Hawaiian Joe and The Five Pennies

The Five Pennies

Hawaiian Joe's eMarket
Danny Kaye: The Five Pennies

The Five Pennies

The Five Pennies Directed by Melville Shavelson

Danny Kaye shows off his keen musical sense in the lead role of The Five Pennies, the life story of cornet master Red Nichols--or at least the Hollywood version of Nichols'd life. The movie gets off to a kicky start as Nichols joins a big-city band, meets his future wife (Barbara Bel Geddes), and sits in on a speakeasy session with Louis Armstrong. Armstrong's in the movie a lot, and there are smaller roles for other musical names such as Bob Crosby and Ray Anthony. The tunes include a batch of standards but also new songs written by Sylvia Fine, Danny Kaye's wife and the creator of his signature wordplay routines. The film's main dramatic device--that Nichols eventually sacrifices his career to care for a sick daughter--must be slogged through while the decent jazz sequences come and go. Whether you're a Danny Kaye fan or not, this film emphasizes his very real musical "touch" (in his manner, not his cornet playing; Red Nichols dubbed the horn himself). It also proved Kaye could handle melodrama at least as easily as frantic comedy, and yet this 1959 film was near the end of his run as a movie actor. Director Melville Shavelson, most associated with comedy, does an atmospheric job of staging the jazz numbers, especially in the colorful clubs. This is well-served by a snazzy transfer to DVD--even the opening credits are a treat, a cool example of late-1950s graphic design. -- Robert Horton

Hawaiian Joe and his Five Pennies

Hawaiian Joe and his Five Pennies at our cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee Hawaiian Joe's Five Pennies

Hawaiian Joe and his Five Pennies: Gatlinburg, Tennessee Cabin on September 19, 2010
Front left to right: Miss Ellie, Hawaiian Joe, Yum Yum.
Back left to right: Sweat Pea, Laneo, Monkey.

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Lullaby In Ragtime

Won't you play the music
So the cradle can rock
To a lullaby in ragtime

Sleepy hands are creeping
To the end of the clock
Play a lullaby in ragtime

You can tell the sandman is on his way
By the way that they play
As still as the trill of a thrush
At twilights hush

So you can hear the rhythm of the ripples
On the side of the boat
As you sail away to dreamland

High above the moon
You hear a silvery note
As the sandman takes your hand

So rock-a-bye my baby
Don't you cry my baby
Sleepy time is nigh
Won't you rock me to a ragtime lullaby

 

The Five Pennies

This little penny is to wish on
And make your wishes come true

This little penny is to dream on
And dream of all you can do

This little penny is a dancing penny
See how it glitters and it glows

Bright as a whistle
Light as a thistle
Quick, quick as a wink
Up on it's twinkling toes

This little penny is to laugh on
To see that tears never fall

This this little penny
Is the last little penny
And the most important of all

For this penny is to love on
And where love is, heaven is there

So with just five pennies
If they're these five pennies
You'll be a millionaire

For this penny is to love on
And where love is, heaven is there

So with just five pennies
If they're these five pennies
You'll be a millionaire

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