On 20th January 2009 in his inaugural address President Obama
used one of the Dorothy Fields phrases that has passed into the
English language.
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From her classic song Pick
Yourself Up:
Nothing's impossible I have found
For when my chin is on the ground
I pick myself up
Dust myself off
Start all over again.
Don't lose your confidence if you slip
Be grateful for a pleasant trip
And pick yourself up
Dust yourself off
Start all over again.
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From President Obama's address:
Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust
ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
Great
news from the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television
and Radio) in New York.
After years on the trail, Manager of Research Services Jane Klain
has tracked down a copy of the lost TV musical Junior
Miss with a score by Dorothy Fields and Burton Lane. She
is making it available for view at the Paley Center, and holding
a special screening on September 21 2008. Details
of the screening.
See my page about Junior Miss.
So much fascinating material from old movies and TV shows is
now on Youtube.
Among the interesting Dorothy Fields related items are the following
(as at August 2008):
From Love in the Rough (1930),
the number I'm
Doing That Thing sung and danced by charming Dorothy Jordan.
The musical number We'll
Dance Until the Dawn from the 1931 movie Flying
High. There's an introduction by Pat O' Brien and Kathryn
Crawford, and then a full-scale Busby Berkeley number erupts.
From the 1933 film The Prizefighter and
the Lady, boxer Max Baer sings and dances his way through
Lucky Fella
with a troupe of diminutive chorines. It's fun.
Laurence Tibbett sings Cuban
Love Song from the 1931 film of the same name. What a voice.
It's followed by other snippets from the film.
All three songs written by Dorothy Fields and Oscar Levant for
In Person and performed by Ginger
Rogers: Out
of Sight, Out of Mind; Don't
Mention Love To Me; Got
A New Lease On Life.
The songs from the film version of Up in Central Park, performed
by Deanna Durbin and Dick Haymes: Carousel
in the Park; When
She Walks in the Room; Oh
Say can you See (as Deanna arrives at Ellis Island from Ireland).
Marge Beddow, Gwen Verdon's understudy in Redhead,
performs Erbie
Fitch's Twitch at a recent meeting of Dancers Over 40.
Michele Lee sings Nobody
Does It Like Me from Seesaw
on the Dinah Shore show (starts 5 minutes in).
