The Original Star Trek, Maybe? Mèliés's Masterpiece of 1902

Loretta reports:

Star Trek made its television debut 50 years ago, and lots of celebrations are going on. Though the original series was very short—only three seasons—it has lived on and prospered in spinoffs and movies and in the hearts and minds of its devoted fans.

You can watch some excerpts from the early series here.

But for a deeper trip into film history, I thought you might enjoy what seems to be the first science fiction movie ever, George Mèliés's Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) of 1902. You may notice a few similar elements, along with many head-scratchers. It’s a little baffling and odd and funny and hallucinatory. Note: The music in this beautiful version is a recent, modern addition and some readers may prefer to mute the sound.

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Friday Video: Dance with Me

Isabella reporting,

This is the beginning of a long, three-day weekend in America. Yes, the Fourth of July celebrates our independence, but it's also a fun holiday, marked by fireworks, parades, and backyard BBQs, chasing fireflies and relaxing out-of-doors with friends and families.

Today's video is in that nothing-too-serious spirit. Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon is one of the unavoidably catchy Top-40 songs of the summer, and YouTube user MsTabularasa has cleverly edited memorable dance scenes from popular movies of the last seventy-five years or so to fit with the song. If you can't name them all (I'll admit I couldn't; I guess I don't go to the movies enough), the YouTube page does have the full list.

Enjoy the weekend!

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Friday Video: A Jane Austen Dance

Isabella reporting,

While we Nerdy History Girls make our living with words, it's still entertaining to consider how much can be expressed without them. This is a clip from the 2007 film Becoming Jane, a fictionalized interpretation of a romance between a young Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) with a likewise young Irishman (James McAvoy). True, there's a sizable amount of speculation and wishful thinking in the film's storyline, but I thought this particular scene was quite wonderful. No matter how heavily chaperoned a dance may be (and no one chaperons like Maggie Smith!), young people can always find a way to make their feelings for one another known.

I also enjoyed how the sounds of the dance were accurately captured. Whenever I've attended a recreated dance, I've always been surprised by how audible the dancers' footsteps are, how the shush of silk can be heard over the music. Again, quite wonderful.

Casual Friday: Late Victorian Travel Films

Courtesy Library of Congress

Loretta reports:

Some early travel films, set to rather sad music.  Yes, as some of the YouTube comments point out, everyone in these films is dead.  However, those people were very much alive when they were being filmed.  So you might wish to choose your own music to accompany it—and have fun, as I did, trying to guess the locales.  I was delightfully surprised to see early film footage of a locale featured in Mr. Impossible.

Casual Friday Video: Rita Hayworth Is Stayin' Alive

Isabella reporting,

It's no secret that we Nerdy History Girls have a serious weakness for old movies, especially old movies with dancing, but it's not as widely known that we have an equally serious admiration for actress Rita Hayworth. This fun little video features the divine Rita plus that famous ol' BeeGees song from Saturday Night Fever, brought together through some magical editing. What better way to begin the holiday weekend?

Video by YouTube user et7waage1. Thanks to @lucyinglis for sharing this on Twitter.

Friday Video: Mr. Darcy & That Infamous Wet Shirt

Isabella reporting,

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is one of the most-filmed books in literature. For many fans of the book, the ultimate Mr. Darcy remains Colin Firth in the 1995 BBC production. Those same fans can be even more specific: in a recent poll, viewers named the scene where Darcy takes a fully-clothed dip in his pond as the all-time most memorable moment in British TV drama. It's so famous, in fact, that there's now a twelve-foot fiberglass sculpture of Firth as Darcy, right, rising up from the Serpentine in London's Hyde Park, which is really pretty scary.

Is the scene worth all the fuss? Here's the clip so you can judge – and enjoy – for yourself.

Casual Friday Video: Hamlet Mash-Up

Isabella reporting,

What better way to start off the first holiday weekend of the summer than with an awesome mash-up? Everyone knows at least one line from William Shakespeare's Hamlet - often without knowing they know it - and this video is the proof. In the words of Geoff Klock, the video's creator, it's "198 movies and TV shows quoting Hamlet in less than 15 minutes, because I thought that was funny."  We did, too.

Enjoy your weekend!

Casual Friday: After the Ball

Loretta reports:

I happened on this little bit of early filmmaking, clearly made to titillate.  There seemed to be a good deal of that happening in the early days of cinema:  lots of scantily clad women.  There are certainly some oddities in this one—like, what is that stuff the maid is pouring on her?  But ye persons of historical nerdiness will appreciate this golden opportunity to see what layers a woman would be wearing in the late 1800s, and what went over and under what.

Après le Bal is a film by George Melies, whose name film buffs and anybody who's seen Hugo will quickly recognize.

Illustration is a possible image for during the ball:  Albert von Keller's Lady Dancing, 1900.

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Casual Friday: Watching Our Historical Language

Loretta reports:

We spend some time here passing on to you news from the past and occasionally debunking myths.  We are, after all, Nerdy History Girls.  And so the question of historically accurate language makes our hearts go pitty-pat.  Certainly this broadcast on NPR’s Fresh Air got my attention.  Please give it a read or a listen (it’s not very long)—and feel free to comment.

Casual Friday: A Fortune-Telling Scale

Loretta reports:

Strolling down the boulevard, I caught this out of the corner of my eye and immediately swooped down on it.  It reminded me of the movie Big. 

I don’t know if this one had magical powers, but it was in exceptionally good condition, and, I thought, placed well.

My trusty research assistant aka my husband, tracked down its identity.  We know it’s a Watling Scale.  You can find a bit more info here, here, and here.

Have you had any close encounters with this sort of thing? Whether you have or have not, you’re welcome to use your ingenuity to devise equally cryptic answers to these or another question of your devising.

 

The Lion's Daughter & the Albanians

Loretta reports:

This month we’ve released eBook editions of my out-of-print works.  The collection includes my very first full-length historical romance (as opposed to traditional Regency), The Lion’s Daughter.

It might be the only historical romance set (partly) in Albania, and the heroine may be the only half-Albanian historical romance heroine.  When the book came out, some people asked me if Albania was an imaginary country.

Barnes & Noble is promoting The Lion’s Daughter 11/16-12/14, in a fine example of good timing.  Today, 28 November, is the 100th anniversary of Albania’s Declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire.

It’s the Albanian version of the U.S. 4th of July.  The former's road of independence, though, has been as rocky as its landscape.  The century has included monarchies, invasions by various powers, a lengthy isolation under a Communist government, and, most recently, the growing pains of building a democracy.

The declaration itself is quite short:

In Vlora, on the 28th of November 1912.
Following the speech made by the President, Ismail Kemal Bey, in which he spoke of the great perils facing Albania today, the delegates have all decided unanimously that Albania, as of today, should be on her own, free and independent.

This is the English version.  If you’re curious about what it sounds like in Albanian, here’s a clip from a movie version of the event.

And a bit more here, as well as Wikipedia and elsewhere.

Friday Video: Carmen Miranda

Loretta reports:

Before there was Lady Gaga, there was Carmen Miranda.  While this clip has a longer lead-in than another of the same song on YouTube, I think it's worth the wait for the sharper image.  If you love her style, as I've done for ages, there's lots more where this came from.

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Friday video: Yma Sumac

Loretta reports:

I vividly remember a moment in my childhood when, at my grandparents’ house, I happened upon the record album (and it was an actual album in those days), "Voice of the Xtabay."  The picture of Yma Sumac, so utterly exotic-looking, completely enthralled me.  At some point, I got to hear the record, and that was equally astounding.  Many years later, I wondered if she and her music were as strange and wonderful as I remembered, so I bought myself a copy.  It was still strange & wonderful.

You can hear a very clear recording of "Chuncho" & other cuts from the album at a site devoted to her.

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