A Story or A Song...

[Hemingway Jones]

In films about the Golden Era, you often see people entertaining themselves with a story or a song after dinner. In The English Patient, they spin a bottle and whoever it lands on must either sing or tell a story, or perform some other form of entertainment, one must pressume. In Out of Africa Karen Blixon tells stories after her dinners, sometimes extemporaneously.

Now, I have a rousing performance of the Agincourt speech from Henry V for just this sort of occasion that I have never had the pleasure to deliver. -Probably a good thing for my friends.

Has anyone ever carried on this tradition? Can anyone think of other examples from film or literature?

Would anyone like to do something like this, perhaps at the next Lounge event? If so, what sort of thing would you do?

 

[PADDY]

Churchill's speech to the House...

"We will fight them on the beaches...etc"

We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France and on the seas and oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old. .


Or...FDR's..."Day of Infamy" speech.

 

[Fletch]

Howbout a stirring baritone rendition of On the Road to Mandalay?

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

The loss of conversation and wit

With the great rise of technology came the great loss of conversation. In particular witty conversation. In earlier era's before television, computers and other sorts of easily accessible technological entertainment, after a family dinner people didn't just go to bed, they went into the sitting room, sat by the fire and entertained themselves. They had conversations, talked news, shoppe, read aloud to one another, told jokes, played the piano and sang along with one another.
Nowadays families rarely even dine together. I have this picture of the modern nuclear family in a dining room with a television in it. Dad reading the paper or going over work that he couldn't possible have had time to finish at work. Kids watching TV, playing gameboys or texting their friends (by the way I think it's great that when I type "gameboy" or the word "texting" on my computer they become highlighted because my computer doesn't recognize these as actual words in American vocabulary!). After dinner I see this family move on to their isolated activities.

Of course, I think our advances in technology are incredible. But incredible things sometimes come with a hefty price tag. We have lost our ability to wittily converse, to make people smile or happy or feel entertained by using only what we were born with. We can see a lot of fine examples of this by looking at movies of the Golden Era. Actors and Actresses were so much more rounded, talented, they sang and danced, they told jokes. Today we are inundated with CGI, the characters no longer seem real. As far fetched as some of the movies of the 30's - 50's are, they still are more real, and much more enjoyable than most anything made today. This all comes down to the fact that our own voices, our words, and the wit that we had was once one of the primary forms of entertainment.

 

[dhermann1]

In the Christmas scene in "In Which We Serve", they all get up and make a little speech, which I've mentioned in the thread about "Occasion".
As far as set pieces of the sort you mention, a while back I taught my girlfriend how to recite Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, I must confess, to my everlasting regret. (Only kidding! She does it very well. . . . not to mention FREQUENTLY!)

 

[Sunny]

This is something I've been enabled to do more of in the ACW arena. I did a five-day event in March. At least three evenings I read Ivanhoe aloud to the others at the campfire. It was really amazing how, despite the verbiage (or because of it) the scenes really came to life and we were drawn in to the story.

At another occasion we were entertained by the officers and NCO's at the Confederate bivouac. There was some singing/performing, fiddling, and even dancing. I was "volunteered" to sing, too. One of the men sneaked a video of it. Tsk tsk!

Now, I have a rousing performance of the Agincourt speech from Henry V for just this sort of occasion that I have never had the pleasure to deliver. -Probably a good thing for my friends.

Funny you should mention that. It was delivered at the very end of the March event. It was a very intense event with a FAR more period feel for the men than they could ever get at a typical reenactment. It nearly moved me to tears to hear those words.

That's all technically non-Golden Era, though. My brothers and I, and my brothers and their friends, are all very good at entertaining themselves and each other. We routinely sing (everything from old sea songs, Irish songs, and CW songs to 1940s songs and show tunes) and do comedy routines at the drop of a hat. It's not structured - "Your turn to do something!" - it just takes off. And it's hilarious! Have you ever seen James Cagney and Pat O'Brien in Boy Meets Girl? That's exactly how these guys act around each other. Except more so. lol It helps that they're genuinely talented, with good singing and performing experience.

The last party we had was typical. The ostensible purpose was to watch Chariots of Fire and play basketball. Basketball didn't last long, since it was on our Easter weekend that turned really cold. So after the movie, they sang... and danced and sang to "Fiddler on the Roof"... and danced and wrestled to "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"... and waltzed to waltzes... and generally were crazy fun. One of them commented how awesome it was that people could have so much fun without drinking.

Bro. No. 3 and I and two other girls are just beginning to work really hard on learning some Andrews Sisters songs. We'll have a few opportunities to really perform, but our main goal is just to have a repertoire that we can use in situations like that. I'm really excited about doing it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I once attended a party where, after the meal, everyone sat around in the living room and we did a group reading of "The Importance Of Being Earnest."
A terribly urbane and witty evening, even if we did all end up with butter on our cuffs.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

In the Christmas scene in "In Which We Serve", they all get up and make a little speech, which I've mentioned in the thread about "Occasion".
As far as set pieces of the sort you mention, a while back I taught my girlfriend how to recite Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, I must confess, to my everlasting regret. (Only kidding! She does it very well. . . . not to mention FREQUENTLY!)

Yes, I know a certain person who, when after having a few drinks at a bar or house party, would recite a certain piece of literature with the zest and zeal of an over enthusiastic first time theater performer!!! Now that's entertainment! (the first fifty times!!)!!!

 

[dhermann1]

Yes, I know a certain person who, when after having a few drinks at a bar or house party, would recite a certain piece of literature with the zest and zeal of an over enthusiastic first time theater performer!!! Now that's entertainment! (the first fifty times!!)!!!

It didn't pertain to a certain person from Nantucket, did it?

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Anyone interested in singing "The Man On The Flying Trapeze" on a bus?

That would make my night.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Anyone interested in singing "The Man On The Flying Trapeze" on a bus?

That would make my night.

It happened one night, or so I heard.