Happy Birthday Abe!

I'm a day late in this. Drat. As I'm sure you know by now February 12 was Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. How could you not know that? It was all over the news yesterday. Abe was, aside from GW (that would be George Washington, not our recent GW), probably our most famous president. Quick, can you name 5 presidents NOT in the 20th century (and not Abe or George)? Think about it. If you can't, here's a list of all our Presidents so far.
Anyway, I'm not going to expound on Lincoln because I'm sure you've had enough of that with all the media saturation. Instead, I'm going to post the clip (lyrics written by Irving Berlin) to the song "Abraham" from the movie Holiday Inn. Best. Holiday. Movie. Ever. Seriously. This song was sung by Bing Crosby (love!) and Marjorie Reynolds. In black face. Remember that the movie was made in 1942, and back then lots of performers did black face. Bing makes a throw away comment while putting MR's black makeup on her that the broke through as a boot black. This is actually partially true. He did do several "boot black" (so called because they used black boot polish on thier faces-yuck) routines in his early career IRL. Also, keep in mind that the term "darkie" was not meant as a derogatory term. That line was uttered by Mamie, played by Louise Beavers, who was a BRILLIANT actress and songstress. Side note, she also stared in one of the first ever TV sitcoms to feature a black lead actor. Am I boring you? I hope not. I loves me some trivia. In case you're not bored, Louise Beavers was a close friend of Hattie McDaniel, the first ever black actor to ever be nominated and WIN an oscar, for her role as Mammy in Gone With the Wind. BTW, these movies were made less than 80 years after Lincoln was in the White House. I think he's have been proud. And also freaking amazed because, well, moving pictures? Sweet!
Without further ado, here is a clip of one of my favorite numbers in Holiday Inn. If you're easily offended, you may not want to watch, but really, watch.