Bena Mae’s Kitchen: People still love to see the old musicals

 Prior to announcing the academy awards nominations of the “Shorts” category on TV, the curtain was raised and lowered in honor of Kathryn Grayson, musical star of the 40’s and 50’s who died  on Feb. 17, 2010. Her bio states that she was born in Winston-Salem, N.C. in 1922. She was 88 years old.

Although she starred in a number of musicals, Ms. Grayson, a real beauty,  was best known for her roles in Anchors Aweigh, Kiss Me Kate and Showboat. A coloratura soprano, she was also a contemporary of singer-actresses Jane Powell and Deanna Durbin, favorites of ladies of my generation during our teen-age years. Their movies took us away from our hum-drum lives for many hours at the old Hippodrome Theater on Main Street in Corbin. I’m sorry, but no one on the list of the top pop singers of today can shine the shoes of these 3 talented ladies during their prime.

Was there ever a musical so rousing and energetic as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, where we walked out of the theater with that lighter-than-air feeling that lifted our spirits for hours, maybe days. Starring pretty perky Jane Powell and the ever so handsome Howard Keel, the story is about Adam, the eldest of seven brothers who goes to town to get a wife. He convinces Milly (Jane Powell) to marry him that same day.

They return to his backwoods home and only then does she discover he has six brothers–all living in his cabin. They are anxious to get wives of their own so Adam devises a solution to their loneliness…kidnap the women they want. What follows is a smorgasbord of tuneful songs and lively dancing that last to the end of the movie. The plot was only secondary, the music and dancing were what we paid our dime to see.

Although born in Canada, Deanna Durbin had that American Beauty look that many of her teenage admirers envied.  

She was cast in a series of expensive musicals, beginning in 1936 with Three Smart Girls. This and later films–notably One Hundred Men and a Girl craftily exploited Durbin’s remarkable operatic voice, but at the same time cast her as a “regular kid” who was refreshingly free of diva-like behavior. The strategy worked, and Durbin almost single-handedly saved Universal from oblivion; she was awarded a 1938 special Oscar “for bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth,” and when she received her first screen kiss (from Robert Stack in First Love (1939), the event knocked the European crisis off the front pages. (Oh, those first kisses…)

Speaking with Robert Osborne in Hollywood in 1996, Kathryn Grayson shared her thoughts about the death of American movie musicals. “The audience did not change,” she said. “The studios changed. They wanted to make cheap movies and grab the money and run.”

And so went the way of good movie musicals forever. Sigh………

This recipe is made easy with  boxed cake mix.

Almond Oh Joy! Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk – divided use

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 cups minature marshmallows

2 cups flaked coconut

1/2 cup butter

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Grease and flour 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan; set aside.

Prepare and bake the cake mix as directed on the package; set aside.

In a saucepan combine 1/2 of the evaporated milk, and 1 1/2 cups of the sugar. Bring mixture to a rapid boil. Quickly remove from the heat and add the marshmallows. Stir until melted. Stir in the coconut. Pour mixture over the top of the baked cake; set aside.

In a saucepan combine the remaining sugar and the remaining evaporated milk. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the butter and the chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Mix in the toasted almonds. Pour this mixture over the coconut topped cake.

Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.