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vinyl LP front cover detail
artwork by Robert Galster
detail photo by Styrous®
Today is the birthday of Earth Kitt, a South Carolina gal who was an actress, singer, and cabaret star famous for years in Africa, South America then Europe but totally unknown in the United States until Leonard Sillman featured her in his Broadway musical revue, New Faces of 1952; it brought her to the attention of American audiences for the first time and she finally became a huge success here.
vinyl LP front cover
artwork by Robert Galster
photo by Styrous®
The New Faces Of 1952 review introduced and brought many other performers fame: Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Robert Clary, Carol Lawrence, Ronny Graham, performer/writer Mel Brooks (as Melvin Brooks), lyricist Sheldon Harnick and more.
Paul Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched, the befuddled father Harry MacAfee in Bye Bye Birdie, and as a regular "center square" panelist on the game show The Hollywood Squares from 1968 to 1981. He also voiced animated characters for four Hanna-Barbera productions.
Alice Ghostley was an American actress and singer. She was best known for her roles as Esmeralda (1969–70; 1972) also on Bewitched, as Cousin Alice (1970–71) on Mayberry R.F.D., and as Bernice Clifton (1986–93) on Designing Women, for which she received an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1992. She was a regular on Nichols (1971–72) and The Julie Andrews Hour (1972–73).
photo by Leo Friedman
Robert Clary was a Holocaust survivor who settled in Paris, France, after the war. He is best known for his role in the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes as Corporal Louis LeBeau.
Carol Lawrence is known for portraying Maria on Broadway in the musical West Side Story (1957), receiving a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She also appeared in many television dramas, including Rawhide and Murder She Wrote. She was married to singer Robert Goulet.
Ronny Graham was an American actor and theater director, composer, lyricist, and writer.
He penned seven episodes of M*A*S*H (and guest starred as Sgt. Gribble in the episode Your Hit Parade, for which he was program consultant) and nine episodes of The Brady Bunch Hour. He also co-wrote the screenplays for the Mel Brooks films To Be or Not to Be (1983) and Spaceballs (1987), appearing onscreen as Sondheim in the former and the Minister in the latter. His other film credits included roles in Dirty Little Billy (1972), Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), The World's Greatest Lover (1977) and History of the World, Part I (1981). He had a recurring role on Chico and the Man and made guest appearances on Murder She Wrote, Picket Fences, and Chicago Hope.
Ronny Graham - 1951
photo by Leo Friedman
photo by Leo Friedman
June Carroll - 1952
photo by Leo Friedman
Mel Brooks is an American director, writer, actor, comedian, producer and composer. He is known as a creator of broad film farces and comedic parodies. Brooks began his career as a comic and a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show, Your Show of Shows (1950–1954) alongside Woody Allen, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. Together with Carl Reiner, he created the comic character The 2000 Year Old Man. He wrote, with Buck Henry, the hit television comedy series Get Smart, which ran from 1965 to 1970.
date & photographer unknown
Brooks became one of the most successful film
directors of the 1970s, with many of his films being among the top 10
moneymakers of the year they were released. His best-known films include
The Producers (1968), The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World, Part I (1981), Spaceballs (1987), and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). A musical adaptation of his first film, The Producers, ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2007, and was remade into a musical film in 2005.
Earth Kitt was born on January 17, 1927 in North (near Columbia), South Carolina, USA. Her mother was African
American and, Cherokee, and her father was a White-American. Very busy
throughout the 1950's and 1960's as a performer, Kitt was also active in
social and political movements. She spoke four languages and sang in
seven, which she effortlessly demonstrated in many of her cabaret
performances. Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in
the world".
rear: Virginia de Luce
Eartha Kitt, Rosemary O’Reilly & Patricia Hammerlee
photo by Leo Friedman
Earth Kitt died of colon cancer on Christmas Day, 2008, three weeks short of her 82nd birthday at her home in Weston, Connecticut.
Eartha Kitt - 1952
photo by Leo Friedman
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A1 – Ronny Graham And The Company* - Opening, written by P. De Vries*, R. Graham*
A2 – Robert Clary, Virginia De Luce, Rosemary O'Reilly, Patricia Hammerlee* And Bill Mullikin - Lucky Pierre, written by– R. Graham*
A3 – Alice Ghostley Introduced By Virginia De Luce - Boston Beguine, written by S. Harnick*
A4 – Rosemary O'Reilly, Robert Clary, Eartha Kitt, June Carroll Introduced By Virginia De Luce - Love Is A Simple Thing, written by A. Siegel*, J. Carroll*
A5 – Alice Ghostley And Joe Lautner With Virginia Bosler, Bill Mullikin And Allen Conroy Introduced By Virginia De Luce - Nanty Puts Her Hair Up, written by A. Siegel*, H. Farjeon*
A6 – June Carroll - Guess Who I Saw Today, written by E. Boyd*, M. Grand*
A7 – Eartha Kitt Introduced By Robert Clary - Bal Petite Bal, written by F. Lemarque*
A2 – Robert Clary, Virginia De Luce, Rosemary O'Reilly, Patricia Hammerlee* And Bill Mullikin - Lucky Pierre, written by– R. Graham*
A3 – Alice Ghostley Introduced By Virginia De Luce - Boston Beguine, written by S. Harnick*
A4 – Rosemary O'Reilly, Robert Clary, Eartha Kitt, June Carroll Introduced By Virginia De Luce - Love Is A Simple Thing, written by A. Siegel*, J. Carroll*
A5 – Alice Ghostley And Joe Lautner With Virginia Bosler, Bill Mullikin And Allen Conroy Introduced By Virginia De Luce - Nanty Puts Her Hair Up, written by A. Siegel*, H. Farjeon*
A6 – June Carroll - Guess Who I Saw Today, written by E. Boyd*, M. Grand*
A7 – Eartha Kitt Introduced By Robert Clary - Bal Petite Bal, written by F. Lemarque*
Side 2:
Three For The Road
B1a – Virginia De Luce - Introduction
B1b – Robert Clary - Raining Memories, written by R. Graham*
B1c – Rosemary O'Reilly And Joe Lautner - Waltzing In Venice, written by R. Graham*
B1d – Alice Ghostley, Ronny Graham And The Company* - Take Off The Mask, written by R. Graham*
B2 – June Carroll And The Company* - Penny Candy, written by A. Siegel*, J. Carroll*
B3 – Rosemary O'Reilly - Don't Fall Asleep, written by R. Graham*
B4 – Robert Clary With Rosemary O'Reilly And Joe Lautner Introduced By Virginia De Luce - I’m In Love With Miss Logan
B5 – Eartha Kitt - Monotonous, written by A. Siegel*, J. Carroll*
B6a – Joe Lautner, Bill Mullikin, Paul Lynde, Patricia Hammerlee* And The Company* - Lizzie Borden, written by M. Brown*
B6b – Virginia De Luce - (He Takes Me Off His Income Tax)
Credits:
Arranged By [Orchestra] – Ted Royal
Artwork [Uncredited] – Robert Galster
Conductor [Orchestra] – A. Coppola*
Directed By [Sketches] – John Beal (3)
Performer – Alice Ghostley, Allen Conroy, Bill Mullikin, Carol Lawrence, Carol Nelson (2), Eartha Kitt, Jimmy Russell (4), Joseph Lautner*, June Carroll, Michael Dominico, Patricia Hammerlee*, Paul Lynde, Robert Clary, Ronny Graham, Rosemary O'Reilly, Virginia Bosler, Virginia De Luce
Producer – Leonard Sillman
Written-By [Sketches Mostly By] – Melvin Brooks*, Ronny Graham
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout: E2VP-4123
Matrix / Runout: E2VP-4124
Original Cast* – Leonard Sillman's New Faces Of 1952
Label: RCA Victor – LOC 1008
Series: Green Label Series –
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1953
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Label: RCA Victor – LOC 1008
Series: Green Label Series –
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1953
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Al Hirschfeld Foundation ~ New Faces of 1952
Masterworks Broadway ~ New Faces of 1952 – Original Cast
Museum of the City of New York ~ New Faces of 1952 images
YouTube links:
New Faces of 1952 (complete album) (55 mins., 27 secs.)
New Faces Promo
June Caroll ~ Guess Who I Saw Today
Robert Clary ~
Eartha Kitt ~ Monotonous
Eartha Kitt & Robert Clary ~ Bal Petit Bal
Paul Lynde & Alice Ghostly ~ New Faces of '52
Inga Swenson, Virginia de Luce, June Carroll, Robert Clary ~ Love is a Simple Thing (video)
New Faces Of 1952
drawing by Al Hirschfeld
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