Hey, it’s 2021. I said I’d update this more regularly in 2013, and you actually believed me!
I’ve decided to embark on a ludicrous journey where I watch a movie I haven’t seen every single day in 2021. It’s January 1st, and it seems I have already begun!
Today, I rented Ziegfeld Follies. With a star-studded cast and no plot to follow, this made for an easy and enjoyable watch on this, the first day of 2021. Before watching this movie, I had no idea what Ziegfeld Follies were let alone who Ziegfeld was. A quick read on Wikipedia will tell you that Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. was the founder and producer of the Ziegfeld Follies Broadway shows during the early 20th century. These shows were basically a fancier vaudeville-type production featuring many well-known entertainers. The film produced in 1946 was meant to pay tribute to Ziegfeld and mimic the format of his Broadway shows.
It’s amazing to me how something that was once an important and well-loved part of popular culture can be forgotten mere decades later.
Anyway, aside from some of the problematic themes of the time (e.g. a stop-motion blackface toy singing in the beginning and Fred Astaire’s eyes being made up to make him look Chinese), I really enjoyed this movie. It gives you a glimpse into the past while entertaining you.
I’ll leave you with my favorite segment, The Babbit and the Bromide, starring the greats, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
Movie For One 