Beauty's where you find it.
The Inspiration
I've long considered Madonna's "Vogue" one of the best songs in the pop canon, bar none. It's celebration, party, homage, respect, inspiration, and a kick-ass melody that holy shit can you dance to. The video is lush, sumptuous, elegant, and gorgeous in vivid black and white. The dance moves are iconic too—millions of gay men of a certain generation can do the arm moves during the chorus just like Madonna can. And though the video itself may not overtly display its original foundation—the ballroom scene in New York City—it is not hard to find out about it. (I'll make it easy: if you're interested, Paris is Burning is required viewing.)
One day years ago, I found myself musing about that bridge. A cynic might merely say it's just deadpan name-dropping on Madge's part to fill the space. And since the song's release, millions of people have sung or intoned the bridge without much thought. Including me. But then I considered...no one with Madonna's intelligence does anything without forethought.* She's as calculating a performer as anyone in pop history, and everything she does is worthy of analysis—or at least a second look.
All the names in that bridge are silver screen stars from Hollywood's golden age, save one (Joe DiMaggio). Luminous, legendary ones. What really made me think about it was the fact that despite being so great, these stars were in danger of becoming museum exhibits, frozen by time into something untouchable. Madonna was bringing them forward and casting them into pop culture again, doing her part to make sure they weren't forgotten. Some of the names were of actors whose heyday predated World War II...so, fifty years before "Vogue" even dropped.
For my part, I thought...hey, maybe I should see some of these movies that these actors starred in. See something beyond just names that I heard and recognized from being in print time and time again. Years after this revelation, I finally decided to do something about it.
The Vogue Actors and Films
This past weekend, I listed every actor named in "Vogue," then came up with three movies showcasing each (with a few exceptions). I originally called this the Vogue Challenge, then decided "challenge" was too competitive a term...I'm not in a competition with anyone, and something like this doesn't need to be challenging. It should be fun. So, instead, I figured I could call it the Vogue Film Festival. (It still sounds awfully formal that way, but it's at least more accurate.)
Here are the "Vogue" actors (again, sans DiMaggio), and my movie choices:
- Greta Garbo
- Grand Hotel, Camille, Ninotchka
- Marilyn Monroe
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, How to Marry a Millionaire
- Marlene Dietrich
- Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress
- Marlon Brando
- The Wild One, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, The Godfather
- Jimmy Dean
- Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, Giant
- Grace Kelly
- Rear Window, High Society, The Country Girl
- Jean Harlow
- Dinner at Eight, Red Dust, Red-Headed Woman
- Gene Kelly
- Singin' in the Rain, An American in Paris, Cover Girl
- Fred Astaire
- Swing Time, The Band Wagon
- Ginger Rogers
- Top Hat, Follow the Fleet
- Rita Hayworth
- Gilda, You Were Never Lovelier, The Strawberry Blonde
- Lauren Bacall
- The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, Key Largo
- Katharine Hepburn
- The Lion in Winter, The Philadelphia Experiment, The African Queen
- Lana Turner
- Imitation of Life, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Peyton Place
- Bette Davis
- All About Eve, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Jezebel
I did make a few exceptions. I couldn't hold Marlon Brando's output to three and exclude The Godfather; though that movie is past Hollywood's golden age, I bet you could argue it's Brando's best, or at least most iconic, performance. Also, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are practically as one, so I fudged a bit and gave them each two movies.
The Requisite Commentary
Being of its time, the list is 100% white folks. It's a sad commentary that people of color are not represented...though I don't pin that on Madonna. Were someone to make a current-day version of a Vogue list that showcased actors from, say, 1964 to 2009 (with the bulk of representation being 1970–2000), I would expect to see a much more colorful cast.
In addition, I noticed a few names that really could have fit in this canon. What came to mind immediately were Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and Montgomery Clift. However, this is Madonna's list, not mine. I'm taking it as a great place to start.
Finally, it's appropriate that of the fifteen names Madonna has chosen here, women dominate, with eleven represented. If a man were to come up with a list, it might be more androcentric. (Thinking off the top here for me, I'd consider Clark Gable, Cary Grant, and Rock Hudson as possibilities.)
I'm certain I've missed more than a few movies that some people will declare should never be missed; I'm equally certain I've included some that popular opinion has declared less than essential. Such is what happens when a relative novice to the field of Hollywood's golden era tackles it. I doubt, though, that anyone would argue this isn't a great place to start.
So...let's pop some popcorn and roll the film!
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* Oops. Apparently the bridge of Vogue was actually done without much forethought; as producer Shep Pettibone put it, "We wrote down a whole bunch of names of movie stars and that's how the rap came up." Well, so much for that theory. Doesn't make this journey any less worthy, though. Onward!
