Laurel, but not Nebraska

Wed., February 26, 2003 - Mary took me to have my hair-do and Zoya brought me home -- we had planned to have lunch together but she wasn't feeling too well.  Went to Book Club in evening.

Thurs., February 27, 2003 - Called Marjorie C. -- today is her birthday.  Tom came in the evening for the usual reasons.  We played 2 games of Rummikub.

Fri., February 28, 2003 - Went to the movies in the library this evening.  Saw a Laurel & Hardy show and also a Roy Rogers show.  Called Helen.

And here's some information on Laurel and Hardy, most of which I absolutely did not know.  From Wikipedia:

    "Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the silent era, they later successfully transitioned to "talkies". From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy's pompous bully.  Their signature theme song, known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos" (by Hollywood composer T. Marvin Hatley) was heard over their films' opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats.

    Prior to emerging as a team, both had well-established film careers. Laurel had acted in over 50 films, and worked as a writer and director, while Hardy was in more than 250 productions. Both had appeared in The Lucky Dog (1921), but were not teamed at the time. They first appeared together in a short film in 1926, when they signed separate contracts with the Hal Roach film studio.  They officially became a team in 1927 when they appeared in the silent short Putting Pants on Philip. They remained with Roach until 1940, and then appeared in eight B movie comedies for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1945.  After finishing their film commitments at the end of 1944, they concentrated on performing stage shows, and embarked on a music hall tour of England, Ireland and Scotland. They made their last film in 1950, a French-Italian co-production called Atoll K.

    They appeared as a team in 107 films, starring in 32 short silent films, 40 short sound films, and 23 full-length feature films. They also made 12 guest or cameo appearances, including in the Galaxy of Stars promotional film of 1936.  On December 1, 1954, they made their sole American television appearance, when they were surprised and interviewed by Ralph Edwards on his live NBC-TV program 'This Is Your Life'. Since the 1930s, their works have been released in numerous theatrical reissues, television revivals, 8-mm and 16-mm home movies, feature-film compilations, and home videos. In 2005, they were voted the seventh-greatest comedy act of all time by a UK poll of professional comedians. The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is The Sons of the Desert, after a fictitious fraternal society in the film of the same name."

Sounds like winter for certain

Sun., February 23, 2003 - Started snowing during the night and snowed until afternoon.  Since Nancy worked yesterday Mary was going to help me today.  Because of snow she stayed home -- a wise thing to do. Ray called in p.m.  They are okay -- were having snow, too.

Mon., February 24, 2003 - Saw "Rose Marie" this p.m.  Some pretty songs.  Howard Keel was one of the cast.  Played cards in evening -- I won 2 games!

Tues., February 25, 2003 - Very cold this morning, -4 degrees!!!  Bill came to take me to the dental clinic -- appointment was 8:00 a.m.  Was back home by 10:00.  Played Rummikub with Delores in p.m. 

I hope it was truly bad snow for me to bail on helping Grandma.  I'm thinking the car I had then wasn't the best on treacherous streets, so maybe it was indeed a wise thing.

Here's what I found about Rose Marie, from good ol' Wikipedia:

    "Rose Marie is a 1954 American musical film adaptation of the 1924 operetta of the same name, the third to be filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, following a 1928 silent movie and the best-known of the three, the 1936 Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy version. It is directed by Mervyn LeRoy and stars Ann Blyth, Howard Keel and Fernando Lamas. This version is filmed in the Canadian Rockies in CinemaScope. It was MGM's first US produced film in the new widescreen medium (having been preceded by the British-made Knights of the Round Table), and the first movie musical of any studio to be released in this format. It was part of a revival of large-budget operetta films produced in the mid-1950s.  The story adheres closely to that of the original libretto, unlike the 1936 version.  It is somewhat altered by a tomboy-to-lady conversion for the title character."

That being said, here's what they had to say about the original operetta:

    "Rose-Marie is an operetta-style musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. The story is set in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian girl who loves miner Jim Kenyon. When Jim falls under suspicion for murder, her brother Emile plans for Rose-Marie to marry Edward Hawley, a city man.

The work premiered on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on September 2, 1924, running for 557 performances. It was the longest-running Broadway musical of the 1920s until it was surpassed by The Student Prince (1926). It was then produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London in 1925, enjoying another extraordinary run of 581 performances. It was filmed in 1928, in 1936 and again in 1954.

The best-known song from the musical is "Indian Love Call". It became Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy's "signature song". Several other numbers have also become standards, including the title song."