A Plethora Of Porter

Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman

in the film version of Anything Goes, 1936.

Ethel was reprising her stage role,

done 2 years earlier.

Were those Bing's REAL mutton chops?

 Ethel must have tried tugging them!

 The 1962 Off-Broadway revival

of Anything...

with Kenneth Mars, Hal Linden, and Eileen Rodgers (below).

This revival drew songs from MANY different 

Porter musicals.

I'm sort of surprised it wasn't moved to Broadway;

the recording is great!

 Eileen, Hal, and MIckey Deems at the cast recording.

 Other Renos of note:

Above, Patti LuPone in the 1987 revival,

and below, Sutton Foster, in 2011.

 Note the "hands on hips" poses...

for almost all the Renos!

 Gwen Verdon (in her Broadway debut)

stole Can-Can, 1953, out from under Lilo

(the supposed star!)...

Mixed reviews (okay, some really SCATHING ones as well)

 but it ran for 2 years,

and was made into a (not very successful) film

in 1960,

which used only a few of Cole's songs.

 Ethel Merman and Paula Laurence

in Something For The Boys...

Betty Garrett was Ethel's understudy,

and we'll hear Betty and Paula's take on

the Un-PC "By The Mississinewa".

 Broadway's Silk Stockings

with Don Ameche and Hildegard Knef.

And below, from the movie version:

Jules Munshin, Joseph Buloff, and Peter Lorre

"dancing" in Siberia!

 Janis Paige and Fred Astaire,

again from Silk Stockings, the film.

On Sunday we'll hear Janis and

"Satin And Silk".

 Mexican Hayride, 1944,

with June Havoc as a famous bullfighter!

That's June, below...

Gypsy Rose Lee's sister.

A movie of Hayride came out in 1948,

starring Abbott and Costello?

 1948's Kiss Me Kate

with Patricia Morrison and Alfred Drake (sans goatee?).

It received the first Best Musical Tony Award to be given out.

Over 3 dozen Broadway shows and movie musicals

to his name.

Magic is right!

Playlist For Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020: Let's Do This, Cole!

 Another Tuesday morning at 5:32, another 2 On The Aisle blog to write...ahh, such is the "life" of an upstater turned NYC wannabe turned  social security-drawing "frog", transplanted back in her original garden.  I guess I need to write a book about that "transplant" (that may or may not be "taking"), how I've never felt quite comfortable in either garden (city OR country), like Lucy and Jessie (of Follies fame). I'm always in between, so maybe GPS-me around Schenectady??? UGH.

THIS is Schnectady?

Photo-shopped to look like It's A Wonderful Life. 

I don't trust it.

As you can see, I'm grasping for ideas here. A mid-September crispy, crunchy dawn spent INSIDE (I ain't biking when it's 44 degrees, with Oregon smoke in the air), a steamy cuppa at my side, and an impatient cat niggling at my heels (I just FED YOU!). Makes ya wanna put on a sweater and surrender. But that's why the musical theatre gods gave us Cole Albert Porter. With his de-luxe and de-lovely Parisian parties, Venetian villas (did he have blinds?), plenty of hoity-toity friends (who wouldn't want a Monty Wooley attending your dos, sipping your better-be-the-best champagne, and guffawing into your cowboy caviar?). Cole with his wonderful witty words, and melodies to match. :)

 Just hanging in the gondola,

with Le Gershwin,

in the "backyard"

See? There's Monty!

And berets! They're wearing berets... what frickin' style.

So I'm up and at 'em for Cole...and a plethora of Porter awaits us come Sunday! Cherry picking from the best (and a few fun "worsts"), like Fifty Million Frenchmen, Can-Can, High Society, Dubarry, Something For The Boys. Iconic ones, as well, like that nary a Kiss, Kate and Anything (still) Goes, but I'll throw in some eccentric, rather un-PC goodies, too. Cuz that's part of Cole's garden.

Hopefully, it all speaks (and sings and swirls) to you. Scoop up some more of that caviar, pour yourself a Dubonnet (not into a jelly glass) and join me for Cole-dom!


Overture (Instrumental, Anything Goes)
Another Op'nin', Another Show (Annabelle Hill, Company, Kiss Me Kate)
Wunderbar (Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Kiss Me Kate)
We Open In Venice(Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, Michael
       Berresse, Amy Spanger, Kiss Me Kate)
Brush Up Your Shakespeare (Harry Clark, Charles Wood, Kiss Me Kate)
Let's Misbehave (Eileen Rodgers, Kenneth Mars, Anything Goes)
The Queen Of Terre Haute (Peggy Cass, Fifty Million Frenchmen)
But In The Morning, No (Julie Wilson, William Roy, Julie Wilson Sings The
       Cole Porter Songbook)
Let's Step Out (Ensemble, Fifty Million Frenchmen)
C'est Magnifique (Lilo, Can-Can)
I Am In Love (Peter Goodson, Can-Can)
Can-Can (Lilo, Company, Can-Can)
Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)(Rudy Vallee)
Where Have You Been? (Judy Holiday, Trouble Is A Man)
Let's Fly Away (Lee Wiley)
After You Who? (Fred Astaire, Gay Divorce)
Paris Loves Lovers (Don Ameche, Hildegard Knef, Silk Stockings)
Siberia (Jules Munshin, Joseph Buloff, Peter Lorre, Silk Stockings)
Satin And Silk (Janis Paige, Silk Stockings)
The Red Blues (David Opatoshu, Henry Lascoe, Leon Belasco, Silk Stockings)
Take Me Back To Manhattan (Eileen Rodgers, Anything Goes)
I'm Getting Myself Ready For You (Todd Buonopane, Mylinda Hull,
       The New Yorkers)
Blow, Gabriel, Blow (Patti LuPone, Don't Monkey With Broadway)
Come To The Supermarket (Barbra Streisand, Aladdin)
By The Mississinewa (Betty Garrett, Paula Laurence, Something For
       The Boys)
Abracadabra (June Havoc, Mexican Hayride)
Give Him The Ooh La La (Sutton Foster, Take Me To The World)
My Heart Belongs To Daddy (Mary Martin, Leave It To Me!)
You're Sensational (Frank Sinatra, High Society)
You're The Top (Cole Porter)
I Get A Kick Out Of You (Ethel Merman, Anything Goes)
The Heaven Hop (Margery Gray, Anything Goes)
Anything Goes (Sutton Foster, Company, Anything Goes)

It's DeLovely (Hal Linden, Barbara Lang, Anything Goes)

Oh, That Apple Tree!

 Yup, that's Alan Alda back in 1966 in The Apple Tree,

the creation of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick.

The musical actually consisted of 3 separate stories, 

with a common theme of 

"you think you want something, but then once you get it...

you realize you don't really want it anymore." 

(Sounds sort of like that Woody Allen joke.)

In fact, the show's first title was Come Back! Go Away! I Love You!

I can relate.

The first act was based on 

Mark Twain's "The Diaries of Adam and Eve."

The 2nd, Frank Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?"

and the 3rd, "Passionella" written by Jules Feiffer. 

 Also in the cast, Barbara Harris (in her Passionella fluff)

and Larry Blyden.

Director Mike Nichols had originally hoped that Dustin Hoffman

would play one of the leads,

but forgot he was directing a musical and realized later

that Dustin can't sing.

So Alan Alda can? 

No worries, cuz just a year later Mike would cast him

in The Graduate. 

Below Alan and Barbara as Adam and Eve.

 Lots of Tony nominations,

including Best Composer and Lyricist, Best Direction,

and Best Choreography (Lee Theodore),

but Barbara took home the only win.

It ran for one year (1966-67),

and replacements for the cast included

Phyllis Newman for Barbara's role

and Hal Holbrook subbed in for Alan Alda.

Larry Blyden, below!

 There's Hal in Alan's wig, above.

 Oh, I got it!

She's the apple tree.

Jeez.

 Barbara as the Chimney Sweep,

just before her movie star wish comes true

(Oh, to be one...!).

 Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick,

whose other musicals range from

She Loves Me to Fiddler On The Roof

(and several in between and after!).

Jerry passed away in 2010, at the age of 80.

Sheldon turned 96 this past April.

 Who wore it better,

Babs or Kristen?

In 2005, Encores! staged a concert rendition of the musical,

ANNNND in 2007 a full blown production 

was mounted at Studio 54,

Kristin Chenoweth (below) in Barbara's role (and with similar body parts).

Also in the cast:

Brian d'Arcy James and Marc Kudisch.

Alan Alda had a voice over part as God. 

 The only thing good about the revival

was Kristin?

Well, that's what the critics all said.

"Creaky with age", "music uninspired",

you get the drift.

But everyone seemed to love the Chen!

It ran for just over 100 performances.

Playlist For Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020: Puttin' On The Argyles. Sorta.

Fall has entered my zip code.

I'm sitting here (it is Monday, the 7th of September), listening to wind. And pelting rain. We are smack (down!) dab in the middle of Labor Day weekend, and yet the weather would like us to know that Summer is leaving the building. Not a good thing. I mean, autumn is usually a pretty exciting concept, with all of the New Year/Fresh Start-ness of January 1...in fact it's always seemed like the real start of the year to me. A new lunch box (with Barbie on it???). A new binder (Star Trek themed???). New knee socks. New crush? But not this year. It all seems sort of blah, if not ominous, to hear that wind and feel that seasonal turn.

 I actually own this one.

Slick.

 But THIS I NEED!

 Cuz no new Broadway either.

I'm missing the new musicals that were TO BE on Broadway by now. Even though most of you would yell at me for dabbling tooooo much in old timey musicals (saluting the Stynes, Sondheims, and Gersh-whines ad infinitum), I'm pining for the premiers, for scanning the Times for reviews/debuts, for cracking the CD case on a just-opened Broadway Baby. You're right, I do enjoy and play CLASSIC (read: often prehistoric) Broadway, BUT whenever possible, I like to sample the new stuff and "show" listeners the Just-In and Possibly-Exciting and Maybe-Someday-This-Will-Be-A-Classic-Too stuff. And I haven't been able to do that since, oh I don't know...maybe since Sponge Bob. Ugh.

 Dear lord, no.

So I've had to recycle and rerun and cross fingers that you're hangin' in with me.

And to that end, we will Go Chock-A-Block (simply called "chocked" by the Aussies) with themes this Sunday! (Note exciting exclamation point usage!) Travel! Autumn! Stars (both kinds: Movie and Ethereal)! Travel, cuz we HAVE and wish to do so again soon; Autumn, cuz it will be, in about 1/2 an hour; and Stars (cuz Oh, To Be One, and I was Born Under A Wandrin' One)! So if you're seeking solace in Classic Broadway, know that I'm here, saving you a virtual seat. Still, again, and always. :)

 Alan Alda, Barbara Harris, Larry Blyden...

in The Apple Tree.

My style "Star"!

I Love To Travel (Nathan Lane, Roger Bart, The Frogs)
I'm On My Way (Rufus Smith, Ensemble, Paint Your Wagon)
Travelin' In Louisiana (Ensemble, Sugar Babies)
Travel Hopefully (David Hemmings, Michael Aldridge, By Jeeves)
Travel Song (Brian d'Arcy James, Shrek The Musical)
Why Do The Wrong People Travel? (Elaine Stritch, Sail Away)
Traveling Light (Frank Loesser, An Evening With Frank Loesser)
A Trip To The Library (Barbara Baxley, She Loves Me)
The Bicycle Song (Beatrice Lillie, High Spirits)
I Love To Travel (Reprise)(Nathan Lane, Roger Bart, The Frogs)
Les Feuilles Mortes (Yves Montand)
Another Autumn (Tony Bavaar, James Mitchell, Paint Your Wagon)
Autumn (Margery Cohen, Starting Here, Starting Now)
September Song (Lotte Lenya, Knickerbocker Holiday)
Too Close For Comfort (Sammy Davis Jr., Mr. Wonderful)
Take Me To The World/Starting Here Starting Now (Sutton Foster, Take Me
       To The World)
They Say It's Wonderful (Max Von Essen, I'm Old Fashioned)
Make Someone Happy (Audra McDonald, Sing Happy)
I'm The Greatest Star (Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl)
Oh, To Be A Movie Star (Barbara Harris, The Apple Tree)
Poor Little Hollywood Star (Nancy Andrews, Little Me)
Look What Happened to Mabel (Bernadette Peters, Mack & Mabel)
Alive! (Max Von Essen, Death Takes A Holiday)
Shimmy Like They Do In Paree (Mara Davi, Max Von Essen, Death Takes
       A Holiday)
Life's A Joy (Simone Jones, Jill Paice, Death Takes A Holiday)
You Are My Lucky Star (Debbie Reynolds, Singin' In The Rain)
Stars And The Moon (Jessica Molaskey, Songs For A New World)
Wand'rin' Star (Rufus Smith, Ted Thurston, Newton Sullivan, Paint
       Your Wagon)
Star Tar (Bernadette Peters, Dames At Sea)
Friendly Star (Judy Garland, Summer Stock)
When You Wish Upon A Star (Cliff Edwards, Pinocchio)

A Garrett, A Fleegle, and You!

 Seventh Heaven became a musical 

after a play AND 2 movies:

the original creation was written by Austin Strong,

then a silent movie done in 1927 with Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor,

and finally in 1937, a sound re-do with Jimmy Stewart and 

Simone Simon.

I guess the plot had something "special"!

Diane, a girl of the streets,

meets and falls in love with Chico,

"the king (small k) of the Paris sewers".

By 1955, it just HAD to become a musical, right?

 

The music: Victor Young, 

who was primarily a composer of movie scores

(and very successful ones, at that!).

This was his 2nd try on Broadway,

having helped create the musical revue, Pardon Our French, 5 years earlier.

The lyrics: Stella Unger, who also worked on the book,

along with Victor Wolfson.

Choreography: Peter Gennaro, with an assist

by Lee (Becker) Theodore,

who Peter would create dances for in West Side Story

(she played Anybodys).

The dream cast HOPED to include

Edith Piaf and hubby, Jacques Pills,

but when pushez came to pullez,

Gloria DeHaven and Ricardo Montalban landed the lead roles.

 Al Hirschfeld managed to draw the cast

before the show closed,

which happened TRES VITE!

Only 44 performances on Ol'Broadway.

 Gloria deHaven

supposedly never did another Broadway show after this one burned her.

Above, one of her solos,

"Where Is That Someone For Me?"

can definitely be musically answered

with a resounding "NOT HERE!"

Below, Gloria looking very Salome-esque,

but she wasn't IN Salome,

so why? :)

 Here she is in The Thin Man Goes Home

with William Powell, Lucile Watson and Myrna Loy, back in 1945.

 Gloria would have a successful career

in film and television, if not trodding the literal boards.

 Ricardo was first a star in Mexican films,

before MGM grabbed him to star with Esther Williams

in Fiesta!

His biggest success was in television,

with appearances on Star Trek (below, as Kahn,

which became a whole Wrath of Kahn "thing!"), 

and in several TV movies.

From 1977 to 1984, he starred with Herve Villechaize on 

Fantasy Island.

 Also part of the Seventh Heaven cast 

(as the character, Fleegle (The Rat)) was

Robert Clary,

a survivor of Buchenwald,

a concentration camp that 11 members of his family did NOT survive.

Post WWII, Robert began recording,

and his popularity in France brought him to the US in 1949.

Broadway, films and later an ensemble role

in TV's Hogan's Heroes came his way;

he is, in fact, the last surviving member of this show's cast,

at the age of 91. 

 The cast member who got the best reviews of the show

was a young Chita Rivera,

who played Fifi.

I'm actually not sure if the above photo is from 

Seventh Heaven, 

but the date is right: 1955.

She coincidentally performed in

New Faces of 1952 with Robert Clary!

 Fifi D'Orsay

was initially cast as Madame Suze,

but after previews in New Haven,

the part was given to Bea Arthur!

Below, Fifi in Stephen Sondheim's Follies,

a good 25 years later.

Also part of the cast was

Kurt Kasznar, as Boule the snarky taxi driver.

He would go on to portray 

Max Detweiler in the original production of The Sound Of Music,

Nero Wolf IN Nero Wolf (the CBS TV series),

and toured with Ricardo in Don Juan In Hell.