"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day: Harry James

Harry James
Taken from the official Harry James website:
Harry Haag James was born in 1916 in Albany, Georgia, in the United States. He learned the trumpet from his father, a circus bandleader. James decided to pursue a professional career in music after winning a state high-school trumpet competition.

Harry began to perform with several dance bands, including that of Ben Pollack's popular group. The flawless, technically outstanding trumpeter played for several years with the Benny Goodman Band before forming his own band in 1939 with a gifted but little known vocalist, Frank Sinatra.

During the golden era of the big bands, Harry recorded a number of hits, including "I've Heard That Song Before," from the motion picture Youth on Parade (1942), "You Made Me Love You" (1941), the number-one instrumental hit "Sleepy Lagoon" (1942), "I Had the Craziest Dream" (1943), "You'll Never Know" and his theme song, "Ciribiribin." His band helped launch the careers of many pop music stars of the World War II era, including Frank Sinatra and Helen Forrest.  Ed. note: Doris Day sang with him on one of the greatest albums ever, "Young Man With a Horn," which was the soundtrack for the movie of the same name.

Must-See Movie: How To Marry A Millionaire

How To Marry a Millionaire (1953)
The last time I wrote one of these things was when only DVD rentals were possible, but now you can actually instantly watch this movie (and, of course, others) on Netflix's Instant Watch.  This movie is fantastic, and should definitely be in everyone's queue.

Starring Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, and Lauren Bacall, this movie is truly a how-to guide with a great strategy of how to find a man.  In fact, all I learned about dating I learned from this movie.

Don't let the title get you. I'm not a golddigger, but that's just not my priority. However, you can substitute the word millionaire with what any desirable man is (Jewish boy, older man, nice guy), and these tips not only are helpful, but they just make sense.

Shatze (Bacall), Pola (Monroe), and Loco (Grable) all state aloud to each other what they are looking for one thing in a man: six figures!  Then the three girls go to great lengths to reach their goal, strategizing and doing everything by their guidelines.  They pool all their money to live in a rich neighborhood in a highbrow apartment, even selling all their furniture to surround themselves with rich, eligible bachelors.