"Rio Grande" is on, and the regimental singers have just come to serenade the Colonel's lady (Maureen O'Hara) in a remote Army post during the Indian Wars, so 1870-ish. One of the songs they sing is "The Bold Fenian Men."
Me: There's something wrong with this scene.
He: What?
Me: That song wasn't written until 1916.
John Ford was an Irishman, even!
(And if anyone is interested, the actor who played Captain St Jacques - center right, with eyepatch - was Peter Ortiz, who lived a life of buckle and swash long before he arrived in Hollywood. I had to bring him up on Google before Brian believed me).
7 comments:
Sounds like me when the wrong period hat or color is used in film or Civil War Re-enactments.
Infantry officers with gold stripes down their trousers infuriate me.
Hemingway must have been jealous. As we say up here, that man was born with a horseshoe up his uh-huh. At the time he joined the French Foreign legion, it was the refuge of scoundrels and worse. How he made it out of the Legion with honours, and through WWII is truly remarkable.
Forgive me, I'm not military. Are infantry officers overstepping by having gold stripes?
In the 19th century American army, gold trouser stripes were for the cavalry, red for the artillery, lt blue for the infantry.
Thanks for the clarification. You'd think the costumers would have known that.
Did you see the picture of the nurse ca 1900 - 1916 on today's Shorpy? I'm sure she rustled when she walked, her uniform is so starched.
I'm also full of esoteric bits of information, and have no idea where it ever came from. A few weeks ago I was covering the reception desk at an office and looked at the visitors business card for a few seconds. "That's a Romanian name, isn't it?"
He was flabbergasted! "I've never, ever in my entire life met anybody who knew that! How do you know? Is your family also Romanian?"
No, just one of those odd bits of mental clutter I've accumulated over the years. I wish I could remember useful things. My kids birthdays, where I left the car. . .
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