ENCHANTED MUSE

Always loved Olivia Newton -John. Just about everything she did. While when Grease came out I was very young, and I did enjoy it when I have seen it numerous times, call me strange, but it was her in Xanadu that captured my heart. She had this gay boy enthralled with the music, effects, the reason I took up roller skating, and that final scene in the movie blew my little gay mind.  

And what's not to love about her number, Whenever You're Away from Me, with the legendary Gene Kelly?  What could she possibly have been intimidated by??? She kept right up with him. A scene I always loved, because of the beauty of it and I sense they had real fun doing it. 

Dame Olivia Newton-John

September 26, 1948-August 8 2022

MEANWHILE ....

......at the Casa du Borghese.

Something's got into the punch.

HAS IT BEEN 35 YEARS???

Upon its release in theaters on Aug. 8, 1980 – 35 years ago this week – the disco musical Xanadu was met with negative reviews and middling box office returns. That didn't stop it, however, and this hyper color fantasy has persisted, becoming a cult favorite in spite of its inauspicious beginnings. While I don't see it very often on, when it is, I always watch it!  And you couldn't tell me when I went to a roller rink I wasn't Kira. 

Did you know the 1947 film, Down to Earth, that features Rita Hayworth as a muse who descends to the realm of humans and falls for a Broadway producer almost had the same story? That's not exactly the plot of Xanadu, but doesn't it sound like a '40s version of the same basic story that Xanadu tells? It should: the latter is a loose remake of the former. This was also Gene Kelly's final movie. Kelly himself choreographed his dance number with Newton-John, and the dance moves they perform are extremely similar to ones he'd performed when he danced with Judy Garland in the 1942 film For Me and My Gal.

And my two favorite scenes? Not surprisly both 40's inspired

Can you believe it has been 35 years?