It’s Monday night and I’m in Provo, which is apparently the most conservative city in the US. Mesquito would be considered a pinko in Utah county. I’ve been here before, so the fact there’s bugger all to do isn’t exactly a shock – but that doesn’t make it any easier to find a way to spend your jetlag hours once PF Chang’s have kicked you out. You can only order so many tempura prawns with your Sam Adams. So thank Brigham for the internets…and Ava Gardner.
MGM used the voice of ‘professional singer’ Annette Warren dubbed in for Ava when ‘Showboat‘ was released, although listening to Ava’s version it’s hard to understand why. Ava’s contralto, notwithstanding obvious imperfections, is simple, uncontrived and immensely moving, totally unlike the disembodied, emotional wilderness that is Warren’s version. Why do studios do this? The only explanation I can come up with, as I sit in my hotel room in what happnes to Utah but which could just easily be Uzbekistan, is that during the edit the producers got to the frame shown at 3:26 in this video and convinced themselves that it’s not possible to look like that AND be able to sing, too.
If I were I to say: “they don’t make ’em like that anymore”, does it mean that I’ve officially tunred into my Dad?
