Having slept for eighteen hours, basically missing Saturday, I was wide-ish awake when TMC aired "Roberta", the third pairing of Rogers and Astaire and the last in which they'd not receive top billing. The top honors in this outing went to Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott who left the dancing to their betters. Tucked into the sofa with the baby Nuala by my side, I was loving the chance to finally see this movie that has eluded me for years and thoroughly enjoying the whole affair until Irene let rip with her rendition of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes". Having suffered through two previous operatic outings by Miss Dunne with polite and adorable head tilts, this proved to be the last straw for the baby Nuala who proceeded to let loose a wail of her own - with perfect pitch, I might add - which brought my house down. Actually grateful for the distraction, I managed to calm all three dogs down enough to let them quietly check the back yard for the source of that dog awful sound while I hit the replay on the tivo to catch what I missed, thumb firmly on the mute button.
Don't get me wrong, I love Irene Dunne. A lovely woman who was always the smartest one in the room in some of the best comedies of the thirties, I've been enchanted by her presence often. And I'm sure that her vocal skills were admirable in her time but her time was definitely not around 1 am on August 17, 2008.
So, I pulled out The Platters' rendition of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" from twenty years later or fifty three years ago. Listening to Tony William's magical tenor wrapped around that beautiful lyric it occurred to me that this, too, would be found hysterical to someone hearing it for the first time. This realization made me feel quite old.
For the record, the baby Nuala recommends The Platters' version and I recommend "Roberta". Just keep your finger on the mute button if your sharing the sofa with persnickety pup.
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