Melanie has questions, I have fun answering them. Heh heh heh…
When you were a kid, did you eat the crusts on your sandwich or not? I sure did. In fact, I’d make sandwiches out of the heels (the ends of the loaf), the part that most people throw away. As Charlie Brown used to say in one of the many commercials for Butternut Bread (it might have had a different name where you are, such as Weber’s or Mrs. Karl’s; the bag had like a gingham print on it), "I like crusts. They make your hair curly." Sadly, I was unable to find that particular commercial, so here’s another featuring Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy as "The Prince of Sandwiches."
Are you a fan of musicals—why or why not? Love them! Some of the greatest music of all time was composed for musicals. Some examples: Cole Porter, "Anything Goes," from the 1934 show of the same name.
Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, "The Way You Look Tonight," from 1936’s Swing Time.
Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, "One More For The Road," from 1943’s The Sky’s The Limit.
And those are just three examples of literally thousands of songs composed for musicals. It’s some of the greatest music of all time.
Is it difficult to do what you did? I was a trainer and a technical person during my career. Neither one is especially difficult. Both require being quick on your feet (i.e. being able to formulate an answer as someone is asking a question), and both require the patience of Job at times. Knowing the answer is less important than knowing where to find the answer. As far as leraning the material or developing the skill, you need to take the approach of eating an elephant: one bite at a time.
What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to? Stephane Grappelli at Massey Hall in Toronto. Grappelli was a jazz violinist who played with Django Reinhardt in the ’30’s and ’40’s, which you probably knew already. He was pretty old and feeble when he stepped onto the stage, but when he started, it was Paris in the 1930’s again. He finished the show with this…
Didn’t miss a note…
Sorry for the dearth of GIF’s. Let’s see what I can do to make it up…
And with that…
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
This makes my day!
The bread was called Buttercrust here and every year in grade school that was a field trip for one of the classes. Couldn’t wait for our turn. The tour of the bakery ended with a slice of still warm bread! We can still get Buttercrust bread but the bakery moved out of town several years back.
I’m with you on musicals! They’re great!! You picked some classics.
Memes are great today. The elephant is my favorite!!
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I rank George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Sigmund Romberg, Henry Mancini, etc. among the greatest composers the world has known, and lyricists like Dorothy Fields, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Johnny Mercer et al. among the greatest poets. They brought happiness to the world at times when we need it the most. Like now…
We had a couple of local bakeries in Chicago that made wonderful bread. The Holsum bakery in particular: they had outlet stores where they would sell their day-old bread and rolls at heavily discounted prices. When I was at home, Mom would go there and buy all kinds of bread, then bring it home and freeze it. When you’re talking a quarter for a loaf that retails for 50 cents, that’s a huge savings. And the bread was great.
I especially liked the pink hi-tops on the elephant…
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That’s exactly it! Happiness when people most need it. I think it will have a musical stream weekend!
We did same taking day old bread and freezing it. I especially liked that we could get hostess or dolly madison sweets there too.
Otherwise mom said they were too expensive. I loved tagging along with her, the place smelled so good!!! A scent I won’t forget. Different from the daily bakery. Pretty sure no one does that anymore.
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Those were the days, when every city had bakeries and dairies because they couldn’t ship like they can now.
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I sometimes ate the crust and sometimes I didn’t.
You know me and musicals..I agree with everything you said. Fred was 44 when he dis that last number. He loved playing drums and often tapped like a drummer.
I love the last piece and you were lucky to see him. I have to say I loved seeing Andre Rieu in concert because he goes all out and it’s just beautiful. The last time we saw him was in 2008 and I was lucky to bring my mom with me.
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Astaire was a real entertainer. He could sing, dance, act, be funny, and he looked good doing all of the above. I liked him in “Finian’s Rainbow” and as the narrator of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” (I think that’s the one). Completely out of character for him.
Have you ever been to Massey Hall (is that where you saw Andre Rieu)? That’s a great old theater. They don’t make them like that anymore…
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love the Fred Astaire clips.
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Me, too. I didn’t want to show so much Astaire, but he was in all those movies with Ginger, Eleanor Powell, Rita Hayworth, Cyd Charisse… I’m sorry I didn’t share an Irving Berlin musical, but I was starting to fall down a rabbit hole….
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Always ate the crust.
Good answers, as always, John.
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Thanks!
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Ate the whole piece of bread as a kid, I believe we ate a lot of Stroehmann Bread.
❤️ musicals from the ’30’s till present day. Two film favorites are Animal Crackers & Hair.
Best concert ever Tina Turner 1992 Allentown Fairgrounds
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I forgot that the Marx Brothers movies were musicals! Thanks for reminding me!
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Not all of em,just the early ones.
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