1955: It's Always Fair Weather

DOLORES GRAY

as "Madeline Bradville"

 

 

 



"I really don't mind if you don't love

 this next song..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Just as long as you love me!"


"Thanks, But No Thanks..."

Where the WOman who has it all wants nothing from men,

but for them to die for her...

WOman as the center of the universe, where men just collapse in her presence...

"Thanks for the factory once known as Ford..."

Making men literally flip...

Slamming door shut on male lust...

Shooting men dead...

"Thanks for losing your mind..."

All men on their knees before her, worshipping, just before she pulls the crank and sends them all sliding to the pits of the Netherworld... 


The '50s offers quite a few  song & dance numbers dramatizing the sexual dynamic between men & WOmen with outrageously built Glamazons packed into outlandish costumes, but this performance is the epitome of the Glamorous WOman who is utterly desirable, but ultimately unattainable... She rejects all men as they worship her, literally throwing themselves at her, offering their worldly wealth... She responds to their self-sacrifice by pushing them down trap doors, shooting them, blowing them up, but nothing deters them from worshipping her... A man can't help himself but offer everything he has when confronted by a WOman Too Stunning To Be True...  And this WOman loves no man, only herself...

"Jeff" writes this well-considered assessment:

"I think this is the greatest femme fatale musical performance ever; on so many levels.

First of all, Statuesque Dolores looks stunning in that gown. The strapless bare shoulders, snug fit, plunging neckline, very high thigh slit, create the aura of a glamorous woman at the height of her sexuality and power that no man can hope to cope with. The image of this woman has penetrated my psyche for years. It has been formed by beautiful singers and dancers performing in routines from various variety shows during the sixties and seventies. Often they would be costumed in a sensual slit gown. They would parade around in a position of superiority over their male counterparts.

Interestingly enough; the fact that this is a musical number helps the viewer with the suspension of disbelief and opens the performance to extremes of camp and violence that is usually unavailable in drama or action sequences.

I love how the choreography and camera work Dolores legs. The leg slit really does it for me. Throughout her number she repeatedly poses with her leg curved through the slit and occasionally she suggestively touches her upper thigh with her hand.

We see her legs  in their splendor as she pulls her dress up and kicks the worshipping men down the trap doors.  The men are rejected by the very legs they lust after. These shapely gams are her best weapon. At this point I’m wondering if I’m dreaming. This just too good!

Four more suitors tumble onto the stage performing somersaults around her. With a smile then a grimace of fury she lets fly with a revolver  that she pulls from behind her back and all four suitors fall to floor in contorted grotesque positions.  The revolver is a symbol of high style lethality. It's nickel plated and matches her earrings perfectly. The quick-succession  massacre of the four suitors is terribly exciting. 

One suitor dies standing on his head with his feet pointed erect and skyward as a symbol of the sex and death dynamic, as if he is stimulated even in death. It was a nice appanage for him to be killed by one so beautiful. Dolores tosses her nickel plate revolver aside like a worn fashion accessory. She wouldn’t want to be seen with it twice. “Thanks A Lot but No Thanks,” she says with a huge grin, a kick, and with her cleavage pushed well forward in the frame, slinks ahead.   

Dolores looks amazing as she glides over to her next victims. She sings, “Thanks for the oil wells that ooze.” A subtle hip wiggle accompanies the lyric “ooze.”  She stuns the men into a stupor and then struts over to the detonator. Surprised by her good fortune and with her naked thigh in view, she presses the plunger. She is ecstatic as the men are blown sky high.   

More posing by Dolores and more worshipping by her suitors ensue as the song comes to a close. During her song she claims to miss an absent beloved.  

She pulls the crank and sends the suitors down though a large trap door. I say to myself “I wonder what her beloved man’s fate will be?” Dolores steps out from behind the crank. She stands triumphant after executing her male victims. It was her pleasure to do so. They didn’t stand a chance.  

Can I be next?"


Click here to read more of Jeff's analysis of this glorious production number...