Goodbye Doris

Have you ever seen Calamity Jane? Its the 1953 technicolor musical that follows the story of the wild west heroine with her sharp shootin', rootin' tootin' ways and her secret love for Wild Bill Hicock. 

BUT, basics aside, have you ever REALLY watched Calamity Jane, and by that I mean Doris Day's extraordinary performance? She bolts off the screen like a ray of golden light all energy and purpose. As Calam', Doris fully embodies every ounce of the loud, bragging, arm flailing heroine. She is a powerhouse of acting. It's amazing when you see her move, when you hear her sing!

Doris' honey smooth voice was both soothing and invigorating, it could be lilting and soft or ramped up to full force, but never anything but perfection. 

How bothersome then, that Doris' talents not just for musicals but comedies and dramas too have been overshadowed by her branding as the virginal all American goody two shoes, that has become a kitsch cliche at best and a false caricature at worst.

In reality she wasn't all apple pie. She was a women making her way in a male dominated industry. She was taken advantage of and betrayed by those closest to her (three marriages, one bankruptcy and an ageist Hollywood system) and pigeonholed into money making projects that kept her in a safe two dimensional bracket, that she somehow manged to rise above and shine.

My appreciation for Doris didn't truly begin until my 20's. Before that I'd always assumed she was too blandly wholesome. My god, how wrong I was! Watching Calamity Jane for the second time as an adult I realised I too had massively underrated her. I was grabbed by her vitality and her ability to go full force into a character while never veering into absurdity. She owned every scene she was in, her very physicality projecting her beyond the surface of the screen.

Spending time with her well known later films, those screwball 60's romance comedies she's so well known for, its wonderful to see how she embraces the campness and runs with it. These films cemented the whiter than white stereotype associated with Doris but she made what could have been flimsy character roles into memorable iconic performances that defined an era of golden Hollywood and popular culture to come.

Doris' will always be linked with Wake Me Up before You Go Go

Iconic work by artist Alejandro Mogollo (used with kind permission by the artist) 

Doris Day has been there my entire life, a legend hidden somewhere in California. It was enough to know she still existed; one of the Hollywood greats. I fully respected her decision to retire in the 1980's and focus on her charity work for the Doris Day Animal Foundation, yet when she released her album My Heart, at the age 89 it was exciting to hear her lovely voice once more and know she was still working her magic.

To know that Doris has gone is a great loss. I hope that people look back at her catalogue of work and feel as wowed as I have. I hope she is always remembered for the right reasons, for her undeniable talent and skill as a performer and the charity work that will continue in her name. I hope that right now Doris is having the best time, her glorious mega watt smile lighting up the heavens, because, after all, who can make 'the sun shine brighter than Doris Day'?

The Hidden Pin Up #20 - Taking the Mic!

Friday was a very exciting day where The Hidden Pin Up got taken to the next level via song and spoken word as we spent the morning recording our very own vogue track!

Since we have the first half of the fan dance performance mapped out to a chosen song that evokes the bluesy burlesque of the vintage era (see this past post for details), it was important that the second half was just as strong yet gave our dancer the chance to move and tell her story in a totally different way.

Myself and co collaborator Darren (house mother of the House of Ghetto) decided to go down a vogue route as that is something the House of Ghetto are especially famous for and can be tailored, much like burlesque, to convey whatever message you want. 

With his strong knowledge of dance and music Darren suggested using the words from the feathers on the burlesque fans as direct inspiration to create our own customised track. Cue the arrival of talented performer Justina Aina (check her out, she's great!) who came with us to the Salford's Lowry Theatre to record some samples that will be laid over music.

It was fascinating to see how Justine worked. Having already been given the full set of stories from the fans, she had put them into sections and created a poetical arrangement that could be broken down, repeated, spoken and sang.

With technical manager David Wimpenny on the sound desk (he really knows his stuff and is a technical wizard, thanks so much Dave!) we were able to record several layers including, repeats of lines, whispered paragraphs and free-styled sections.

The next step will be putting everything together and creating the finished track, however we will be having a trial run of the performance including the fan dance and live vocals later this month, more info to follow!

Here's a sample of Justina's freestyling over a track, this wasn't recorded for our final piece but gave everyone an idea of how the live vocals could work. Hearing the stories put together in this context is both uncomfortable and funny. I'm loving how this is turning out and I am looking forward to sharing the finished thing with you!