Joan Blondell and Etta Moten Sing “Remember My Forgotten Man”
Martin Rubin’s "Jobless Number: Economics and sex in a Depression-era Busby Berkeley musical" at Moving Image Source:
"’Remember My Forgotten Man’ is the simplest and most straightforward of Berkeley’s big numbers in the classic Warner Bros. musicals. Its directness is a consequence of its political commitment. Its points are punched across for maximum impact, most forcefully by the jarring blackouts that drive home the number’s thematic connections more viscerally and vigorously than even a direct cut would do. ‘Remember My Forgotten Man’ is one of Hollywood’s hardest-hitting political statements of the ’30s — much more so than the treatment of similar material in Warner Bros.’s Heroes for Sale."
The clip above, with Joan Blondell singing "Remember My Forgotten Man" (composed by Al Dubin and Harry Warren), is from Gold Diggers of 1933, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, with choreography by Busby Berkeley.
The clip was posted by lodrochoying.
Mick LaSalle on Miriam Hopkins, Norma Shearer, Barbara Stanwyck, and Ruth Chatterton
Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING Set Recreated by Channel 4
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That’s actually the sadly forgotten (although she lived to be 102) Etta Moten singing.
That’s actually Joan Blondell — at least initially. Etta Moten is featured after Blondell introduces the song.
Busby Berkeley as quoted in Matthew Kennedy’s “Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes”:
“I did something extraordinary in that number, too, when I had Joan Blondell sing the song because Joan Blondell can’t sing. But I knew she could act it. I knew she could ‘talk it’ and put over the drama for me.”
But I’ve corrected the post’s title. Thanks for pointing out Etta Moten’s contribution to the song.
What about Etta Moten? She sang this too… in fact shes in that video……