I was watching “Gold Diggers of 1935” on TCM this week and was bowled over again by the “Lullabye of Broadway” number. Insane genius, that Busby Berkeley! What are your favorite musical numbers?
• More Berkeley moments: “42nd Street;” exercise coach Charlotte Greenwood singing “Bend, Down, Sister” in “Palmy Days;” Carmen Miranda’s “Lady in the Tutti-Fruitti Hat” number from “The Gang’s All Here;” the delightfully awful “Shanghai Lil” number from “Footlight Parade” (the movie that also contains the infamous Peeing Fountain).
• Kay Thompson belting out “Think Pink!” in “Funny Face.”
• The best of the Astaire/Rogers duets: “Night and Day,” “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket,” “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.”
• The immortal Lyda Roberti singing “It’s Terrific When I Get Hot” in “Million Dollar Legs.”
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: MM burns up the set in ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’.
West Side Story: Rita Moreno’s ‘I Like To Be In America’.
Carousel: MacRae and Jones ‘If I Loved You’.
I use to love those huge Busby Berkeley numbers. Like little human kalidescopes right there on your TV! However, I’ll have to go with Gene Kelly. My favorite is the whole “pitch sequence” in “Singing in the Rain”. Especially the part where he dances with Cyd Charrise. But then James Cagney taping down the stairs of the White House in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” is nothing to sneeze at either. Oh, and Esther Williams, not exactly dance numbers, per se, more “swim numbers”. Didn’t Mr. Berkeley choreograph a few of her movies?
Just to start off:
[ul]
[li]“America!” and “Cool”[/li][li]“Rich Man’s Frug” from Sweet Charity (I saw this the other day, and loved it once again).[/li][li]I’ll also agree with “Let’s Face The Music and Dance”[/li][li]“Who Will Buy” from Oliver![/li][/ul]
“Baby, You Knock Me Out” from It’s Always Fair Weather
“By a Waterfall” from Footlight Parade
“A Day in New York Ballet” from On the Town
“Down Argentine Way” from Down Argentine Way (Nicholas Bros. version)
“If You Could See Her” from Cabaret
“Love Is Good for Anything That Ails You” from Pennies from Heaven
“Once a Year Day” from The Pajama Game
“Pick Yourself Up” from Swing Time
“The Poor Apache” from Love Me Tonight
“The Trolley Song” from Meet Me in St. Louis
My favorite number in West Side Story is the mambo in the gymnasium. A lot of people put it second-tier below “America” or whatever, but I think it’s got raw energy that works on several levels: the sexuality of the teens showing off for one another, the rivalry between the two gangs trying to best each other, and the pure joy of physical movement.
There’s a Gene Kelly movie – I think it’s The Pirate – where he does a tap number with the Nicholas Brothers. Kelly’s no slouch, but the brothers blow him off the screen. Great fun.
And then, of course, there’s South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, and the amazing “La Resistance” medly. High-larious.
Busby Berkeley movies have cool cinematography, but no real dancing. For that, give me Fred Astaire every time. I like the roller-skate number in Shall We Dance, and the solo “shoemaker” tap routine in The Barkleys of Broadway.
Best musical numbers in movies are:
5. “Skid Row” from “Little Shop of Horrors”
4. “June is Busting Out All Over” from “Carousel”
3. “Ya got Trouble” from “The Music Man”
(How Robert Preston did that number on Broadway without flubbing, I’ll never know.)
2. The entire Munchkin scene from “The Wizard of Oz”
From “I don’t think were in Kansas…” until the girl trots down the Yellow Brick road. (C’mon, who doesn’t know the Lollipop Guild?)
And number one…
“Shall We Dance” from “The King and I”
(Just feel the sexual tension exploded when Yul grabs Deb by the waist and spins her across the grand ballroom floor.)
Comments?
Sorry, I really don’t have any culture.