What does the word rotogravure mean in the song Easter Parade?

Answer 1

# An intaglio printing process in which letters and pictures are transferred from an etched copper cylinder to a web of paper, plastic, or similar material in a rotary press. # Printed material, such as a newspaper section, produced by this process. Having never heard the song or knowing the context in which the word is used, I would assume it means the individual will find themselves squished in a rotary press or wind up in the newspaper as the result of some action. http://www.answers.com/topic/rotogravure?cat=biz-fin&method=26&initiator=WANS

The above answer is both technical and cute, but the person who asked (and maybe the one who answered, as well!) might like to know that the Irving Berlin song refers to the old-timey promenade of fashionably-dressed people down Fifth Avenue, New York on Easter Day. The newspaper photographers would photograph stylish society people and publish them in the Sunday supplement color magazine of their newspaper the following week, the magazine being produced by, of course, rotogravure. The idea of the song is: We may not be high society, but you look so pretty that "the photographers will snap us, and you'll find that you're in the rotogravure." Incidentally, the song is from a very cute 1948 movie by the same name, with the twist that though usually sung by a man to a woman, Judy sings it to Fred Astaire, to whom she has just given a classy top hat with a big satin bow. ("Never saw you look quite so pretty before. Never saw you dress quite so handsome, what's more....") http://www.jgdb.com/easter.htm

Answer 2

The rotogravure was a machine process for printing photographs into newspapers around the turn of the 19th century. There was even a weekly publication called "The Rotogravure", filled with the latest interesting pictures. Good question!