It's A Sunshine Day!

What the heck?! No Monday blog??! What is one to do.  Yes, sadly enough I was out of town yesterday and not able to throw my mindless ramblings online for a day.  I know, it's sad, but sometimes life gets in the way of living (or in this case, blogging).

Where was I? Well the Mrs. and I went to Sun Valley, Idaho for the weekend.  I love going up there.  The weather's nice, the restaurants are terrific, and best of all whenever I am there it is because the Mrs. is working, and therefore her company pays for the trip.

This is our third time staying up at the lodge so far this year.  It is fun to visit a place that is usually reserved for the rich and powerful.  You realize this as you walk to the pool passing photos of the lodge's guests over the years;

  There's Frank Sinatra, 

Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, and even Mork from Ork!  It is 

cool for a moment to think of the great history of the lodge, and that you are now a part of it.  Not that I see them putting my picture on the wall by the pool  any time soon.

I think what I like most most about our trips to Sun Valley is the TV in the hotel room (surely the highlight of most vacations).  There is a channel at the lodge that shows the same movie over and over again.  That movie is 1941's 'Sun Valley Serenade'.  Now I've never seen the movie all the way through, but every time we're in Sun Valley I get to see a little bit more.

I know that the movie begins with John Payne (you know, the lawyer guy from the original 'Miracle on 34th Street') as a piano player who's band desperately want to book a gig in Sun Valley.  The band in question is in fact The Glenn Miller Orchestra, although they are referred to in the movie as "Phil's Band".  Glenn Miller himself appears in the movie as a guy named Phil, proving that putting musicians in front of the camera and trying to get them to act is an old notion in Hollywood.  Glenn Miller's line readings are awkward and uncomfortable, but when he and his band plays, they're great.

I've seen the middle of the movie, so I know that at some point there is a love triangle between the guy from 'Miracle on 34th St.' and two women.  I'm not sure how it is resolved since other than that, I have only seen the last fifteen minutes, and it contains no story or characters.  The ending is simply a long extended ice-skating/dance/musical number in a Busby Berkley style.It doesn't resolve the love triangle, but it is sure cool to watch.  

In any case, I hope to return to Sun Valley soon so I can fill in the other bits and pieces of the film.

Oh--Did I fail to mention that the comic relief in 'Sun Valley Serenade' came from veteran character actor Milton Berle?  Now that's really something!