A few days ago, our redoubtable friend Duane Swacker wondered why we take the time to mourn over movie stars and other celebrities when so many thousands and millions of deaths go unremarked.
Here is why: I remember Debbie Reynolds because she brought me great joy. Singin’ in the Rain is my favorite movie. It is innocent and fun and happy and escapist. Other people watch science fiction for escapism. I love the old MGM musicals. I love Eleanor Parker; I love Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald; I love Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. I spent New Year’s Eve with friends watching “That’s Entertainment,” parts 1 and 2. I love the songs of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. I know most of them by heart.
My friend Marc Epstein, who knows that I share his love for this era of entertainment, shared this wonderful column about Debbie Reynolds. I don’t care who she was in “real life.” She will always be that ingenue of 19 for me. Hard to imagine that she never danced until that movie. Gene Kelly taught her to dance until her feet were bleeding, according to lore. Now, that’s grit!
PS: I don’t know what her test scores were. I know that her daughter Carrie Fisher never finished high school. According to what I read, she dropped out of high school to join the chorus line in one of her mother’s shows. Yes, she was a fabulous story teller and writer. I don’t thin she had any test scores. I will always be grateful for the way she reconfigured what it meant to be a princess: not a helpless teen in pink waiting to be saved by Prince Charming, but a strong and resolute woman able to pick up a space weapon and blast away.
That’s entertainment.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Children differ. There is no such thing as an appropriate one-size-fits-all curriculum or assessment program. Period.
And thanks for this post!
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Bob Shepherd,
I miss you! Come back.
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I second Diane…often wonder what you are doing, Bob…and miss your insights. Happy New Year…and please keep commenting here.
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I often wondered what happened to you!
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And thank you for being here again.
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Also escaped to “That’s Entertainment,” parts 1 and 2.
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Laura,
We are birds of a feather and I am happy to be paired with you anytime.
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History on the hoof.
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I didn’t know Carrie didn’t finish high school, but Debbie Reynolds graduated from John Burroughs High School in Burbank California, a public school and district that still has a very good reputation.
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Loved this… and all of your posts and observations. Thank you for your clear and powerful voice. Amy Goldbas
Stggwwx Sent from my iPhonert.
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There’s a wonderful interview with the young “Star Wars” Carrie Fisher in which she understand/speaks French with grace and confidence.
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Debbie Reynolds had a sense of history. She saved lots of memorabilia from her movies and others as well. She collected costumes from many of iconic movies, scripts and other items. She auctioned off much of her collection in 2011, and many of the items on display in various museums are due to Reynolds’ interest in preserving some of the history of Hollywood. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-debbie-reynolds-almost-single-handedly-saved-hollywoods-history-959852
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To add to the Debbie Reynolds history…when she married Eddie Fisher, they bought All Hollows Farm in Pacific Palisades. This was a sprawling ranch sold to them by Jack Conway, a film director, and his wife, Virginia, who was an actress and the daughter of Francis X. Bushman, the famous silent screen star.
I grew up nearby (when the Palisades had only 3K residents and was mostly Middle Class (despite Cary Grant, Chas.Laughton and Elsa Lancaster, and other stars in the ‘rich area’ off Sunset) and I was a close friend in the PUBLIC grammar school (on Via de la Paz) with their youngest son, Pat Conway, who was an adorable kid, but a bad influence on me. In JHS, where we were bussed into Westwood (over an hour each way), he got us kicked off the school bus for making too much noise. This trauma lingers on, and I remember the scene of being put off the bus on Pacific Coast Highway by Mrs. Post, the driver (a ‘mean old woman’ who was probably only about 45), in front of Darryl Zanuck’s beach house where his kids, Darrylin/Susan/Dickie lived and also took the school bus. The Zanucks called my family to come get us…and I was in deep trouble.
Debbie and Eddie lost the ranch to the State of California who ‘took’ it by eminent domain in order to build Palisades High School, which now contains the very good and sought after, Pali Charter School. It is the real ‘public’ school where many of the hedge fund guys who are Deformers (DFERs) got their early outstanding education. And now, the privileged parents battle for control their in a highly charged political atmosphere, according to the local paper. From there, poor Debbie faced her loss of Eddie to Elizabeth Taylor, who also grew up nearby, but who graduated from University HS in Westwood, as did those of us from the Palisades pre Pali HS. What a world.
Debbie was truly a world class entertainer…such a sad story of her life…but she did want to stay with her own highly talented, but rather whacky, Princess.
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sorry for the typo..meant, the parents at Pali battle for control of their school in a highly charged…..etc.
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Old movies, especially those predating 1980, were the reason I began writing. Everyone from Debbie Reynolds to James Dean-the greatest generation in acting-helped bring some of the best stories to life. While I am not saying that there aren’t great stories being told now, the best stories came before digital effects and often made songs stick in your head for days after watching.
Between dissecting the movies to see how the story was crafted and dissecting the books I grew up reading, I learned how to write good dialogue and create amazing scenes. I also learned how to visualize different actors and actresses (many of whom are now dead or too old for the roles) in the roles as my characters.
Both Debbie and Carrie will be greatly missed. They inspired many girls to want to act and many boys to write great scenes.
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Along with Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds seemed to be symbolic of a wholesomeness missing today.
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Both Doris Day and Debbie Reynolds had no gift for choosing husbands…both married swindlers who took their fortunes.
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Ellen,
Betty Grable had the same problem.
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“Wholesome-“ness is definitely missing today. Thanks for writing that, Nan.
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Isn’t the “wholesomeness” of that era (blacklists, rampant sexism and expulsion of women from the workforce, Cold War, atmospheric nuclear tests and fears of nuclear armageddon, etc.) a tad overstated?
Not that I don’t respect the talent and work of Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, many of the stars of the era, or the high spirits of those films, but Oscar Levant’s wry comment about Day’s public image in that period should make us question how rosy it was: “I knew her (Day) before she was a virgin”
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Love your reflection here,Diane. These memories and moments are VERY important. They make our hearts happy. My very first movie in the theater was Mary Poppins. I will never forget Julie Andrews in that movie because of the JOY I felt!
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Thanks for the kind words, Diane!
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Watched That’s Entertainment III and have seen I & II of course too. I ditto Diane’s love of MGM musical extravaganzas of the 40s and I add that I love the Big Band era until the mid 50s. When Diane reveals herself with occasional “gifts” of poetry, opera, music videos, jokes etc, she bonds with many of us on a new and very personal level. We love her education politics, but this Debbie Reynolds post reminds us that we just plain LOVE her.
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As educators, many of us (Diane Ravitch does consistently with her strong voice) truly appreciate the value of Art in all of its forms. Film is one of those venues that often deliver learning lessons on many levels.
A thank you, to all those here, who confidently post their own stories to further our growth.
Debbie and Carrie will be sorely missed.
Let us all dance in the rain and continue to express our “Postcards From the Edge”!
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