New York, New York.

A Quick Summary:
In It Happened in Brooklyn, Frank Sinatra plays Danny Miller, a soldier coming home to Brooklyn after serving abroad for four years. On his last night in England, Danny meets Jamie Shelgrave (Peter Lawford), the "square" grandson of an English duke; Danny promises to make-over Jamie, should he ever visit Brooklyn. Upon returning to his beloved borough, Danny rekindles his friendship with high school janitor Nick Lombardi (Jimmy Durante) and woos music teacher Anne Fielding (Kathryn Grayson). Suddenly, Jamie arrives in Brooklyn, and it is up to Danny to teach his twerpy friend how to be cool, a true Brooklyn guy. While doing so, Danny and Jamie strike up a musical partnership. When all is said and done, Jamie and Anne end up together--Danny sees that he never truly loved Anne the way that Jamie loves her, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Some Thoughts:

--"Brooklyn"has very specific connotations in this film. The nurse character in the opening scene (who Danny finally realizes is truly the girl for him) is a Brooklyn girl, and she sharply criticizes Danny for not living up to her idea of Brooklyn. "I know what guys from Brooklyn are like, and they're not like you." "A Brooklyn guy is a friendly guy. When I see you out makin' a friend, then I'll believe you're from Brooklyn." Danny becomes frustrated with her and tries to prove that he lives up to the "Brooklyn standard" of being friendly, poised, confident, and self-assured. It is only when he takes on this persona and pretends to be outgoing and gregarious that Danny encounters Jamie and catches the attention of Jamie's grandfather. The duke immediately recognizes Danny's faux personality as fitting his conception of Brooklynites. Even though the friendship is originally based on a slightly-untrue self presentation on Danny's part, Jamie's company in the US helps Danny to develop the "Brooklyn guy" personality. Danny becomes helpful, friendly, and confident while he is charged with saving Jamie from perpetual dorkiness.

--Jamie and Danny constantly diminish Anne. They speak to her and about her as though she is a child or is somehow less important, less intelligent than themselves. "Annie, be a nice, quiet little girl, won't you?" When she protests this statement, Danny replies patronizingly, "Ok, what have you got to say?" In describing her figure, Jamie notes, "She doesn't wear nail polish. Her hands are like a little girl's. And that perfume she wears is like a little girl too, so soapy and clean." Even though both men vie for Anne romantically, neither of them see her as an equal.

--Frank Sinatra is able to play to his Italian identity much more so in It Happened in Brooklyn than in Anchors Aweigh. The Nick Lombardi character is an Italian janitor and serves as an ethnic comedian. Throughout the film, Jimmy Durante serves as a foil to Peter Lawford--the Italian clown to the English sophisticate. Durante also gives Sinatra permission to express his Italian-ness without seeming overly ethnic. When Nick and Danny first meet and recognize each other, Nick greets Danny in Italian ("Come stai?"). Because Nick has expressed the ethnic identity first, Danny has permission to respond in Italian ("Molto bene!") without seeming foreign or out-of-place. The two men enjoy an Italian meal of pasta, red sauce, garlic toast, and wine. Later in the film, Danny, Jamie, and Anne dine at an Italian restaurant. During the meal, a duet from Don Giovanni plays, so Danny and Anne sing along in Italian. Because of the ethnic interactions that Danny had earlier in the film with Nick, it is perfectly acceptable for him to sing in Italian, even though he is in the company of his friend and girlfriend.

Frank & Gene.

In Anchors Aweigh, a 1945 musical romantic comedy, Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly play sailors on shore leave. Kelly's character Joe Brady is a "wolf"--a masculine, aggressive, confident playboy. We tend to associate this sort of characterization with Sinatra, but he doesn't take on this persona or description until a few years after Anchors Aweigh. In this film, Sinatra plays Clarence Doolittle, an innocent, shy choirboy. Joe and Clarence are given permission to roam the streets of Los Angeles for four days because of their bravery in combat--Joe saved Clarence's life when the latter was blown overboard. Clarence spends the entire film tagging along behind Joe, seeking to learn Joe's wolfish ways.

 

Kelly is traditionally seen as a masculine, physical dancer, and in all of the roles that I have seen him in, he is romantically successful. One of my favorite movies is Singin' in the Rain, a perfect example of Kelly's ability to dance and to look strong, attractive, and appealing while doing it. In Anchors Aweigh, Kelly's character Joe is supposed to be a total ladies' man and a complete catch, but I had a hard time believing it. Joe seemed like he was trying too hard to be a big stud. Between Joe's overemphasis of his success with women and Clarence's slavish desire for Joe's tutelage, I detected an undercurrent of homoeroticism throughout the movie. 

In the opening musical number, "We Hate to Leave", Clarence and Joe tell their shipmates just how sorry they are to head off the boat and over to shore. Couched in their faux sympathy for leaving their compatriots behind, Joe and Clarence sing and wink, "No more pin-up gals that we so enjoy/Tonight, my boy, we get to meet the Real McCoy". The rest of the song goes on about meeting "beautiful dames in their soft silk dresses" and leaving behind "these guys sitting here in their undershirts". Clarence and Joe's excitement to go out and meet girls seems forced and exaggerated. Later, in "I Begged Her", Joe and Clarence recount the fictive encounters they had with women during the night to their fellow sailors. Joe sings of having to beg, plead, and eventually threaten his girl to get a kiss; Clarence sings of a girl begging him, pleading with him, and threatening him. By creating these romantic encounters, Clarence and Joe act as caricatures of what they think sailors on shore leave should be like. 

Clarence's admiration for Joe almost appears to stem from more than simple gratitude. He is unable to take his eyes off Joe when Joe sings, dances (more understandable--Sinatra wasn't much for dancing, so he was following Kelly's lead), speaks, or sits. Clarence even comments on Joe's body ("He's got muscles!"). 

At the end of the film, after much back-and-forth, Clarence and Joe get the girls. As they embrace their respective girlfriends, they turn and smile at each other. 

I would doubt that these homoerotic cues were on the radars of the producers/directors/actors at the time the film was made. However, it is interesting to note that they are present in the movie. I probably picked up on them so strongly because as I was screening the film, I was hyper-aware that I was watching Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, two "manly men". As innocent, naive Clarence, Sinatra plays so strongly against the cool, debonair image of Sinatra that I have in my head. 

Seriously.

I'm a junior at the University of Notre Dame. I'm an American Studies major. I'm taking a course called "Sinatra". 

How awesome is that?

Even cooler--each week, the class has a 2-hour long lab section, which we'll spend watching Frank Sinatra movies and TV specials. 

Assessment for the course includes a blog/online journal component. I'll be posting here at least once a week for until the end of the semester in December. Sometimes I'll reflect on the films we watch in class, sometimes I'll write about other Sinatra-related topics, but I'll always write about something interesting.

I'm currently watching "Anchors Aweigh", a 1945 film starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. The film will be the topic of my first official post for class. For now, I'm still reveling in the glorious fact that I get to take a class all about Ol' Blue Eyes. 

It's nice work if you can get it.