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December 25, 2003
TT: And to all a good night
My mother and I just finished watching Holiday Inn and Meet Me in St. Louis on TV. Holiday Inn is a much-loved film whose shining parts are greater than their slightly commonplace sum: Astaire and Crosby, "Say It With Firecrackers," and two terrific Irving Berlin songs, "You're Easy to Dance With" and "Be Careful, It's My Heart," that got lost in the looming shadow of "White Christmas." Meet Me in St. Louis, on the other hand, might just be the most underrated of all the great movie musicals. Sure, it's a bit heavy on the Hollywood nostalgia, but Judy Garland is at her purest and best, Vincente Minnelli's direction is unobtrusively right, and the score--the score! Was there ever a movie that contained three songs as fine as "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"? (Yes, I know, Top Hat, but that film exists in a realm beyond comparison.) Even the orchestrations, by Conrad Salinger, are exquisite.I enjoyed tonight's double feature so much that it almost made me forget how irritated I was by a story I read in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal about how red and green are sooooo passé among today's cultural tastemakers. Here's the money quote:
Behind the dimming of the red and green is a culture intent on making over almost everything, from faces to homes to entire lives. Style mavens like Martha Stewart have also trained fans to favor a more neutral palette. "Christmas has got a lot more design-y," says Simon Doonan, creative director at Barneys New York. "People now see their trees as decorative accessories."
Mr. Doonan, who says he eschews all but "ironic" uses of red and green, was asked to do a Christmas tree for this month's issue of Budget Living magazine. Avoiding a color conundrum, he lopped off dozens of Barbie doll heads and strung them to the tree branches....
To which I say...well, maybe I shouldn't be saying that today.
But enough with the gnashing of teeth. Here on Hickory Drive in Smalltown, U.S.A., the decorations are 100% red and green, the mood is quietly festive, and I'm headed for bed. To all of you out there in the blogosphere who've become faithful readers of "About Last Night," OGIC and I wish you the happiest--and safest--of holidays.
See you Friday.
Posted December 25, 2003 12:25 PM
