2 Unsinkable Dames

Hello, Dolly (the MOVIE) was released in 1969,

directed by Gene Kelly, choreographed by Michael Kidd, and

starring Barbra Streisand.

They used the village of Garrison, New York (below)

in place of Yonkers,

and a special era-appropriate locomotive was restored

for use in the "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" number.

 Michael Crawford (later to become Theeee Phantom of the Opera)

and Danny Lockin

played Cornelius and Barnaby (above)....

Costumes were the work of Irene Sharaff, 

who had designed costumes for scores of successful shows and films.

 Although the film opened "strongly," 

it lost momemtum and failed to recoup its investment.

Rotten Tomatoes now views it thusly:

"Hello, Dolly! is one big-assed bull in a china shop. 

The film cost nearly as much to produce as Cleopatra,

and made far less at the box office, 

thus earning the film its reputation as one of Hollywood’s foremost turkeys."

 Joyce Ames, Babs, and Tommy Tune

flaunting their Sunday clothes!

 You wonder if Walter Matthau was the first choice

to play Horace Vandergelder. 

Behind the scenes,

Babs feuded with Walter and Gene,

Kidd had problems with Irene and Gene,

so it seems they all took turns not speaking to each other. 

Joyce and Tommy,

NOT feuding and

playing up the height difference!

 Meredith Willson's 2nd musical,

The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 1960,

starred Tammy Grimes (above at the recording session)

and Harve Presnell.

Below, the REAL Molly Brown,

survivor of both the Titanic disaster 

and a rich, over-bearing, miner husband. 

She DOES look unsinkable.

 Tammy earned a Tony for Featured Actress in a Musical

the year it opened,

and headlined the national tour

(while Debbie Reynolds scooped the part in the movie done in 1964).

Director of the Broadway show...Dory Schary,

Choreographer...Peter Gennaro.

Harve transcended the stage version and played "Leadville Johnny Brown"

in the film as well. 

Tammy died recently (2016) at the age of 82. 

 Harve started his career in opera,

and in 1960, singing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,

guess who was sitting in the audience but

Meredith Willson,

who signed him for the lead in "Unsinkable".

After that production, subsequent tour, and film,

Harve went back and forth from stage to movie roles

(Paint Your Wagon, for example, where he sang the definitive version of 

"They Call The Wind Mariah").

In the 1990s, his career was revived with

Fargo, Saving Private Ryan, Patch Adams,

and several TV roles.

He passed away in 2009. 

 And still floating today,

Molly and Miners

"Belly Up" to that bar!