 

1) The lyrics encourage us to take a chance on love. What's something you've done recently that took you outside your comfort zone?   How did it turn out?

 Taking chances on love is never a good idea.     I can't think of anything outside my comfort zone that I have done lately.

2) Bing Crosby introduced "But Beautiful" in the 1947 film, Road to Rio. Name another movie song that became a hit.

 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' from the movie Meet Me in St. Louis

3) Bing's leading lady in Road to Rio was Dorothy Lamour.     When she was a teenager, she worked as an   elevator operator.      With the advent of user-operated/push-button elevators, few elevator operator jobs remain.   What's another job that was once commonplace, but has virtually disappeared?

 So many and it's a crying shame.  With the exception of New Jersey, gas station attendants are gone.  New Jersey still does not allow pumping your own gas.. a great thing for women especially at night and for anyone in bad weather.    Computer punch card operators are gone.   Telephone operators are gone.  How nice it was to lift a receiver and hear "Number please" .  

Movie theater  projectionists are gone.   Switchboard operators are a thing of the past.     I did typesetting on a computer for a time but real typesetters for printing are long gone.    Lamp lighters who lit the gas lamps in town are gone.  If the big stores have their ugly way check out clerks will disappear.  They really do want to destroy all human contact don't they?  They have people shopping online too thus ruining more human contact.  It will have a very bad ending my friends.    File clerks no longer exist... you just deal with stupid computers now and good luck with that.  

4) Road to Rio was one of seven Road movies Bing Crosby and Bob Hope made together. They were one the most financially successful comedy teams in history. What movie or TV show always makes you laugh?

Dorothy and Bing

  Zorro the Gay Blade,  the Carol Burnet Show. 

5) Crosby's given name was Harry but he acquired the nickname "Bing" because as a kid he was a fan of a comic strip character named "Bingo." As a child, did you read the newspaper?

 Yes and especially the "funnies" or comics.  I like Dagwood, Prince Valiant, Hi and Lois, Family Circus, etc.

6) His 1942 version of "White Christmas" is still one of the best-selling records of all time. He was a movie star, nominated three times for the Oscar, winning once. Can you name another performer who has been successful both acting and singing?   Yes, Jersey boy Frank Sinatra was one. Elvis Presley was another.  The 1930s-50's were full of them.   Deanna Durbin, Shirley Jones, Judy Garland, Mario Lanza. 

Bariloche, Patagonia Argentina

7) Bing loved golf and enjoyed traveling the world, playing at different courses.  If today you were to receive an airline ticket to any city in the world, what destination would you choose?  What would you be certain to see/do there?

• San Carlos de Bariloche in  Argentina.  be amazed
• Bora Bora, Tahitian Islands    beach/swim
• Prince Edward Island, Canada   beach/Lover's Lane
• Savannah, Georgia  just to look around, tour Mercer house.
• New Orleans to eat some Chicken Gumbo.    

8) In 1947, when "But Beautiful" was a hit, Farrah Fawcett was born. She became famous for her bathing suit poster, her blonde hair, and a 70s TV show. Without looking it up, do you know the name of that television series?

Charlie's Angels.  It was so popular and so many girls wore her hairstyle.   I see it's somewhat popular today even.

9) Random question -- Are you someone who makes things happen, or someone things happen to?

 I have been both in my life.  Don't you think most of us have?      A famous man once said that most people just fall into their lives and careers and  get stuck with it.     A smarter way to do it is to plan and prepare for what you really wanted.     It's so true isn't it?