One of the most depressing aspects of the landscape of bringing up children is the cacophony of crude colours or sickly pastels. (Luckily my small grandson prefers a more muted palette: any kind of hose pipe, mobile phones, tools, car steering wheels.. ) I turn to Hollywood musical ensembles or ballet on You Tube to find the World's unsung colourist heroes - costume designers. The gift of creating a moving tableau that is gorgeous but subtle, I always find miraculous.
Well here, the bold juxtaposition of pink and red, or pink and vermillion is not exactly subtle but they really pull it off in these two films. As a child with red hair, my mother would never let me wear pink. As much as I loved her, I never forgave her then and still don't.
Here is Rosemary Clooney in Red Garters (1954) directed by George Marshall. Costumes by Edith Head. (No surprise there for genius.)
And Dorothy Jeakins created these shockingly wonderful petticoats in The Music Man (1962) dir. Morton DaCosta.
Red and pink? Just about describes the state of my eyes this morning!
ReplyDeleteLove these. The color palettes are wonderful, especially with those petticoats!
ReplyDeleteBlue as a kid I was riveted by the concept of 'sky-blue pink'. Where did that come from I wonder? Were you a naughty boy last night?
ReplyDelete(In)Decorous.. thank you. Apart from the colour, probably wouldn't have
chosen such an indecorous subject!
Sky-blue-pink is the most beautiful colour in the world - and such a magical name for a child to hear. As to being naughty last night - unfortunately not. If my eyes are this bad after a blameless evening then maybe it means I need to get out more.
ReplyDeleteI used to work at a bar in Durham, NC, where Buddy Hackett was a frequent customer when he was on the rice diet. I was never there at the same time as Buddy, but I heard he could be somewhat abrasive, as well as a hilarious coprolalic.
ReplyDeleteApparently he had a spat with the director of the diet center, and for revenge, hired a dumptruck to drop a load of Snicker's candy bars in the parking lot in front of the commons area.
Dear Rose--Thank you for lightening up my Sunday evening with these marvelous, winsome clips. I have not seen this particular Rosemary Clooney gem, nor do I remember the "Shipoopie" number from the Music Man (is that the name of a dance or what babies do in their diapers?), and so these were a delightful and unexpected treat...and I always thought Robert Preston was middle aged, and now I see he is a young man! Ah, me I realize now that I'm the one who has aged. Reggie
ReplyDeleteMy husband, son and grandson all have bright red hair and were allowed to wear anything they wanted, clothes-wise. But I suspect it would have been very different had a female in the family been born a gingy.
ReplyDeleteSome of the rules amaze me now eg "blue and green should never be seen, except with another colour between"; "black socks or stockings may never be worn with light coloured shoes".
For the benefit of my readers here is wikipedia's definition of coprolalia:
ReplyDelete[the] involuntary swearing or the involuntary utterance of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks. rurritable, that's a great story but not entirely sure how it connects with the post. But never mind.
BLUE, forgive me traducing your blameless night before the morning after.
Reggie Darling, I am delighted to have got your feet tapping. And well done identifying a new term for the nursery. I thought it a pretty suspect word to make a song and dance of.
ReplyDeleteOh RURRITABLE .. I HAVE JUST GOT YOUR GIST, SORRY!
Hels, there is ghastly prejudice over here about ginger haired people. I read somewhere that the last colour you should wear with red hair is royal blue and I agree with that.
I was just surprised that to find out that Buddy was in The Music Man. I know he ultimately turned out to be a versatile actor, or at least an underused resource.
ReplyDeleteI've known several people who approached Buddy for an autograph, expecting the affable nitwit from his stint with Disney Studios. They walked away with the autograph, but also the sense that they needed a bath.
In a valiant attempt at being On Topic I'd like to submit the observation
ReplyDeletethat David Hicks's dining room at Britwell boasted the then daring combination of claret walls, azalea pink chair covers and scarlet carpet~
all of this in a room that was once a chapel. Whether he'd taken his cue
from the Rosemary Clooney film is doubtful, but it was the very first thing
that came to mind when I saw that clip.
TW, I didn't know you had Topics too. That was deliciously neat. Do send me a picture of the David Hicks room, please.
ReplyDelete