Ode to The Holm!

Celeste Holm was born a native New Yorker,

in 1917

to Jean Park, a painter and author, and

Theodore Holm, a Norwegian businessman

whose career kept the family moving...

in a good way.

Celeste attended schools, 14 in all(!)

in France, The Netherlands, and the US.

She was supposedly smitten by the theatre

at age 3, when her grandmother took her to see 

Anna Pavlova: 

"There she was, being tossed in midair,

caught, no mistakes, no falls.

She never knew what an impression she made."

 

Celeste's Broadway debut was in 

The Time Of Your Life, with Gene Kelly...

then followed Oklahoma! and Bloomer Girl (above).

Then it was off to Hollywood,

for A Gentleman's Agreement, 

 All About Eve below with Bette,

High Society, and more.

 

 Come To The Stable with Loretta Young, 1949,

and below 

Chicken Every Sunday with Dan Dailey, 1949.

 From High Society, another successful movie for Celeste.

When she moved out to Hollywood,

Oscar Hammerstein told her she wouldn't like it.

And she didn't,

finding the atmosphere deceptive, if balmy.

 As Ado Annie in Oklahoma,

the part that "put her over"

on Broadway,

and led to the invite to Hollywood. 

"Hollywood is a good place to learn how to 

eat a salad

without smearing your lipstick." 

She would go back and forth from

stage to screen (to television)

for the rest of her life.

 From The Tender Trap, 1955,

above with David Wayne

(yes, the leprechaun drinks!).

And taking her turn as

Mame in 1967.

 Okay, maybe we should just forget about this 

episode of Wonder Woman that CH did

with Linda Carter!

 Celeste with a few nobodies:

Sloan Simpson and Jacqueline Kennedy,

at the 'Bal de la Soie, 1954.

 Above, A Gentleman's Agreement,

with Gregory Peck.

Celeste won a Best Supporting Oscar and

a Golden Globe for this baby. 

1947

 Later in her career,

Celeste turned to more television roles,

doing variety shows, soap opera stints,

and Wonder-Woman-esque cameos.

She still found time to collect 5 husbands,

estrange her sons,

and lose most of her money 

paying court costs.

 A smashing dress for the 1988 Academy Awards.

Celeste passed away in 2012,

at the age of 95,

in her Manhattan home. 

Over 2 dozen Broadway shows, 

20 films,

and too many tv appearances to count!

And the winner is...

 SpongeBob Square Pants,

with music by...well, A LOT of people,

including Cyndy Lauper, Sara Bareilles, and Jonathan Colton,

did well at the Drama Desk Awards recently,

winning 6, including Outstanding Musical.

Ethan Slater plays "Bob",

Danny Skinner is Patrick,

and Gavin Lee as Squidward. 

 Tina Fey's Mean Girls with music by

 Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin...

It stars Erika Henningsen (left above, and below in "math class"

with Kyle Sellig),

and "in pink" above,

Ashley Park, Taylor Louderman, and Kate Rockwell.

Then there's  Frozen with Caissie Levy as Elsa (above)

and below...John Riddle, Caissie, Patti Murin and

 Jellani Alladin.

Music by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

(Robert who helped create the music for 

Avenue Q and The Book Of Mormon).

 The Band's Visit,

a David Yazbek musical,

and my personal favorite!

Tony Shaloub, Katrina Lenk,

Etai Benson, Andrew Polk, John Cariani,

and wonderful Middle Eastern-flavored music,

brought to us by the actual BAND! 

Playlist For June 10, 2018: Get off my stage!

 And the nominees are...Dear lord. I can't. Or more to the point, I refuse. Songs of the Sponge. Teenage angst. Ice princesses with super powers. In true "get off my lawn" grump, I am putting my tap-shoed foot down and (almost) refusing to play selections from 3/4 of the nominees for this year's Best Musical. Take your pirates and your txting and your Olafs and go see 'em yourself. Leave me here with a sexy Shaloub, those balletic Lenk-y arms, a plate of falafel, and the music of David Yazbek's The Band's Visit and I will be just fine, thank you. Yes, that's my pick, but I fear it won't win.

It's a small, simple, no smoke OR mirrors kinda show. No huge Jerry Hermanesque/15 choruses/with glockenspiel finale. It's quiet and America usually hates quiet. They paid their money, they want streamers and explosions and unison singing and drippy gowns and kick lines. So this little show may be way too under-volumed in too many ways to take the Gold. Too bad, because it's lovely, with a message that this country needs badly RIGHT NOW.

HOWEVER...along with all that Tony drama, I'll fill in the musical gaps with The Good, The Better and The Best. (I would do a Good, Bad and Ugly show, but not a lot of Ugly songs on Broadway...wait...), and past Tony winners, like Evan and Fun Home and of course Hamilton. And then there's my continued snark at the present shows, mortaring it all together, as usual.

I will watch the Tonys and throw stuff at the screen. :)


Answer Me (Adam Kantor, Company, The Band's Visit)
God, That's Good! (Ken Jennings, Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, Ensemble,
      Sweeney Todd)
It Was Good Enough For Grandma (Celeste Holm, Bloomer Girl)
Good Girls Go To Heaven (Sally Kellerman, Breakfast At Tiffany's)
Being Good (Leslie Uggams, Hallelujah, Baby!)
Good Times Are Here To Stay (Tamara Long, Sally Stark, Company,
      Dames At Sea)
Please Don't Make Me Be Good (Karen Ziemba, Fifty Million Frenchmen)
Good Thing Going (Vanessa Williams, Sondheim On Sondheim)
Something Good (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)
For The First Time In Forever (Patti Murin, Caissie Levy, Frozen)
Meet The Plastics (Taylor Louderman, Ashley Park, Kate Rockwell,
      Mean Girls)
Poor Pirates (Jon Rua, errant "Pirates", SpongeBob Square Pants)
The Beat Of Your Heart (Andrew Polk, Ensemble, The Band's Visit)
Omar Sharif (Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit)
Papi Hears The Ocean (Etai Benson, The Band's Visit)
The Concert (Instrumental, The Band's Visit)
Itgara/Something Different (Tony Shaloub, Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit)
There Must Be Something Better Than Love (Pearl Bailey, Arms And The
      Girl)
There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This (Helen Gallagher, Thelma
      Oliver, Gwen Verdon, Sweet Charity)
High Is Better Than Low (Mary Martin, James O'Connor,  Jennie)
Rich Is Better/Just For The Moment (Fran Stevens, Widows,
      How Now, Dow Jones)
Better With A Man (Jefferson Mayes, A Gentleman's Guide To Love
      And Murder)
Waving Through A Window (Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen)
Flying Away (Sydney Lucas, Beth Malone, Emily Skeggs, Fun Home)
Wait For It (Leslie Odom Jr., Ensemble, Hamilton)
The Best Thing For You (Ethel Merman, Call Me Madam)
My Best Girl (Frankie Michaels, Angela Lansbury, Mame)
The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing (Jeffry Denman, Meredith
      Patterson, Irving Berlin's White Christmas)
The Best Of Times (George Hearn, Gene Barry, Company, La Cage Aux
      Folles)

Sweet Smells

 It's been a favorite movie of mine forever,

so why shouldn't I love the musical as well?

And I do...

Sweet Smell opened on Broadway in March of 2002,

closed in June of 2002,

so not everyone else did, unfortunately.

John Lithgow as JJ,

Bryan d'Arcy James as Sidney Falcone
(as opposed to Falco in the movie? Weird.),

Stacey Logan and Kellie O'Hara.

 

 Music was by Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia.

The production, I read somewhere, was supposedly 

insanely attentive to the tiniest of period props.

Like Mad Men, 

even the letter head and the pens, 

though mostly unseen by the audience,

was "of the time." 

 Bryan, John Noseworthy (who played Dallas),

Kellie O'Hara (Susan), John (towering over everybody),

and Stacey Logan (Rita).

Despite an early close,

7 Tony noms,

and a win for Mr. Lithgow.

 Nifty sets by Bob Crowley

(somethin's coming, I don't know what it...I'll stop!).

 So how does Bryan stack up against Tony? 

 Back in 1957, 

Tony Curtis "fought hard" for the role of Falco,

evidently tired of his "pretty-boy" roles.

Ernest Lehman began writing the screenplay,

(he wrote the novelette for Cosmopolitan

(no, not THAT Cosmopolitan)

back in 1950),

but it was ultimately dismantled and re-written,

AS they were filming,

by Clifford Odets.

 Tony with the wonderful Barbara Nichols 

as Rita.

 Music for the film was a combination of Elmer Bernstein's

orchestral score and The Chico Hamilton Quintet's jazz numbers.

John Walters of The Guardian called it 

"the sonic equivalent of a well-mixed Manhattan: 

seven cool cues by drummer Chico Hamilton's adventurous band, 

and 14 orchestral blasts by Elmer Bernstein".

Lancaster and Curtis had worked magic in Trapeze,

and United Artists wanted to repeat the "pairing."

But Burt was scarey, on set and off,

intimidating to many on the production.

That worked its way into the film, nicely.

Director Alexander MacKendrick 

added an interesting touch to the character:

a thin film of Vaseline over the lenses of Burt's glasses,

which gave him a menacingly blank stare.

Ballard on Random

 Catherine Gloria Balotta (our Kaye Ballard!)

was born in Cleveland in 1925.

She began as the class clown, doing impressions

and developing a comedy act,

enough to get her into a local USO "Stage Door Canteen" performance,

in her teenage years. 

She joined up with The Spike Jones' Orchestra, 

doing vocals and the errant tuba/flute solos (really!)

in the 1940s,

and made her Broadway debut in 1946,

in a revue called "Three To Make Ready".

 She performed in London, as well,

in Touch and Go,

then back to Broadway in Annie, Get Your Gun

and Top Banana (with Phil Silvers).

Along with musicals of the 40s,

Kay did the cabaret and nightclub circuit,

performing at The Bon Soir, The Persian Room,

and The Blue Angel.

 In 1957, she played an Ugly Stepsister

(along with Alice Ghostley, above)

in Rodgers and Hammerstein's live television musical,

Cinderella...

and got to sing "Why Would A Fella Want A Girl Like Her?"

Also during the 50s

(and 60s)

Kaye did a ton of television appearances:
Jack Parr, Ed Sullivan, Red Skelton, Carol Burnett,

all the variety shows.

 Above, a Life Mag cover when she starred in 

The Golden Apple, 1954.

Below with Henry Lascoe

in Carnival, 1961.

The Mothers-In-Law

with Eve Arden

was pretty damn infamous,

though it lasted only one season, back in 1967. 

Season Last!

  Above, with Judy Carne and John Byner

doing a guest appearance on Laugh-In.

 With Maureen McGovern

in Pirates Of Penzance.

 "Buttercup"

 Looking good with Nanette Fabray...

 ...and Carol Channing.

Kaye got to play Dolly AND Mama Rose AND

Anne Sherwood (Wonderful Town)!

And not to forget Nunsense, Blythe Spirit, The Full Monty, 

and the female version of The Odd Couple.

Kaye officially retired in 2015

after almost 70 years in the biz.

She's livin' the high life now, at age 92.

The next book on my shelf will be

"How I Lost 10 Pounds In 53 Years,"

Kaye's memoir.