But when the thermometer goes way up and the weather is sizzling hot

Our Rosa "Veilchenblau" loves it! [click to embiggen]

The weather here in London is breaking all the records! Being in the city, rather than near the sea, and with nary a breeze, it's a bit uncomfortable to sit in for long - although we always welcome the sunshine; it's far better than our usual Bank Holiday drizzle...

On this scorching Tacky Music Bank Holiday Monday, there is only one number that will suffice:

Ann Miller - Too Darn Hot [Kiss Me, Kate]

Have a good week, dear reader.

Ars Gratia Artis*

Another day, another centenary...

One hundred years today, three studio magnates reached a merger agreement - and the legendary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was born!

Famed for its glittering parade of stars over the decades - such icons as Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Rudolph Valentino, the Barrymores, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Judy Garland, Robert Taylor, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Lana Turner and Cyd Charisse (and so many more) all got their big break at MGM! - it was also the home of Tom and Jerry, Lassie, the Marx Brothers, and some of the biggest and campest Busby Berkeley productions.

This was the studio that was responsible for some of history's most-lauded films, including The Women, Doctor Zhivago, North by Northwest, Mrs. Miniver, Ben–Hur [both versions], National Velvet, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Jailhouse Rock, Waterloo Bridge, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Forbidden Planet, Mutiny on the Bounty [both versions], How the West Was Won, The Philadelphia Story, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Shaft, Where Eagles Dare, Westworld, The Hunger, Moonstruck - and hundreds more besides!

It is, of course, as the production house behind some of the most wonderful musicals ever made that we love MGM the most! Its back-catalogue includes Easter Parade, Annie Get Your Gun, On the Town, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Show Boat, Gigi, Meet Me in St. Louis, and these...

Judy Garland & co - We're Off To See The Wizard [Wizard of Oz]

Gene Kelly - Singin' In The Rain

The Band Wagon trailer

Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron - An American In Paris

Ann Miller - Too Darn Hot [Kiss Me, Kate]

Lesley Anne Warren - Chicago, Illinois [Victor Victoria]

Following the death of Louis B Mayer in 1957, the demise of the original company was palpable - with a number of buy-outs, reshuffles and bits sold off to the likes of Ted Turner, the involvement of dodgy businessmen and accusations of illegal operations, it went bankrupt in 2010 - despite having acquired United Artists, and with it the distribution rights for such cinematic behemoths as the James Bond and Rocky franchises. It survived the humiliation with a major buyout by its creditors, and finally MGM ended up in the hands of none other than Amazon, who bought it in 2021...

Let's hope that bodes well for its future.

["Ars Gratia Artis" = "art for art's sake" in English]

A triumvirate of Divas

It was the centenary of the birth of the too, too faboo Miss Ann Miller on 12th April...

Ann Miller & Tony Martin - Keepin' Myself For You (Hit the Deck, 1955)

...and the 90th anniversaries of both "La Superba" Señorita Montserrat Caballé (also on 12th)...

Montserrat Caballé - Hijo de la Luna

...and the lovely Elizabeth Montgomery today!

Presenting... Elizabeth Montgomery!

Every one of them sady missed.

Fury!

I'm with the Baboon

After a weekend of bleakness, storm-force winds, pissing rain and hailstorms, our return to the grind would appear to be greeted by a pleasant and dry day. Fuckit.

In an attempt to raise the spirits - and in the knowledge that it's less than four weeks till we're in Spain again [we have our boarding passes to prove it!] - on this Tacky Music Monday, let's have something that if not Spanish, is at least Hispanic...

Ricardo Montalbán, Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse - Dance of Fury [The Kissing Bandit, 1948]

Miss Charisse! Mr Montalban! Miss Miller! All that, and Mr Sinatra in William Shatner's wig! Perfect.

Have a good week, dear reader.

Who's "The Greatest Star"?

Bugger!

Another weekend is over in the blink of an eye...

As we vainly attempt to wake ourselves up enough to haul the bloody laptop out of the cupboard once again, there's a glimmer of joy on the horizon. Tomorrow would have been the 90th birthday of the magnificent Miss Della Reese [see more here, here and here] and so, on this Tacky Music Monday...

...what better excuse do I need to revisit probably my favourite (and probably the campest) clip from an American TV show, EVER?!

Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Ann Miller, Della Reese - Love Boat Follies

Have a good week, dear reader.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...

Oh, shit. After a lovely, fulfilling fortnight's break, it's time to switch on the stupid laptop and to get subsumed in the random, pointless crap that will inevitably await me as I log back into work...

On this particularly excruciating Tacky Music Monday, thank heavens for today's birthday girl - Miss Ann Miller, dancing with what would appear to be an entire orchestra buried in sand!

Ann Miller at her best!

A bizarre, if fleeting, distraction. Now, on with the grind.

Have a good week, dear reader.

I won't.

Fighting vainly the old ennui

According to a new report, older people are the fastest-growing group of cannabis users (in the USA, at least). I might need to start...

Making a spurious connection (as is my wont) this Tacky Music Monday, here's not one, but two glorious versions of a most appropriate song:

Pan's People - I Get A Kick Out of You (by Gary Shearston)

Miss Ann Miller - I Get A Kick Out of You

My story is much to sad to be told
But practically everything leaves me totally cold
The only exception I know is the case
When I'm out on a quiet spree, fighting vainly the old ennui
And I suddenly turn and see
Your fabulous face

I get no kick from champagne
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you

Some get a kick from cocaine
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrifically too
But I get a kick out of you
I get a kick every time I see you standing there before me
I get a kick though it's clear to me, you obviously don't adore me
I get no kick in a plane
Flying too high with some guy in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do
Yet I get a kick out of you

That makes Monday feel so much better.

We've hair on our chests, so what we like the best are the nights

l-r: Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green

BBC Radios 3 and, to a lesser extent, 2 have been going mad lately in celebration of the centenary of the prolific composer Leonard Bernstein; featuring myriad compositions from his repertoire, some great and many - bearing in mind his penchant for modernism, which in orchestral music can be excruciatingly difficult to listen to - not so great.

The culmination of the celebrations was (inevitably) at the BBC Proms, with Prom 57 on Saturday (Lenny's actual birthday) dedicated to his first foray into the genre of musical theatre, On The Town. The film version of the stage production was a notable success, but Mr Bernstein boycotted it when the producers replaced all but three of his original compositions with ones by MGM Studios' "in-house" writer Roger Edens.

But here, by way of a jolly pick-me-up suitable on this Tacky Music Monday (despite the fact that is is a Bank Holiday so we're enjoying another free day off), are two numbers from that film version - the first composed by Leonard Bernstein, and the other by Mr Edens...

Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin - New York, New York

We'll find the romance and danger waiting in it
Beneath the Broadway lights;
But we've hair on our chests
So what we like the best are the nights
Sights! Lights! Nights!

New York, New York, a helluva town.
The Bronx is up, but the Battery's down.
The people ride in a hole in the groun'.
New York, New York, it's a helluva town!

Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Ann Miller, Betty Garrett and Vera Ellen - On The Town

We're going on the town, New York,
We're riding on a rocket, we're going to really sock it,
Because tonight's the night.
We're going on the tube,
We're going to raise a riot, the Brooklyn Bridge we'll buy it,
And hit the hype tonight, the highest hype tonight.

East side, west side, rouse the city,
One day, one night, that's the pity.
And we won't look ahead,
We'll let the light of dawn get around,
We're really living, Jack, we're going on the town.

Indeed.

Leonard Bernstein (born Louis Bernstein, 25th August 1918 – 14th October 1990)

Reline yourself, resign yourself, you're through

Lost among the coverage in the papers recently of the passings of "national treasure" Likely Lad Rodney Bewes, and (of course) the death of the superstar David Cassidy, I didn't hear till today [thanks to the lovely Marc over at Deep Dish] that dear old Della Reese had also departed for Fabulon...

Emerging out of poverty and the melting-pot of gospel churches in the segregated US Mid-West, Miss Reese rose through musical success singing jazz, blues and pop to become a well-loved character on mainstream American television. Of course much of this small-screen output is a mystery to us Brits, and so it is for her music she is best known - despite never having had a hit record here.

Her genre-defining "cha-cha-cha" musical era has been a particular favourite of ours here at Dolores Delargo Towers for many years - not least this one:

Della Reese - Whatever Lola Wants

But she had a mighty fine pair of tonsils, no matter the genre:

Della Reese - Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)

I often got her mixed-up with her even more revered predecessor Pearl Bailey - and indeed, given the cohort of her fellow stars in this sketch [possibly one of the most camp televisual moments in history!], I might hazard a guess that she may have been an acceptable substitution rather then the producers' first choice...

Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Ann Miller, Della Reese - Love Boat Follies

She held her own admirably, nonetheless!

So admired was Miss Reese that none other than Martha Reeves admitted that her entire act was a tribute - she named her group "The Vandellas" after Van Dyke Street in Detroit and Della Reese. Tribute indeed.

RIP Della Reese (born Delloreese Patricia Early, 6th July 1931 – 19th November 2017)

Read my previous tributes to Miss Reese here, here, and (especially) here.

Come Aboard. We're expecting you.

News of the death of Henry Colman at the age of 89 is sad. However, he deserves to be remembered by showbiz-loving queens everywhere.

Why? The man was (among his many other classic US shows such as I Love Lucy, Hawaii Five-O and The Beverly Hillbillies) the producer of one of the kitschiest television shows of all time, The Love Boat, of course.

Another excuse to play one of my favourite clips in the history of camp, ever!

Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Ann Miller, Della Reese - Love Boat Follies

Miss Merman, Miss Channing, Miss Miller and Miss Reese in full battledress is simply perfect (and a scenario that could never be matched nowadays, or at any time)!

He also began an archive of American Television, which you can visit here.

RIP

Queen of Tap

In memory of Miss Ann Miller, who died eight years ago today, I have created her a brand new "exhibit" in the Dolores Delargo Towers - Museum of Camp.

Over here I feel like sharing some more of my favourite performances of hers...

Ann Miller - Shakin' the Blues Away (Easter Parade)

A magnificent 1989 performance of 42nd Street:

Ann Miller - 42nd Street

Her last stage appearance, aged 75, in Follies (1998):

Ann Miller - I'm Still Here

And finally - I really can't believe I have never featured this, possibly my favourite piece of kitsch TV EVER, the "Love Boat Follies" (in which she does diva battle with Ethel Merman, Della Reese and Carol Channing!)...

Love Boat Follies

Magnificently camp!

RIP, Miss Miller.

Invincible Ann!

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. Albert Camus

Outside it is snowing, there is chaos in the streets, mad people are shopping for a siege, and I am not going anywhere.

Here at Dolores Delargo Towers, we are channelling Ann Miller... And that's a much better place to be!

Ann Miller at her best!

"She tapped her brains out!"

As it's sunny outside, and I am feeling particularly magnanimous on this Tacky Music Monday, I thought I'd give you, dear reader, another fabulous pick-me-up courtesy of the one and only Miss Ann Miller!

Ann Miller & Tony Martin - Keepin' Myself For You (Hit the Deck, 1955)

If that doesn't do it, nothing will.

Dispensing fol-de-rol frivolity

Now here's a neat little way of tying up three items in one hit.

My tradition here is to publish "tacky" music every Monday (don't ask me why, but it is, and I like it).

Ninety years ago today, the booming master of baritone musical theatre numbers, the late Howard Keel was born (and in his six decade career, set many hearts-a-flutter with his manly roles in films such as Annie Get Your Gun, Show Boat, Oklahoma, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and in his later years on TV in Dallas.)

And yesterday saw the anniversary of the birth of that ever-sparkling, tap-dancing phenomenon Ann Miller.

So what's more appropriate than this spectacularly tacky number (from Kiss Me Kate), a film that also just so happens to feature both Mr Keel and Miss Miller..? Enjoy:

Ann Miller - From This Moment On (from Kiss Me Kate)

A tiger is a tiger not a lamb

Apparently on TV tonight was a programme where John Barrowman agreed to subject himself to all sorts of humiliating "investigations" in an attempt to find out if there is a reason why he is gay. I refused to watch it.

I do, however, have some thoughts on the matter - what makes me who I am..?

101 Must See Movies for Gay Men

Liza Minnelli - Mein Herr

Alison Jiear - I Just Wanna Fucking Dance

Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Ann Miller, Della Reese - Love Boat Follies

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

Read about the BBC programme "The Making Of Me"

Too darn hot

As I sit in 31 degree heat in our bloody office, this little number springs to mind:

Ann Miller - Too Darn Hot [Kiss Me, Kate]

Miss Miller tapping her brains out...