ROSE MARIE
was the first film to be
shot in both color and CinemaScope.

Vern vividly remembers seeing
this movie in 1954 at the
State Lake Theater on State Street.
and often hums the song
"Indian Love Call"

The stunning scenery of the Canadian Rockies marks this MGM song-and-dance extravaganza, as does the fantastic choreography by Busby Berkeley, with the Indian ballet sequence a real spectacle. Shot in CinemaScope with an aspect ratio of 2.5 to 1, both the choreography and the scenery will be difficult to appreciate in anything but a letterboxed or widescreen version of the film. Ann Blyth plays the title role in a story based on a popular 1920s operetta. A French-Canadian country girl, Rose Marie is in love with nasty trapper James Duval (Fernando Lamas), who is on the run from Canadian Mountie Mike Malone (Howard Keel) and is himself the subject of an unrequited love from Wanda (Joan Taylor), the daughter of a local Indian chief. The finest comic bits belong to Bert Lahr, including a song written especially for the film, "The Mountie Who Never Got His Man." Songs from the original operetta include "Rose Marie," "Indian Love Call," "Totem Tom Tom," and "The Mounties."
BETTY GRABLE
was at the Chicago USO
with her husband Harry James
 

A large group of service men
were being served a lunch.
 

Vern sat right across the table
from Betty and Harry.
He could have
touched their hands.
 

Many years later
Vern and Letha
met Roy Rogers
The Harmonicats
were a trio of Jerry Murad (lead), Al Fiore (chording) and Don Les (bass). Murad and Fiore left Borrah Minevitch in 1944 to form trio with Les. They were the top-selling 
 of all harmonica groups, with a #1 hit in 1947: "Peg O' My Heart." They benefited from reduced competition: this was during a musician's union strike, and the harmonica was not considered a musical instrument.

Vern saw these them in 1954
during an Intermission
at the Chicago Theater
on State Street.
Of course there were the Burlesque shows vern saw too!
Comedians were the best, Dancers seamed to be older, wearing loose overused clothing.
Vern 1st went to Minsky's Rialto Theater on the senior trip.
 

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