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Tuesday, March 08, 2005

horses

Looking for Dobie recently, and through a trail of TV composers, I found myself remembering National Velvet - A TV show much watched in the boynton household well into the early seventies.



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There's not much info on the web, but you can hear the intro at this site, and watch an episode apparently. TV Tome has an episode list
This was one of the first TV shows with a girl as main character... "National Velvet" was at least one of the first shows that featured a girl as an assertive figure . A girl lead was very unusual in early television.(source)


I liked the fact that Velvet wore jeans in B&W TV land. In jeans I'd ride my Malvern Star bike around the garden, pretending it was King. We were desperate to own a horse. We contented ourselves with patting the ones who lived a few doors up, agisted on the pipeline.

And this is a wonderful post about a horse...


Comments: horses

l thought Elizabeth Taylor was beautiful in this show. l used to watch it to and wanted to be her.
Fond memories.
Posted by at March 8, 2005 08:53 PM

Elizabeth Taylor was in the film of 1944.
She was great though. Lovely film.
Lori Martin played Elizabeth Taylor in the Tv show...(well you know)
Posted by boynton at March 8, 2005 08:59 PM

2 episodes of Velvet stick in my mind:
The one containing the 'swarthy, earring jangling gypsy fortune teller' who predicted "Blaise King vill die" in her 'menacing Eastern European accent' - she was right!
The other was when big sister Edwina tried to coax little shmuck brother Donald away from a snarling, fang-baring wolf who may or may not have also been suffering from hydrophobia. Or was that Old Yella/The Yearling/To kill a Mockingbird?
Mi saved the day with a single pop from his handy .22.
Posted by norabone at March 8, 2005 11:27 PM

Oh...and while the wolf snarled at the feckless, freckled little blond kid he kept saying: "Nice doggy. Nice doggy." My sister and I whilst peeping from behind cushions on the couch - (which came in handy years later as we watched Psycho) muttered it's a WOLF you stupid little fool.
Posted by norabone at March 8, 2005 11:38 PM

Yes!
The Fortune Teller:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-12178/epid-218775/
The wolf! (see fire)
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-12178/epid-218695/
I've read through nearly all the episodes now. They all come back with just the barest synopsis.

I found the Fortune Teller spooky too - she had a tendency to suddenly appear with her menacing warning. Sinister. BUT she was wrong. Blaise King did not...?

And yes! That wolf... the episode seemed to be repeated ad infinitum. Still disturbing though, especially if you lived with 'temperamental' labradors and a host of older sisters who slipped into that bossy older sister/drama queen role very easily. ;)
That was Edwina's big dramatic moment.
Posted by boynton at March 8, 2005 11:50 PM

Thanks for the link boynton, yes 'King' was truly an inspiration. Sorry to not have found your post earlier. Thanks again. I too used to ride a Malvern Star,fantasising about it being a horse; it wasn't much good at jumping though.
Posted by Link at March 10, 2005 06:57 AM

1932? Neigh.
Posted by P.Lap at March 10, 2005 01:43 PM

I love your equine content, Link.
I did have a short stint at Horse-riding school as a child. Gave up just as I was learning to jump.
Our Malvern Stars could jump, just. ;)

How many times was Elizabeth Taylor married, Mr. T?
Posted by boynton at March 10, 2005 04:52 PM

I saw the National Velvet Movie in 1945 while in Sydney. I also attended the Melbourne cup Nov 6 1945. A South Aus horse 'Rainbird' with Sydney jockey Billy Cook was the 12-1 winner, not sure who came second , But third at 14-1 was 'LEONARD'!!
later about 1950, back in my village of Chalgrove u/k , I noticed that a house had been built over the grave of a one ton Shire Horse 'Captain'; buried about 1935, I could not resist revealing this macabre find. The owners; to say the least , were more than surprised.
From then on it would be midnight dreams of Clipity Clop, Headless horsemen, Giddy ups and hearing the 'Ploughman homeward plod his weary way'. Incidently, It was, a 'Gray' horse.
Our house in Chalgrove was named 'Chalgrove Field', being adjacent to the site of the major Cavalry skirmish of 1643. A tall horsey tail indeed.
Posted by John Leonard Spencer at March 10, 2005 04:56 PM

That's a good tall tail, JLS
Re The Cup 1945, apparently Silver Link came second.
I think I may have backed a horse called Leonard, but then, I do have a tendency to back the 4th and last runners in the Cup.
Posted by boynton at March 10, 2005 05:34 PM

Neight times.
Posted by Tony.T at March 10, 2005 07:36 PM

I often wonder if the St Mary's Churchyard Chalgrove with brook flowing by, was the location for Thos Gray's 'Elegy'. It mentions in verse 15, cousins Oliver Cromwell, and John Hampden* who fell during the cavalry battle at Chalgrove Field* 1643.
A day never passes without me remembering my childhood in Chalgrove.** 'Captain was a (Grey) Horse'.
**Skinny dipping innocently in the brook with the boys and girls on sultry summer days, ah well!!
Posted by John Leonard Spencer at March 10, 2005 08:23 PM

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