American performers, some experienced and successful (or formerly so), some still striving for their first hit, try to make a living on their own artistic terms while residing in Paris.
Director: Max Liebman
Writers: Billy Friedberg (as William Friedberg), Neil Simon
Stars: Dan Dailey, Gale Sherwood, Helen Gallagher, Jack Whiting, Carleton Carpenter, Genevieve, Marcel Hillaire.
Rod Alexander ... choreographer
Watched out of sequence because I discovered it late and bought the disc cheap.
15 songs in the Soundtracks, all added by me from the sheet in the dvd case (and the closing credits.) The songwriters are numerous; only a couple of pairs of songs have the same author(s). The songs are not well-known to me, but neither are the shows where they originate; except the one from Damsel... is sorta familiar.
This is a lot of songs for 1.5 hours, and none of them are just sampled/medleyed. Some numbers are only 2 min, but some are 5+. Some are just singing, a lot are sung/danced. (DD makes CC look like an amateur when they dance side-by-side.) The choreography isn't great, but we're in a TV studio, with multiple sets, so most numbers feel very cramped.
People sing to express their inner thoughts, but more often they are performing on a stage.
The plot stitching the songs together: DD doesn't want to work with HG anymore, although she has a successful act in a nightclub and they want him to perform. He wants to do "artistic" dancing, but has been flopping with that. Then he meets a troupe of young American performers living in garrets, who are also trying to "develop their art" by doing oddball songs/dances. GS, the leading lady, has an operatic voice, but the rest of the kids seem to be near-amateurs. CC is a songwriter. JW is DD's agent, but performs happily at the drop of a chapeau.
There's not much cohesion, the sets don't look good (maybe better in color), and I don't grow to care about any of the characters.
Don't know if this was ever a stage play; didn't find it, or anything like it, under Neil Simon's (or the other writer's) IBDb credits. But the Max Liebman series has included other former stage shows.
It's just ok.
distr. NBC, dir. Liebman; 6-
