Happy Birthday Fred Astaire!

Freddy passed away in 1987, but he will always be remembered as a Hollywood legend, one of a kind. Today he woulda turned 112, but just because he's not around, doesn't mean we can't honour him.

Gene Kelly once said "the history of dance on film begins with Astaire." So in a way, he trail-blazed, and we owe him big-time for what he brought to the movies.

Check out ol' twinkle toes in this classic dazzling dance from Royal Wedding (1951).

Tasty Tagline: Plan 9 from Outer Space

Unspeakable horrors from outer space paralyze the living and resurrect the dead!

Quotable Quote: The Last Time I Saw Paris

"I'm sick to death of death. I want to enjoy things, have fun, live every day like it's the last day. Wouldn't that be nice, a lifetime full of last days?"

~ Elizabeth Taylor as Helen Ellswirth in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

Quotable Quote: Cinderella

"Now for a name. I've got one! Octavius. But for short, we'll call you Gus."

~ Ilene Woods as Cinderella in Cinderella (1950)

Audacious Audition: Marlon Brando for Rebel Without A Cause

Oh Sweet Lord, I have a new obsession. An unhealthy one.

I recently watched A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) out of pure curiosity, and I fell in love. I had always liked Marlon Brando in his Guys and Dolls days, but hadn't seen him be sexy in anything else. Until I met Stanley. His animalistic passion, his sweaty t-shirts, mmmm.

So I went on a Brando-Bender and YouTubed him like crazy. What I found was this rare screentest that he did for the part that eventually went to James Dean. Droooool. They don't make men like they used to.

Boy, is he delicious. If you're a hetero-female, or a gay male, PLEASE watch this clip and discover a hottie you probably didn't know existed. You'll enjoy it.

I'm now having fantasies about a man who's been dead for 7 years, and who ended up being 300+ pounds. But seriously, it don't matter once you've seen his early work.

You can watch the whole scene that he performs, but at 3:48 you'll really lose control of your hormones. I promise you.

Quotable Quote: Gidget

"Surfing is out of this world. You can't imagine the thrill of the shooting the curl. It positively surpasses every living emotion I've ever had."

~ Sandra Dee as Gidget in Gidget (1959)

Delightful Dialogue: The Spirit of St. Louis

Father Hussman: How come I never see you around church? You don't believe?

Charles Lindbergh: Well, yes, I believe. I believe in an instrument panel, a pressure gauge, a compass, things I can see and touch. I can't touch God.

Father Hussman: You're not supposed to! He touches you!

~ Marc Connelly and James Stewart in The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)

Memorable Monologue: Cinderella

"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."

~ Ilene Woods as Cinderella in Cinderella (1950)

Charismatic Character: Ichabod Crane

We featured Ichabod Crane as a Charismatic Character a long time ago, but since All Hallow's Eve is upon us (mua ha ha ha!), we figured it's time for a redo.

This movie freaked us RIGHT out as kids. The creepy whistling, Bram's scary story/song, the dark forest, the bridge, the scary cackling laughter... *shudder* ughhhghhh it just makes me feel weird, even now.

Also, how can you go wrong with Bing Crosby as the narrator? If you've never seen this classic family friendly Halloween flick, check it out. I promise, even as an adult, you'll be a wee bit spooked.

Ichabod is a ladies man (somehow) and a massive glutton. He's a lanky, awkward, cowardly, dorky school-teacher that you'll love from the first moment you see him. As much as we loved Johnny Depp's 1999 portrayal of this character, this animated one is the real OG.

Are they shovels or are they feet? We say they're more like massive canoes.

Walt Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1958)
(Jump to 3:35 for the Ichabod song)

Scintillating Scene: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Wow, Karen. Great choice! As Cin-Ob Supreme of the week, you've done us proud.

Karen wanted to see this iconic performance from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). This is the number by which we all know Miss Marilyn Monroe, and we've seen tributes to it many times, ie Madonna, as Karen pointed out to us, and of course Nicole Kidman sang a version of this lil' diddy in Moulin Rouge (2001).

Quotable Quote: The African Queen

"By the authority granted to me by his Imperial Majestey Kaiser Wilhelm the Second,

I pronounce you man and wife - proceed with the execution."

~ Peter Bull as the Captain of Louisa in The African Queen (1951)

Memorable Monologue: Stalag 17

"I don't know about you, but it always makes me sore when I see those war pictures... all about flying leathernecks and submarine patrols and frogmen and guerillas in the Philippines. What gets me is that there never w-was a movie about POWs - about prisoners of war. Now, my name is Clarence Harvey Cook: they call me Cookie. I was shot down over Magdeborg, Germany, back in '43; that's why I stammer a little once in a while, 'specially when I get excited.

I spent two and a half years in Stalag 17. "Stalag" is the German word for prison camp, and number 17 was somewhere on the Danube. There were about 40,000 POWs there, if you bothered to count the Russians, and the Poles, and the Czechs. In our compound there were about 630 of us, all American airmen: radio operators, gunners, and engineers. All sergeants. Now you put 630 sergeants together and, oh mother, you've got yourself a situation. There was more fireworks shooting off around that joint... take for instance the story about the spy we had in our barracks..."

~ Gil Stratton as Clarence Harvey 'Cookie' Cook in Stalag 17 (1953)

Tantalizing Trivia: Oklahoma!

Gloria Grahame, the actress who played the flighty, boy-crazy nitwit Ado Annie in Oklahoma! (1955) was completely tone-deaf. Like totally. Couldn't sing a note.

Her songs were put together with extensive editing. Really extensive. Apparently every individual note had to be pieced together from her stanky singing.

Here is her solo number from the film, "I Cain't Say No." She's carrying the tune, but you can tell - this broad ain't no singer. Why they didn't choose a seasoned songstress, I'll never know, but Ado Annie just happens to be my fave character in the entire film.

Tasty Tagline: Rear Window

Through his rear window and the eye of his powerful camera he watched a great city tell on itself, expose its cheating ways... and Murder!

Memorable Monologue: Sleeping Beauty

"Sweet princess... if through this wicked witch's trick, a spindle should your finger prick... a ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give to thee. Not in death, but just in sleep, this fateful prophecy you'll keep. And from this slumber you shall wake, when true love's kiss, the spell shall break."

 ~ Barbara Luddy as Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Quotable Quote: What Price Glory

"Quirt loves the bottle, and when he's drunk he is the lousiest, filthiest tramp that ever wore a uniform. He's even worse than I am, and you know I don't allow anybody to get as bad as that."

~ James Cagney as Captain Flagg in What Price Glory (1952)

Quotable Quote: The King and Four Queens

"I never put a dime on anybody but myself. I haven't lost yet."

~ Clark Gable as Dan Kehoe in The King and Four Queens (1956)

Memorable Monologue: Lady and the Tramp

"Life on a leash. Look again, Peg. Look, there's a great big hunk of world down there, with no fence around it. Where two dogs can find adventure and excitement. And beyond those distant hills, who knows what wonderful experiences? And it's all ours for the taking, Peg. It's all ours."

~ Larry Roberts as Tramp in Lady and the Tramp (1955)

Quotable Quote: The Seven Year Itch

"When it gets hot like this, you know what I do? I keep my undies in the icebox!"

~ Marilyn Monroe as The Girl in The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Delightful Dialogue: The African Queen

Charlie Allnut: A man takes a drop too much once in a while, it's only human nature.

Rose Sayer: Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.

~ Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen (1951)