johnm001

Technically, that should read: And in LITTLE MISS MARKER/SORROWFUL JONES/40 POUNDS OF TROUBLE/LITTLE MISS MARKER...

I like her, a lot, in KANSAS CITY BOMBER. I also saw her in WOMAN OF THE YEAR, on Broadway, and thought she was excellent in it.

The 3 I listed I can do, verbatim

THE SOUND OF MUSIC THE BIRDS VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960)

Actually, her voice sounds almost exactly like Natalie Wood's singing voice, so, no. That laugh is saved for the ridiculousness of it coming our of Audrey Hepburn's mouth in MY FAIR LADY, where she sounds nothing like Hepburn's singing voice. But yes," Krupke", some of the lines between characters, "I Feel Pretty", "America", much of the dance at the gym, are all light moments. Of course, it is not a comedy, but a tragedy.

Broadway-sourced musicals are generally a combination of some comedy and some drama. Even WSS has its light moments.

Exactly! Certainly no more absurd than people dancing, flattening tables in a saloon by falling on them, hitting someone over the head with a bottle and having it shatter, running from an earthquake on the fault line, a stewardess landing a plane, making a dress from drapes, having a dream in Technicolor; and, on and on and on and on.

The apparent reason someone breaks out into song is that it is a musical, which features songs as well as spoken dialog, to further the plot. That is the art form. That is the reason. The point isn't that they are breaking out in song, the point is the dialog continues.

Actually, Wiki is wrong about that. Jerry Herman wrote HELLO, DOLLY! for Ethel Merman and she turned it down. From that moment on, he never wrote a single song with and actor or actress in mind. He wrote all his songs only with the character in mind, and he believed this was the only way to write a musical. Once the show was written and the producers were talking casting, they wanted Mary Martin or someone as big as her. He would have been thrilled with her, but she declined. Jerry Herman wanted Angela Lansbury, who the producers felt wasn't a big enough draw, and even worked with her, without the producers' knowledge, and taught her a couple of songs from the score. When she auditioned, he accompanied her on the piano, and she blew everyone away. completely nailing the tunes. When she decided to leave the show, Judy Garland said she wanted to replace Lansbury, and Jerry Herman was thrilled at the prospect.. So much so, that even when the show's producers declined, because of her reputation of unreliability, Herman fought for her to do the show. He claimed that even if she only did one performance of it, it would be historical. They just weren't willing to entrust their investment to someone with her reputation. There's no question in my mind that she could have been remarkable in the role. Had she been healthy, and lived, she should have been in the film version of HELLO, DOLLY!, as well. Such a shame.

I went surfing the web and found this! https://www.dropbox.com/s/mqcg923sov46q50/JGJFK.jpg?dl=0

https://soundcloud.com/johnm_001/fight

I was completely unaware of that recording!! Although that recording is edited, it was exciting to hear it, after all these years. Much of what we said to her is not there, plus I believe a song or two is missing. Her talking about her dress isn't there, either. Still, I'm amazed it exists, at all! Thanks for the link. That concert was exactly $1.00, to attend. A bargin, even in 1968! It was sponsored by Schmidt's Beer, The City of Philadelphia, and a couple of others

I love her. My favorite of her performances is in THE SNAKE PIT

OMG, BLACK CHRISTMAS! My favorite, hands down!

I like every one of these films, as well; and, would add 1978's THE SILENT PARTNER to this list.

Up the point that I saw THE WIZ, it was the worst thing I had ever seen on a stage. I saw it during its Philadelphia try out, and have no idea what they did to it to make it a moderate hit on Broadway, but I thought it was lousy, beyond belief. I've seen worse, since, though. Never saw, nor will ever see, the movie.

A horrible year for Broadway. Most everything flopped, especially musicals. Interestingly, the only hit musical that year was Jerry Herman's LA CAGE AUX FOLLES.

1983 Broadway revival

Yes. We, apparently, want different things from movies.

I don't care who they cast, they'll stink by comparison to Russell. It is, simply, impossible to be better than she is, in the role. A musical remake has been rumored, for years. Many years ago, Jerry Hermann said that CBS was wanting to do a television film version and he wanted them to cast Julie Andrews. She was tied up with a Broadway show,, then lost her voice. So many people have been mentioned, since (the last being Cher); but I doubt we'll ever see it. The perfect person for Mame, at one time, was Michelle Lee. She possessed the acting, singing and dancing abilities for the role, and, was well-known enough to television audiences for a TV film version. It always makes me a little sad when opportunities like that are missed. Hollywood is littered with them. Ironically, I think there was a time when Lucie Arnaz would have made a good Mame.

By the way, Carol Channing is remarkable as Dolly. There isn't a single line that doesn't make you smile or laugh out loud. I've seen many, many, many Dollys, and no one even comes close to how perfect she is, in the role.

I have no problem with Michael Kidd's staging or how big the numnbers are. On stage, the numbers were big, and now we're using 70MM Todd-AO lenses. They have to be bigger! That's what makes it so great. In fact, production value-wise (sets, costumes, choreography), HELLO, DOLLY! is my favorite film musical. A film needs to be bigger than the stage show. That's one of my, myriad issues with MY FAIR LADY. The film doesn't come close to matching the excitement or scope of what I saw on stage. I sat, dumbstruck, in the Stanley Theater in Philadelphia, watching the dreary "Get Me to the Church on Time" number. It was a full-out, rocllicking, make you jump to your feet dance number on stage, with its own completely unique music to accompany the dance. On film, people merely pranced along an obvious set on an obvious studio stage, to the song's melody, just playing over and over. One in a series of devastatingly dull moments in the screen adaptation of the greatest show I ever saw on a stage. That film never, once, knows it's a movie. It's probably the most staid film musical, ever made. Even in 1964 it seemed dated and old fashioned. Movies had gone outside long before then. Simply nothing cinematic about it, at all. Back to DOLLY!, I think once they decided that bombastic Barbra Streisand was doing the role, they left the intimacy of the stage show behind, and tailored the entire film to her bombast. On that level, I think it works, remarkably well. Streisand and Matthau have zero chemistry, and the cast is directed to be cartoonish, rather than real. Odd, given that Ernest Lehman thought Carol Channing too much for film, and refused to cast her, even though 20th Century-Fox assumed she'd be Dolly.

At the time of its release, Lucy was doing HERE'S LUCY on television. There is a truly horrific episode where Lucille Carter meets Lucille Ball. MAME was mentioned, and they even had photos from the film, in Miss Ball's dressing room. I barely remember it, except that it was cringe-worthy, to say the least, and that Lucy as Lucille Ball was as cold and steely as she is as MAME. Another Jerry Herman musical where the leady lady in the film, completely lacks warmth, is HELLO, DOLLY! However, the film is so spectacularly mounted, and, for once, Streisand is actually attempting to be someone other than Barbra Streisand (okay, so it's Mae West, but West is better than Streisand), that it hardly matters. You see every penny spent on it, and in 70MM Todd-AO and 6-track stereophonic sound, it is incredible, in spite of it's poor casting (I would have gone with Anne Bancroft as Dolly, Eddie Albert as Horace, Grover Dale as Corneilus, Ann-Margret as Irene - Barnaby and Minnie are fine).

I have no issue with AUNTIE MAME, nor the musical MAME. In fact, when I saw it on Broadway, with its original cast, I thought it was right up there with MY FAIR LADY and HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, and one of the greatest musicals ever produced. Like many Hollywood adaptations of Broadway musicals, the film bears little resemblance to what I saw on stage. Yes, most of the songs are there, and most of the same scenes are there; and in the case of MAME, properly opened-up and not studio-bound. It looks like a movie, which is a great thing. The problem is that the leading lady cannot sing, dance or act the role, and the kid is equally appalling. So, someone tell me how people who are supposed to be in the BUSINESS of talent, so often cast people WITHOUT the talent to do roles in musicals? I can count on one hand the film adaptations of Broadway musicals that I think are the equal of what I saw on stage. Less than one hand! MAME isn't even close to being the worst one, either!

MAME can really be any age. How about the proposed (ridiculous) notion of Barbra Streisand as Rose in GYPSY???!!!! Those girls are SUPPOSED to be her daughters!