Sunday Drive: Begin the Beguine

 One of my all-time favorite tunes, from MGM's Broadway Melody of 1940.  Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell were the top dancers of the time, and it shows.  Consider this:  there is no animation or special effects in this film.  All the music was performed by human beings on real instruments, and all the dancing was done by human beings who rehearsed and rehearsed for weeks on end until every step, every move was perfect. 

Computers hadn't been invented yet - hell, even transistors hadn't been invented.  There was no videotape. either - all that you see was created by light and sound on 35 millimeter film, which had to be bathed in chemicals before it could be projected and viewed.  A great collective work of artists in many fields, in front of and behind the camera.  Human creativity at its peak.  I'm afraid we will never see such a thing again. 

Part 1 is slow and languid as a tropical night:

Part 2 picks up the pace:

-----

Standard Time: 'Tain't What You Do (It's the Way that You Do It)

The ex-roommate was asking me about an old song the other night, which led me to looking up a lot of my swing favorites on YouTube.  Here's a megahit from 1939 that ought to raise a smile on your faces, boys - ostensibly about music, but pretty risque for that day and time, see what you think.