Thursday, April 29, 2010

Early Sound Smackdown

The poll for best song of 1932-33 is shaping up as a two horse race between "We're In The Money" from Gold Diggers Of 1933 and "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf" from Three Little Pigs. The other three songs between them don't have as many votes as either of the top two contenders.

Which really means this is a two man race between dance wizard Busby Berkeley and entertainment genius Walt Disney.

Yeah, yeah, technically the award will go to one of the songwriting teams of Harry Warren and Al Dubin or Frank Church and Ted Sears, but the fact is the guys who really figured how to sell these songs were Busby Berkeley on the one hand and Walt Disney on the other.

So who you got, Berkeley or Disney?

The tale of the tape:

Busby Berkeley
Birth Name: William Berkeley Enos
Nickname: Buzz
Born: November 29, 1895 (Los Angeles, California)
Died: March 14, 1976 (Palm Springs, California)
Height: 5'9"
Marriages: 4
Trademark: Grandiose dance choreography featuring overhead camera shots
Films: 36, including 42nd Street, Gold Diggers Of 1933 and Footlight Parade
Awards: 3 Oscar nominations for Best Dance Direction; no wins
Other Notable Achievements: single-handedly revived the movie musical
Little-Known Fact: never took a dance lesson in his life

Walt Disney
Birth Name: Walter Elias Disney
Nickname: Uncle Walt
Born: December 5, 1901 (Chicago, Illinois)
Died: December 15, 1966 (Los Angeles, California)
Height: 5'10"
Marriages: One, to Lillian Bounds, from 1925 until his death in 1966
Trademarks: innovative animation; making dreams come true
Films: produced 641 feature-length films, shorts, and television programs
Awards: 59 Oscar nominations, 26 wins (including 4 special awards), both records; Congressional Gold Medal, Légion d'honneur, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Special Katie Award
Other Notable Achievements: along with brother Roy, founded the Walt Disney Company, the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate
Little-Known Fact: was a model train enthusiast

You've got until Sunday to cast your vote.

3 comments:

Maggie said...

How much did they weigh?

I think that will be the determining factor.

Mythical Monkey said...

Well, Walt Disney once said "I have no use for people who throw their weight around as celebrities," which would probably hurt him in a wrestling match with Busby Berkeley.

Berkeley on the other hand said "I wanted to make people happy, if only for an hour." Which might explain why he was married four times ...

This bout could go either way.

Anonymous said...

haha.
go "BUZZ" he may have had 4 wives and been a bit shorter than Walt but you cant mess with his achievement of reviving the movie musical.