...Well, this will be the 'monster' post regarding our trip to Boston and the Ginger Rogers Century Exhibit, hopefully with some pics heretofore unseen... but, honestly, between
Kat, More Kat, Still More Kat, and
Molly, the exhibit has already been thoroughly documented via photography...and, as I have mentioned in prior posts, my photography skills leave a lot to be desired... digital cameras have saved a lot of money for me, as I used to have whole rolls of film developed, and the prevalent question upon observation of the pics was "now, what is this again?"
All that to say I will post the pictures here which are generally legible...and, there will inevitably be some that already appear in the links given above...but hopefully not enough to be repetitive...
...here's my pic of the 'exterior banner' heralding the exhibition inside...wonder what's happening to THIS after the exhibit is over...hmmm....eBay, perhaps? Ante up, y'all... Anyway, what is interesting is, when you are walking around the campus area where the exhibit is, this is NOT on the main street, but tucked around a building in more or less a 'courtyard' type arrangement...so, naturally Hu was in panic mode when this was not readily spotted. I did eventually stumbleupon this precise locale, and after snapping the pic, noticed that the doors below were not open...but they DID direct you to the main library entrance to the left of this area...OK...so, once in, talked to the girl (yes, an actual student not even half my age (thus a girl)) working the counter, and asked where the Gingery goodness is kept in the structure (in so many words, of course)...she wasn't sure (!?!), but directed me to the 'celebrity archive area'...that sounded promising, so... along that path, I found quite a few exhibits, including one on Fred and Adele Astaire...getting warmer! Also, discovered that Geena Davis is an alum of BU, so that's cool...I've always been a 'casual fan' of hers, for whatever reason... anyway, I finally got to the entry of what was believed to be the 'Ginger Room'..and I was right...
...of course, walking into an area that has wall-to-wall Gingerbilia is an experience ya just can't adequately describe...you just have to experience it... I immediately unsheathed my trusty Canon Sure-Shot or whatever it's called, and fired it up for use... the first thing I went to was the 'picture collage' at the entry, to snag the pic from the last post... then, I wanted a pic of the whole collage...but somehow, I ended up doing this:
...it's amazing what all those little buttons on those cameras can do... and, now that I think about it, WHY didn't I do this for the 'Castle' video clip they were showing? I think we all have that anyway, but still would have been pretty cool to have...I think memory is at a premium for my device, anyway, so it's probably for the better...
ANYWAY, onward and upward! I just staggered around the perimeter of the room for a few moments to absorb what was within it, which is about 20 feet across by 50 feet long, roughly... well, here's an 'overall' pic of it:
...as you will notice, along the walls, there are 'windowbox' displays with various items...they were somewhat 'themed' around the poster within each, but not necessarily... so, instead of trying to grab pics of every item individually (as my predecessors did so swimmingly), I thought to take the 'big picture' route instead... so, here, in no real order, are the displays along the wall...hopefully SOME detail will be detectable to the humble reader:
...oof...after looking at these, I think it is obvious I was pretty shaky throughout the process...oh well, to be expected, right? Anyway, one or two of these displays did not have their lighting on - but there was ample lighting throughout the room, so no big issue. But overall, hope it reflects the volume of items actually on display...and, for some strange reason, I did not get 'overall' pics of the 'island' displays in the center of the room... oh well. BTW, allow me to reiterate the fact that the 'In Person' poster is just insanely cool, to me... WHY don't these poster repro dudes crank out a version of it???
Now, about the time I completed these pictures, I noticed a somewhat large group of folks ambling towards the room...and before I could think about it, the room was full of said folks! Well, as it turned out, this day just happened to be Orientation Day at dear old BU... and along the tour route was the library, of course...well, this room was one of the few spots where the tour girls (yes, again students...) could emit their spiel about the library and archival research facility within, without disturbing the library patrons... so I learned a few things... I also noticed a few folks looking at the displays... and of course held my tongue from wanting to pontificate on whatever piece of Gingerbilia they were viewing... but again, I just wondered how many of the kids there knew ANYTHING about Ginger...hopefully they do now.
OK, well, back to the 'post proper'... now, to the 'specifics'...again, I think 90% or so has been documented by Kat and Molly, so I'll TRY to bring a few different items here...
...just love this one...the 'Clever and Winsome Ginger Rogers and her entertainers'...how cool is THAT?
...this is a note from Hepburn to Ginger... the last half reads, "What are we doing playing in great big musicals? It's good exercise, isn't it!!!" Pretty neat, and another item which documents that Ginger and Kate got on pretty well, it appears...
...this is a part of a pic of her on the RRR, on horseback... i just thought it was pretty dang cool looking...pretty sad she didn't get to play Annie Oakley...she would have KILLED it, y'all...
...this is the response from Bob Thaves, the creator of the comic strip 'Frank 'n' Ernest', which of course refers to the 'backwards in high heels' strip...he gave her the original (which was immediately above this note)...hopefully it is legible...pretty neat stuff.
...the 'promo' for the never-materialized film, "The Gibson Girl"... they ultimately couldn't get a 'proper ending' within the script...really? I'd crank it out in a few hours, dude...just let Ginger's character pretty much get everything she wants, with maximum screen face time, and ride off into the sunset with whomever she chooses...what's so hard about that? And, yes, this pic of Ginger is a drawing... an incredible, otherworldly drawing...yowzers...
...this is just a cool one from the musical..."Top Speed"? Or was it "Girl Crazy"? Dang it, I really should write this stuff down, y'all... but she is just SOOOOO cute here... but she needs to shake that swarthy looking cat groping her... that champagne bottle over the noggin should do the trick, Ginge...
...well, here's Ol' Oscar from the side... it's a good bit different than the ones today, I believe... one big diff is the 'flattop' hair... there are others, but really not sure what (I'm sure there is an exhaustive dissertation on the 'evolution of the Oscar statue' somewhere in cyberspace...) But, alas, I could not get my camera to focus on the inscription (see Kat and Molly for that detail) - one thing you MAY notice is that, in the reflection, there's 'AYO'...which is the reverse of my KC Royals shirt - figured that would be pretty cool to wear on this particular day... it DID get a few responses from local BoSox fans, tho... and yes, the last time I passed it, I blew it a kiss...in honor of Ginger, of course...
...this one's for Ma - a page from Ginger's copy of the 'Follow the Fleet' script... no notes or anything, but...pretty awesome stuff. They had a few of the 'bound leather-covered scripts' that were evidently the norm for studios to hand out to the actors/actresses post-production...or did they actually use these FOR the production?
...this one just caught my eye, and thought it was pretty cool...it's from the 'tonight at 8' television broadcast...Ginger just looks cool here, although the scene itself appears to be pretty melancholy... I think it harkens back to the 'Stage Door' scene where she is in the top hat outfit...
...THIS is pretty dang awesome...it is Ginger's actual 'working' script from 'Kitty Foyle'... her name is just below the 'FINAL SCRIPT' stamp at the top right corner...
...and the last picture I snapped before departing... an incredible pic of our girl, looking to be from the early 30's - the Tenderfoot era - I just wish the lighting was a bit less obtrusive...
And with that, all of the other pics I have are pretty much the same as what Kat and Molly have documented, but theirs are of MUCH better quality... it's good to know there are multiple sources available for reference.
And, of course, we must give kudos to Boston University for presenting this incredible exhibit for the public...all folks there were very helpful. Go Terriers! :-)
..my t-shirt from the trip...wore it tonight and confused a few Alabama folks, who see red and white and automatically think 'Crimson Tide'...it's a lot of fun to see their confusion... :-)
...and I cannot forget my long-suffering family, who made this epic trek with me... We had a great time everywhere, tho, even tho we logged over 2,700 miles on our minivan....oof. word to the wise...NEVER drive through Connecticut on a Sunday afternoon...just...don't. And to my wife's aunt and uncle near Baltimore, which afforded us a 'two-phase' trip...otherwise, it would have been purt near impossible to pull this trek off, y'all...
...and lastly, but definitely NOT least, is Ms. Roberta Olden, the 'keeper' of this invaluable collection...thanks SO much! (hopefully she is a reader... :-] )
So, there ya have it. Was it a LOOONG trip? sure...
Did I get to see it all? Yep, but...
There's a difference between just looking over things and...well, thoroughly examining them... but I felt quite satisfied upon leaving. (would have liked to hang out JUST a bit longer, tho... :-] )
In the final analysis, tho, I am one lucky Gingerologist who was able to witness this incredible collection of Gingerbilia - it's all good, y'all...
Until next time...
Keep It Gingery, y'all!!!
Hu
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