Bringing Up Baby

More than a few times in recent years I have heard Cate Blanchett referred to as the best actress in Hollywood, or heir apparent to Meryl Streep for being most versatile and talented. I've even heard her compared with Katharine "Kate" Hepburn, no doubt due to her gutsy stab at the Kate Hepburn role in The Aviator.

So, as I was poring over the DVD shelf at the library yesterday, I stumbled upon Bringing Up Baby, starring Ms. Hepburn in tandem with one of my brother's favorite actors, Cary Grant. And to be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I'll preface my remarks with an aside about young people who won't watch black and white movies. That's right, there are people for whom black and white is old fashioned, or may just represent a style of film they consider dated. Yes, the pacing and sound tracks for some can at times be a bit off-putting. But the same could be said for much of today's film fare. All this to say, Bringing Up Baby is not just another film. If you don't know this movie, you'll find it a delightful surprise from the getgo.

I'll compare watching this film to a kid on a skateboard who grabs the back of a semi for a couple blocks but isn't paying attention as the truck pulls onto a highway and begins cranking it up to sixty, seventy and maybe even eighty. That kid on the skateboard is going to have the ride of his life.

So it is with director Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby. I cannot recall ever watching a film with so many consecutive snappy lines and madcap antics in such duration without relief. The banter between Hepburn and Grant is at times an out-of-control firehose, gushing wildly without pause. Even the Marx Brothers films give you places to catch your breath. The pace in this film is relentless.

For the record, "Baby" is a pet leopard, so don't expect the Grant/Hepburn duo to be dealing with a three-men-and-a-baby riff.

Can a film like this be produced today? I dunno. There are efforts made, but unfortunately the vulgarity gets the upper hand with too many of today's comics. And don't get me wrong, Bringing Up Baby has some adult situations and innuendo, but the treatment is altogether different.

Interestingly enough, the film bombed when it was released. It cost a million bucks, which was nothing to sneeze at after eight years of economic depression.

For what it's worth, it's a great heritage piece if nothing else. And a wonderful way to remain distracted while you do your taxes, or balance your checkbook as I was last night.

Check it out, sometime. And tell me what you think.

Will Dylan Help You Find Direction Home?

How would you like to be together through life with Bob Dylan? I mean, when you’re driving in your car and you don’t know which way to go, you can turn on the GPS and, hey, you’ve got company. Yes, to drive beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, sillouhetted by the sea... heading on out to Highway 61, or wherever.

Oh where have you been driving my blue-eyed son?
Oh where have you been driving my darling young one?

Dylan created a stir the other night by mentioning on his BBC radio show that he's been in discussions with not one, but two sat nav companies as a candidate to be The Voice that leads you home.

The idea isn’t so novel when you discover that other celebs have already been actively directing peoples' drives, from John Cleese and Mr. T to a Sean Connery knock-off and the real Homer Simpson. (I don’t think I want to hear a “Doh!” every time I make a wrong turn though.)

My guess is that once the novelty wears off you won’t care too much who’s chattin’ at you as long as the directions are accurate. Whenever we stopped to ask for directions in Mexico they almost always said the same thing: “Todo derecho” which literally means, “All right” but we took to mean, “Just keep going straight ahead” because that’s where they were always pointing. Which meant the directions were usually useless.

The Dylan comments seem to have created quite a buzz, though. Was it a trial balloon to see how much interest there would be in the idea? Rumor has it that six other rock stars made similar comments on the air this past two months and not one story appeared in print afterwards, proof that Dylan’s still got pull and a lot of others are still just wannabes.

Journalists are having fun with the story though. I liked this one from the London Telegraph with the subhead “For anyone lost on their way to Maggie’s Farm, this might be just the thing.”

Then there's the guy in California, Jonathan Mann, who already wrote and YouTubed a "Sneak Preview" spoof version of what the new Dylan GPS system will sound like.

Actually, this guy Mann seems pretty clever. What Julie Powell did with a year's worth of Julia Child recipes, he's attempting to do with a year's worth of songs... writing one each day, turning it into a music video and airing it on YouTube. To get exposure he's been playing off the news, and is evidently getting a following.

Side street: Several years ago when podcasting first came into its own, a woman from the Dakotas podcast a song which she recorded each day and ultimately, by month's end obtained a $900,000 recording contract from Sony. I guess when you live in the middle of nowhere, you get exposure any way you can.

Back to the main road: Dylan in the news always becomes an occasion for me to share one or more of my Dylan paintings. The two pictures on this page were taken earlier thi month using the green sillouhette background which which was a foreground for my original Dylan profile. Or vice versa.

Heading down another side street... if you could have anyone in the world giving you directions on your GPS, who would it be? I can picture my brother choosing Cary Grant. He's smooth. But there are plenty of other pretty distinctive voices out there. Jimmy Stewart might be fun. Paul McCartney. How about Marlene Dietrich? "Dahling, I believe you just missed your turn."

Disclaimer: The comment about six other rock stars was strictly fiction.