I wanted to add a thought or two about the Jetta ad with Gene Kelly, since I saw a little traffic heading my way from NPR on a post that wasn’t happy about the ad. For that matter, she and Bill Prady had a talk about it.
When Linda Holmes of NPR linked to my original post, she mentioned I was a fan of the ad. ::grin:: But I want to clarify something. I’m a fan of the ad because it featured Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor and because it’s so easy in this day and age of Step Up 3D to forget their kind of dancing. (Not to mention things like numbers being shot in one take and the like)
Yes, it’s not the best quality and it looks funky. But it’s also a 30 second commercial and — let’s be fair — it looks like art compared to a Head On commercial.
There are people who saw Inception and had no idea that effects there date back to Fred Astaire and Royal Wedding. I knew and I was doubly charmed by the sequence. But many people didn’t and, in a way, that’s a shame.
In my mind, if a commercial like this leads someone to the internet to search it, and then they find the original and then they find Summer Stock and the newspaper dance and then they find Fred Astaire and then they find…
Well, you see where I’m going. ::grin::
Nancy –
Oh yeah. I’m a musical lover. ::grin:: Mama trained me well.
Wait, so besides being a geek, you’re also a fan of the classic Hollywood musical? Is this true? ‘Cause that is definitely another thing in the ‘GGD is awesome’ list. I mean, Summer Stock’s not one that most folks can rattle off.
(I love Summer Stock, actually, for all it’s hokum. It’s just charming, beginning to end.)
(Darn it, I kinda want to go watch it now.)
I originally saw this one way back in the 80’s!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKpcQB3ZGpY
My dad had to show me the original. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and co. are always a treat to watch!
Thanks for the memories!