In the past two day of this Year of Durante...

...I've managed to get my hands on cd copies of both Jimmy Durante's 1965 collaboration with Gordon Jenkins, Jimmy Durante's Way of Life

and his 1967 inspirational collection Songs for Sunday (although the cd has 20 songs instead of the 10 on the original lp).

And, while I confess to enjoying fully the Schnozzola's approach to songs, I must admit, with the latter album, that I can't help but be expectin' a "ha-cha-cha" -- even in the midst of "Precious Lord."

Year of Jimmy Durante: 1/6/2014

 

A little background on the making of Frosty the Snowman from the producer.

2014 is, I have declared,...

a) the "Year of Jimmy Durante" (follow on Twitter at #YearOfJimmyDurante)

Jan 1st: The Blanks' "Ballad of Jimmy Durante"

Jan 2nd: The Song's Gotta Come from the Heart

Jan 3rd: Frosty The Snowman

 

and

b) the year that I'm going to track the number of times the website Xfinity.com thinks an actress in a swimsuit is newsworthy.  (Follow on Twitter at #_____WowsInBikini")

Thus far, only three days into 2014, Charlize Theron and Jane Seymour have been spotted!

 

Ah, a big year ahead, no?

I have been surprised by all the "Boston Believe" signs...

...since I really didn't think there was any doubt about Boston's existence (although there is a part of me that's a bit unsure of Kokomo).

But it has gotten me thinking of great "believe" songs (like these):

 

 

 

 

And, for the record, my FAVORITE "Boston" song ever is:

 

 

Mr. Chips, Jimmy Durante, and Frank Sinatra

Given my recent interest in Goodbye Mr Chips, I was surprised, while reading Tom Santopietro's Sinatra in Hollywood that I had forgotten that, in the 1947 film It Happened in Brooklyn (Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Kathryn Grayson, and Peter Lawford), Durante's character, Nick Lombardi the school janitor, had a thing for Mr. Chips -- even with a picture of Robert Donat as Chips on the wall of his apartment (Santopietro 87).