Tonight, not a hymn, but “A Foggy Day in London Town,” a show tune loosely connected to the sainted P. G. Wodehouse.
“Damsels in Distress” is a 1937 Fred Astaire vehicle, co-starring Joan Fontaine. This was the first movie Astaire made after his partnership with Ginger Rogers broke up, and the project was complicated by the distressing discovery that Miss Fontaine couldn’t dance. Oops. (I find it hard to understand how anyone, even a very pretty young woman, could make it in the theater/movie world without learning to dance a little. Maybe she just wasn’t up to Astaire’s standard. That I call highly plausible.)
The film’s story, in any case, is based on a 1919 novel of Wodehouse’s, incorporating his personal experience in Broadway theater. Sadly, he didn’t do any lyrics for this show.
The movie, I’m sorry to report, did not do well, despite the presence of a young couple of comedians who called themselves George Burns and Gracie Allen. But its reputation seems to have grown with time.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen it. I need to check it out.
Thanks for this!I did not know this familiar song originated in that movie – which I have not seen, either – nor read the book: both of which seem worth checking out!
I also can’t remember if I mentioned in another comment enjoying David Niven in the 1955 Four Star Playhouse dramatization of “Uncle Fred Flits By”.
I once posted a YouTube video of that 4 Star Playhouse production on this blog. It may have disappeared when we changed hosts. Niven is an excellent choice for Uncle Fred. But the guy they cast as Pongo is all wrong. Still, one of the better Wodehouse adaptations.
I should have thought of searching the site – it is and isn’t there: the post of 2 November 2016 is, but the uploaded video got hunted down and removed! But somebody’s got a copy up at present…
I agree about Pongo, yet it all went pretty well anyway, somehow.
Looking around online, I was surprised to find a scan of the screenplay of A Damsel in Distress (in addition to scans of various editions of the novel – including a 1922 Library of Congress copy!).
Nice catch.
We are now well along in thoroughly enjoying A Damsel in Distress, and I’m ever more curious about this movie. For instance, the absence of fog when George meets the Damsel – but I wonder if this may have contributed to the idea: “The buildings retained their air of not having had a bath since the days of the Tudors.” There sure seem to be lots of variants between the texts of different editions, though!