Do you ever feel like you missed your calling in life? I know I do. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the way my life turned out, but sometimes I wish I had been born 50 years earlier. I would have made one hell of a lounge singer. I could see myself sitting in a bar all night, year after year, drinking scotch and chain smoking three packs a day. Yep, I certainly would have made one hell of a lounge singer.I've started watching all of my favorite holiday films this week in preparation for Christmas. Holiday Inn is one of my top 10 favorites. What a great film! I'm not any kind of dance expert, but I've never seen someone who could move like Fred Astaire. That dude was so light on his feet that it seemed like he could glide, he was real flexible flyer. I'm pretty sure that most people know all about what kind of singer Bing Crosby was. Ever hear that duet he sang with David Bowie? Not bad.
The best scene in Holiday Inn is a battle sequence between Bing singing and Fred dancing(they also mock each other in that scene). Fred also does a 4th of July number(that's what we showman in the business call a routine) with a smoke in his mouth and fire crackers. Almost every time I'm done watching this flick I drive my wife crazy singing (I have a tendency of butchering lyrics, but I can carry a tune) and dancing(couldn't dance to save my soul).
The world seemed like a much happier place during the golden age of Hollywood. You couldn't even be an actor if you didn't smoke two cartons a week, and all the old crooners like Sinatra for example, wouldn't be caught dead in public with out a glass of scotch glued to his hand. Now in days if you smoke your treated like a leper, and most actors you see today have water in their hands instead of Scotch. They don't live any longer as far as I can tell, and they certainly don't act any better. I bet you couldn't find two guys who are currently living on this planet that could out sing, out dance or out act Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Who? Matt Damon and Ben Afflec? Give me a fucking break!
Perhaps in the near future I will drink a bottle of scotch and put up some audio posts for you. I know your just dying to hear Corky the Crooner, belt out some Christmas songs.












