GingerPages

Saturday, August 18, 2012

...more detailed, 'in-depth' thoughts regarding the exhibit...

...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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17 comments:

  1. This is an excellent post, Huey, and a very nice complement to the ones by Kat and Molly. I like your idea of "big picture" as all the individual window boxes give a good idea of how the memorabiia is displayed. I enjoyed the individual pictures, too. A few comments....

    1. Huey, did you really ask the receptionist, "where the Gingery goodness is kept in the structure"? ;)
    2. I always liked Geena Davis, too. I didn't know she attented Boston U, but I did know she's VERY smart....a member of Mensa.
    3. Of course, you captured my favorite piece of memorabilia. So glad to see Oscar's profile :)
    4. That picture of Ginger on horseback is AWESOME. One wonderful thing about Ginger is how seamlessly she could go from super casual to the most elegant of gowns and always look comfortable. That's one reason why I love watching her. She was so comfortable in herself.
    5. If you think about it, Bob Thaves' quotation is the one most often used about Ginger....a real classic quote. It's just super that Ginger got the original cartoon from Mr. Thaves and such a nice note from him.

    As for your running commentary, I felt like I was walking through the exhibit with you and having a great time with you to boot. Thanks for the tour!!!

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    1. ...well, in so many words...of course I was floored when she didn't know where it was...

      ...Geena is not only wickedSMAAART (a little Bostonese for ya), she dang near made the U.S. Olympic Archery team a few cycles back... quite a talented one, she is...

      ...Oscar was an interesting study...the first one I have examined...I never knew he was standing on a film can...pretty cool.

      ...Ginger on a horse is a true thing of beauty... not that I know anything about riding (or is it driving?) horses...I had an uncle with a few horses, but they weren't easily ridden... I have been on a few in my day, but in very controlled conditions...

      ...I know some folks are a bit 'tired' of that quote, but..hey, it's part of GingerLore...and I just thought the response from him was really cool.

      Well, thanks for the kind words regarding the post...hopefully it painted the picture adequately... just wish I could have hung out there a few more hours... but some dude let me park in a faculty lot (well, for $12.00), but wanted to know how long I would be... I told him a few hours, so...tried my best to keep my word, lest he towed me off or something.

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  2. Had some reading to catch up on there! Glad to see your still posting... Thank you for stopping by mine always nice to hear from you.(ps not a facebook fan myself) x

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    1. Same here, Gingeyginge! Hope to see more awesome stuff from your site, which I'm sure will happen... as for Facebook, I'm not just totally against it, I guess I am just so used to Blogger that I don't really see what the point is to get on facebook as well...I could go over there and talk about how long it took to drive home, or how many pork chops I ate for dinner, but...there's probably just not that many folks out there interested in all of that info... however, I WILL say thaat Facebook definitely earned its stripes during and after the tornado we had awhile back...it was truly the only way folks could communicate, once the cell towers were restored...so it has its purpose on occassion...anyway, what a rant, eh?

      Hope all is well for you and yours...and great job on the Olympics over there! :-)

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  3. Awesome exhibition! I've read your post, plus all the linked ones, and spent ages just looking at the photos, then going back and looking again. How I'd love to visit! Thank you for sharing with those of us who can't go - we've had the 'virtual' tour!

    So many marvellous items of Gingerbilia - I'm just so pleased that they are being archived and preserved in one place for posterity as I recently read that there had been an auction of my other favourite, Ethel's, personal belongings (including her son's silver christening mug - surely he should have that, not a stranger?) so everything has been split up between many buyers rather than being kept together as a collection - how sad.

    Thanks for the nice comments about the Olympics - it went off better than we all imagined. I was really cynical about it before the opening ceremony but soon got sucked in to the whole thing, watching TV 24/7 for sports I'd never considered before (water polo, anyone?). Luckily, I live close enough to London to feel the atmosphere, but far enough away not to be inconvenienced by road closures and travel delays. Can't wait for the Paralympics next week!

    Keep up the fabulous posts - I need my regular Gingery fix!

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    1. ...thanks for the kind words, madam!!! Hope the post shed some light on how unbelievable the exhibit really was... just wish it was a bit closer...while I was there I was thinking, What if I actually LIVED here? would I EVER get any work done? Glad it is all being kept on one collection...Sad that a lot of stuff has been scattered about...wish htere were more of her dresses... it seems like they could have hooked up with the Smithsonian and 'rented out' the dresses she has donated there... heck, I would have driven them up from DC on my way...all they had to do was ask, right? :-)
      Good that the Games didn't 'disrupt' ya too much... I know a lot of folks were probably tired of it in that respect... as for the Paralympics, a cool note locally - one of the main training areas in the U.S. for the paralympics is just across town - place called Lakeshore Rehab... they have had quite a few athletes train there over the years...
      ...as for GingerFix...yeah, I know the feeling! As long as the internet survives, we'll be here cranking out the Gingery goodness! :-)

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  4. Great to see your own documentation, most of my photos were of individual documents so fabulous to see photos of the entire cabinet so to speak, how did you manage to add the video in? I have part of the Catle's video..
    The tours drove me to distraction haha, there were so many of them, i'm really suprised the student you spoke to didn't know where the Ginger Century exhibition is living, then again i will conceed that if you just walked past or took a right on entry to the library then you could just miss it and all! (unbelievable i know haha)

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    1. Well, I HAD to do SOMETHING different, right? :-) Actually, I had to take a few of those pics over, as they were 'fuzzy'...and a few of them STILL ended up fuzzy... dang it.
      The video was one of those...'hey, what does this button do?' moments...not sure how I cut it on, but caught it such that it didn't zap all my memory and/or juice. We changed batteries out just before leaving...but currently the camera's 'new' batteries are 'low' again...oof.
      I thought about recording the 'montage' of GingerFilm clips they had running...but heck, that was at least 10 minutes or so...and I was there long enough to 'etch' it in my noggin for some time to come... some of my fave clips, too...the end of Major-Minor, the Piccolino song, when she busts the 'other' chick in Shall We Dance (...I wish I could say the same of you...classic line) - good stuff... which might be a good 'survey' for us here...what clips would YOU select for a 7-8 minute 'loop' of Gingery goodness?
      ...yeah, I guess the girl was 'summer help', and probably hadn't wandered out into the library proper... so were there 'orientation' tours going on when you were there? Dang... the Ginger exhibit is increasing their enrollment by leaps and bounds!!! :-)
      Well, read that you are DONE with dissertation...ROCK ON!!! Have a great 'off-time'...and be on the lookout for Gingerbilia!!! Oh, and see if anyone has Hat Check Girl yet... you know, whenever you have a few minutes to spare... :-]

      KIG!
      Hu
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  5. I know all too well how videos can drain batteries!!!
    They had tours going on in both March and June, they were somewhat distracting but most people appeared to be taking notice of the wonder they were surrounded by ;)
    As for 7-8 mins of Gingery goodness i've got no idea what i'd include, what they had was a pretty good sample!!
    An article along the lines of 'that missing movie' might jog a few people's memories specially if it really has been seen in the last 30 years or so!

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    1. ...most of the folks were pretty interested in the exhibit...I know a lot of the kids probably had NO clue... but maybe it will spark a few budding Gingerologists, who knows?
      ...I have that loop pretty memorized in my head, listening to it for 2 hours (YOU should know it backwards and forwards!!!:-] ) ...of course, I would have used MANY more clips, probably one from each movie...right? And multiple ones from the 'big ones'... but he, that's just me... :-)
      well, I am hopefully going to get 'Romance In Manhattan' out over the weekend...it's in fair shape now... but after that, I might throw out the post about it... in fact, from 'research', the NY times review of it is October 8, 1932 - no 'official' date of premiere on TCM or IMDB, so...we'll go with 10/8/32... which will of course be the 80th anniversary of it...which makes me a bit queasy, knowing that nitrate film has an average shelf life of only 60 or so years... but hopefully it will turn up...

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    2. well...the 'it' being Hat Check Girl, of course...

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  6. That's sooooo awesome you got to go there!!! Seeing more pics from that exhibit just makes me wish I could go see it. Hope you had lots of fun, and thought it was neat seeing everything there.

    Got back from the Dallas/Fort Worth trip. It was pretty awesome, saw many things including gingery things. Even got to drive up to Oklahoma City. :) I thought it was pretty neat walking into and around some buildings that Ginger had walked into!! I even found some gingery things. I might make a post just showing the pics of the buildings and all that. Overall it was awesome, and knowing her presence was there at one point! ;)
    Have a great day.

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    1. ...ya GOTTA post DFW pics!!! One of these years I'll end up back over there, and I'd like to know the 'spots' to see... it's a cool area!
      Of course, at this point, I'd like to check out NYC, and figure out the Broadway stages she was on, and where the heck they made movies up there...I'm sure all of those places are LONG gone, converted into other stuff, or just ripped down and built over...
      Than it would be to the West Coast, for the obvious Hollywood tour, and then onward to the RRR in Oregon! There's a heap of Ginger stuff out there...it all just seems so blooming FAR AWAY from where I currently sit!!!
      Oh well...
      KIG, GF!!!

      Hu
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    2. The Theatre where Girl Crazy had its Broadway run is still there for sure!! Except its the Neil Simon Theatre nowadays :)

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    3. good deal! Would be cool to have everything 'documented', as far as 'GingerySites'! Hey...that may not be a bad idea for a blog... :-]

      KIG - Hu
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  7. Your pictures show how great the exhibition is! I'm glad you made it out to see it. I'd love to take a trip to the RRRRanch in Oregon too.

    If you are looking for Ginger Rogers' radio shows, check out http://archive.org/details/ScreenGuildTheater Quite a massive list but here are the shows Ginger is in: 24-Imperfect Lady, 51-Vivacious Lady with Fred MacMurray, 81-Lucky Partners, 158-Skylark, and 296-Bachelor Mother with David Niven. They are all from the Screen Guild Theater. It is a nice collection and all in the public domain. You can download them off the site too. Just figure out which one you want (there are several shows with the same name but no Ginger!), right click on the blue MB number and choose save as.
    Looking forward to more Gingery-goodness in your next review (no pressure there ;).

    KIG!

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    1. ...thanks, 'e'! It was truly a great experience... and maybe one day I'll make it out to the West Coast... it's really pretty awesome country, from what I've gathered...ride up the Pacific Coast Highway... then hang a right over to Medford.

      I forgot about the 'public domain' site...I'll check it out! Wonder if YouTube has anything? Seems like everything else is on there...

      ...going to crank out the Romance in Manhattan review in a few days...man, she is just stunning in that film! The worst (best) part will be how to keep the caps down to a minimum...they're already in the hopper, just copy and paste...

      KIG, 'e'!!!

      Hu
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