Film Festival: Christmas classics In the Good Old Summertime is named for the old song from 1902. It’s actually a Christmas story, with Judy Garland and Van Johnson competing at the music store where they work, while they are getting to know each other as pen pals. The story begins in Chicago in the early…
Movies
You Were Never Lovelier: Lisa’s Home Bijou
Film Festival: Latin Flavor In You Were Never Lovelier (1942), Rita Hayworth plays a Buenos Aires princess in the style of “Taming of the Shrew.” Margarita Cansino was a dark-haired beauty who first was noticed as her father Eduardo’s ballroom dance partner. In her late teens she made a few movie appearances (Charlie Chan in Egypt). Then…
Zou Zou Josephine Baker musical: Lisa’s Home Bijou
Film Festival: Divine Divas Zou Zou, made in 1934, is one of the few performances of the woman lovingly known as “La Baker” preserved on film; a showcase for Josephine Baker’s comedic persona and her emotional singing. A child of the streets of St. Louis, she made her way to New York and into show…
If You Believe Christmas fantasy: Lisa’s Home Bijou
Film Festival: Christmas Fantasy If You Believe (1999) takes place in a book publishing house. Susan (Ally Walker) has lost her joy in life and is in danger of losing her job. At age 27 she is married to Peter, a tweed-wearing, pipe smoking class-conscious husband. By age 37, she is divorced and struggling in…
Elf modern Christmas fantasy: Lisa’s Home Bijou
Film Festival: Contemporary Christmas Elf (2003) follows the journey of a man searching for his birth father. The young man is Buddy (Will Ferrell), who was raised by elves at the North Pole. He finds his father in New York at Christmas in the Empire State Building. Along the way he finds love and helps…