Tuesday 6 April 2021

Something in my heart told me I must have you

I am still clinging onto the "attempted-meme-that-no-one-actually-bothered-much-about" that Ms Scarlet started then abandoned a while ago - #adecadeago - and so "here's one I made earlier".

Ten years ago on this date, to be precise:

"There’s only 110 pounds of Frank, but there’s ten pounds of cock!" - Ava Gardner

From the BBC today:
An original version of 1951 novel From Here to Eternity is to be reissued digitally, with previously censored references to homosexuality restored. The uncensored version will be made available online from 10 May.

It will include a scene in which Private Angelo Maggio - the character played by singer Frank Sinatra in the film - reveals he is paid to have oral sex with another man.
I thought this appropriate in the circumstances...

Strangers in the night exchanging glances
Wond'ring in the night
What were the chances we'd be sharing love
Before the night was through.

Something in your eyes was so inviting,
Something in your smile was so exciting,
Something in my heart,
Told me I must have you.

Strangers in the night, two lonely people
We were strangers in the night
Up to the moment
When we said our first hello.
Little did we know
Love was just a glance away,
A warm embracing dance away and -

Ever since that night we've been together.
Lovers at first sight, in love forever.
It turned out so right,
For strangers in the night.

Did it ever get published? Did anyone ever read it?

Questions, questions...

20 comments:

  1. I'm a little confused. The BBC piece speaks of the book that's being reissued. Do you know of cut scenes from the film that would've included such pearl clasping language?

    On a lighter note, I, along with a classmate, sang this song to our 5th grade class. I have no memory why we did this. Maybe I was trying to channel Nancy in their 'Something Stupid' duet?

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    1. We can only wish for a scene where Frank talks about having a blowjob from another man, but alas, I doubt it...

      Was this classmate male of female? I imagine that you would have made a better Nancy than Nancy herself - she always sounded flat to me! Jx

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    2. That's what made my duet so odd, it was with Steve.

      And you're right. Father/daughter duets about love wouldn't work so well now.

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    3. I tried to make it work
      You in a cocktail skirt
      And me in a suit
      Well, it just wasn't me


      Jx

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  2. Have you ever seen the very strange possibly well intentioned movie the detective? Frank seems to have been a gay ally at times though sometimes very much not!

    Due to his mother's experience he was always pro choice.

    I have no idea who okayed the duet with Nancy, I mean....

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    1. I do remember The Detective. By the time Frank starred in that he was nigh on untouchable, so a closet-gay role couldn't dent his reputation, as it might have done for lesser mortals in the acting world. As for his real life attitude to gay rights, no idea - but he was in general totally supportive of civil rights in general, and his best buddy Sammy Davis Jr in particular - and Sammy was quoted in interview as saying: "The truth is I’m not a homosexual, but I’m not ashamed to say I have had homosexual experiences. It was like drugs, which I’ve tried too. You make a choice." I would deduce from that that Frank couldn't really have been homophobic. Jx

      PS That Nancy/Frank duet has to be one of the worst ever. She's flat as a pancake throughout, and I never felt it was really in good taste for father and daughter to be singing a love duet...

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  3. Oh, I'd love to jump back on the #adecadeago thing, but I did absolutely shit-all on the blog 10 years ago. In fact, I'll probably have to wait until April 2024 before I can dip back into that well. If only I hadn't been so slack.

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    1. Get 'er! "Slack Alice, the coalman's daughter and barmaid at the Cock and Trumpet", as I live and breathe! Jx

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  4. It doesn't seem like such a stretch of the imagination that Frank Sinatra might have been Pansexual. It certainly would give a whole new layer to the lyrics of "My Way." https://www.bing.com/search?q=my+way+frank+sinatra+lyrics&FORM=AWRE

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    1. Mr Sinatra certainly was a pretty young man, who could have had sex with anyone, anytime, anyhow [and I wouldn't have minded a go myself], but I don't think I've read or heard anything - not even from Kitty Kelley - that would confirm other than his love for (and mistreatment by) women.

      The lyrics for My Way [as we know, originally a French chanson by Claude François] were written by Paul Anka, admittedly for Frank on one of his regular "retirements" from the business, but it's not biographical per se... Jx

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    2. I'll have to take your word for it. What a small freakin' world though! Kitty Kelley is from my middle-of-nowhere hometown!!!!!! I always joke that in Spokane; They'll give you their opinion whether you want to hear it or not." Spokane is Friendly-Aggressive, while Seattle is the epitome of Passive-Aggressive. In Spokane, I can get in a fistfight with a friend and we'll laugh about it over beers in a few hours later. In Seattle, I'll get the silent treatment for days/months/years until finally they ping me with a "What's up, Bitch? Wanna get drinks?"

      What's your experience where you live?

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    3. I'm not London-born, and this city is a conglomerate of villages, so there are very few "local" characteristics that would sum up anything of that nature here. I am originally from Wales, so you;'d need to watch Gavin & Stacey to get the measure of how Welsh people interrelate, I suppose... Jx

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    4. I think I'd like Wales. Cardiff was doing a good job of getting films and shows made there for awhile. Most notably, Torchwood. Loved John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness.

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    5. Since their massive coup at getting to do the "new" Doctor Who series [which I surmise might have had something to do with the fact that Russell T. Davies is himself a Welshman], BBC Cymru Wales has landed a huge chunk of the drama output for the entire network - Casualty, His Dark Materials, Sherlock, Merlin, Keeping Faith, Life on Mars, and even that dreadful 2010 "reboot" of/sequel to Upstairs Downstairs... Jx

      PS Like most post-industrial regions, Wales is utterly beautiful in parts, and rundown, scruffy and unpleasant in many others.

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  5. Huh... I saw the name Neil Simon and had a mid-70's anxiety attack. Remember when there were articles calling Mr. Simon our modern day Shakespeare? Bah ha ha ha ha. Oh. For a while there... everything was coming up Simon. OH! Remember Bette Midler singing Stranger In The Night? It was a bit she did. As for Frank... I never got too excited about him. I saw him in that thing with Gene Kelly where they are three sailors - what is it called, dear? ON THE TOWN. Seriously, someone needs to mount an all gay male version of that show. It is just terrible, Muriel. Kizzes.

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    1. Americans call anyone "our modern day Shakespeare", mainly because a) they don't have any real history of their own, and b) it's rare to find many worthy of the description "a good playwright". Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill and Edward Albee do not a great theatrical tradition make...

      Jx

      PS We went to see a faboo West End version of On The Town back in 2007. It's exactly what one expects of a musical - a couple of hours of nonsense with men in tight clothing dancing with girls in swirly skirts, and some comic numbers to boot. What's not to like?

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  6. Oh, no, I thank you. I never could understand the attraction of Frank Sinatra, so tiny and oleaginous. Yuck.

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    1. I don't know - "ten pounds of cock" is rather tempting, n'est-ce pas?

      Jx

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  7. Odd, I found 10 pounds in my knicker drawer this morning and wondered how it got there. My memory is getting very shoddy.
    Sx

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    1. Had it been there since #adecadeago Ms Scarlet, I wonder? Jx

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