Narrated Movies on Audio (Movies for the Blind)

I've been so busy with projects at home, that I haven't had time to sit down and watch movies. Sometimes while doing housework I try to play some light movie that might not be too engrossing, but I usually end up sitting and watching the video instead of doing my intended work. Today I found a great alternative: "Movies for the Blind: Enjoy Films without Looking at the Screen."

I browsed the comedies and selected "The Young in Heart" a 1938 feature film (Selznick International Pictures) with Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Minnie Dupree, Paulette Goddard, Roland Young, and Billie Burke.

If the name of Billie Burke seems familiar, it is perhaps because she is better known for her role as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, in "The Wizard of Oz." Here she plays the mother in a family of con artists who spend their time looking for ways to make their way in the world without actually working. It's a light-hearted movie that has touching but not overly-sentimental moments. . . which ended up being just the right sort of thing for me to listen to while doing some kitchen work this evening.

Scenes from "The Young at Heart" (1938)

No wonder I had been having such a hard time attending to my work while movies played in the background. Even for a movie like this with much dialog and only occasional action scenes, the narration added by "Movies for the Blind" points out to me just how much of these dramas is expressed visually on the big screen.

"Movies for the Blind" provides audio formats for direct mp3 download (which means it can be taken out for autotrips or gardenwork) or other formats or streaming via Internet Archive--as well as links to the original public domain film or television show video.

Narrated television audio to enjoy include some episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

I and my housework are looking forward to enjoying more of these narrated classics.

Handel's Messiah, Online

I was listening to a Vintage Christmas Music Station just a little while ago, and stopped to realize that I was listening to Neil Diamond singing words to Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." Neil Diamond with a faint brush of disco in the instrumentals, singing "And He shall reign forever and ever. . . . King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." (Did he know something of the Mystery he sang?)

Ah, but Handel's lyrics are so wonderfully to the point, and not having my old cassette of the entire concert at hand, I went scrounging for a public domain version.

"And the Glory. . . " from "The Messiah" by George Friedrich Handel, The Choir of the King's College, Cambridge.

MIT Chamber Chorus

Royal Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, conducting. Recorded 1959.

Comfort Ye My People, Jon Vickers, RPO, Beecham. Recorded 1959.

The Entire Concert of Handel's Messiah as presented on "Friday Night at the Opera" on KXPR Capital Public Radio, Sacromento, 18 Dec 2009.

Radio Listening Log - Danny Kaye on The Jack Benny Show

The Jack Benny Show, "The Life Story of Jack Benny", May 28, 1944 [Download the mp3 or listen online at Dumb.com] Performers: Guest: Danny Kaye Regulars: Jack Benny, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Mary Livingstone, Don Wilson, Phil Harris, Dennis Day Content: Jack and Mary run into Danny Kaye when they go to Warner Brother's offices to talk about plans for a new motion picture on Jack's life. Danny Kaye explains what one learns about acting from the great "Stanislavsky." Comments: This is Danny Kaye's first appearance on the Jack Benny Show. Writer Milt Josephberg later wrote about how highly Jack and Danny thought of each other. Benny Show writers often picked up on an exaggerated the truth such as this for the script. A variation on the Warner Brother's Office skit was also performed by Jack, Danny, and Dinah Shore for the Armed Forces Radio Network's "Mail Call" on February 2, 1945 . References: "Wilkie" - Wendell Wilkie withdrew from the 1944 presidential race on April 5, after being defeated in the Wisconsin Republican primary. Wilkie had been the Republican candidate who unsuccessfully ran against Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. Paul Lukas won the 1943 Academy Award for best actor for his performance in Watch on the Rhine.

The Jack Benny Show, "The Kid from Brooklyn", April 28, 1946 [Download the mp3 or listen online at Dumb.com] Performers: Guest: Danny Kaye Regulars: Jack Benny, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Mary Livingstone, Don Wilson, Phil Harris, Dennis Day, Mel Blanc Content: The cast walks home after viewing Danny Kaye's latest motion picture, "The Kid from Brooklyn" and eventually run into Danny on the way. Later, at home, Jack is visited by four ghosts, including one from one of Danny's earlier pictures. Comments: Listen closely to hear Jack having a hard time keeping from laughing when Danny Kaye performs. The two have a lot of fun doing this show. Danny performs "Concerto for Tongue and Orchestra." A good, solid Benny Show. (Sadly, a few lines appear to be missing, ostensibly in the transition between recording disks, and other static and additional recording problems mar the recording.) References: "Mr. Miland" must refer to actor Ray Miland who earned an Academy Award earlier that year for his performance as an alcoholic in the movie The Lost Weekend.

Radio Listening Log - The New Swan Show

The New Swan Show (Bob Hope), November 7, 1948 Performers: Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Les Brown and His Band Content: Bob jokes; Doris does a nice rendition of "My Darling, My Darling" with Les Brown and His Band; Bob and Bing have fun trying to out-do each other with clever insults then with a skit with outlandish German accents. Comments: I don't typically find it amusing to hear insults hurled back and forth, but here Bing and Bob are too busy laughing at the writers' attempts to come up with more and more outlandish digs back and forth. The "insults" land on the superficial and nonconsequential--and are too ridiculous to take seriously.

Radio Listening Log - Tovarich (Lux Radio Theater)

Lux Radio Theater presents Tovarich, May 15, 1939 Performers: William Powell, Miriam Hopkins, C Henry Gorden, Heather Thatcher,  Content: Exiled Russian nobility face poverty with a charming mix of good humor and determination to earn and enjoy simple blessings.   Comments: A slightly slow start, but the couple turns out to be a delightful pair sharing a worthy, happy hour with us.

"South America, Take it Away" - Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters

From the Billboard top 30 of 1946, this is one of my favorites for adding in a little dance while doing house or kitchen work--or maybe for a quick mental pick-me-up break at work:

Listen right now with this player, or click here to download the mp3 free from Archive.org.

Aren't those lyrics fun? No love stories here. Just clever twists and rhymes as the singers lament how the newly popular Latin dancing styles are causing such difficulty in their lives.

"South America, Take It Away," written by Harold Rome, was first introduced in the post-World War II Broadway revue "Call Me Mister," which opened in the National Theater on April 18, 1946.1 It was the lament of a canteen hostess, performed by Betty Garrett and preserved for us in this photo by Life Magazine.2, 3 Unlike the Andrews Sisters, in the original lyrics, she declares: "To put it plainly, I'm tired of shakin' my Pan American can."4

I recall a "Jack Benny Show" radio episode in which they worked in Mary Livingstone humming or singing snatches of this. If I find it, I'll post the link.

Desi Arnaz, whose trademark "Babalu " is referenced in the popular Crosby and Andrews Sisters' recording, made his own musical comedy response, "I'll Take the Rhumba."⁵ Here he provides his own demonstrations of both rhumba and jive, in both song and dance, and bids the viewer to consider which one is really more harmful to the back:

In addition to referencing "South America, Take Me Away," Arnaz also seems to be parodying "Minnie the Moocher," "Open the Door, Richard," and the scat-singing of American performers popular at the time (possibly Danny Kaye in particular, or perhaps others?). Do you recognize any more? If so, please share below.

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Acknowledgements, References, and Additional Links

¹Stanley Green, Broadway Musicals, Show by Show,5th ed., Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, 1996, p. 129.

²"'Call Me Mister,' Broadway's Biggest Revue Hit is Written and Performed by Ex-GI's," Life Magazine, May 27, 1946, p.131-137.

³My thanks go to Wordpress blogger Songbook1 for pointing out originating musical and the related Life Magazine photograph.

⁴This is the Army / Call Me Mister / Winged Victory (Original Cast Album), Decca Broadway

⁵Special thanks go to Nelson Guirado for bringing Desi Arnaz's response to light in his Cubanocast Blog, "The Swing-Rhumba war of 1945: Desi, Bing, Laverne, Patti, and Maxine," January 3, 2009. You can check out his blog for his (presumably) tongue-in-cheek commentary on this "war," as well as links to an album recording of Arnaz' "I'll Take the Rhumba."

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Eve Arden in "Stage Door" (1937)

Yesterday evening's viewing started as one of those chance stumbles. I really don't remember what I was looking over at YouTube when I was provided with a side-link to Eve Arden's appearance on "What's My Line. " What a classy lady. Simultaneously elegant and down-to-earth. (I think she mentions at the end something about living on a farm?)

I know Eve Arden more for her radio work than screen appearances. My mother enjoyed listening to "Our Miss Brooks" in the radio years, before the popular show transitioned to television. It was among the first series I listened to when Golden Age Radio began to become widely available online. My favorite "Our Miss Brooks" radio episode comes from 24 April 1954: "Cow in the Closet:" I had heard Eve Arden in support roles on various other radio shows, though, oddly enough, I never sampled radio's "The Danny Kaye Show" until just a few months ago. Likewise, I was unaware of her earlier film and theater work until just recently, so I did not realize how such previous roles had set the stage for the sardonically wisecracking Miss Connie Brooks.

			Apparently her supporting role in "Stage Door" (1937) was largely responsible for garnering her attention and for setting the pattern for so many of her future roles. She is shown here with Ginger Rogers and the ever-present cat who was so accommodating in working with her throughout the picture.
That cat was a wonderful device for her part, drawing visual attention and interest to her character. I think it also helped communicate a softer, well-intentioned heart beneath the wisecracks.

Arden is not listed among the opening credits of "Stage Door," but Lucille Ball is. I have to laugh at myself. I noticed Ms. Ball's name in the opening credits, but then didn't recognize her throughout the entire movie and forgot to look for her! In fact, I kept scrutinizing her, thinking how "that young actress" reminded me so much of another young actress who came much later, in the late 1980's.