Tuesday, January 24, 2017 – La La Land

Tuesday, January 24, 2017 – La La Land

I guess I will use my senior discount and go see what this La La Land movie is all about. What was the last musical to win the Academy Award for Best Picture? Bonus question: What year?

Let’s take a back stage look at the ten musicals to win Best Picture. And of course here’s what I’m thinking each one.

1. The Broadway Melody – 1929. Not to be confused with The Wall Street Melody of Doom.
2. The Great Ziegfeld – 1936. Wow! Same year as Nazi Olympics
3. Going My Way – 1944. A Bing Sing!
4. American in Paris – 1951. Come on! It’s G. Gershwin songs with, Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron singing and dancing and directed by Vincent Minnelli– ‘S Wonderful. ‘S Marvelous.
5. Gigi – 1958. Thank Heaven for Little Girls! More French singing and dancing and lots of champagne.
6. West Side Story – 1961- Puerto Ricans singing “All things are free in America!”
7. My Fair Lady – 1964. Illiterate flower street vendor is made over by a narscisstic misogynist and accepted into London high society. Great songs.
8. The Sound of Music – 1965- more Nazis, but great music.
9. Oliver – 1968 – British movie about street urchins, pick pockets, poverty, hunger, an abused woman beaten to death. Delightful songs.

And the last musical to win the Oscar for Best Picture

10. Chicago – 2002. “He had it coming; he had it coming; he only had himself to blame…”

Maybe La La Land will take the golden statue this year for Best Picture. What? It is not about the Trump Administration? Sorry, that was an alternate fact.