#jerome kern

[thursdaymurderbub]

Screenland magazine, December 1942

[citizenscreen]

Jerome Kern and Deanna Durbin on the cover of PIC magazine's January 1945 issue, New York.

[audiemurphy1945]

Visit Original Link

[adventuresofalgy]

There had been torrential rain falling and strong winds blowing all through the night, and by the next morning the air was a great deal milder, exactly as the weather birds had predicted.

Unfortunately, however, the wind did not seem satisfied with that welcome achievement, and although the rain had stopped for the moment, and it even looked as though the sun was about to come out, the wind was still blasting across the wild west Highlands of Scotland with considerable force.

As Algy tried to fly around his assistants' garden he noticed that the leaves of the elaeagnus bushes were being blown inside out, revealing their silver linings, so alighting in one of the bushes for a moment, he began to sing at the top of his voice, hoping that he could manage to complete his song before he was swept out to sea…

Please don't be offended if I preach to you awhile Tears are out of place in eyes that were meant to smile There's a way to make your biggest troubles small Here's the happy secret of it all: Look for the silver lining Whene'er a cloud appears in the blue Remember, somewhere the sun is shining And so the right thing to do Is make it shine for you A heart full of joy and gladness Will always banish sadness and strife So always look for the silver lining And try to find the sunny side of life

Algy is singing the first verse and chorus of the classic song Look for the Silver Lining by Jerome Kern and Buddy DeSylva, from the 1920 musical Sally, made famous by the winsome musical comedy star of that era, Marilyn Miller, who performed the lead role both on stage and in the 1929 early sound movie Sally:

[thegikitiki]

This would be considered "peak content" for 1951. Before we had 4K streaming and algorithms, we had the sheer, unadulterated power of Technicolor and eyebrows plucked into the stratosphere. Howard Keel is sporting a mustache so sharp it could probably slice through the hull of that riverboat, while the copy promises "torchy blues" and "dancing darlings." It’s an era where the marketing strategy was essentially: "We put every famous person we know on a boat and turned the saturation up to 11." Truly, a simpler time for the entertainment industry.

Sourced from the July 9, 1951, issue of Life Magazine.

[krispyweiss]

Flashback at 60: April 17, 1995, Jerry Garcia Band Makes “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” Video with Ashley Judd

Editor’s note: The year 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s birth. This is the 32nd - and final - Flashback on 60, a periodic feature in which Sound Bites revisited the band’s career.

On April 17, 1995, the Jerry Garcia Band gathered at San Francisco’s Tosca Café to shoot a music video for “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.”

Coming just four months before Garcia’s death following the Grateful Dead’s summer tour, the session found the guitarist exploring new things right up to the end. JGB had recoded the song - co-written by Jerome Kern, for whom Garcia was christened - Jan. 20 for the film “Smoke,” and the video finds Garcia pretending to play and sing as the movie’s star, Ashley Judd, looks on adoringly.

Unlike Judd, Garcia is a terrible actor and his lip synching and fake riffing are uproariously off as his JGBandmates also fake it, but with more-convincing results on what is a rather unconvincing song that never made it to the stage.

It’s funny and, in retrospect, sad, as Garcia, despite appearing happy, also looks terribly unhealthy. All these years down the line - the long strange trip has now been over for as long as it lasted - it’s good to know Garcia got to indulge his love of cinema and side projects as his life and career wound down.

That’s a wrap for Flashback on 60 and nearly a wrap on the year from hell otherwise known as 2025. Sound Bites is grateful for those of you who followed along and wishes you - and the collective us - a better, a happier and healthier 2026.

Read Sound Bites’ previous Flashback on 60 items here.

12/31/25

[gregorygalloway]

Show Boat premiered in New York City on 14 May 1936.

Based on the 1927 musical (written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II) - which was based on Edna Ferber's 1926 novel - the film was scheduled to begin production in 1934 starring Russ Columbo as Gaylord Ravenal, but was cancelled when Columbo was killed in a gunshot accident by his friend Lansing Brown Jr. Allan Jones was cast to replace Columbo and director James Whale cast many members of various productions, including Irene Dunne (who had been in a touring production in 1929), Helen Morgan, Sammy White, and Charles Winninger (who had been in the original Broadway production of 1927), and Paul Robeson (who had been in the London production of 1928 and the Broadway production of 1932).

The film was a critical and commercial success, but fell out of public awareness when MGM bought the rights (and all prints) from Universal in the early 1940s, with the intent of making a remake (which they did not do until 1950). It was not shown again publicly until 1976.

[musicalfilm]

paul robeson in show boat (1936)*

* in later performances of the song, paul robeson, a civil rights activist, would change the lyrics to "but i keep laughin' / instead of cryin' / i must keep fightin' / until i'm dyin'” [src]