Tuesday, March 30, 2021

How Patrick Swayze and Stacy Widelitz wrote the song "She's Like the Wind"


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About Stacy Widelitz

Growing up in Plainview, NY, I started playing music the way so many others have over the years: I signed up for band. It was 4th grade, and I wanted to learn the cello but — to my great disappointment — was assigned the flute instead. My parents rented one, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. After a month of frustration, the band director sent me home with a note to my parents: “Please return the flute to the music store. I am dropping Stacy from the band program, as he exhibits no musical ability whatsoever.”

A few months later, my father picked up an old upright piano which he put in the basement. When my 14-year-old cousin, a classical piano prodigy, came to visit, he sat down and started playing Chopin. I was enthralled. Seeing my interest, he said, “Let’s see if I can teach you something.” Using a Schaum method book, we went through the first ten weeks of lessons in an hour, and I was hooked. So began a much more productive relationship than the one I had with the flute (not to mention a deep mistrust of academic music programs).

By 15, I was in Local 802 of the AF of M, playing clubs on Long Island. At 19, I started writing music for a small studio in Stamford, CT, quitting college soon after to focus on composing. I landed my first national TV theme at 24, for The Richard Simmons Show. The show became a hit, and it was time for me to switch coasts and make the big move to Los Angeles.

In LA, I scored more daytime TV themes and eventually some prime-time shows. But I couldn’t get an agent. Finally, I scored a UCLA graduate film called Chicken Thing. It was a huge success, winning 30 awards around the world. The director got picked up by CAA, and I signed with Triad Artists.

Along the way, I met this actor named Patrick Swayze. It turned out we lived around the block from each other, and we became friends. He had an idea for a song and asked if I would work on it with him. That idea became “She’s Like The Wind,” which ended up being licensed for a little low-budget film called Dirty Dancing. ....

Thursday, March 25, 2021

The Catskills on the Big and Small Screen


The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:
We're Going to the Catskills



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Sweet Lorraine


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Dirty Dancing


Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Episodes 11 - 12

 Episodes 1 - 5, Episodes 6-10

This series is brilliant !!!!!

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Episode 11


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Episode 12


The 1952 Movie "Everything I Have Is Yours"

 The 1952 movie Everything I Have Is Yours tells a story of a married couple who are professional dancers. The two characters -- Chuck and Pamela Hubbard -- are played by an actual married couple of professional actor-dancers -- Gower Champion and Marge Champion

In the movie's story, the Hubbards have just opened a Broadway dancing show in which they are the stars. Right after the show's opening night, however, Pamela learns that she is pregnant. Pamela immediately is replaced by her understudy, a character named Sybil Meridan (played by the actress-dancer Monica Lewis).

The Hubbards buy a home in Connecticut, where Pamela stays home (far from Broadway) as a housewife-mother. Meanwhile, Chuck and Monica star successfully in a series of Broadway dance shows. After about four years, Pamela decides to resume her dancing career. Pamela's decision leads to her divorce from Chuck. At the end of the movie, Pamela and Chuck reconcile. They will resume their marriage as Pamela continues her dancing career. 

I had never heard of this movie until it was broadcast recently on the TCM cable-television channel. I liked the movie very much. The movie is full of great dancing, beautiful clothes and bright colors. 

I assume that the movie authentically portrays the lifestyle of the real-life Champions  at the beginning of the 1950s. The Champions obviously earned a lot of money as performers, choreographers and producers on Broadway and in Hollywood. Also, the Champions were familiar with the situations that developed when a pregnancy occurs within a couple of professional dancers. If the woman became pregnant, then she interrupted her career to give birth and raise the baby. In this movie, there is no mention of abortion as an option. 

The following YouTube videos show the movie's trailer and several dance numbers. 

 


The below videoclip takes place after a late-night rehearsal for the new Broadway play. Not knowing yet that she is pregnant, Pamela does not feel well, and so Chuck tries to cheer her up.  (This scene is somewhat similar to the Gene Kelly's rain scene in the movie <i>Dancing in the Rain</i> which also was released in 1952.)


The below videoclip takes place about four years after Pamela has given birth. Chuck brings a group of his Broadway colleagues to the family home in Connecticut for a party. To entertain everyone, Sybil sings a song.  


After Sybil sings her song, Pamela performs a song a dance that she has been practicing in her still secret plan to resume her acting-dancing career.


As their divorce is being finalized, Pamela fantasizes about her regretful relationship with Chuck.


Episodes 1 - 5

Episode 1

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Episode 2


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Episode 3

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Episode 4

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Episode 5


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Episodes 6 - 10

Episodes 1 - 5

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Episode 6


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Episode 7



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Episode 8



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Episode 9


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Episode 10


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Episodes 11 - 12

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Jones Jewelry Crafts Jamie Jones

 Jones Jewelry Crafts Jamie Jones

I’m a proud mom and nana. I live for my family. I’m also a DIY Party Planner for 10 years who’s trying to make my business grow Jones Event and I also make jewelry and I would love to share what I know on Youtube because it’s helped me a lot and I’m hoping to help someone trying to get started and not be to stressed out and stop, because it takes time. It’s not something you can perfect over night. I’m hoping to help.

My jewelry company is Jones jewelry crafts. I really hope you like the videos. I’ll try to post as many as I can to show you different things to make from rings to earrings. Here’s my link to my shop https://www.Etsy.com/shop/JonesJewelryCrafts

I’m also the Administrator for the group on Facebook, Fans of Patrick Swayze and remembering Patrick Swayze forever. I have some videos but I have a lot more photos and they’re on my group page. I would love for you to check it out.






Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Found Snapshots of a Secret 1960s Crossdressing Resort in the Catskills

 The webpage on the website Messy Nessy begins as follows:

If you were to journey to Jewett, NY today, you would find yet another semi-abandoned white hamlet, deep in the hillside, ramshackle and in need of a facelift. Nothing out of the ordinary to the naked eye, but delve further into this particular dwelling’s history and you’ll discover that it was here, almost 60 years ago, in this otherwise extraneous dwelling, where dozens of men found a safe haven to learn all the intricacies of femininity as a form of relaxation and release. Welcome to Casa Susanna, which incidentally, is now up for sale…

“Catskills” is a name that has become synonymous with the good old American ideal. We’ve come to associate the New York mountain ranges with an image of blissful 1950s domesticity; the all-American family summer spent in quaint log cabins, kids splashing happily in a lake, couples learning ballroom dancing with exacting propriety, Moms getting their hair done at the salon wearing pearls and twin sets and Dads in starched pants playing golf. Ring any Dirty Dancing bells? The one thing you wouldn’t have considered amongst this stereotypical visualisation of a family holiday resort is the existence of a safe haven for hyper glamorous cross-dressers, sipping tea, playing bridge and posing for enchanting portraits in chic cocktail gowns. And that is where Casa Susanna comes in.

More photos and text on the webpage