On Sailors

Today I watched a bit of Anchors Aweigh with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. In it, they're sailors on leave in "Mexico" where you can get "enchiladas with all the fixins'" (an indigenous phrase?) and there are painted backdrops of Mayan Ruins. They meet an enchanting waitress/folk singer and both fall in love with her. Tough choice for the senorita: Frank's the shy, skinny geek with a voice of gold; Gene's a "sea wolf"(after any lady at any port of call, all the confidence, all the right moves, and some serious dancing shoes). Which begged the ever-important question: given the choice, would I rather be wooed by a sailor who could dance or a sailor who could sing?

Dance, I decided. But the sailor would have to be Gene Kelly. (Though, if the sailor was the sailor-member of The Village People, I wouldn't have to choose one or the other. But that, I suppose, is an even longer pipe dream.)

I have been catching a lot of TCM. Christopher Walken did a short piece on why Gene Kelly is his favorite actor--of course, there was all the talk about the dancing, Singing in the Rain, rugged facial scar, etc...but he also mentioned some Old Hollywood adage that went along the lines of: "Start singing when you can't speak anymore; start dancing when you can't walk anymore." Which, at face value, sounds like something that might be scrawled on a watercolored, inspirational poster for women. But after I heard him say that, and later when I watched Gene Kelly dance in Anchors Aweigh--it really was true--he is better-than-walking. It's completely natural. When Frank starts singing, it's lovely, but it's "time for singing." Everything else stops for the message and the song about moonlight and clouds and her beautiful face--so I don't know if that's better-than-talking. But when Gene starts dancing--it's living, man. Birds are singing louder, the sun's shining brighter, everything moving and happy. My only hope is that I was able to endow the audiences of my early tap dancing recitals with the same sort of life-affirmation( murmurs of "That girl's just got to dance!" sweeping through the crowd, followed by "Do those girls just gotta dress like little sluts?").

***Shocking revelation***
After checking to make sure there is, in fact, a sailor-member of The Village People, I have discovered the following: The Village People change costumes! There isn't a standard line-up for their album covers or photo shoots (my previous understanding of it was as follows: sailor, cop, Native American, construction worker, biker...). In fact, sometimes there are two policemen (one with helmet, one with octagonal cap) and no sailor! Sometimes there is an army-man, no sailor. You'd think there would be a fight over the sailor costume, not that it would be cast aside. What about "In the Navy"?