The Tramp meets the Dying Swan

Dance · Film
Two great ‘movement artists, Charles and Anna, pose for a photo looking like something more than just “cordial colleagues.” The photo is dated 1922. Like this? Read more: Pavlov(a)’s dog of a movie. Anna Pavlova visits Hollywood Happy Birthday, Charlie Chaplin Charles Chaplin in China

Julie Andrews attends a party

Dance · Film · Music
Some girls have all the luck. Here the legendary soprano diva of musical theater attends the opening gala of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, an event that felicitously mixed dance with symphony (read our review here). Andrews poses first with the Italian-born American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Roberto Bolle, and then with charming Venezuelan, the L.A. ...

If the shoes fits … Disney’s “Cinderella” returns to the El Capitan

Film
  Quick before midnight, get thee to Hollywood’s legendary El Capitan Theatre for Walt Disney’s animated masterpiece “Cinderella.” It’s a nice hot-weather outing for the kiddies … and their shoe freak moms. Attendees can enjoy a special exhibit of the modern-day Cinderella inspired slipper created by famed red-sole designer Christian Louboutin as well as a ...

An actress & her dance coach

Dance · Film
Two utterly amazing human beings, beautiful people, professional collaborators, and personal friends. He wielded enormous influence on her screen persona and on her career. This photo represents, for me, a most delirious encounter between dance and film worlds; nothing from Astaire or Kelly however great, speaks [to me] as powerfully. Here we have Jack Cole, ...

The great Mitzi Gaynor recalls Jack Cole, courtesy of UCLA Film & Television Archive

Dance · Film
After a screening on Saturday August 4, 2012, of THE I DON’T CARE GIRL (Twentieth Century Fox, 1953), we enjoyed a fun panel discussion of the film. It all happened at the Billy Wilder Theater of the Hammer Museum under the auspices of UCLA Film & Television Archives, which had a rare print of the ...

Jack Cole’s magic for Mitzi Gaynor on view in rare screening of “The I Don’t Care Girl” by UCLA Film & Television Archive August 4. Gaynor to appear in-person. 7

Dance · Film
I am very pleased to announce my participation in a truly wonderful celebration of dance on film at the Billy Wilder Theater In Westwood on Saturday August 4, 2012. It’s sponsored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. On that night, as a community, we will view the rare and out-of-circulation Twentieth Century Fox movie ...

Awake in a dream

Film · Music
I am very sorry this lovely video clip starts with a terrible commercial. I hope it is worth the wait for you.

Jacaranda’s garden party on fire 1

Music
Remember the old-fashioned garden party? Where proper ladies and gentlemen sipped, nibbled, noshed, chewed, grazed, and gabbed? Well, forget about that. Welcome to Jacaranda‘s annual garden-party fundraiser event. That’s where the smart Los Angeles contemporary music society will introduce its new season in plein-air. And don’t forget your sun hat. Because you may need to ...

Oh la la! Jack Cole’s “Les Girls” from “Les Girls” (1957) 1

Dance · Film
The (by then) hugely experienced dance-on-film man Jack Cole choreographed the brilliant dance sequences in “Les Girls,” a movie musical directed by George Cukor in 1957. “Les Girls” is included in the upcoming TCM broadcast “Choreography by Jack Cole” on Turner Classic Movies September 10, 2012. I will co-host the evening with Robert Osborne. “Les ...

Tatum O’Neal’s face in “Paper Moon” 2

Film
Peter Bogdanovich’s rhapsody to the American Middle West, “Paper Moon,” is graced by the Oscar-winning performance of an eight-year-old actress who pulls one bratty expression after another at her real-life father Ryan. We saw the film the other night on the big screen of the Los Angeles Theater. Bogdanovich, in solid form with fun stories ...