Last night, my family and I stopped by a local Tucson treasure on the way home. Casa Video is one of the few still existing movie rental stores in town, and they carry a huge variety of recent releases, movies categorized by directors, classic movies, horror films, employee favorites, foreign films, etc. It’s an artsy fartsy place, but a place that we run to anytime we have a hankering to see a movie that’s a little off the cuff and not on Netflix. Here’s a picture of the storefront’s neon sign that sits atop the beloved video shop that treats its costumers to bags of movie popcorn as you walk around the store.
My kids have been requesting to see the movie “Singing in the Rain” for weeks now. The classic song is on my iPad, and they really wanted to check out what this music was all about. After a trip to “Casa Video, we all crawled into bed, turned out the lights and voila…..a new family favorite that had my kids glued to the TV screen.
I am so happy to report to all of you that my kids loved every minute of this movie….the songs, the dancing, the story. I’m so touched that they loved one of my all-time favorite films, and this movie was without the modern technology and violence and inappropriate language that peppers most movies that come out today. You see, Hollywood, kids just don’t need all of the gloss. Just give ‘em good old stories with great costumes and music. I promise….you’ll still make money and won’t even have to spend as much to make it!
My kids asked a ton of questions as we watched. ”When was this movie made?” (1957) ”Is Gene Kelly still alive?” (Nope, he died in 1996.) My favorite quote came from my daughter….”I wish I was a princess, because princess have closets as big as your bedroom. I would fill it with dresses like that!”
As I was reading Wikipedia on my iPad to answer their questions, I found the greatest “Singing in the Rain” story about Debbie Reynolds. Here’s what it said:
Debbie Reynolds was not a dancer at the time she made Singin’ in the Rain; her background was as a gymnast. Kelly apparently insulted her for her lack of dance experience, upsetting her. In a subsequent encounter when Fred Astaire was in the studio, he found Reynolds crying under a piano. Hearing what had happened, Astaire volunteered to help her with her dancing. Kelly later admitted that he had not been kind to Reynolds and was surprised that she was still willing to talk to him afterwards. After shooting the “Good Morning” routine, Reynolds’ feet were bleeding. Years later, she was quoted as saying that “Singin’ in the Rain and childbirth were the two hardest things I ever had to do in my life.
“Good Morning” sequence
Phooey on you, Gene Kelly. I always knew Fred Astaire was truly the epitome of debonaire! Regardless, I love reading the background story of such a timeless film, and I guess no matter how old you are, you can learn something new everyday.
I am so happy that my kids embraced a classic film, and now I have a whole list of movies running through my mind that I’d love to share with them. I guess Casa Video will be seeing a lot of me in the near future. My song of the day is, of course, “Singing in the Rain,” because if this one piece of music can grab my kid’s attention, then it will take hold of anyone. Click HERE to go to Youtube to hear it and watch the classic movie scene. Enjoy!!! — and have a lovely Sunday!