I'll See You in My Dreams (1951) is one of my favorite movies, largely due to the fantastic treasure trove of music it offers. It is the biopic of lyricist Gus Kahn and stars Danny Thomas as Kahn and Doris Day as his wife Grace. Danny Thomas is BEYOND lovable in this role and seeing him in this film prompted me to seek out more of his work. Doris Day's voice was never lovelier than in this film, loved her!The first time I watched this film I kept hearing songs that I immediately recognized from other films/commercials/covers/etc that I had seen throughout my life, and wonder of wonders they were ALL written by Gus Kahn. Vamp karaoke: "Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the mo-oh-ornin'!" More Vamp karaoke: "It had to be yoooouuuu, it had to be yoooooou, I wandered around and finally found somebody whooooo..."
Side note: I actually DID karaoke to "It Had to Be You" once and oh man I butchered it beyond belief. I'm glad Gus Kahn wasn't around to hear it.
In any case, these songs Kahn wrote were amazing, catchy, and really you do leave from watching this film with them in your head singing them for the rest of the day. I'm so glad that this movie came up on TCM as I might have never known all of these wonderful songs were penned by the same man. Here are just a few of the songs whose lyrics Gus Kahn wrote, which I'm sure many you'll recognize:
"Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo'Bye!)" (1922)
"Carolina in the Morning" (1922)
"It Had to Be You" (1924)
"I'll See You in My Dreams" (1924)
"Yes Sir, That's My Baby" (1925)
"Love Me or Leave Me" (1928)
"Makin' Whoopee" (1928)
"Dream a Little Dream of Me" (1931)
One of my favorite songs that Kahn wrote is the title song of this film, "I'll See You in My Dreams". That song has been covered by countless artists, but there is one rendition of it that I love especially. Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards' version, which the following is a clip of. His is a sad story, which I may include in a future post but for now.... listen and enjoy! xoxoxo!
VV, this is the rare Doris Day movie that I've somehow missed over the years. It sounds entertaining and I will be on the lookout for it now.
ReplyDeleteHe wrote "Dream A Little Dream?" That's so cool! I've considered checking this one out but it sounded sad. But I'd love to get a good sampling of the music, so I'll put it back on my queue!
ReplyDeleteRick - Doris Day is great in this film, if you're a fan of her I think you will like it. :)
ReplyDeleteSally - Yes he did! That's the cutest song ever! Definitely add it to your queue if you'd like a sampling of his tunes. :)
Great Blog!! I love the info and the artwork! Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, Spuds! :) xoxo!
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