2014 has been jam-packed with anniversaries significant to classic film lovers. The year has marked not only the on-screen centennial of Chaplin's "Little Tramp," but also the centenary birth dates of many silver (and Technicolor) screen luminaries including Alec Guinness, Hedy Lamarr, Ida Lupino, Tyrone Power, Jane Wyman and Richard Widmark. 2014 also marks the diamond anniversary of the premiere of Gone with the Wind 75 years ago in December, 1939. And 70 years ago On the Town, the musical that catapulted the writing team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green to fame, made its much-heralded debut on Broadway in December, 1944. The pair went on to script its 1949 screen adaptation as well as screenplays for Singin' in the Rain (1952), Auntie Mame (1958) and more.
There's been much to celebrate, and the revelry continues.
IN HOLLYWOOD
Beginning November 14 the Hollywood Museum in the fabled Max Factor Building pays tribute to "Tyrone Power: Man, Myth & Movie Idol," a celebration of Power's centennial year. The exhibit will feature a wide-ranging assortment of never before shown items collected by family, friends, private collectors and the Hollywood Museum. Exhibit highlights include costumes Power wore in some of his best-known films, including the matador "suit of lights" from Blood and Sand (1941) and a pair of embroidered pants from The Mark of Zorro (1940); costumes worn by his leading ladies and co-stars, including pieces from In Old Chicago (1937), Marie Antoinette (1938), Nightmare Alley (1947) and The Long Gray Line (1955). Personal mementos and photos will also be on display as well as copies of Power's scripts - from his own collection - for Love is News (1937), In Old Chicago (1937), Blood and Sand (1941) and The Razor's Edge (1946), along with lobby cards, posters, press kits, press books and sheet music from songs from his many films. Check the museum website or call 323.464.7776 for more information.
As the Hollywood Museum launches its Power exhibit, the Movie Memories Foundation is set present two of Tyrone Power's most popular films - Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) on Friday, November 14, and Captain from Castile (1947) on Saturday, November 15 - in celebration of his centennial year at Hollywood's Barnsdall Gallery Theater. Click here for ticket information.
For more on the life and career of Tyrone Power, see Remembering Tyrone Power. If you happened to miss the blogathon I co-hosted on Ty's 100th birthday, May 5, check out Power-Mad.
IN NEW YORK
On the Town, original Broadway cast performance, 1945
On the Town, Broadway 2014
Just about exactly 75 years after On the Town debuted on Broadway, a revival - the third since the original production - is lighting up the Great White Way once more. Boasting book and lyrics by Comden & Green, music by Leonard Bernstein, choreography by Jerome Robbins and directed by George Abbott, On the Town opened to jubilant raves in 1944. Revivals in 1971 and 1998 weren't especially well-received, but Ben Brantley of The New York Times has greeted the 2014 production with a five-star review, rejoicing, in part, "Designed in a spectrum of jelly-bean hues that makes vintage Technicolor look pallid, this is a parallel-universe New York in which hectic urban life acquires the pace and grace of a storybook ballet. It's a bustling, jostling cartoon that also floats like a swan..." Even Adolph Green's son, Adam, thinks that director "John Rando's new On the Town...seems to have gotten it just right."
On the Town is at the Lyric Theatre in Manhattan now through May 2015. Planning to be in New York, New York (it's a helluva town) during the musical's run? Click here for ticket information. If not, watching the Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly film adaptation one more time seems a fine way to observe On the Town's 70th birthday.
On the Town onscreen, 1949
