Girl, you know it's true

Anyone who is reading this blog must have long since realized that I am a very random person, with very random thoughts streaming through my mind. In the midst of reading my ophthalmology book and overhearing clips of American Idol, my mind wandered over to memories of one of my favorite childhood television shows: Lip Sync.

I looked up this program on IMDB to no avail. Apparently I was the only one who ever watched this show. Several other programs have similarly low viewership, though I was at one point able to find videotapes and websites dedicated to Beverly Hills Teens, but that is another story.

So anyway, I was thinking of lip synching and googling the topic, when I came across a Wikipedia listing of Milli Vanilli, the dearly-departed late 80s group, which has a more tragic history than I knew. See the Wiki article for more info. I did not realize, though, how widespread lip-synching has been in our media. I never knew, for instance, that C+C Music Factory, another "manufactured band" as Wikipedia describes, also participated in a great deal of deception of the public. And of course, we have all heard of Ashlee Simpson's antics on Saturday Night Live just a few years ago.

It's amazing how prevalent the talent of lip-synching is, and how widely it is used. I mean, it is something standard and clearly recognized in Indian cinemas. The musicians receive separate billing from the actors, and singers like Lata Mangeshkar were made famous for voicing the films of Bollywood.

Lip-Synching was even used and recognized in the Gene Kelly film Singin in the Rain. Betty Noyes performed vocals for Debbie Reynolds for the tune of "Would you." Ms. Reynods did do her own vocals in "Good Mornin'" and "All I Do is Dream of You." Interestingly enough, this dubbing of "Would You" was ironic, given the themes of the film. Its plot involved a young woman named Kathy Seldon (Debbie Reynolds), who vyes for screen credit for performing vocals for the famed, but woefully untalented actress Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). This leads me to wonder: why "Would you" dubbed by an alternative singer -- as a literary device, or because Debbie Reynolds's voice was considered unsuitable? You can do the searching on that one. I'll save that for another night!