1h 25min | Musical | TV Movie 25 September 1954
Director: Max Liebman
Stars: Ann Sothern, James Daly, Luella Gear, Carleton Carpenter.
Rod Alexander ... dance numbers staged by (also dances)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283443/
Bootleg copy, poor quality. Originally broadcast in color.
To recap my history with this musical: heard/saw 2 songs in the Gertrude Lawrence biopic Star! ('68, Robert Wise) starring Julie Andrews, read the "show biography" by Bruce D. Mcclung, and then soundtrack recordings, the '44 film and this TV show.
This offers a more complete set of the play's songs than the '44 film did.
Songs (Written by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin) performed (17 chapters, no menu):
- Oh Fabulous One in Your Ivory Tower, Performed by male chorus
- One Life to Live, Performed by Ann Sothern and dancers
- Girl of the Moment, Performed by male chorus
- It Looks Like Liza, Performed by entire cast
- My Ship, Danced by Bambi Linn and Rod Alexander
- This is New, Performed by Ann Sothern and cast
- The Greatest Show on Earth, Performed by Carleton Carpenter
- The Best Years of His Life, Performed by Carleton Carpenter, James Daly, Robert Fortier, Paul McGrath and cast
- Tschaikowsky, Performed by Carleton Carpenter
- The Saga of Jenny, Performed by Ann Sothern and cast
- My Ship, Performed by Ann Sothern
AS (b. 1909) doesn't have the best singing voice, but neither did Gertrude Lawrence, the play's original star. AS's filmography runs from '27 to '87 (72 titles, 23 music/als), and her TV appearances (32 titles, '52-'85) include 2 series of her own: Private Secretary ('53-'57, 104 episodes) and The Ann Sothern Show ('58-'61, 93 episodes).
Visually this print is painful (it's a kinescope), but the audio is decent. The introduction didn't say whether this was a live performance, but it seemed so, since we have a studio audience sometimes laughing, applauding. The staging feels very constrained by being in TV studio.
I'm grateful to have this. I wish the '44 film had been more faithful to the play's score.
NBC TV, dir. Liebman; 8
Update 6Sep2019: got the official release. Still not color and watched on small screen (stretched). I didn't compare to see how much better this looked, but I wouldn't complain about the official version.
Somehow the sexism of the show bothered me today. The psychiatrist asking "why won't you compete as a woman?" The underling (male lead) calling Liza "boss lady." And the resolution that the most irritating jerk is now the love interest. Well, at least she doesn't give up her career during the show. Still have to keep in mind the Jan1941 B'way premiere date, that portraying psychoanalysis was rare, and women had not yet taken "male jobs" when the men were sent off to war a year later. The sad thing: in '54, the sexism still looked right at home.
There was some very good dancing, especially the pas de deux of Rod Alexander and Bambi Linn. I love the music, but the Ira Gershwin lyrics are too cute ("clever") and self important. (Some day I should document the most irritating.)
