At The Movies!

As a part of getting ready for our Sing-Out South 45th Reunion on March 25-26 at the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, we've been remembering and listening to some of our favorite SOS and Up With People songs.

But, back in the day, we did more than just practice and perform shows, we did the things other young people did...we went to the movies and watched a lot of television!

In the aftermath of the latest Academy Awards presentation, over the next several days, I thought I would post a look back at the films that won the Oscar for Best Picture during our years together in Sing-Out South, and then, after that, go back and look at some of our favorite TV shows from that same era.....

THE SOUND OF MUSIC was released in March, 1965 and named Best Picture in the spring of 1966 not longer after SOS was formed. If you'll remember the Belle Meade Theatre here in Nashville kept showing the film for many, many months, surely helping it become the third largest grossing motion picture of all time ($1.046 billion dollars adjusted for inflation) behind only GONE WITH THE WIND and STAR WARS.

Besides Best Picture, the movie won 4 other Oscars for Best Director, Best Sound, Best Adapted Score and Best Film Editing.

It's become a true movie classic, being broadcast every year around Easter on NBC and being selected by The Library of Congress to be preserved forever as a part of the National Film Registry.

Much like Sing-Out South, the movie has been celebrating its 45th anniversary and here's a clip from YouTube where some of the surviving cast, (Julie Andrews and those the 7 actors and actresses, now grown, who played the Von Trapp Children) appeared on THE TODAY SHOW (November 10, 2010) a for reunion of sorts...

The movies THE SOUND OF MUSIC bested for that Best Picture in 1965 included DARLING, SHIP OF FOOLS, A THOUSAND CLOWNS and, frankly, one of my all-time favorites films, DR ZHIVAGO.

Surpassing the THE SOUND OF MUSIC overall, DR. ZHIVAGO won 6 Academy Awards including Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Writing, Best Costume Design and Best Musical Score.

Courtesy of YouTube, here's movie trailer that was used to promote the film after its success at the Academy Awards .....

Next 1966: A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!, and Nashville's unique relationship to WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF.