A to Z Challenge: ?K? is for ?(The) King and I? (1956)

Because I?m a memoir author and because I love movies, I chose Golden Movies as my theme for the A to Z Challenge. I hope the movies I highlight that are mainly from the 1940s and 1950s (I was born in 1940) might resonate with you whether you are as old as I am or much younger! And as an author, I?ve discovered that studying films has helped me with my writing. It?s all in the ?scene.?

The musical version of The King and I is one of my all-time favorite movies, partly because Deborah Kerr was one of my favorite actresses (next to Susan Hayward).

I was sixteen when it hit the Villa Theatre Cinemascope screen in Salt Lake City.

Bing.com begins its synopsis:? Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein?s 1951 Broad musical hit was based on Margaret Landon?s book Anna and the King of Siam. Since 20th-Century-Fox had made a film version of the Landon book in 1946, that studio had first dibs on the movie adaption of The King and I.

It starred Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, and Rita Moreno. They were awesome. The settings were scrumptious.

Besides the exotic culture, and the romantic overtones that Hollywood added to the relationship between the King of Siam and the English widow, my most vivid memory is the soundtrack. The movie made the rounds of the major theaters in Salt Lake, and I kept going back and back to see it until I had pretty much memorized all the song lyrics.

I remember the song that Deborah Kerr supposedly sings (she?s dubbed by Marni Nixon):? Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect, and whistle a happy tune so no one will suspect I?m afraid.

I was sixteen going on seventeen at the time, and though I was very shy in high school, I forced myself to be involved in activities I loved, mainly creative writing, and debate and extemporaneous speaking. In the debate class, whenever it was my turn to perform, I was terrified until I got up in front of the class and began speaking.

And so I would sing that first verse of Whistle a Happy Tune that widow Anna Leonowens sings to her young son as they?re landing in Siam. I would sing it softly out loud if there wasn?t anyone close nearby, or otherwise I would think the words in my head while taking deep, trembling breaths. Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect . . .

This film version has been called ?stagey.? But what the hey. Thank you Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno (and the unseen Marni Nixon), and all the other stars in it from the Golden Age of Hollywood that was such a wonderful and vivid part of my youth.

I found this blog that has a whole string of stunning scenes from the movie. Here are a few of my favorites:

Rita Moreno

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B.A. English, Brigham Young University. M.F.A. Creative Writing (poetry and fiction), George Mason University. Freshman English, Grammar, and Introduction to Literature Instructor, BYU and GMU. Editing intern, BYU. The Writing Place Tutor, GMU. Textbook proofreader. Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets, and of stories, poems, and essays that have won awards and been published in various magazines and anthologies. Full-time caregiver of a disabled daughter. Mother of four and grandmother of seven.

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