Remember - A new Blue Plate Special challenge is posted each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and participants have until the 3rd of the following month to complete and post their creations.
Prize will be a $20 Gift Certificate to their favorite online store (random drawing).....
It Happened on Fifth Avenue
Aloysius T. McKeever (Victor Moore), a hobo, makes his home in a seasonally boarded-up Fifth Avenue mansion, each time its owner—Michael J. O'Connor (Charles Ruggles), the second richest man in the world—winters at his Virginia estate. McKeever winds up taking in ex-G.I. Jim Bullock (Don DeFore), who has been evicted from an apartment building O'Connor is tearing down for a new skyscraper, and later 18-year-old Trudy "Smith" (Gale Storm), who is actually O'Connor's runaway daughter. Jim soon invites war buddies Whitey (Alan Hale, Jr.), Hank (Edward Ryan) and their families to share the vast mansion when they are unable to find homes of their own.
When Trudy encounters her father, she tells him she is in love with Jim. She has not told Jim who she really is because she wants to win his love without her wealth. She then persuades her father to pretend to be a homeless man named "Mike". McKeever reluctantly takes Mike in, but treats him like a servant. When Mike becomes fed up, he gives Trudy 24 hours to get the squatters out. Trudy calls Palm Beach and seeks help from her mother Mary (Ann Harding), who is recently divorced from Michael. Mary comes to New York and pretends to be another homeless person to join the other squatters. McKeever, sensing Mary and Mike have feelings for each other, nudges them together. Eventually, Mike tells Mary he is a changed man and proposes. Mary accepts.
Jim comes up with an idea to convert unused post-war Army barracks into much-needed housing. McKeever persuades him to bid for an Army camp on the outskirts of New York City. Jim and his friends raise money from hundreds of other ex-G.I.'s in the same predicament. O'Connor also wants the property, and a bidding war ensues before O'Connor finds out who his competitor is. To try to get rid of his daughter's suitor, he sees to it that the construction company Jim approaches about his conversion plan rejects it and instead offers him a well-paying job in Bolivia, on the condition that he be single.
Celebrating Christmas Eve together, the residents are caught by two patrolmen, but McKeever convinces them to let the families stay until after the New Year. Jim then reveals that the camp has been sold to O'Connor, and he is considering the job offer in Bolivia, resulting in Trudy breaking up with him. When Mary and Trudy find out how Mike has manipulated the situation, Mary thinks he has not changed after all, and that she and Trudy will leave for Florida. Ashamed, Mike arranges a meeting with "O'Connor" for Jim and his partners, who are dubious but accept. At the meeting, Mike reveals his true identity and transfers ownership of the camp to them, provided that they not reveal his identity to McKeever.
That night, everyone shares a New Year's dinner before restoring the house just as they found it. Mike, Mary, Trudy and Jim bid farewell to McKeever as he heads off to O'Connor's estate in Virginia, still unaware of the truth. Mike tells Mary to remind him to nail up the board in the back fence through which McKeever gets onto his property, intending to have McKeever come through the front door next winter.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. If you have never seen it I highly recommend you do. It's a great comedy with a heartwarming message.
Today's challenge based on this movie is to take things from the "hobo to 5th Avenue". For example on my LO instead of using cardstock that looked like wood, I actually used wood veneer to create my stripes. Using the sketch, get fancy and transform your LOs. You may do either side of the sketch or both. Other ideas...get out embossing powders and stamps and add some gold or sparkle, transform your alphas with minc or paint, create fancy cut mats, add some jeweled flourishes.
