Muammar Al Khadafi

It began, way back when, when I was six, seven or eight years old…

And it began with just only me…

And somehow, it has continued, a solo tradition, not spoken of, to anyone, up until now…

Maybe because there is in this classic movie, a Christmas and New Years scene that the TV Gods, whoever they have been through the years, have seen fit to air this movie at this special time…

Or, it just could be that ratings sink into the toilet around Christmastime, so heck, air an oldie-but-a-goodie that’ll eat up some airtime while we execs go feel up our secretaries at the obligatory Christmas party!

Who knows…

But when you’re young, and you’ve been raised in the country, the raison d’etre of New York City execs almost never enters your mind…

And while it’s late, and you’re supposed to be in bed, but your parents are having yet another party in the Red Room (yes, my house was that large, that we named the rooms!), and have forgotten all about you, as you lay in front of the Christmas tree in the Blue Room gazing at a black and white portable TV (oh, and by the way, the manufacturing industry’s definition of “portable” was somethin’ else in those days!), a movie comes on, the likes of which, forever changes the way you view the holiday season from that night forward…

“Showboat”, was it’s name.

Made in 1951 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring none other than the silver screen siren, Ava Garner (movie poster at top), the incomparable soprano singing actress, Kathryn Grayson, the then popular leading man/baritone, Howard Keel (poster top and at right),

 

Joe E. Brown as Showboat Captain Andy Hawks

and superb baritone, William Warfield, whose memorable rendition of “Ol’ Man River” has only ever been duplicated by baritone singer and U.S. defector to Russia, Paul Robeson, who starred in the 1936 version of the same name. (Warfield singing, photos of singer Paul Robeson below)

The movie centres around a Mississippi show boat, its entertainers and how class and colour barriers eventually affect the futures of everyone on board.

Ava Garner is the boat’s premier star until her mulatto past catches up with her when her porcelain-white skin starts to darken with age, and as a result, she is forced off the boat, a saloon singer with no future, in the end.

In this scene with Grayson, before she is ostracized, Ava sings “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” in her own voice (MGM producers disliked Ava’s sultry voice and had singer Annette Warren do the voice-over for the released movie version instead, to everyone’s criticisms, I might add!)

This movie so parodies southern American Life back then, and to a lesser degree, became the swan-song movie for many in the cast.

If you do anything on your own this season, and find yourself alone in the room in which you have your Christmas tree, lay down on the carpet, turn off the lights but for the shimmering ones on the bows, turn on the TV tube and fall into the world the movie “Showboat” depicts.

Nothing you decide to do on your own this season will ever be more fine. I promise.