The Melody Lingers On...Songs For A Sunday in New York!

"I believe that if everyone began EVERY DAY with a show tune, there would be no violence in the world!"
-Richard Skipper

Happy Sunday!

I am a lucky HAPPY guy! I say this because I am surrounded my music all the time. And I'm lucky that so many of my friends are singers and/or musicians. And, not only are some of them singers, they are GREAT singers.

The above quote I came up with in one of my shows many years ago and it struck me as if I were struck by lightening. Think about it...How can you be in a bad mood or do something bad, if toe tapping music is coursing through your veins.
I was listening to Tommy Tune the other day and he was talking about how excited he was leaving the theatre recently after seeing ANYTHING GOES! A show, by the way, that was written in the midst of The Great Depression. Kathleen Marshall who directed and choreographed the current revival says that this show has always been revived during economic times. Tommy went on to talk about "musical comedies" (as they used to be called!) to "MUSICALS". I know that I was in the minority but I never wanted to see "NEXT TO NORMAL" on Broadway...Pulitzer or not. I want something uplifting when I go to the theatre. I want to escape the REALITIES of the world.
I don't need to see it reflected on stage.
Songs are like old friends that when we hear them, they take us on a journey of both good and sad memories. I did a straw poll this morning to see what people were listening to. Here are the results! Sit back and enjoy the songs that I and others are listening to on soon to be rainy Sunday in New York!

Jeremy Michael Lagunas wrote: "I am listening to a playlist , currently the song playing is Judy Garlands "The Man that got Away from A STAR IS BORN."

A Star Is Born is a 1954 American musical film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay written by Moss Hart was an adaptation of the original 1937 film, which was based on the original screenplay by Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell. In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The film ranked #43 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Passions list in 2002 and #7 on its list of best musicals in 2006. The song "The Man That Got Away" was ranked #11 on AFI's list of the 100 top tunes in films.

Star Judy Garland had not made a movie since she had mutually negotiated the release from her MGM contract soon after filming began on Royal Wedding in 1950, and the film was promoted heavily as her comeback.
She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and NBC, which was televising the ceremony, sent a film crew to the hospital room where she was recuperating after giving birth to her son Joey in order to carry her acceptance speech live if she won, but she lost to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl.

Judy Garland - Over the Rainbow (Reprise)

This reprise of ‘Over the Rainbow’ ended up being cut from the final version of the film. It has an additional chorus that is sung by Dorothy while she’s locked in a room in the witch’s castle, helplessly awaiting death as the witch’s hourglass runs out. Dorothy weeps her way through it, unable to finish, concluding with a tear-filled, “I’m frightened, Auntie Em – I’m frightened!”

This song means so much to me already and I have such love for Judy Garland and the struggles she went through, that listening to her voice breaking with tears as she sings this, it’s too much.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland

August 21, 1954 ... in Monte Carlo with Sid and Jack Warner attending a Polio Benefit. They were on a Warner Bros. sponsored vacation in Europe celebrating the completion of A STAR IS BORN.

Photo credit: Corbis (Source: THE JUDY GARLAND EXPERIENCE)

I, too, am listening to a Playlist. Right now, I'm listening to Baby Jane Dexter singing GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE from her cd, YOU'RE FOLLOWING ME.

Liza May Minnelli (born March 12, 1946 in Los Angeles, California) is an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer. She is the daughter of legendary entertainer Judy Garland and her second husband, acclaimed film director Vincente Minnelli (who was of Italian and French descent). Minnelli's first film appearance was at the age of three in the final scene of the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime, starring her mother and Van Johnson.
Minnelli started performing at age 16, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received good notices.





This WEEK!!!!
BRONWYN'S FROLICS...ETC!!!
MONDAY AUGUST 22
IDO SUSHI
29 7TH AVE SOUTH 212 691 7177
OPEN MIC FORMAT
6-9 PM
SPECIAL SHOW AT 7:00
"LOVE, SEX AND MONEY"
with
ALIZ ELIAS, RICHARD MARSHALL AN WOODY REGAN
ALSO ON FRIDAY AUGUST 26TH
AT
DON'T TELL MAMA
343 WEST 46 TH STREET
RESTAURANT ROW
212 757 0788
7:00 SHOW
THE UPTOWN FROLICS
with
BRONWYN RUCKER - HOST
CLARE COOPER AT THE PIANO
GUESTS: JUDY GALLAGHER, J.MICHAEL REEDS, JOHN NEWTON REEDS, MARC MCBARRON KESSLER, DENESE ANDERSEN AND THE
VERY SPECIAL GUEST THE LEGENDARY JOE FRANKLIN!!!











Yesterday, I wrote about BROADWAY LIVE! Check it out here:

Sheila Weiler wrote: "Because I am classically trained both in voice and piano, first I listen to classical music. Then I listen to all types of swing/jazz genres including vocalists; then Broadway musicals and then the recordings of Sylvia Syms; and, finally, any Rodgers and Hart music followed by the songs/music of Harry Warren."







Thank you for joining me on these nostalgic journeys! I've added a new aspect to my blog.. Every five days, I'm going to answer a question on video that YOU send to me. You can ask me ANYTHING and I will answer your question on video within my blog. Send your questions to Richard@RichardSkipper.com Next question will be answered Tomorrow! Tune in to see what Joanna Morton Gary wants to know!


"Richard, for supporting the ARTS and calling attention to the STARS of yesterday. You are a STAR in your own right!! With admiration and friendship"
Arlene Dahl

Thank you to all who have encouraged me! Thanks to all who have tried to stifle my art. I have learned from ALL of you!
Here's to an INCREDIBLE day for ALL!


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