Broadway Birthdays and Bad Spacing (thank you, Blogspot!)

Nanette Fabray,

one of our birthday gals

on Sunday's 2 On The Aisle...

above, in The Band Wagon, singing Louisiana Hayride.

And below, with Robert Ryan in

Mr. President,

Irving Berlin's last musical, 1962.

Nanette started performing at the age of 3

in Vaudeville!

She'd go on to work on Broadway, in movies,

and television for almost 7 decades.

Her first love, she said, was live TV:
"It involves a form of insanity that reminds me of make-believe games that you played as a child.”

Below, Nanette "overwhelmed" by the cast of "Caesar's Hour",

including Sid Caesar (starting at left),

Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris.

Thanks to this show, Nanette won 3 Emmys.

                                      

George S. Irving had a career spent mostly on the stage as a wonderful character actor. He was born in Springfield, Mass. on November 2, 1922, and began singing in synagogues at the age of 13. His Broadway debut in Oklahoma, the original production, was cut short when he was drafted just days later! But Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Me And Juliet, Me And My Girl, Irene and many more shows followed, once he was back state-side.

                                           With Debbie Reynolds in Irene.                                                                George passed away in 2016, at the age of 94. And an interesting side note, George was married to Maria Karnilova (star of Fiddler On The Roof) for 52 years! 

 

 Barbara Cook, another (mostly) stage actress, debuted in Flahooley, a flop with puppets AND Yma Sumac!

But she survived to do The Gay Life (above),

Plain And Simple (below), She Loves Me, and The Music Man.

 Barbara hailed from Atlanta, Georgia...to arrive as a tourist in NYC,

and then just decided to stay!

Good move. 

 

 

 

        Come the 1970s, Barbara began a second career as a cabaret singer,                        with dates at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Albert Hall.

              Barbara (above) appeared in Sondheim On Sondheim, in 2010, with                                     Leslie Kritzer, Vanessa Williams, and Erin Mackey.

         According to the the NYTimes, Barbara was "at the top of her game.... Cook's voice is remarkably unchanged from 1958, when she won the Tony Award for playing Marian the Librarian in The Music Man. A few high notes aside, it is, eerily, as rich and clear as ever."

                        Barbara passed away in 2017, at the age of 89.