Old movies sometimes remind you of.....

[Tropicana]

...well never mind....

Just watching Elvis Presley (now that I am finally old enough to see it ) and this reminded me of a conversation from a few months ago and made me smile...

[Tropicana]

Watching Viva Las Vegas today made me wonder why movie codes were so strict back in the day and yet they are so lax now. Elvis made over 30 movies and you had to be over 14 to see them. It took years before his movies came on TV and everyone could see them.

Look at this number and the next one I post. Even with my strict moral code...I honestly don't see anything wrong with either of them that a 10 year old can't watch.

[Tropicana]

Note this is described as a hot dance sequence...I'm not seeing it. Even I would do that.

[Tropicana]

Interesting interview...first I am seeing it.

[j-kid]

Dem sey him was corrupting di young whites wid him jungle bunny, an sexually sugestive dancing whe him copy from Blacks.

[Tropicana]

Kind of hard to believe that now isn't it. I never got to see any Elvis Presley movies until I was an adult and they finally came on TV. Now that I see them, it's hard to understand what all the fuss was about. They are cute and they have an innocence that is refreshing when compared with movies today. Same story with the Beach movies from the 60s that are sometimes aired on TV. I wonder if pre-teens were prevented from seeing those too.

Were these movies shown in Jamaica? Given our discussion about local music being banned in Jamaica, it would be ironic if entertainment that was restricted in the US featuring White entertainers was permitted in Jamaica at the time.

[j-kid]

Remenber now, di two-piece bathing suits were seen as nakedness, and slackness.

[Tropicana]

Remenber now, di two-piece bathing suits were seen as nakedness, and slackness.

Yes Ann Margaret wore a one piece in this one.

So did Annette Funicello in this one that is on TV from time to time but there were some bikinis.

I saw an interview with her on TV a couple of years ago where she talked about her career and her battle with MS. She said she had to go to Walt Disney and make sure he had no problems with her appearing in a bathing suit for that series of movies.

Love the wholesomeness of the old movies. I watch even the old Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies, Rita Hayworth, and movies from the 30s like 42nd Street.

Not these but some of the old movies would have sequences in which Black entertainers like the Nicholas Brothers performed. These were removed from the reels before they were shipped to theatres in the Southern states.

I can' t remember the movie but there was a really old one with Lena Horn and I remember in an interview she said White southerners had threatened to throw acid in her face to ruin her as they were unhappy a Black woman was starring.

[Tropicana]

Here is an old classic, Down Argentine Way from around 1940. This is one of the sequences that would have been removed.

[Tropicana]

From the same movie...look at how modest Betty Grable's costume is:

[Tropicana]

In Jamaica they used to show some of these really old movies on Sunday afternoon. I don't remember the show. That is how I got introduced to some of them? I wonder if they were shown in Jamaican theatres way back when they were first released and which reel they showed....the one with or without the Black performers.

I ask because it used to stick in my craw that they would have 2 versions of some commercials for American products with a Black actress and a White actress and they would send the one with the White actress down to Jamaica.

[j-kid]

I am sure it was "Stormy Weather"...

I can' t remember the movie but there was a really old one with Lena Horn and I remember in an interview she said White southerners had threatened to throw acid in her face to ruin her as they were unhappy a Black woman was starring.

[Tropicana]

Man was she ever stunning.

Special make-up base was actually made for her to make her look darker. She was supposed to star in Show Boat but they felt it would be too controversial to have a real Black woman playing a "negress" and kissing a white man on screen. Man where did they get those words from.

[j-kid]

Ahhhhhh, di good old days!

[Wahalla]

Man was she ever stunning.

Special make-up base was actually made for her to make her look darker. She was supposed to star in Show Boat but they felt it would be too controversial to have a real Black woman playing a "negress" and kissing a white man on screen. Man where did they get those words from.

The first version or the second version....