casablancalover2

Happy Holidays from us in sunny Florida. My friend sent me this in honor of my home state. I like his sense of humor. I will get to Christmas a bit later.

h3. **** Hey, hoser.. That is very funny. I am giving my true love a copy of What's the Matter With Kansas, and then we will see Les Miz - it turns out to be the favorite musical for both of us. Do I toast you with a Molson or Moosehead ? What's your favorite? Florida has them all, with all the Canadian snowbirds around. Try to keep warm. Build a new tradition to add to the old; it keeps the heart young. Always believe in yourself and let love and illumination help you believe in others. We can live our dreams, but not our illusions. I love O Holy Night.. here it is in a new setting:

I played this last year too, but I want to hear it again. I believe this is a chant from the 13th Century. I love it. Of the Father's Love Begotten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSNNKOo4Zpc This little handmade video is probably one of the best performances I have ever heard of this.

Great Christmas choices. I needed some Christmas cheer, and THANK YOU Scottman for the Ernie Ford, doing the beautiful Alfred Burt's Star Carol. It is one of my very favorite Holiday songs. Alfred Burt wrote a Carol each Holiday for a while as a Christmas card offering to his friends. Here is a story about the tradition: Some Children See Him:

Bring a Torch, Jeanette and Isabella

> For so God has given you a chance to make the spirit within yourself. And as your father cleans his lamp to have good light, so keep clean your spirit... By prayer, Huw. *And by prayer, I don't mean shouting, mumbling, and wallowing like a hog in religious sentiment. Prayer is only another name for good, clean, direct thinking. When you pray, think. Think well what you're saying. Make your thoughts into things that are solid. In that way, your prayer will have strength, and that strength will become a part of you, body, mind, and spirit.* -my emphasis *How Green Was My Valley* (1940)

(He will raise you up on) Eagle's Wings:

I can tell you from experience, if you like the movie Grumpy Old Men, you would enjoy Wabasha, MN. Right on the river, and with pretty much the same interesting collection of folks. And, if it weren't for the horrible cold for six months, I would be there too.

Oh, Dargo2. of course!!!!!!!!!!!!! I suspect the election made a bigger impression on your folks than others. I agree on the name, Dwight is a nice name. Parents can come up with some real bad choices nowadays. Our boomer parents must have been the last to keep with nice names. But then, that's how in grade school we ended up with classrooms filled with girls named Lynn and Chris, and boys named Michael and John. I was an oddball with Charlotte,(I was named after my grandmother) until I had grown up and in Minnesota it was becoming more popular with the classroom crowd then, In the little 100-family church I attended in the 70's, there were four other Charlotte's, all around 5th to 10th grade. Did you grow up looking like our 34th President ? Just askin'

this was started on the Old Fogey's, thread, and I am completing it here: Gypsy, Here, In the Garden (part 2)

How do you know you are old? Well, when you are trying to explain the band Gypsy to a what you thought was a contemporary but they only know Gypsy from their junior year musical.. I just found this again. I will send her the link and see if it jogs her memory. Don't worry; I finish it on the favorite music thread http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8708564#8708564 Edited by: casablancalover2 on Dec 13, 2012 7:22 PM

Before the day is done, a birthday to acknowledge. Frank Sinatra, with his signature song, and then I add my personal favorite *My Way:* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m0dJXtwwiY *Fly Me to the Moon:* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtFBRJFN3p8

Sometimes they know when they are on self-destruct, and other's don't see it coming and they are the train wreck to come. The alcohol may start them on the wrong path or finish them off, but it's the stress internally that does them in. Sadly, sobriety does not always translate to a long life, Ironically I like this song, for the Tropics sound.. I will always be mystified by what flips the switch on a person who becomes an alcoholic. This is a comment from someone who's parents were both alcoholics. I cannot watch Days of Wine and Roses for this reason. Hits too close to home. Again, for irony, my parents lived long lives. I have determined the alcohol is not the problem, but other factors combined with alcohol. that is the reference to the elephant in the room. I used to attend a church with a fellow who counseled for chemical dependency, and he said once the toughest part of his work was the client who is still self-destructive, but now doing it sober. Edited by: casablancalover2 on Dec 12, 2012 7:23 AM

That is so cool! There are a few costumes (circa to the 1950's) that I think would be fun to wear around the parties now. The imagination reels, and what a great story for an ice breaker at a party. Time to dust off the old sewing machine.

Jake, seeing that Rambler brought back memories for me, too. In my family there was a Studebaker Lark, which looked a lot like your old American. The earliest family car I can remember in my childhood was a 1954 Studebaker Champion, although the oldest photo of my brothers and sister and me is with this car, which was before that. The grill looked like it had andirons! My sister didn't look so happy about it, but it's my blast from the past.

While there is very little of dancing in Les Miz, there is a tremendous amount of choreography just the same.. that is what a production number is anyway. After a few viewings, you no longer let it wash over you, but the creative juices start flowing, and you visualize the story in the motion picture of your mind. I have seen Les Miz a number of times, and [One Day More|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQkrKhyGuBA] has an ensemble movement that I had pictured in my mind's eye for cinematic production, using multiple camera angles and sound enveloping the audience in the maelstrom and strife in the streets of Paris and the barricades at that fate-filled sunset, as a way to place homage to the original "double carousel" stagecraft. It would end in the camera pan up to the incredible beauty of the Paris sunset in golds to deep red in twilight... Fading to ... Clouds obscuring the moonlight, then the soft drops of rain opening the next scene, in mimic of tears.

Three strikes I was out last night with a fellow who had been married three times. He was charming and attentive, but, maybe my limit is two. I started to wonder what these other exes looked like.

Hooper. . . He should have seen the Stage Production a few more times, preferably from the nosebleed seats. If it really has the close-up parade as suggested, that is a shame. It is a challenging work, being sung-through theater. How could they think a director who's breakthrough foray involved tight shots do proper by Les Miz, with the scope of Hugo's work?

*Giant*

LOL.. I have seen the unforgettable West End production and I am looking forward to it as well on Christmas Day. I don't know if I will catch all the other versions..

Amen, Sepiatone..

I believe I saw the props of the Letters of Transit at the Warner's Museum too, but maybe I was misinformed.

It's titled: *Summertime in Venice* Rosanno Brazzi even did a version of it, but in English, and it is literally the storyline of the movie. the scene that introduces the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6dB20nVAzD8 Edited by: casablancalover2 on Dec 8, 2012 10:33 PM

Alas, I don't believe it exists, other than in the rich imagination of the Production Designer or Set Designer. Here's a article from an addictive website I've discovered: http://hookedonhouses.net/2008/12/25/the-stone-farmhouse-in-christmas-in-connecticut/ >from the Hooked on House's notes: According to the IMDB website, the set was the same one used in the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn rom-com ?Bringing Up Baby? in 1938. I found that interesting because I loved that house, too. I?ve got to rent it again so I can compare the two! The exteriors were similar, as I recall, but I clearly remember the entry and staircase in ?Bringing Up Baby,? and it was completely different from the one in this film. They must have changed a lot around.

Good to see you back, Scottman. John gets it down to the essential.. RIP, John Lennon: h5. Live the promise your heart calls to you..