With thanks to Kevin Sessums, who notes that the late Bobby Short was born today in 1924. Along with reruns of "Family Affair" and "Desperately Seeking Susan," the film "Hannah and Her Sisters" -- and "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" before it -- was just another mouth-watering reminder that one day my life had to be in New York City. When Woody Allen takes Dianne Wiest -- the cocaine-addicted younger sister of his ex-wife -- to see Bobby Short (from the Charlie commercials!) at the Caryle ("the worst night of my life ... about as much fun as a Nuerenberg Trial"), nothing could have seemed more glamorous to a gay boy in suburban Phoenix than a night on the town for a cabaret show. Just watching this closing montage scene of "Hannah" again really takes me back. Not only was it Allen's best film in years (and most successful, until the inexplicable "Midnight in Paris" lovefest began), the soundtrack -- featuring Mr. Short (doing Cole Porter), Count Basie, Harry James, Dick Hyman, Roy Eldridge, Bach, Puccini, and even costars Lloyd Nolan and Maureen O'Sullivan live-at-the-piano rendition of Rodgers and Hart's "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" -- exposed me to a world of music, culture and sophistication that I had never experienced in my own childhood.I'm in love again, all right, and I'm damn glad of it. Good news!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
In Love Again With Bobby Short
With thanks to Kevin Sessums, who notes that the late Bobby Short was born today in 1924. Along with reruns of "Family Affair" and "Desperately Seeking Susan," the film "Hannah and Her Sisters" -- and "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" before it -- was just another mouth-watering reminder that one day my life had to be in New York City. When Woody Allen takes Dianne Wiest -- the cocaine-addicted younger sister of his ex-wife -- to see Bobby Short (from the Charlie commercials!) at the Caryle ("the worst night of my life ... about as much fun as a Nuerenberg Trial"), nothing could have seemed more glamorous to a gay boy in suburban Phoenix than a night on the town for a cabaret show. Just watching this closing montage scene of "Hannah" again really takes me back. Not only was it Allen's best film in years (and most successful, until the inexplicable "Midnight in Paris" lovefest began), the soundtrack -- featuring Mr. Short (doing Cole Porter), Count Basie, Harry James, Dick Hyman, Roy Eldridge, Bach, Puccini, and even costars Lloyd Nolan and Maureen O'Sullivan live-at-the-piano rendition of Rodgers and Hart's "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" -- exposed me to a world of music, culture and sophistication that I had never experienced in my own childhood.I'm in love again, all right, and I'm damn glad of it. Good news!
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1 comment:
OMG! What this man meant to me in terms of opening up the world of music! Can't thank you enough for sharing this. I feel just like you do about him. Please let people know about Mabel Mercer also.
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