The Day of Rest

Everyone's needing to recover and regain some strength after the massive party that is International Dance Day!

 

 
 
 
 

International Dance Day with Leslie Caron

Born in 1931 to a chemist father and a retired ballerina mother, Leslie Caron began taking dance lessons at the age of 11. Dedication to the craft and natural ability caused her to be counted among the best ballerinas in France by the time she was 16. When she was 18, she was "drafted" into films by Gene Kelly, who wanted a top-notch co-star for the musical/dance extravaganza "An American in Paris" (1951). 

Caron's screen presence and acting abilities were as remarkable as her dancing, and she soon became as big a star in Hollywood musicals as she had been on the stages of Paris. She spent the 1950s and 1960s in big-budget musicals. As the 1970s dawned, she made a successful transition into dramatic roles and was among the few musical stars who kept her career growing after that film genre fell out of favor.

For more than eight decades, Caron has graced us with her poise and beauty and talent on the big screen, on television, and on stage (with her most recent role being in the Swedish made-for-TV movie "Written on Water" (2020).

We're present this small gallery of images in celebration of Caron, as well as International Dance Day.

It's International Dance Day AND Arbor Day!

This year, International Dance Day coincides with Arbor Day, so some of the ballerinas who ran off to dance their way through the wide world are spending it with the trees that have become their friends.

Others are dancing with or for their mighty friends...
 

 

... and some, like Irena, are communing with the spirits of trees long gone.

A few of them did return to Shades of Gray HQ for some slightly more traditional International Dance Day activities...

 

 

 

But the question now is... how long will they stay?

It's Fanny Friday

You can review these posts here at Shades of Gray to see if our dancers are covered or not.

About that banana...

This is a fun student film by Madison Barlow that's well-worth a couple minutes of your time. (BTW, I think there IS a good way to eat a banana, but the point of this film is still dead-on.

 

There's No Right Way to Eat a Banana (2023)
Starring: Grace Moloy, Peyton Biddle, Morgan Landry, Aniyah Faisal, and Arin Hincer
Director: Madison Barlow

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

 

Flapper Fanny on National Secretary's Day

What are the dancers up to?

On International Dance Day 2022, the ballerinas ran off into the wild. We're trying to keep track of them, and we'll try to bring you updates on the last Wednesday of each month until International Dance Day 2023.

Today is laundry day!

 

It's three days until International Dance Day 2023... what will happen?!

What's here is funny stuff, but...

Take a Chance (1918)
Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, Harry 'Snub' Pollard, William Blaisdell, Belle Mitchell, and Helen Gilmore
Director: Alfred J. Goulding
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A dapper young man (Lloyd) sets out to woo a pretty cleaning lady (Daniels). Trouble, chaos, and police chases ensue.

 

This is a film that's full of funny bits that are so loosely connected that this film just ends. Literally. Nothing in what little plot we have gets resolved, and if it was a serial I'd be eager to see the next installment, because it ends on quite the cliffhanger. In fact, when the film ended, I thought maybe it was a fragment and that the last few minutes (or maybe an entire second reel) had not survived to the present day... but every description of the film (at IMDB, Wikipedia, and elsewhere) give its run-time as the roughly ten minutes that the version embedded below.

It wasn't a surprising conclusion to reach that I watched a complete version of "Take a Chance", because the version I saw is among one of best preserved and/or restoration jobs of any film from the 1910s I've come across. Nonetheless, it was a disappointing one, because it showed that very little thought was put into what passes for the story here.

Although there are better Harold Lloyd/Bebe Daniels vehicles, this one is still worth watching for a number of reasons. First, Daniels is a joy to watch as always; no one mugged at the camera better than her, nor seemed to be having so much fun or being so annoyed as her. Second, although nearly every one of the loosely connected slapstick and/or comedic chase sequences go on for a little too long, each and every one of them is initially very funny. As a collection of bits, this is an excellent film, but the fact the story presented has a beginning and a middle but no proper end to speak of.

"Take a Chance" is embedded below for your convenience. Take a chance and check it out. See if you agree or disagree with my take... and leave a comment below!

Musical Monday with Tardigrade Inferno

Here's a little hard-rockin' weirdness to get your work-week off to a proper start! Ladies and gentlemen, we invite you to take a ride with Tardigrade Inferno, a Russian avant-garde metal band that we wish we had discovered sooner!

The video for "Arrival of a Train" is a fun mix of visual elements that span most of the main time periods covered by this blog. The song it supports is the title track from the band's new EP, which releases on May 17, 2023. Click here for more information, or to pre-order a copy from the band's official website. (But not until you watch the great video embedded below. Just don't be scared by the bits of color that are featured in it!)

Fanny Friday

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

End of the Road for Elmo?

We checked in on the Moon Girls yesterday, so it seems like a good time to present the conclusion to the Elmo Aardvark adventure that began in this post. He is, after all, their biggest fan! (The art is, once again, by the great Milton Knight. This is reportedly the final story written by Elmo's creator, Will Ryan, before he passed away in 2021.)

 

 You can more artwork and comics by Milton Knight here. (And you should consider becoming one of his patrons via Patreon!)

The ballerinas are gathering...

... for International Dance Day at the end of the month! Soon, they'll be back with us at Shades of Gray.

Some are getting here on their feet.

 
Others are arriving in cabs, but still on their feet!