Hey Folks!!
I hope you enjoyed ‘The Lady Vanishes’ (1938) as much as I did! Alfred Hitchcock, Margaret Lockwood, and the rest of its tremendous cast did a phenomenal job of fleshing-out ‘The Wheel Spins’—the 1936 novel on which the movie was based—by crime writer Ethel Lina White. For week two, our film is based on yet another novel—‘State Fair’ by Phil Stong published in 1932—and features original music by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein (also known as Rogers and Hammerstein), the writing team that composed the Broadway musicals ‘Oklahoma!’, ‘The King and I’, and ‘The Sound of Music’! Ladies and Gentlemen, join me in viewing one of my favorite musicals: ‘State Fair’ (1945)!
Though multiple adaptations exist, the 1945 version is my favorite. This one stars Jeanne Crain (..yay – I love her!), Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, and Vivian Blaine (..yes! I love her, as well!) and tells the story of how the Frakes—an Iowa farm family—visit the Iowa State Fair and, while there, how siblings Margy (Crain) and Wayne (Haymes) fall for a newspaper reporter (Andrews) and a big band singer (Blaine).
Enjoy this Technicolor classic as it’s certain to leave you longing for romance at the fairgrounds!
Phil