Strictly finalists ?

Our 2017 season of STRICTLY COME DANCING is coming to a close, with the semi-final this weekend. Here are three sizzlers from last week's Musicals theme. We expect these three to be in the final ...

Strictly 2017

Another year, another BBC dance  marathon for  winter weekends: STRICTLY COME DANCING. Of course  after 15 years with 15 contestants each year the pool of 'celeberities' diminishes, as, like last year, one wonders who most of these celebs are - but again one is pleasantly surprised as they take to the floor for some terrific dance entertainment. (I really only knew 5 of this current  crop.) Already, in the third week, the top half dozen are rising to the top. Here are some of the best so far .... (see Dance label for previous years)

Its the professional dancers who fascinate me, coming up with these routines each week - Janette and Katya are fearless (well she took on Ed Balls last year), Oti is a delight, and is there anything camper than Aljaz ....

New year re-views 5: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

LA LA LAND got me in the mood for those Jacques Demy musicals once again - we love THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, but even more, his 1967 THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, which is sheer endless delight, as per my previous items on it, here's a reprise:

This was bliss to see again recently, to see it in colour and widescreen is magical. It is another all singing musical with great colour and sets – the whole town of Rochefort seems to be dancing at one stage. The sisters Catherine Deneuve and Francoise Dorleac star, with hoofers an older Gene Kelly, George Chakiris in tight pants, and a blonde Jacques Perrin as a lovelorn sailor. It all works perfectly now and I urge anyone who has not seen it to seek it out on dvd, as it is not as well known as the more famous Cherbourg film, it is in fact a perfect 60s film, which I have written about here several times already. We also get Danielle Darrieux as the girls' mother, and Michel Piccoli as her admirer.
The BFI dvd includes Agnes Varda's documentary on the film's 25 year anniversary party held at Rochefort, which sadly Francoise Dorleac was a major absentee ...

Festive cheer

Our Strictly Come Dancing marathon is finally over, with the deserving winner Ore Oduba, a BBC sports presenter who had never danced before, but he and dance partner Joanne Clifton certainly ramped up the dances in a great final with runners-up Danny Mac and Louise Redknapp. Here is Ore and Joanne's stupendous tribute to SINGIN' IN THE RAIN from the final (with Gene Kelly's widow in the audience), and we also love Danny and Oti's charleston from a few weeks back.

Other favourites are, again, Jay McGuinness and Aliona doing that inspired version of the PULP FICTION dance, which surely won it for them last year. 

We also love previous winner Louis Smith in that delicious charleston with Flavia Cacace, and back in 2011, another delicious charleston with Holly Valance and partner Artem. 

Strictly groovy

Daisy and Aljaz may have now left the STRICTLY COME DANCING marathon, but I LOVED their routine last night, a terrific dance - and dig those costumes! - to one of my favourite club classics, "Groove Is In The Heart".   Groovy baby, Their other dances were super too, now on YouTube, 

Strictly, mid-season report ...

We are now halfway through our annual dance fest STRICTLY COME DANCING, and the weaker contestants have been weeded out, so its hotting up as the best couples battle it out. My money from the word go has been on sensational Ore Oduba, whom I barely noticed as a BBC sports reporter, but the guy owns the floor and dances up a storm each week and is compulsively watchable, as is his dance partner Joanne Clifton. She and her brother Kevin (who dances with Louise Redknapp - their Argentine Tango was sensational too last week) will be very competitive to win. so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Judge Rinder and new girl Oksana are super too, but seem lost in the middle. The other great is Danny Mac - I expect him and Ore to battle it out in the final. 
Olympic athlete Greg Rutherford with the divine Natalie 'Legs' Lowe are also making up that top foursome, while the young couple Claudia and AJ are also compulsive. Its all to play for ..... and brightens up our winter weekends, while Claudia, Tess and judge Darcey (the most stylish women on British TV) ramp up the glam stakes. Each week we wonder "what will they be wearing?" ..... 
Ore and Joanne do a divine tribute to SINGIN' IN THE RAIN ...

RIP, continued ....

Andrzey Wadja (1926-2916), aged 90. The venerable Polish director whose ASHES AND DIAMONDS was an international arthouse sensation in 1958, as successful as those early Fellini and Bergman classics. He won  awards like an Honorary Oscar and the Palm D-Or, A GENERATION and KANAL were also early films, and his later films included MAN OF MARBLE, MAN OF IRON, DANTON among his extensive credits in that long career. Another of the great European directors departs ....

Jean Alexander (1926-2016), aged 90. The veteran British actress who was a mainstay on television's CORONATION STREET for decades as the busybody Hilda Ogden, complete with her hair in curlers, a turban and a pinny as she cleaned the Rovers Return pub, and berated her workshy husband Stan, a role she played from 1964 to 1987. She later did a long stint in LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE from 1988 to 2010. The extensive tributes show how well-loved she was. We always relied on Hilda for a laugh among the ongoing drama on the cobbles, Jean's creation was the equal of those other great Northern Women who dominated CORRIE in its Golden Age; Vera Duckworth, Annie Walker, Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner, Bet Lynch, Rita and Mavis etc. and dare one say Ivy Tilsley. Now we are stuck with the endless sagas of the boring Platts, Steve McDonald et al. At least Mary and snobby Sally and fab Tim provide some relief. Ta ra chuck, as Hilda would say. 

Peggy Spencer (1920-2016), aged 95. For decades the doyenne of ballroom dancing, Perhaps the current hit STRICTLY COME DANCING would not exist without her laying the groundwork through her dance competitions and ballroom teaching. She also choreographed a video for The Beatles ("Your Mother Should Know") and for Nureyev in VALENTINO. Her formation dance teams were often on television and danced for royalty and all those years of the earlier COME DANCING television shows.

Vintage Magazine Shop. We are sad to see the demise of another London legend, Brewer Street in Soho is certainly falling to the developers with a vengance. This massive store was a marvellous place to browse, buy current movie memorabilia, and their basement held an incredible stock of vintage movie and fashion magazines, (Thanks again Colin, for finding a 1959 number of "Films & Filming" which I needed to complete my collection). The shop is continuing on line, Here are some comments:

This is one of the most unusual shops in London. Perfect if you want to get a quirky gift.
As its name suggests, this is a shop selling vintage stuff but it doesn't just stop at magazines. You'll find posters, books, music, mugs and little gifts. The shop is a slightly messy treasure trove and you can lose yourself just browsing. 
It is with serious regret that on Thursday, 29-September-2016 that this Soho gem has finally closed down their doors for good. It has become yet another causality for independent shops in central London, due to the landlords obviously increasing rents, which go up every year.      

The Vintage Magazine shop will be missed immensely, and I have to say it had quite a few interesting things on offer for film fans, cinema goers and media & arts researchers, and people who simply browsing.

Strictly 2016 ...

Its that time again, when our annual television dance marathon begins for the autumn months, every weekend for the run up to Christmas. 15 hapless "celebrities" are lined up, with one already axed. We always start wondering who half of them are, but then get used to them. Its the professional dancers I like, there are some interesting new ones too. We also like a charleston, and here are two doozies from last weekend.

EASTENDERS actress Tameka Empson - we like her character Kim, though I don't watch it any more - and new boy Gorka. Boy, can they dance.

I never thought I would see ex-politician Ed Balls, who lost his seat in the last election - doing a camp burly cowboy routine, but hey, its enormous fun, and he has been kept in another week. Go, Ed. Now for some more super routines as the weeks go on, and all those ritzy costumes and glitter and fake tans. Like Anita Rani last year, BBC breakfast girl Naga Munchetty has been transformed too; she's one to watch particularly as paired with Pasha, along with Danny Mac (me neither, apparantly he was in HOLLYOAKS), Ore Oduba (another BBC presenter) and leggy Natalie Cole can do no wrong either. Lets hope her celebrity, olympic athlete Greg Rutherford, can go the distance ... previous years' highlights are at Dance label. 

RIP: Clubbing

That seems a spectacular own goal by the London licencing authorities - just as London becomes an all-night city (well, at weekends anyway for now) by the introduction of all-night underground trains they go and close the main London club for clubbers and night owls, so its RIP to renowned superclub Fabric, following all those other clubs and music venues that have closed here in the last decade or so.

I had not been to Fabric - having more or less retired from clubbing a decade or so ago, but knew and frequented others, both gay and straight, then, in London and Brighton: The End, Crash, Action, Substation in Brixton and Soho (those clubs run by Wayne Shires and Patrick Lilley), Club Colosseum, Turnmills etc. all gone now too, as well as havens like The Shadow Lounge and  Madame JoJo's in Soho. The Astoria (G-A-Y and Falconburg Court) have been demolished for the new Crossrail line, At least we still have Heaven (G-A-Y).

Soho in fact is in danger of being swept away by gentrification too. The Yard, a super gay venue, with an open courtyard and outdoor area, right in Wardour Street, has just successfully fought off another round of developers wanting to close the open space and build more luxury flats. The Royal Vauxhall Tavern (see below) at least got listed status to keep it as an entertainment and musical venue. Over the past decade over 40% of London's club;s and live music venues have closed, leaving the city a quieter and less exciting place. We do not all want to trek out to the O2 for some over-priced concert. So who is next?

Of course it is beyond tragic that two clubbers at Fabric either bought or got drugs there and fatally overdosed. It makes me realise how lucky I was in my clubbing days - but some people will always take drugs in clubs, or take them before they go in, despite all the management can do to keep the venue clean, but closing the clubs is not the answer, it only makes it all go underground and less regulated.

Nightclubbing is a large slice of London's economy and like all major cities needs its clubs and music venues.  How soon perhaps before another block of expensive flats rises on this prime real estate building?  London needs its iconic clubs like Fabric and the rest, especially if it is going to be an all-night city.
The London gay scene is constantly evolving but its astonishing to realise that a lot of the venues I knew over the last 20 years or so are no longer here: Crews, Brief Encounter, Bromptons, The Colherne, The Copacabana, The Black Cap, The Market Tavern, The London Apprentice, Escape, Barcode, Crash, 79CXR, The Queen's Head pub off the Kings Road in Chelsea (I lived near it in the '70s), etc as the 'scene' moved from Earls Court and the West End to Vauxhall and on to East London .... 

Dance dance dance

The behemoth is over for another year - BBC's STRICTLY COME DANCING ended with three worthy finalists - but we all knew Jay and Aliona were going to win after their sensationa jive some weeks back - check Dance label for video - Shame though that Anita and Gleb did not make the cut - BBC presenter Anita Rani worked so hard and was fearless in her routines - again, check Dance label - with new Russian guy Gleb - but it seems the judges were more keen to get Anton into the final, he had been in all previous series. seems Gleb's choreography was too modern for traditionalist head juge Len. Then there were Helan and Aljaz ..... here are some dazzling charlestons and Anita & Gleb's fierce take on the salsa.  
This was a great series overall with a great team - now for next year's ..... even now are various 'celebs' on the phone to their agents trying to get a slot on the show?, even though its signing up for 4 months hard slog, but some people transform themselves and their careers - who knew Georgia, who had a small part in UK soap CORONATION STREET a year or so ago - was so adorable, she should soon be a west end star.

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

A midwinter treat ...... I simply love this movie, as per reiews - Deneuve, Dorleac, Demy labels. 
Click the full-screen icon to see it widescreen.

Jacques Demy's films are awash with that particular type of French glamour, as we have noted here before, see labels. Here he dresses up Deneuve and Dorleac in those pastels for LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHFORT in 1967, turns Jacques Perrin into a blonde sailor in a sailor suit, gets George Chakiris and Grover Dale into tight trousers, and makes Danielle Darrieux a very glamours mother to the singing and dancing sisters, then there is an older Gene Kelly!

LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT is now on the BFI list of '10 Best Gay French Films" .... it may not be gay as such, but there is a definite gay sensibility here. Bliss is assured watching it in mid-winter. 

As the BFI put it: "File this one under ‘queer aesthetic’. In the most excessive of Jacques Demy’s films, he creates an infectiously cheery musical in which everyone has a ball. Catherine Deneue and Francoise Dorleac are the damsels of the title, looking for love in the sunny seaside town of Rochefort. But will any of the attractive men on offer fall for their charms?

There’s nothing explicitly gay here, but any film that shoves Jacques Perrin in a sailor suit, squeezes George Chakiris into tight white trousers and decorates itself with lavish, lurid sets definitely has a queer eye. Its relentless good nature isn’t for Scrooges, but it’s a hard heart that can’t enjoy Gene Kelly’s surprise cameo, or the vision of Deneuve in elbow-length gloves, chain-smoking while removing a chicken from the oven (trust us, it’s amazing)".

More dancing treats

How about these fantastic numbers from last week's STRICTLY COME DANCING, the BBC's top UK dance show, running from now to Christmas. Peter and Janette do a sizzling charleston, Anita (she was an amazing Maleficent last week) and Gleb delight with their jive, Georgia and snake-hipped Giovanni do a stupendous samba, while Jay and Aliona do a smouldering Argentine Tango - as good as champions Vincent and Flavia?  What will they do this week - we will see this evening.  Any of them could win ...

Strictly 2015, a progress report ...

Its that time of the year again here in the UK - as the BBC flagship programme STRICTLY COME DANCING gets into its stride as this year's intake up their game and the duds are voted off one by one, there will be some fabulous dances between now and Christmas....

We all love this number from PULP FICTION and there have been several hommages to it - but nothing tops last week's with Jay McGuinness and Aliona Villani, which got the first perfect 10 vote and in week 3! Aliona won in 2011 with Harry Judd, (see previous posts - Dance label) so we expect her and Jay to be in the final at least. 

Also shaping up nicely are Anita and show-off Gleb (here he is ripping his shirt off), 

And Georgia and Giovanni, and Anton with Katie, and Helen and Aljaz - all terrific last night and likely finalists. 
Co-presenter Claudia runs away with the show and had a hilarious moment with Aljaz .. she and judge Darcey Bussell must be the two most stylish, slinky women on television, and Natalie looked a dream in that pink ballgown, and we love weather-woman Carol and Pasha ... 12 finalists left so lots of dancing coming up ! 

Party like its 1999 ...

It looks like we won't be seeing the current eclipse, its too cloudy here in the London area, but it looks great on television from other locations ..... It is currently getting darker though as the moon passes the sun.

At least we got to see the 1999 eclipse perfectly - was that almost 16 years ago?, from the roof of my office in Regent Street, with special glasses of course. It was astonishing looking at these planets and moons aligning, almost like something out of 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY. One felt at one with the universe and how we are all part of it, even our dear departed. 

Here I am at a music festival shortly after in my special edition eclipse tee-shirt, wonder what happened to that? What a day that was ... what I can remember of it!

Lost in clubland - an occasional series

Nightclub flier from the 1990s .... this was Heaven, in London. I've been wrecked there a few times myself! 

Dermot's red nose ...

Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief. Comic Relief is one of the two high profile telethon eventsy held in the United Kingdom, the other being Children in Need, held annually in November. (says Wikipedia). 

Red Nose Day has been going for 30 years then, and has provided some great comic moments with the cream of British talent over the years, apart from all that fundraising. One feels ambivalent sometimes about celebrities and 'charidee', as one feels sometimes they are there to promote themselves or their latest work. And of course no matter now much money is raised it is never enough, as next year it is the same all over again, poverty and famine never go away - and I say that having been on a march to help Biafra back in 1968, when Melina Mercouri led us on a march to Trafalgar Square. 

This year has been a riot of fun though, with the likes of Claudia Winkelman being as ever a marvellous compere - we have had a STRICTLY COMES DANCING and A CELEBRITY BAKE-OFF (where the likes of Dane Edna, Joanna Lumley, Victoria Wood, Jennifer Saunders and Lulu did their best) for Red Nose: some brilliant sketches (loved David Walliams (who in previous years has swam the English Channel and the River Thames for Red Nose, while Eddie Izzard has ran marathons) with Catherine Tate with Professor Stephen Hawking); then there was that panel choosing the next British Treasure, and the hilarious James Bond spoof (you can keep Mr Bean...). and Dermot O'Leary danced for 24 hours which proved great fun whenever we dropped in (via the red button) to see how it was going.
Dermot, now 41, is a cheeky chappy we like, usually compering X- FACTOR and the like, the boy can move. Of course it was all managed perfectly, with dancing teams and guests brought in to keep the party going, and that guy in red was amazing, keeping Dermot going with his fantastic moves. Dermot got comfort breaks now and then, and must have flagged a lot but I know myself how one's energy levels rise and fall. He was probably punch drunk by the end though, despite pals like Jamie Oliver, Russell Tovey, Grimmy, Ronan Keating and the like popping in to encourage him (and of course Ronan did a song from his show ...). They moved out of the BBC during the day to the street outside so people could pop along and see them and take selfies with dancing Dermot. What a chap - and he raised over £660,000. The whole event raised £78 million, taking the total to a billion over the 30 years! 
See Dermot here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3cLw5ksNt0

Bolero, 1934

An exquisite treat from 1934: Carole Lombard and George Raft in BOLERO. I knew Raft had been a dancer (like Clifton Webb) but had not seen him dance before. Lombard is as divine as ever ... 

This is the story of an egotistical nightclub dance performer named Raoul, his determination to succeed at all costs, and the only woman in his life that truly matters to him, a dancing partner named Helen. (The highlight of the film is a dance performed atop a circular stage to a truncated version of Ravel's "Bolero."). Co-direted by Wesley Ruggles and an uncredited Mitchell Leisen, Lombard and Raft were doubled in the more difficult steps by Veloz & Yolanda.

Christmas treats: Strictly Come Dancing

Since October we have been enjoying the annual BBC dance competition "Strictly Come Dancing" each weekend (in America its "Dancing With The Stars"). This year's intake did not seem very interesting at first, with maybe what seemed a rather lacklustre, second tier ranking of celebrities, but it has turned out to be the most enjoyable in a long time.  What is fascinating about this series - as opposed to say "The X-Factor" is seeing how the contestants improve each week, as the no-hopers are weeded out one by one. Finally we come down to the last and best six .... and unlike that other TV juggernaut there are no fake or contrived dramas, but a lot of hard work, as people one would not normally expect to dance suddenly find their dancing feet. 

We have been entranced this year by Mark Wright (left and top, with Karen), an ITV2 Essex boy re-inventing himself and being utterly charming; the Blue boy Simon (being put through his paces by Kristina, who trained up Ben Cohen and Ben Calzaghe in previous years), and rugby player/model Thom Evans (of those French Diex De Stade calenders fame! - below right, with Iveta) who departed too early, and Jake (so obnoxious on EASTENDERS) with those amazing hip movements. The Girls have been wonderful too - another minor TV celeb Caroline Flack has stunned us, as has Frankie from The Saturdays (below left). They are all in the final this weekend.  It seems a more level playing-field now with the exit of stage-school trained Pixie Lott, who was hotly tipped to win, but the others are all new to dancing ...

We love the professional dancers too: Natalie, Aliona (who won with Harry Judd in 2011 - see Dance label), Iveta, Kristina and the departed Ola.  Shame that Flavia (who won with Louis Smith in 2012 - ditto) and Vincent are no longer with the show, and Artem has not been in this year's either. but Pasha and Aljaz (who won last year with Abbey Clancey) have more than compensated. We liked a lot of the previous dancers too: Erin Boag, Darren Bennett, Camilla Dallerup and more. I see Caroline and Pasha (below) lifting the trophy this weekend. (They did).

There were also of course the baffling contestants, this year's being Judy Murray! Poor Anton certainly gets the joker card each year .... the dances too have been marvellous, particularly those Argentine Tangos and some great ballroom moves, rumbas and charlestons. 

All their dances are on YouTube - enjoy. There is also a Christmas special on Christmas Day, with fun previous contestants like Russell Grant, and the return of Louis Smith, and of course Bruce Forsyth. This year's hit has been the wonderful Claudia Winkelman (or Claud - left) sharing duties with Tess Daly. The divine and very droll Claudia is now back and better than ever (after a family accident kept her out of the show for some weeks).   

Then there are the judges: Len, Bruno, panto villain Craig, and the most stylish woman on television: Darcey Bussell (above right). The weekly range of costumes dazzle too, as does the marvellous house band and vocalists, and the guest stars. In a world of increasing daily horrors, we need Strictly more than ever! 
The sheer logictics of the show are stupendous: 14 "celebrities" teamed with 14 professional dancers, for three months or more of hard training, and then the might of the BBC wardrobe department to come up with all those costumes, the group dances and the weekly programmes and results shows. Its glamour overdrive!  

In the Christmas show, winner Louis Smith returns and wins again with Aliona (below):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDxcF0-1zIk

while last year's professional winner Aljaz was just was as marvellous this time, with popstrel Sophie Ellis-Bextor: - right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQJ_yIDk4MY

(while Russell Grant - in blue below - amused us all again. while judge Craig was the pefect Wicked Queen! 

The blue dress and the red shoes

Just one marvellous costume from Michael Powell's THE RED SHOES that 1948 delirious movie - no wonder its a Scorsese favourite - from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger.

This particular costume was designed by Jacques Fath, a completely self-taught designer, learning his craft from studying museum exhibitions and books about fashion. He presented his first collection in 1937, and became - together with Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain - one of the three dominant influencers of postwar haute couture. 
In 1954, he died of leukemia. Thankfully he got to design some costumes for movies, He dressed Kay Kendall in GENEVIEVE and ABDULLAH THE GREAT.  She would have been ideal for his fashions (and she too died of leukemia in 1959 - as per my posts on her, Kendall label.). 

He also created this lovely outfit, in a wonderful shade of blue/sea green, for ballerina Moira Shearer. I love that dreamy scene where she wears it ascending those stairs to meet the ruthless but charismatic impressario Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) who will offer her that dream role in "The Red Shoes" ballet .... see Michael Powell/Jack Cardiff labels for more on this fantastic film, its a 1940s dreamworld where Jack Cardiff's Technicolor seems positively psychedelic - as in BLACK NARCISSUS. Moira Shearer is perfect here too - though she was later a victim of Powell's PEEPING TOM!  (right: Kay in GENEVIEVE).
Walbrook is a Person We Like here; he died in 1967 and is buried opposite Kay Kendall in that charming Hampstead cemetry I have written about here before - Walbrook label.

Falling for Fred & Ginger again ...

It was fun discovering those Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals back in the Sixties, when I was a young movie buff. Back then one either saw them if on television or we trekked along to the National Film Theatre or other revival house if they were doing a season on Fred & Ginger, like they would do on Garbo so a new generation saw them for the first time. The BFI even ran an all-night Fred & Ginger marathon which some pals and I went to (as we did to their Mae West and Marilyn all-nighters)! Now of course, these musicals are always with us on disk and tape and constant revivals, like now as our BBC screen them once again. 

My favourite has to be THE GAY DIVORCEE which I have been watching a lot this last week. particularly that "Night and Day" and "The Continental" sequences, which repay endless replays. TOP HAT is terrific too and as for that "Pick Yourself Up" number from SWING TIME (with Eric Blore) - I can simply watch it on a loop. "I Won't Dance" is from ROBERTA, 1935. The great thing watching these numbers is they are shot full frame so we see their whole bodies dancing, and with no cuts - unlike modern musicals (CHICAGO) where it is all done in the editing ...

SILK STOCKINGS from 1957 was a treat again too ... Fred and Cyd - just as good as Fred and Ginger - not only here but also THE BANDWAGON. Bring them on ...and here's that skirt Cyd wears that turns into culottes - very odd!