"Purple Blossoms" - A Short Story by Carol Shields-8 pages- Included in The Collected Short Stories of Carol Shields- 2004 -
This year, Buried in Print, a marvelous blog I have followed for over ten years,is doing a read through of the short stories of Carol Shields. I hope to participate fully in this event.
http://www.buriedinprint.com/
“Her stories have given me happiness, not just pleasure. They delight me at first by the clear and simple elegance with which they’re made. Then there’s something so bountiful and surprising about them, like the beautiful broken light of a prism.” —Alice Munro
The more I read in the stories of Carol Shields the more grateful I am to Buried in Print for turning me on to her work. There are sixty some stories in the collection,it is my hope to read and post on them all in 2024.
"Purple Blossoms" is the seventth story by Carol Shields I have so far had the great delight in reading.
Like all the previous stories "Purple Blossoms" centers around a literary work important to the central character.
"THERE IS A BOOK I LIKE by the Mexican poet Mario Valeso, who, by coincidence, lives here in this city and who, in the evening, sometimes strolls down this very street. The book is entitled Purple Blooms and it is said to resolve certain perplexing memories of the poet’s childhood. It is a work that is full of tact, yet it is tentative, off-balance, dark and truncated—and it is just this lack of finish that so moved me the first time I read it. I gave a copy of the book to my friend Shana, who’s been “going through a bad time,” as she puts it. People who meet her are generally struck by her beauty. She’s young, well-off and in excellent health, yet she claims that the disconnectedness of life torments her. Everything makes her sad. Lilacs make her sad. Chopin makes her sad. The thought of rain falling in a turbulent and empty ocean makes her sad."
There is an interesting plot which I will leave untold.
Another wonderful story.
The Carol Shields Literary Trust Website has an excellent biography
https://www.carol-shields.com/biography.html
Cover Girl is a 1944 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Charles Vidor, and starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. The film tells the story of a chorus girl given a chance at stardom when she is offered an opportunity to be a highly paid cover girl.
If you like beautiful women, especially if Rita Hayworth entralls you, then Cover Girl is for you. Gene Kelly plays her on and off boyfriend.
Primarily a showcase for Hayworth, the film has lavish modern and 1890s costumes, eight dance routines for Hayworth, and songs by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin, including "Long Ago (and Far Away)".
Cover Girl was Columbia's first Technicolor musical, and songwriter Arthur Schwartz's first venture into producing.
Queen's Throat Opera, Homosexuality And The Mystery Of Desire by Wayne Koestenbaum- 1993 - 272 Pages
"This passionate love letter to opera, lavishly praised and nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award when it was first published, is now firmly established as a cult classic. In a learned, moving, and sparklingly witty melange of criticism, subversion, and homage, Wayne Koestenbaum illuminates mysteries of fandom and obsession, and has created an exuberant work of personal meditation and cultural history." From The Publisher
Wayne Koestenbaum's book is beyond amazing. It is now a classic, about opera, the meaning of camp, growing up Gay in America.
Susan Sontag (-read her notes on camp) saw Opera as high camp striving to be high art. koestenbaum's reflections on the nature of camp are very illuminating.
"Susan Sontag defined "camp" as the anarchic jolt we experience in the face of artistic artifacts that try to be serious and fail. But it is not the object's or the artist's failure that makes the artifact campy: the camp sensation is produced by our own joy in having discovered the object, in having been chosen, solicited, by it...I'm grateful, however, for the world's silence, for the privacy in which I study the image of Nellie Melba telegraphing "Either Alda or myself ' to the conductor Cleofonte Cam-panini. It's more sublime and more camp to keep quiet about joy and then rescue the story later, once everyone else has abandoned it. The pleasure I take in diva lore ("This moment, this aside, this tableau is useless and therefore I claim it as mine!")" From the Book
(I would personally expand the notions of Camp to include Arnold Zifiel and the Adamms Family)
"A love for opera, particularly on record, is a nostalgic emotion, and gay people are imagined to be a uniquely and tragically nostalgic population-regressive, committed to dust and souvenirs. A record, a memento, a trace of an absence, suits the quintessentially gay soul, whose tastes are retro and whose sexuality demands a ceaseless work of recollection: because queers do not usually have queer parents, queers must invent precedent and origin for their taste, and they are encouraged, aged, by psychoanalytic models, to imagine homosexuality as a matter of trauma and adaptation." From the Book
"opera seemed campy and therefore available to gay audiences only when it had become an outdated art form, sung in foreign languages, with confused, implausible plots. Opera's apparent distance from contemporary life made it a refuge for gays, who were creations of modern sexual systems, and yet whom society could not acknowledge or accommodate. Opera is not very real. But gayness has never been admitted..into the precincts of reality. And so gays may seek out art that does not respect the genuine.into the precincts of reality. And so gays may seek out art that does not respect the genuine."
About the author
Wayne Koestenbaum is the author of six collections of poetry including Model Homes, published by BOA in 2004. Koestenbaum writes frequently for periodicals, including The New York Times Magazine, Parnassus: Poetry in Review, and the London Review of Books. He is also an art critic, participating in panels at the Whitney Museum of American Art, contributing regularly to Artforum. He is a tenured professor of English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
If you are interested in Opera, LGBTQ life in America before anyone used this expression I highly endorse Queen's Throat Opera, Homosexuality And The Mystery Of Desire by Wayne Koestenbaum-
"Can-Can" was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $10 million at the box office. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Music, Score and Best Song ("C'est Magnifique"). The film is known for its lavish costumes, catchy songs, and energetic dance numbers.
Here are some of the things that make "Can-Can" a memorable film:
The music: The film features a score of classic Cole Porter songs, including "I Love Paris," "C'est Magnifique," and "It's Alright with Me."
The dancing: The can-can numbers are energetic and exciting, and the choreography is top-notch.
The performances: The cast is uniformly excellent, with MacLaine delivering a particularly charming performance as Simone.
The setting: The film captures the beauty and charm of 19th-century Paris.
Silk Stockings follows Ninotchka Yoschenko (Cyd Charisse), a stern and dedicated Soviet commissar sent to Paris to retrieve three defecting composers. However, Ninotchka's rigid communist ideals are challenged by the city's vibrant atmosphere and the seductive charms of American producer Steve Canfield (Fred Astaire). As she experiences the freedom and luxury of Parisian life, Ninotchka begins to question her beliefs and finds herself falling for Steve
It is based on the 1955 stage musical of the same name, which had been adapted from the film Ninotchka (1939).
The film was choreographed by Eugene Loring and Hermes Pan.
The plot revolves around an American producer who tries to convince a respected Russian music composer to score his next movie.
The composer is immediately charmed by the excess of Parisian nightlife and refuses to return to Russia.
Moscow dispatches a frigid bureaucrat to retrieve the wayward composer.
It was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, for Best Film and Best Actress (Charisse).
The film was a critical and commercial success, and is considered one of the best musical films of the 1950s. It is also notable for its use of Technicolor, which helped to create a lush and vibrant visual style.
It was the last musical film that Astaire made for MGM.
Charisse was originally hesitant to take on the role of Ninotchka, but she eventually agreed and gave one of her best performances.
The film was shot on location in Paris, which added to its authenticity.
The film's score was nominated for an Academy Award, but it lost to the score for The King and I.
Available on Tubi
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a 1949 American comedy musical film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and William Bendix
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is a musical fantasy comedy based on Mark Twain's 1889 novel of the same name. It stars Bing Crosby as Hank Martin, a 19th-century mechanic who is knocked unconscious and wakes up in 6th-century Camelot. He uses his modern knowledge to impress the king and the people, but he also gets into trouble with the evil magician Merlin
Bing Crosby's performance: Crosby is charming and charismatic as Hank Martin, and his singing voice is in top form.The film features a number of catchy songs by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke, including "If You Stub Your Toe on the Moon" and "Busy Doing Nothing."
The film is full of funny moments, both physical and The film is a lot of fun to watch, as Hank Martin uses his modern knowledge to get himself out of jams and impress the people of Camelot
The King and I is a 1956 American musical film, Starring Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno and Deborah Kerr - Directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck
It is based on the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name
The film tells the story of Anna Leonowens, a widowed British schoolteacher who travels Siam in 1862 to become the governess for the many children of King Mongkut. Anna clashes with the King's stubborn and traditional ways, but she also begins to develop a grudging respect for him. As they work together to bridge the cultural gap between them
The film was a critical and commercial success, winning five Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Yul Brynner
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical drama film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Roy Scheider
Bob Fossee (1927 to 1987)
directed these films
Sweet Charity - 1969
Cabaret - 1972
Lenny - 1974
All That Jazz - 1979
Star 80 - 1983
All That Jazz centers around Joe Gideon (played by a phenomenal Roy Scheider), a driven and talented choreographer-director juggling multiple projects: a demanding Broadway musical, a Hollywood film in post-production, and his failing health. As he pushes himself to the limit, fueled by cigarettes, pills, and fleeting relationships, the film delves into the themes of self-destruction, workaholism, mortality, and the price of achieving artistic excellence.
All That Jazz" is considered a semi-autobiographical work, heavily influenced by Fossee's own experiences in the entertainment industry. His signature style, characterized by sharp angles, stark lighting, and intricate choreography, permeates every frame. The film's innovative editing techniques and fantastical musical numbers further solidify Fossee's status as a visionary
The film garnered widespread critical acclaim, winning the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival and receiving nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Scheider.
Guys and Dolls - A 1955 Musical Comedy Starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and Vivian Blaine - directed by Joseph Mankiewicz
Available on YouTube
Based on: The 1950 Broadway musical, which was in turn based on short stories by Damon Runyon
Cast:
Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson
Frank Sinatra as Nathan Detroit
Jean Simmons as Sarah Brown
Vivian Blaine as Miss Adelaide
Plot: Gambler Nathan Detroit tries to secure a location for his illegal craps game by making a bet with Sky Masterson. Sky must take the uptight missionary Sarah Brown on a date to Cuba in exchange for $1,000. Meanwhile, Nathan's long-suffering fiancée, Miss Adelaide, dreams of settling down and getting married.
Reception: The film was a critical and commercial success, winning two Academy Awards for Best Music Score and Best Song ("Luck Be a Lady").
"This ability to strike two such different chords at once is not only high art, it’s also the essence of Carol Shields’ writing—the iridescent, often hilarious surfaces of things, but also their ominous depths. The shimmering pleasure boat, all sails set, skimming giddily across the River Styx. Carol Shields died on July 16, 2003 at her home in Victoria, British Columbia, after a long battle with cancer. She was sixty-eight. The enormous media coverage given to her and the sadness expressed by her many readers paid tribute to the high esteem in which she was held in her own country, but her death made the news all around the world. Conscious as she was of the vagaries of fame and the element of chance in any fortune, she would have viewed that with a certain irony, but she would also have found it deeply pleasing. She knew about the darkness, but, both as an author and as a person, she held on to the light. “She was just a luminous person, and that would be important and persist even if she hadn’t written anything,” said her friend and fellow author Alice Munro." From the introduction by Margaret Atwood
Buried in Print, a marvelous blog I have followed for over ten years, is doing a 2024
read through of the short stories of Carol Shields.
http://www.buriedinprint.com/
I hope to read and post on all the stories, 63, in the collection.
In today's story, "Sailors Lost at Sea", fourteen year old Helene and her mother, from Manitoba, are staying in an ancient town in France, St. Quay. Her mother is a well known poet to whom the Canadian government has given a grant to spend a year in France writing.
I do not plan to say much about the plot action of the stories. Their joy is in the exquisite prose and the highly interesting people who populate them.
Hélène and her mother had never intended to spend the whole of the year in St. Quay. They had planned to travel, to drift like migrants along the edges of the country. (La France has the shape of a hexagon, Hélène has been taught in the village school; this fact is repeated often, as though it carries mystical significance.) Instead of traveling, they had attached themselves like barnacles—this was how Hélène’s mother put it—to this quiet spot on the channel coast, and Hélène had enrolled in the local school. There was a very good reason for this, her mother surprised her by saying. “The only way to get the feel of the country is to become a part of it.” Of course, as Hélène now knew, and as her mother would soon discover, it was not possible at all for them to become part of the community. Everywhere they went, to the boulangerie, to the post office, everywhere, there was a rustle and a whisper that went before them, announcing, just behind the weak smiles of welcome, “Ah, les Canadiennes!” It made Hélène feel weak; she always was having to compose herself, to imagine how she must look from the outside. In St. Quay there were a number of old churches, though the largest, a church dating from the thirteenth century, had been torn down ten years earlier. It had been replaced with a brown brick building that was square and ugly like a factory, and distressingly empty, distressing, that is, to the local priest."
Something exciting does happen,to my surprise, the Mother has a romantic interest back in Manitoba and Helene gets in a scary situation.
The Carol Shields Literary Trust Website has an excellent biography
https://www.carol-shields.com/biography.html
Victor-Victoria - A 1982 Musical directed by Blake Edwards- Starring Julie Andrews and James Garner - Set in Paris
A marvelous very engaging showcase for the talents of Julie Andrews
Struggling to find work, Victoria (Julie Andrews) meets a down-and-out songwriter. Together, they hatch a scheme to create a new act: Victoria will masquerade as a man named "Count Victor Grazinski," who in turn performs as a female impersonator named "Victoria." The act becomes a sensation, but complications arise when both a Chicago gangster and Toddy himself fall in love with Victoria.
Victor/Victoria was a critical and commercial success. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning Best Original Score. Julie Andrews received praise for her performance, earning her a Golden Globe nomination.
Moulin Rouge - A 2001 Movie Musical Directed by Baz Luhrmann - starring Nicole Kidman- Set in Paris
Moulin Rouges features songs from various artists and time periods, and is loosely based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera La traviata. The film tells the story of Christian, a young English writer who comes to Paris and falls in love with Satine, a beautiful courtesan who stars at the Moulin Rouge nightclub.
The film was a critical and commercial success, winning two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and three BAFTA Awards.
The music: The film's soundtrack is a mix of popular songs from the 19th century to the late 20th century, and it is one of the most iconic soundtracks of all time. The music is used to great effect in the film, and it helps to create a sense of energy and excitement.
The film features a stellar cast, including Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent, and Richard Roxburgh. Kidman is particularly good as Satine, and she gives a heartbreaking performance.
The film is visually stunning, with its use of vibrant colors, elaborate costumes, and stunning sets. The film is a feast for the eyes, and it helps to create a sense of the world of the Moulin Rouge.
The story of Moulin Rouge! is a classic love story, but it is told in a unique and original way. The film is both romantic and tragic.
