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Out There

Jeff Weinstein's Cultural Mixology

‘American Idol’ — the Judy-Deanna Version

May 22, 2009 by Jeff Weinstein

 
Adam Lambert and Kris Allen.jpg
Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin in Every Sunday.jpg

 

 

 

Now that our Idol hangover is over, we may regain some composure and perspective about the relative importance of a manipulated mass election — sounds presidential, no? — within the body politic of popular culture. Right? Then how do I explain why I woke up literally singing the word “swing” — but like a cat wail, “swiiiiiiinnnnnng.”

Judy was talking to me again.

“Didn’t you see me?” she asked. “I was hard to miss. I had to share some space with Freddie, but I like Freddie, and even with that awful Lee” — I knew instinctively that she meant Liberace — “but that was mostly me inside Adam.”

And inside Kris? “Yes, it was dear Deanna.”

But Judy, Adam lost, and you …

“Won? I’m 40-years dead, sweetie, and dear Deanna’s still kicking.”

So that’s why I couldn’t get my eyes off chubby Glambert, why in spite of his mall-nite hair and lycra-sausage limbs I waited week after week to watch his raw, unstoppable, insoucient nerve.

If for reasons of age or memory you don’t know which Judy or Deanna I mean, please let me offer a holiday reprise of American Idol’s earlier version, an MGM short subject from 1936 called Every Sunday. In it, 14-year-olds Judy and Deanna are introduced to the filmgoing public in a sweet cinematic duel: classical versus swing. But they’re not really rivals; in fact, the girls are as tender in their teamwork as Adam and Kris.

If you like, you can drag the YouTube bar and start the piece at three minutes, but the whole thing is only 10, so take a chance.

 

By the way, after seeing the short, some MGM genius told a line producer to “dump the fat one.”

And in case any novice wants to know why Judy is indelible, just slide the button to 6:20 and look at the way this teenager moves her hips and lips when she gets into her groove and instructs us to … swing. 

I guess I still take her advice to heart.

For an automatic alert when there is a new Out There post, email jiweinste@aol.com.

 

 

 

  

 

Filed Under: main Tagged With: Adam Lambert, American Idol, gay, Judy Garland, popular culture, TV

Jeff Weinstein

Based in New York, I've been an editor of arts coverage at New York's "Soho Weekly News" (1977-79); of visual arts and architecture criticism and much else at the "Village Voice" (1981-95, with a stint as managing editor of "Artforum"); of the fine arts at the "Philadelphia Inquirer" (1997-2006); of arts and culture at "Bloomberg News" (2006-07). Until recently... Read More…

Out There

The media make a potentially fatal mistake by dividing arts coverage into high and low, old and young, and by trivializing our passionate attraction to things. In Out There I propose that all creative expression has the potential to be both … [Read More...]

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Recently & Elsewhere

I wrote and narrated a Daylight Magazine slideshow (click on "Read more" below to access it and the rest), an appreciation of the late photographer Milton Rogovin. Also one about the late photographer Helen Levitt. To go back in time, kindly click … [Read More...]

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