The character "Pinky" Fitzgerald makes me laugh out loud. He maintains that level throughout the movie. He even holds his own with a very young and obviously mega-talented Betty Grable, which is really saying something.
"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"share
Have you seen Top Hat? Or Shall We dance. I agree that Horton is soooo funny. If you haven't, definitely check out those other two.
~Formerly known as "eowynmaiar".
Yeah, you're right. I've seen "Shall We Dance" recently, but it's been ages since I've actually watched "Top Hat." I'll have to catch it again when it's on. I think I like "The Gay Divorcee" because it was a stage show first and you can still detect that structure.
"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"share
I'd also suggest "Holiday" with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. Of course, don't miss his narration of "Fractured Fairy Tales" on the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show".
shareOhmigod! Are you serious? How hysterical.
"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"share
Oof. I was stunned at the way he wears his boxer-cut swim-shorts. Everything is hanging to the left.
It's gross and obscene.
I feel you. I just keep looking UP.
"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"share
Has there ever been any discussion as to whether Horton was himself gay? He never married, and he always played sort of effete characters, with those mannerisms, and there was all that innuendo, particularly in Gay Divorcee, what with the doll and Astaire referring to him as his aunt.
Just curious.
I don't know anything about him being Gay, but it's amazing how much more loose things were in the 1930s.
"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"share
Randolph Scott and Cary Grant living together?? Some of their 'close contact' pictures have been floating around the internet of late. Looks like they were 'out.'
shareRelationships are complicated enough and then you add the millions upon millions that an actor like Cary Grant made for the studios and I bet he could have been shacked up with Frances the Talking Mule and no one would have batted an eye.
Besides, things we see as gay nowadays weren't perceived that way in the past.....I hear.
"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"share
In a May 1935 letter to his sister Adele, Fred Astaire writes: "If you are in London when Ed Everett Horton is I told him to call you up. He leaves here in June and he is the nicest person--so be sweet to him. He is in this picture [Top Hat] and is so swell. I believe old Ed is a little bit of a pansy . . . doesn't quite know himself--however--do not camp with him--he is apt not to understand--I mean do not poke anything at him!! You'll adore him."
Talking about his swimsuit, I just saw an exhibit at the Wolfsonian Museum in South Beach that showed swimsuits through the ages and the suits from the 1930s were amazing. No support whatsoever for women. It was unreal how revealing things were in the 1930s.
"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"share
In general, it is unreal how tightly clinched we are about this now. The 30's were a very relaxed time, compared to today's strict rules about "support", coverage, and not even have clothing that hints at lack of "support".
shareI really don't spend much time at all in museums, so I don't want to give that impression, but there was another exhibit I saw in Palm Beach called Cocktail Culture that backed you up on that. The exhibit was really about post Prohibition but the subtext was people realizing in the Depression that the institutions had failed them and they were ready for some rule breaking
"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"share
Re E.E.Horton's swim shorts. I've just looked at a picture of that scene in the 'Starring Fred Astaire' film book. I had never studied the photo before reading your post. I'll just say that it looks weird. Check it out carefully anybody who has access to that book at some time. It's the bottom picture on Page 71.
shareWhen they made him, they broke the mold. Just terrific.
"I say,open this door at once! We're British !"
I've never seen him this way before. He kept up with Betty Grable in the film very well. His knock knees dance with her is great fun.
shareHis facial expressions are always fantastic, particularly when he does those double-takes when it's taken his characters a moment to realise they've just been insulted. I love his scene with Eric Blore in this. 'Animal or vegetable'...'No.'
I saw Top Hat before The Gay Divorce and, while he's great in that, it was cool to see him get to join in the dancing with Let's Knock Knees.