~
Annie Get Your Gun ~ 1946
Flower Drum Song & Pat Suzuki
The Gay Life ~ Barbara Cook
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Flower Drum Song & Pat Suzuki
The Gay Life ~ Barbara Cook
date & photographer unknown
mentions:
Showing posts with label Oscar Hammerstein II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oscar Hammerstein II. Show all posts
January 7, 2024
September 30, 2018
20,000 Vinyl LPs 150: The King and I ~ when Deborah danced
~
Today, September 30, is the birthday of Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer, known professionally as Deborah Kerr, who was born in 1921. She was a Scottish film, theatre and television actress who won a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the 1956 musical film, The King and I.
The King and I soundtrack
vinyl LP album cover detail
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
The film is a beautiful study in fashion history (link below).When Sharaff made use of silks from Thailand for stage production of The King and I (1951), she created a trend in fashion and interior decoration. The costumes are the biggest reason this film was the second costliest film in 20th century fox history, which cost four and a half million dollars. Sharaff won best costume design for The King and I and it was she who advised Brynner to shave his head for his role as the King of Siam.
photographer & date unknown
The music by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II is brilliant but of course, I have favorites. One is the song for the above scene, Shall We Dance? (link below). But my very favorite is Something Wonderful (link below) which is sung by Terry Saunders who portrays Lady Thiang, the wife of the King. It is a poignant paean to deep love for an imperfect lover; it is achingly passionate and beautiful.
Saunders had understudied the role of Lady Thiang in the Broadway production and in 1952 had taken over the role when it was vacant.
Something Wonderful has been covered by the best: Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Carmen McRae, Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters and probably many others.
The King and I soundtrack
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
While it's beautiful, but not my favorite, I've always thought Hello, Young Lovers is an interesting song on several levels. In it, Anna (Kerr) sings of her dead husband as well as surreptitiously telling two young star-crossed lovers, Lun Tha (Carlos Rivas) and Tuptim (Rita Moreno), that all will end well. That doesn't happen but, oh, well, whoever said life was fair.
Marni Nixon actually sang the vocals for Kerr in the film. Nixon was an American soprano and ghost singer for many actresses in movie musicals. In addition to The King and I, she is now well-known as the real singing voices in West Side Story, and My Fair Lady, although this was concealed at the time from audiences. In 1950, Nixon married Ernest Gold who composed the theme song to the movie Exodus.
top photo: Terry Saunders (Lady Thiang )
bottom photo:
Carlos Rivas (Lun Tha) left &
Rita Moreno (Tuptim) right
The King and I soundtrack
bottom photo:
Carlos Rivas (Lun Tha) left &
Rita Moreno (Tuptim) right
The King and I soundtrack
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Moreno disliked most of her film work during this period as she felt
the roles she was given were stereotypical. The one exception was her
supporting role of Tuptim in this film version of The King and I.
The King and I film poster
The King and I soundtrack
vinyl LP album cover
photo of album cover by Styrous®
This album was released at the time the film was, 1956; stereo recordings were new so albums were releast in stereo as well as mono, this origianl issue is a mono High Fidelity recording.
Deborah Kerr was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Her first stage appearance was at Weston-super-Mare in 1937, as "Harlequin" in the mime play Harlequin and Columbine. She then went to the Sadler's Wells ballet school and in 1938 made her début in the corps de ballet in Prometheus. After various walk-on parts in Shakespeare productions at the Open-Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London, she joined the Oxford Playhouse repertory company in 1940, playing, inter alia, "Margaret" in Dear Brutus and "Patty Moss" in The Two Bouquets.
In 1943, aged 21, she made her West End début as "Ellie Dunn" in a revival of Heartbreak House at the Cambridge Theatre, stealing attention from stalwarts such as Edith Evans and Isabel Jeans. "She has the rare gift", wrote critic Beverley Baxter, "of thinking her lines, not merely remembering them. The process of development from a romantic, silly girl to a hard, disillusioned woman in three hours was moving and convincing".
She made clear that her surname should be pronounced the same as "car". To avoid confusion over pronunciation, Louis B. Mayer of MGM billed her as "Kerr rhymes with Star!"
photo of album back cover by Styrous®
She made her Broadway debut in 1953, appearing in the Robert Anderson play, Tea and Sympathy, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. Kerr repeated her role along with her stage partner John Kerr (no relation) in the Vincente Minnelli film adaptation of the drama.
She departed from typecasting with a performance that brought out her sensuality, as "Karen Holmes", the embittered military wife in the Fred Zinnemann film, From Here to Eternity (1953), for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The American Film Institute acknowledged the iconic status of the scene from that film in which Burt Lancaster and she romped illicitly and passionately amidst crashing waves on a Hawaiian beach. The organisation ranked it 20th in its list of the 100 most romantic films of all time.
In 1955, Kerr won the Sarah Siddons Award. she experienced a career resurgence when she played the role of the nurse, played by Elsa Lanchester in the 1957 movie, Witness for the Prosecution, on television in the early 1980s. Later, Kerr rejoined screen partner Robert Mitchum in Reunion at Fairborough. She also took on the role of the older Emma Harte, a tycoon, in the adaptation of A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford. For this performance, Kerr was nominated for an Emmy Award.
She departed from typecasting with a performance that brought out her sensuality, as "Karen Holmes", the embittered military wife in the Fred Zinnemann film, From Here to Eternity (1953), for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The American Film Institute acknowledged the iconic status of the scene from that film in which Burt Lancaster and she romped illicitly and passionately amidst crashing waves on a Hawaiian beach. The organisation ranked it 20th in its list of the 100 most romantic films of all time.
In 1955, Kerr won the Sarah Siddons Award. she experienced a career resurgence when she played the role of the nurse, played by Elsa Lanchester in the 1957 movie, Witness for the Prosecution, on television in the early 1980s. Later, Kerr rejoined screen partner Robert Mitchum in Reunion at Fairborough. She also took on the role of the older Emma Harte, a tycoon, in the adaptation of A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford. For this performance, Kerr was nominated for an Emmy Award.
1709 Vine Street, Los Angeles, California
Deborah Kerr was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, more than any other actress without ever winning. In 1994, however, having already received honorary awards from the Cannes Film Festival and BAFTA, she received an Academy Honorary Award with a citation recognising her as "an artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance". She was the ultimate 'Lady'.
She won a Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy" for The King and I in 1957 and a Henrietta Award for "World Film Favorite – Female". She was the first performer to win the New York Film Critics Circle Award for "Best Actress" three times (1947, 1957 and 1960).
Kerr was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1998, but was unable to accept the honour in person because of ill health.
Deborah Kerr died, aged 86, on the 16th of October, 2007, at Botesdale, a village in county of Suffolk, England, from the effects of Parkinson's disease.
photo by Styrous®
photo by Styrous®
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 - Overture
A2 - I Whistle A Happy Tune
A3 - My Lord And Master
A4 - Hello, Young Lovers
A5 - The March Of Siamese Children
A6 - A Puzzlement
Side 2:
B1 - Getting To Know You
B2 - We Kiss In A Shadow
B3 - I Have Dreamed
B4 - Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You?
B5 - Something Wonderful
B6 - Song Of The King
B7 - Shall We Dance?
B8 - Something Wonderful (Finale)
Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Credits:
- Vocals [Anna Leonowens] – Deborah Kerr
- Vocals [Lady Thiang] – Terry Saunders
- Vocals [Lun Tha] – Carlos Rivas
- Vocals [The King] – Yul Brynner
- Vocals [Tuptim] – Rita Moreno
Directed By – Walter Lang
Executive-Producer – Charles Brackett
Featuring – Carlos Rivas, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Terry Saunders, Yul Brynner
Lyrics By – Oscar Hammerstein II
Music By – Richard Rodgers
Musical Assistance – Ken Darby
Screenwriter – Ernest Lehman
Rodgers And Hammerstein* – The King and I
Label: Capitol Records – W-740
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1956
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Viewfinder links:
Yul Brynner
Golden Globe Award
Deborah Kerr
Rita Moreno
Something Wonderful lyrics
Net links:
Devorah Kerr Filmography
The King and I ~
Plot
Cast
Wonderful World of Cinema ~
Irene Sharaff’s Costumes for The King and I
Fashion & Film ~ The King & I (1956)
YouTube links:
Shall We Dance?
Something Wonderful
The King And I Trailer
"It's [acting] an unbelievable terror, a kind of masochistic madness.
Something Wonderful lyrics
~ This is a man who thinks with his heart
His heart is not always wise
This is a man who stumbles and falls
But this is a man who tries
This is a man you'll forgive and forgive
And help protect, as long as you live
He will not always say
What you would have him say
But now and then he'll do
Something
Wonderful
He has a thousand dreams
That won't come true
You know that he believes in them
And that's enough for you
program drawing by Albert Hirschfeld
[Chorus:]You'll always go along
Defend him where he's wrong
And tell him, when he's strong
He is wonderful
He'll always need your love
And so he'll get your love
A man who needs your love
Can be wonderful
[Chorus:]
She'll always go along
Defend him when he's wrong
And tell him when he's strong
He is wonderful
He'll always need her love
And so he'll get her love
A man who needs your love
Can be wonderful
Music: Richard Rogers, Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
May 16, 2018
20,000 Vinyl LPs 138: Annie Get Your Gun ~ 1946
Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
vinyl lp record cover
album cover photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Annie Get Your Gun opened on Broadway on this date, May 16, in 1946. It is a musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and brother Herbert Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860–1926), a sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, and her romance with sharpshooter Frank E. Butler (1847–1926).
Oakley was portrayed by Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton as Butler. The loud and brassy Merman was perfectly cast as the rough and tumble Oakley.
Annie Oakley - 1880's
Oakley was portrayed by Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton as Butler. The loud and brassy Merman was perfectly cast as the rough and tumble Oakley.
Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
vinyl lp record cover detail
album cover photographer unknown
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II was the team selected to produce the musical; they had just completed their first musical collaboraion, Oklahoma!. The music and lyrics are by Irving Berlin.
Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
vinyl lp record back cover
photo of album bacl cover by Styrous®
The show engendered many show-stoping songs, Doin' What Comes Natur'lly, You Can't Get a Man with a Gun, They Say It's Wonderful, Anything You Can Do and of course, the anthem of theater, the BIG one, There's No Business Like Show Business.
I love these songs but I have two favorites, I Got The Sun In The Morning, which is the exautation of the simple life, the wonders it holds and is sung with complete joy by Annie.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, The Girl That I Marry, is a soft, almost lullabye tune in a gentle waltz time. In it, Butler sings of the girl he longs to marry, ". . . as soft and as pink as a nursery", of course, Annie is anything but and she watches with sad dismay as he sings these words so it turns out to be a very sad song.
I love these songs but I have two favorites, I Got The Sun In The Morning, which is the exautation of the simple life, the wonders it holds and is sung with complete joy by Annie.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, The Girl That I Marry, is a soft, almost lullabye tune in a gentle waltz time. In it, Butler sings of the girl he longs to marry, ". . . as soft and as pink as a nursery", of course, Annie is anything but and she watches with sad dismay as he sings these words so it turns out to be a very sad song.
Frank E. Butler ca. 1882
photographer unknown
Annie Get Your Gun premiered on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on May 16, 1946 and ran for 1,147 performances. Directed by Joshua Logan, the show starred Ethel Merman as Annie, Ray Middleton as Frank Butler, Lea Penman as Dolly Tate, Art Bernett as Foster Wilson, Harry Bellaver as Chief Sitting Bull, Kenneth Bowers as Tommy Keeler, Marty May as Charlie Davenport and William O'Neal as Buffalo Bill.
Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
vinyl lp record back cover detail
detail photo of album bacl cover by Styrous®
Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
vinyl lp record sleeve cover
photo by Styrous®
Annie Oakley died of pernicious anemia in Greenville, Ohio
at the age of 66 on November 3, 1926. After her death it was discovered
that her entire fortune had been spent on her family and her
charities.
Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
vinyl lp record sleeve cover
photo by Styrous®
On February 15, 1984, 10 months after she was diagnosed with brain
cancer, Merman died at her home in Manhattan at the age of 76. On the evening of Merman's death, all 36 theatres on Broadway dimmed their lights at 9 pm in her honor.
The 56th Academy Awards, held on April 2, 1984, ended with a performance of "There's No Business Like Show Business" in tribute to Merman.
Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
vinyl lp record, side 1
photo by Styrous®
Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
vinyl lp record, side 2
photo by Styrous®
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 - Doin' What Comes Natur'lly
A2 - Moonshine Lullaby
A3 - You Can't Get A Man With A Gun
A4 - I’m An Indian Too
A5 - They Say It's Wonderful
A6 - Anything You Can Do
Side 2:
B1 - I Got Lost In His Arms
B2 - I Got The Sun In The Morning
B3 - The Girl That I Marry
B4 - My Defenses Are Down
B5 - Who Do You Love I Hope
B6 - There's No Business Like Show Business
Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – The Compo Company Ltd.
Credits:
Art Direction [Costumes] – Lucinda Ballard
Conductor – Jay Blackton
Directed By – Joshua Logan
Lead Vocals – Ethel Merman, Ray Middleton
Music By, Lyrics By – Irving Berlin
Producer – Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II*
Set Designer – Jo Mielziner
Vocals – Kathleen Carnes, Robert Lenn
Ethel Merman With Ray Middleton – Annie Get Your Gun - The Original Cast Album
Label: Decca – DL 9018
Format: Vinyl, LP, Mono
Country: Canada
Released: 1955
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Viewfinder link:
Irving Berlin
Oscar Hammerstein II
Ethel Merman
Richard Rodgers
Net links:
Plot summary
Characters
Original 1946 production
Recordings
YouTube links:
Annie Get Your Gun ~
Doin' What Comes Natur'lly
You Can't Get A Man With A Gun
I’m An Indian Too
They Say It's Wonderful
Anything You Can Do
I Got The Sun In The Morning
The Girl That I Marry
There's No Business Like Show Business
Oscar Hammerstein II articles/mentions
Annie Get Your Gun ~ 1946
Flower Drum Song & Pat Suzuki
Barbara Cook ~ The Gay Life
The King and I ~ when Debora danced
Oscar Hammerstein II
High school photo
date & photographer unknown
August 9, 2017
20,000 Vinyl LPs 101: The Gay Life with Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook died yesterday, Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Cook was one of the bastions of Broadway musical singers.
Cook came to prominence in the 1950s. She made her Broadway debut in Flahooley which starred Yma Sumac (1951). She continued performing mostly in theatre until the
mid-1970s, when she began a second career as a cabaret and concert
singer.
During her years as Broadway’s leading ingénue Cook was lauded for her excellent lyric soprano voice. She was particularly admired for her vocal agility, wide range, warm sound, and emotive interpretations. As she aged her voice took on a darker quality, even in her head voice, that was less prominent in her youth.
During her years as Broadway’s leading ingénue Cook was lauded for her excellent lyric soprano voice. She was particularly admired for her vocal agility, wide range, warm sound, and emotive interpretations. As she aged her voice took on a darker quality, even in her head voice, that was less prominent in her youth.
The Gay Life ~ Barbara Cook
vinyl LP album back cover
photo by Styrous®
vinyl LP album back cover
photo by Styrous®
Cook was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 25, 1927. She began singing at an early age, at the Elks Club. She spent three years after graduating from high school working as a typist.
In 1948, Cook decided to try to find work as an actress in New York. She began to sing at clubs and resorts, eventually procuring an engagement at the Blue Angel club in 1950.
Cook's clear soprano voice enabled her to win the role of Cunegonde in the Leonard Bernstein operetta Candide in 1956. She became famous for the show stopping song, Glitter and Be Gay. Although Candide was not a commercial success, Cook's portrayal of Cunegonde established her as one of Broadway's leading ingenues.
Her two most famous roles after Candide were her Tony Award winning portrayal of Marian the Librarian in the Meredith Willson 1957 hit The Music Man and as Amalia Balash in the 1962 Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick musical She Loves Me.
Barbara Cook as Cunegonde, Candide - 1956
Her two most famous roles after Candide were her Tony Award winning portrayal of Marian the Librarian in the Meredith Willson 1957 hit The Music Man and as Amalia Balash in the 1962 Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick musical She Loves Me.
In 1994, Cook was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. In 1997, she celebrated her 70th birthday by giving a concert at Albert Hall in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in November, joined by performers including Elaine Stritch and Maria Friedman. The Times
reviewer noted: "The world is usually divided into actresses who try to
sing and singers who try to act. Cook is one of the few performers who
manage to combine the best of both traditions, as she reminded us in It Might as Well be Spring by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II - and, at the close, in her encore of the Bock and Harnick song, Ice Cream."
On October 22, 2007, Cook sang at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts with the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus
in the chorus's concert entitled "An Evening With Barbara Cook". Upon
completion of the concert, an almost full house greeted her with a round
of Happy Birthday in honor of her impending 80th birthday, which, on December 2, 2007, she celebrated belatedly in the UK with a concert at the Coliseum Theatre in London's West End.
As she entered her ninth decade, Cook performed in two sold-out concerts with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in 2007.
On April 12, 2011, Cook appeared with James Taylor, Bette Midler and Sting, at Carnegie Hall for a gala called "Celebrating 120 Years of Carnegie Hall".
At the time of her death, Cook was widely recognized as one of the
"premier interpreters" of musical theatre songs and standards, in
particular the songs of composer Stephen Sondheim.
Her subtle and sensitive interpretations of American popular song
continued to earn high praise even into her eighties. She was named an
honoree at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors.
Cook died from respiratory failure yesterday, August 8, 2017 at her Manhattan home. She was 89 years old. The marquee lights of the Broadway theaters will be dimmed for one minute in tribute to Cook, tonight, August 9.
The Gay Life is a musical with a book by Fay and Michael Kanin, lyrics by Howard Dietz, and music by Arthur Schwartz.
Based on a cycle of seven short plays by Arthur Schnitzler, published in 1893 and first staged in 1910, The Gay Life focuses on womanizing playboy Anatol Von Huber. The score is a mixture of traditional Broadway show tunes and operetta.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 – Herbert Greene Overture
A2 – The Gay Life Ensemble What A Charming Couple
A3 – Jeanne Bal Why Go Anywhere At All?
A4 – Jules Munshin Bring Your Darling Daughter
A5 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin Now I'm Ready For A Frau
A6 – Barbara Cook Magic Moment
A7 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook Who Can? You Can!
A8 – The Gay Life Ensemble Oh, Mein Liebchen
A9 – Barbara Cook The Label On The Bottle
Side 2:
B1 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook This Kind Of Girl
B2 – Jules Munshin The Bloom Is Off The Rose
B3 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin I'm Glad I'm Single
B4 – Barbara Cook Something You Never Had Before
B5 – Jules Munshin, Lu Leonard, Loring Smith You Will Never Be Lonely
B6 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook You're Not The Type
B7 – Elizabeth Allen Come A-Wandering With Me
B8 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin I Never Had A Chance
B9 – Barbara Cook I Wouldn't Marry You
B? – Walter Chiari And For The First Time
B10 – The Gay Life Ensemble Finale
Credits:
Conductor – Herbert Greene
Lyrics By – Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz
Music By – Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz
Notes:
Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo
Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook, Jules Munshin – The Gay Life (Original Broadway Cast)
Label: Capitol Records – SWAO 1560
Format: vinyl LP, Stereo, gatefold
Country: US
Released: 1961
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Side 1:
A1 – Herbert Greene Overture
A2 – The Gay Life Ensemble What A Charming Couple
A3 – Jeanne Bal Why Go Anywhere At All?
A4 – Jules Munshin Bring Your Darling Daughter
A5 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin Now I'm Ready For A Frau
A6 – Barbara Cook Magic Moment
A7 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook Who Can? You Can!
A8 – The Gay Life Ensemble Oh, Mein Liebchen
A9 – Barbara Cook The Label On The Bottle
Side 2:
B1 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook This Kind Of Girl
B2 – Jules Munshin The Bloom Is Off The Rose
B3 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin I'm Glad I'm Single
B4 – Barbara Cook Something You Never Had Before
B5 – Jules Munshin, Lu Leonard, Loring Smith You Will Never Be Lonely
B6 – Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook You're Not The Type
B7 – Elizabeth Allen Come A-Wandering With Me
B8 – Walter Chiari, Jules Munshin I Never Had A Chance
B9 – Barbara Cook I Wouldn't Marry You
B? – Walter Chiari And For The First Time
B10 – The Gay Life Ensemble Finale
Credits:
Conductor – Herbert Greene
Lyrics By – Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz
Music By – Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz
Notes:
Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo
Walter Chiari, Barbara Cook, Jules Munshin – The Gay Life (Original Broadway Cast)
Label: Capitol Records – SWAO 1560
Format: vinyl LP, Stereo, gatefold
Country: US
Released: 1961
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Net links:
Barbara Cook ~
Discography
Stage work
NPR ~ My First Memories Are Of Singing (audio interview)
Variety obit
Playbill obit
Washington Post obit
LA Times obit
YouTube links:
Magic Moment (The Gay Life)
Something You Never Had Before (The Gay Life)
The Label On The Bottle
Glitter and Be Gay (Candide)
Barbara Cook on Candide: Auditioning for Bernstein
PBS ~ An Evening with Barbara Cook (54 min)
Barbara Cook on The Dick Cavett Show, 1982 (28 min)
photo by Mike Martin
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, August 9, 2017
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