Monday, March 12, 2012

Gabi as Madeline and Excerpt from Yolanda and the Thief

I love Ludwig Bemelmans, illustrator, painter, writer, raconteur extraordinaire.  I did an assignment in which we had to create something in the style of a famous illustrator, so I painted Gabi as Madeline from the {"old house in Paris all covered in vines there lived 12 little girls in two straight lines"}...etc.    The film clip is a dance sequence from a screenplay he wrote based on one of his short stories, called Yolanda and the Thief, about a girl searching for her guardian angel.  It's a very surreal film, stylistically ahead of its time.  The choreography is similarly avant garde - music plays to 4/4 beat but is danced 5/4.   Fred Astaire influenced Bob Fosse, who influenced Michael Jackson.  This film was directed by Vincent Minelli and starred Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard of Oz in the Judy Garland film.  Judy and Vincent were the parents of Liza Minelli.  All of these people have featured on this blog.  Everything is connected.....

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