Wednesday, November 23, 2011

And I Thank You

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the USA and I would like  to wish everyone happiness and joy as you celebrate with family and friends.  For those of you outside of America, I wish you a good rest of the week and weekend!  Thinking of something uniquely American, I thought of one of my very favorite movies. (The title of this post is a quote from the movie.)  If you have never seen this movie, what are you waiting for?  It is just one of the best movies ever!  Based on the true story of George M. Cohan, the portrayal by Jimmy Cagney is just magnificent!  The casting of the whole film is brilliant, Walter Huston as his Dad and the beautiful young Joan Leslie as his wife.  The actress who played his sister, Josie, was his real life sister, Jeanne Cagney!  There is a special poignancy to this movie when you know two things about it.  One, George M. Cohan was able to view it just before he died and heartily approved of Jimmy Cagney's performance. Secondly, as filming began, the crew was informed of the attack on Pearl Harbor, so that made them put some extra feeling into the patriotic songs.
 You know when people say they do a "happy dance"? The first time I heard that phrase, I instantly thought of Jimmy Cagney dancing up that wall while he is singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy".  I defy you to watch that and not feel joyful!


This next video is really quite good and in a strange way fits with the 80's music.   Even if you don't like the music from Wham, just turn it down and watch Jimmy Cagney dance.  It's magic.
Feeling very grateful for all the joy that I have received through my blog.
And I thank you. 

15 comments:

  1. Have a good weekend - just an ordinary one here! But we are going out, so that will be nice.

    Pomona x

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  2. Pomona,
    Thank you for your comment! And it IS nice to go out, hope you have lots of fun! :-)

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  3. Toyin,

    Thank you so much for visiting my blog! Glad that you like my videos too!

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  4. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Kay! Here in my town, Christmas market starts today - and of course RJ and I will go and have our dinner there :-)

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  5. Happy Thanksgiving Kaye

    I had no idea that he was such a good dancer.

    SP

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  6. Librarian,
    Your Christmas market sounds wonderful! Let us see photos of it, pretty please!
    And you know I will be heading to my Dad's for Thanksgiving armed with my Happy Jalapeno Casserole, look for my photo of that happy dish!

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  7. SP,
    Thank you! And I love that you spell my name with an "e" at the end for two reasons. One,
    I know in France my name would be spelled with an "e" since I am female and two, my Aunt Leona, who is no longer with us, insisted on spelling it that way just because she liked it! She was such a hoot! So, YOU have my permission to spell it that way. :-)
    And yes, Jimmy Cagney was a wonderful guy, and a great actor, singer and dancer too!

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  8. Great videos, hope you had a great turkey day.

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  9. I haven't seen this movie, but really great backstory.

    And to reply to your comment, I recall the doors at St Paul's being big heavy wooden doors. Hope that helps :)

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  10. Happy Homemaker,
    Try to see this movie! It will make you want to dance!
    Yes, the front doors are very large wooden doors, but when we there, there was such a crowd leaving, that I went over to the right, and there were these glass doors with words etched into the glass! Guess I just have to go back to London! :-) Thanks for your comment!!

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  11. Makes me want to see it again. I enjoyed watching the clip. Thank you for visiting my corner AND leaving a comment. That way I can follow you home. ;> Hope that you'll drop by again anytime.

    Off to look around a bit...

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  12. Vee,
    Thanks! You have a lovely blog!
    Please come and visit again! :-)

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  13. I practically know it by heart, having seen it so many times. I loved that movie as a kid, and as an adult. That last part tore at my heart. Years ago I tried to find a video to put up and there wasn't one. Oh, the internet just gets better and better.

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  14. Nan,
    SO GLAD that you love it too! I think I DO know it by heart! Did you know that it is directed by Michael Curtiz, the same director who did "Casablanca"? Also, David Niven wrote one of his books about Michael Curtiz, called Bring On The Empty Horses.
    I looked at a lot of things on Youtube before choosing the above. I REALLY wanted to show the dance that Jimmy Cagney did when he was singing "Yankee Doodle DAndy" but the sound quality was so bad, I decided against it.
    I was happy to find the two that I did choose!

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