To Me You're Beautiful »
Posted by: Spadecaller 2 months, 1 week ago67 CommentsReflectReport this Story
A nastalgic and comical video presentation by Spadecaller that accompanies the Yiddish song, "Bei Mir Bis Du Shein," recorded by the Andrew Sisters. See if you can recognize the old time celebrities featured.
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Comments So Far: 67
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 1:23 p.m.In 1937, Sammy Cahn heard a performance of the song, sung in Yiddish by African American performers Johnnie and George at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and on seeing the response, got his employer to buy the rights so he (together with Saul Chaplin) could rewrite the song with English language lyrics. He then convinced The Andrews Sisters to perform the song (recorded November 24, 1937), and it became a major hit.
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ML2007
May 16, 2008, 1:39 p.m.It dated me, but I loved it. I don't think there was a single photo I didn't recognize, and they fit the music perfectly. I particularly laughed at the Bela Lugosi choreography. Thanks and great job. You are really good at that, SC.
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Poulenc
May 16, 2008, 1:49 p.m.Mae West
W. C. Fields
Lucile Ball
Groucho
Margeret Dumont
Harpo
Heyworth
Marilyn
Milto Berle
Bella L.
Charlie C.
Jack Benny
Anna Magnani
Fields and Allen
Burt Lancaster
Joe E. Brown and Jack Lemon
Martha Raye
Jimmy Durante
Ingrid Bergman
Gina Lollobrigida
Dietrich
Desi Arnez
Horn
Satchmo with
Danny Kaye
Virginia Mayo...
Let's see; did I miss anyone?
How'd I do?
Nice work, Spade!
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Dicax_Maximus
May 16, 2008, 6:03 p.m.Poulenc - Appart from a couple I don't know, your only omission that I noted, was Tony Curtis (in drag), but dammed if I can remember the film...
SC - Fess up, please !!!!
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 7:07 p.m.dicax_maximus
No it was not Tony Curtis; it was Jack Lemmon.
Also Tierney was in one of the frames.
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 1:57 p.m.Poulenc,
I'm impressed. There must be a few of us still roaming around.
"Horn" Ha!
You missed a few... but I will reserve the answers to give someone else a stab at it. Thanks for posting your answer.
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Poulenc
May 16, 2008, 1:58 p.m.You know, Spade, I don't think of these folks as "old time"--which tells you that I either:
live in the past
or in the ongoing present.
The VERY ongoing present.
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 2:18 p.m.Either we can stay in denial or we are heading for a rude awakening.
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quackpot
May 16, 2008, 3:27 p.m.History has a way of sorting out what is excellent.
Big band music and the swing, once dumped for rock-and-roll, is an excellent example of excellence!
A great performance, Spadecaller; BRAVO!
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 4:10 p.m.fyi
The pictures in the video are of Charlie Chaplin not Hitler!
The Great Dictator is a film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. First released in October 1940, it bitterly satirizes Nazism and Adolf Hitler, culminating in an overt political plea to defy fascism.
The film is unusual for its period, in the days prior to American entry into World War II, as the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. Well before the full extent of the horrors of Nazism had been uncovered, Chaplin's film advanced a stirring, controversial condemnation of Hitler, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis, the latter of whom he excoriates in the film as "machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts".
(The film was Chaplin's first "talkie", as well his most commercially successful film)
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Dicax_Maximus
May 16, 2008, 6:09 p.m.SC - I'll try again, prop seems to be having a bad "lose posts day"...
Didn't you post the Charlie Chaplin speach a wee while ago ??
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 4:11 p.m.RE Hitler:
The pictures in the video are of Charlie Chaplin not Hitler!
The Great Dictator is a film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. First released in October 1940, it bitterly satirizes Nazism and Adolf Hitler, culminating in an overt political plea to defy fascism.
The film is unusual for its period, in the days prior to American entry into World War II, as the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. Well before the full extent of the horrors of Nazism had been uncovered, Chaplin's film advanced a stirring, controversial condemnation of Hitler, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis, the latter of whom he excoriates in the film as "machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts".
(The film was Chaplin's first "talkie", as well his most commercially successful film)
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 4:16 p.m.Chaplin's finale in the movie is quite impressive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4
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Radiofreeeuropa
May 16, 2008, 4:18 p.m.Very well done SC!!! Quackpot points out Big Band music was dumped for rock and roll. It was dumped for economic reasons, not aesthetic ones. There was a transition period too, the crooners. The music industry no longer supported large bands economically, so it focused on individual singers, and small ensembles. This began long before rock and roll caught the attention of the public. It simply was far cheaper to produce than large big band music.
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not2needy
May 16, 2008, 4:50 p.m.You certainly covered a lot of territory with that one SC, i really enjoyed that, the Andrews Sisters were great!
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Poulenc
May 16, 2008, 6:49 p.m.Decax, I believe--I'll have to watch the vid again--that the guy in drag was Jack Lemon, not Curtis. Both however did drag famously for the movie, "Some Like It Hot."
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 7 p.m.poulenc
That's right, there was one with JOE E BROWN with Jack Lemon in drag.
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Francisca
May 16, 2008, 7:50 p.m.Thanks SC! How refreshing to listen to this video...I love the Andrew sisters, and I am wondering if young can understand what is our feeling when we hear them! Beautiful memories for all of us...
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texangelwings
May 16, 2008, 8:17 p.m.That was great Spadecaller! I really like listening to the Andrew Sisters. Good song! wow....I recognized almost everyone. Poulenc listed them so well!
I bought an autographed old pencil sketch/picture of Clark Gable several years. The picture was of him when he first starting acting.
I told my kids that we had a black n white TV, with color plastic sheets that would stick to the TV screen, which made it color TV...;) I was just looking at some of my mothers pictures, taken in 1945, same hair style as the Andrew Sisters.
Thanks to all for the great comments!
Thanks Spadecaller, nice trip down memory lane! You did a wonderful job of timing the music with the pictures.
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chevydog
May 16, 2008, 8:34 p.m.Great post Spade. I guess I got about half of them.
Groucho and Harpo, but not Chico? Margaret Dumont had to be one of the great straight ladies in filmdom. She was also a very good actress. I guess maybe her stuff with the Marx Bothers got her type-cast.
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Spadecaller
May 16, 2008, 8:38 p.m.If there was piano music, I would have slipped Chico in during the refrain with Satchmo and Dezi.
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Ciera Marie
May 16, 2008, 8:57 p.m.SC, I'm not old yet (will be 40 this year.) but grew up listening to music from the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's. I also knew who have the actors and actresses were in the video. Watched alot of black and white tv on Friday nights. It was the Tarzan and Jane, Dagwood and Blondie, or any other black and white comedy movie or horror show.
I remember listening to this song on the radio with my dad. Good memories. Thank you SC!
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chevydog
May 16, 2008, 9:10 p.m.Ciera -- No, not old yet. But it has a way of sneaking up on one. I grew up with TV with the exception of CBS. There was no cable; and the transmitter for the CBS station was so situated with respect to the mountains that all anyone in town could get was a semi-defined blob of black and white dots.
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Mutainia
May 16, 2008, 11:46 p.m.Hey, Spade, I saw some of your paintings. I'd be lying if I said they were just impressive. They are fantastic! it think that's your calling.
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rdy2rck
May 17, 2008, 6:47 a.m.Gave me a feeling of "back in the good old days" if there is such a thing. Very Nice. Thanks
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Shadowolf
May 17, 2008, 1:50 p.m.Nostalgia...
...remembering another time...I'm sitting here remembering the IMMORTALS of both the silver and the small screens, a smile on my face and a tear in my eye...and a deep sorrow that they have been "replaced" by the likes of Brittney Spears...
I need COFFEE...and a Puffs...
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Spadecaller
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." I cherish the meaning of these words. With fervor and conviction ...
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