AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

Gene Kelly to Leslie Caron: "With a binding like you've got, people will want to look inside the book!"--An American in Paris

Last night I saw An American in Paris, Gene Kelly and Vincente Minnelli's classic Gershwin pastiche, at the Event Screen. (I originally saw it on an airplane thirty odd-years ago.) It's a more glamorous depiction of Paris than, say, The 400 Blows, and Leslie Caron belongs in the Cute Hall of Fame, with Oscar Levant's sourpuss for welcome variety.   Alan Jay Lerner's script is often corny by today's standards, and the Nina Foch character embodies a cliche of that time:  a man had no future with a woman who had more money (and power) than him.

Of course, it's a great visual achievement, showing what MGM could do with the old three-color Technicolor system.  Especially handsome is the famous climactic ballet number, photographed by John Alton, who's also famous for photographing Anthony Mann film noirs like T-Men and Raw Deal in black&white with shoestring resources! (Cinematographers could have wide range:  William Daniels, who photographed all of Greta Garbo's movies, won his Oscar for The Naked City.)

Victoria Day weekend came and went and I hadn't started the garden. (Uh-oh Spaghetti-Os!) Tuesday I finally took the first step and spread on the compost.  Yesterday afternoon I went out to Fiesta Gardens and bought three varieties of seed potatoes.

Last week Moira said that Donald Sterling, the sports tycoon whose racist comments got exposed, reminded her of Tommy Lee Jones.  He reminded me of someone else, but I couldn't remember who.  A few nights ago I finally recalled that he reminded me of Christopher Plummer!  To make sure I'd remember to tell Moira this, I left my slippers on my desk, something I don't usually do.  And it worked.

Lately I've got into the habit of writing these posts late at night.  But I'm writing this post in the afternoon because our internet connection was acting up last night.  Father finally fixed it this morning by turning the system off and on.  I wish I'd tried that.