Results tagged “bingcrosby”

It's true-- we often tell people that if there was any justice in this world, Hoboken would be New York's sixth borough (along with Bayonne, Jersey City, Weehawken, etc-- seriously-- check out this map-- the border between the states should have been drawn at the river on the other side of Jersey City, not in the middle of the Hudson, which should belong 100% to New York State.) Anyway, until we go to war with Jersey over the border, we'll just have to appreciate Hoboken from afar. Thankfully, others share our love for our neighbor to the west. This week Forgotten-NY got around to writing up a full tour of the area, complete with about a thousand pictures. Favorite facts:

The past week has had many notable deaths (Edward Said, Robert Palmer, George Plimpton) but Gothamist was most saddened about yesterday's passing of entertainer Donald O'Connor, whose most memorable work is the show-stopping song, "Make 'Em Laugh," in Singin' in the Rain. O'Connor appeared in loads of films, like Anything Goes with Bing Crosby and the Francis the Talking Mule pictures, but his role as Cosmo Brown in Singin' made you wonder why there isn't a movie about him, versus Gene Kelly's Don Lockwood who could be at times, let's face it, really boring and full of himself. There are two show-stopping moments, one being Kelly's song-and-dance in the rain of the title song, which is a dreamy, beautiful interlude. But it's "Make 'Em Laugh" with O'Connor defying gravity, talking pratfalls to a new level, fisticuffs with a literal dummy, and throwing out one amazing move after another that gives the audience a chance to laugh and cry aloud.