"The Throb of Manhattan"

ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, 1955, may well be my very favourite musical (after A STAR IS BORN and THE BANDWAGON of course) - it and those sophisticated musicals from 1957 [LES GIRLS, FUNNY FACE, SILK STOCKINGS, THE PYJAMA GAME, bits of PAL JOEY] are my perennial favourites, ever since I saw them as a child at Sunday afternoon matinees - BRIGADOON was another but it it not quite in that league, but I prefer them to the over-hyped SINGING IN THE RAIN or AN AMERICAN IN PARIS both of which show Kelly at his most grating (of course, as per Musicals label, I also love ON THE TOWN, MY SISTER EILEEN, KISS ME KATE, SWINGTIME, GYPSY, LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT among others...)

Good to see that ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER is being revived by the London National Film Theatre in their season on MGM musicals - it cries out to be seen on widescreen, using as it does, multiple images when our 3 wartime buddies reflect on their lives now. It seems to have been a troubled shoot, co-directors Kelly and Stanley Donen fell out, Kelly and Charisse don't have any number together, she has one marvellous dance number "Baby You Knock Me Out" at the gym (where, as Pauline Kael put it, "Cyd Charisse is benumbed until she unhinges those legs") wearing that terrific Helen Rose ensemble, and Gene has the very inventive roller-skate number and of course when the 3 guys dance with the dustbin lids, so it is all very innovative, just as original musicals were dying, it was mainly films of Broadway shows after this.

It is the perfect mid-century story of 3 wartime buddies meeting up 10 years later in 1955 and realising that they don't like each other much now, and indeed Kelly and Dailey don't much like themselves either. Gene is mixing with hoods and managing a dumb boxer, while Dan Dailey has risen to "Executive Vice-President" level in advertising and is sick of the advertising game as he lets rip in his terrific solo number "Advertising-wise". Cyd Charisse is the television researcher who stumbles across the 3 wartime buddies and realises their reunion is ideal for her television show "Midnight with Madeline" for "The Throb of Manhattan" spot where saccharine stories are featured. This is the early days of live television and the movie is a splendid satire on those artificial tv hostesses like Madeline and her diva tantrums. Dolores Gray is stupendous here, and has one of the best numbers ever "Thanks a lot but no thanks" which is a delirious treat with that ritzy gown and that killer line:"I've got a man who's Clifton Webb and Marlon Brando combined"!. Then hood Jay C Flippen and his goons invade the studio where the live broadcast is being made, as they are after Gene who has thrown the fight once he realised his boxer has been bribed to lose it. Cyd gets the hoods to confess on live air, Madeline has a hit show, the 3 buddies realise they are still friends after all. It's a perfect conclusion as Cyd joins Gene and the the guys back at the bar where they vowed to meet up 10 years previously.



Choreographer Michael Kidd is ideal as the family man, Dailey has one of his best roles (apart from his father in THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS), Cyd and Gene sparkle as they spar with each other, and Dolores steals the show. What's not to love? It is a dark, sometimes bitter take on ON THE TOWN a decade later as the 3 buddies meet again - by 1955 though Sinatra had gone on to solo projects and was "difficult" and Jules Munchin was not a name enough. Produced of course by Arthur Freed, with songs by Andre Previn, script by Comden and Green; perfect entertainment then, but see the widescreen version, not panned and scanned! The DVD includes a fascinating 'Making-Of' chronicling the fallout between Kelly and Donen, and several out-takes including a terrific inventive (that word again) deleted number between Kelly and Charisse "Love is Nothing But a Racket" which has been unseen for far too long, and Michael Kidd's solo spot with some kids, but Gene did not want that included, after his number with kids in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS! Essential stuff then.

I met Gene at a recording of an interview of his for the BBC in 1975 - Donen of course went on to direct several of my enduing favourites: those Audrey Hepburn films like TWO FOR THE ROAD and CHARADE, Kendall in ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, Peck and Sophia ideal in ARABESQUE, and the marvellous BEDAZZLED with Pete and Dud and Eleanor Bron in 1967. We won't mention STAIRCASE or LUCKY LADY!

Hermes and Cyd on musicals ...

A fascinating new documentary on Sky Arts cable channel: Hermes Pan and Cyd Charisse on musicals, titled BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD. It of course re-cycles old interviews with a host of dazzling clips. I am not sure though about the morality of putting old stars' interviews into new material, making them work - as it were - after their lifetime ...

The very dapper Hermes Pan, with that useful resemblance to Fred Astaire, was born in 1909 (of Greek extraction) and died aged 81 in 1990. He was choreographer on Astaire pictures, including all the ones with Ginger Rogers, whom he danced with in other films as well. Hermes was one of the best choreographers and dance directors, choreographing, among others, dances in CLEOPATRA, MY FAIR LADY, PAL JOEY, CAN CAN, THE STUDENT PRINCE, JUPITER'S DARLING and others, as well as lots of tv shows. It is just fascinating hearing him discuss how they worked to create the magic we still experience now watching them. Charisse too was the ultimate professional during her long career, and a very edurite commentator on the old studio days. (Below: Hermes with Fred, and Ginger). The other great choreographer was of course the very individual Jack Cole at Fox, who did all those terrific Monroe and Jane Russell numbers.



Cyd - whom I loved seeing in musicals as a child - BRIGADOON, THE BANDWAGON, ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, SILK STOCKINGS etc - the former Tula Ellice Finklea from Amarillo, Texas - was always a very elegant dancer, trained for ballet, in movies since the '40s, died aged 87 in 2008 (born 1921). I saw her in a London show in the 80s - a silly revival of CHARLY GIRL - but I had to say I had seen Cyd Charisse dance!



This documentary is artfully put together with lots of clips, Hermes chatting in a bar, and Cyd walking around the old MGM lot. Its as affecting as Fred walking past the remains of that train [where he sang "By Myself" at the start of THE BANDWAGON] in the THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT movie. This is more of the same - but for style and elegance Cyd and Hermes were hard to beat.

Cyd's green gloves, and shoes, and handbag ..

Bliss it is to watch THE BANDWAGON again, on the big screen. It is my favourite musical after all, as per label. Now though one could focus more on the decor and the costumes. Cyd Charisse has a terrific wardrobe here (like Grace Kelly in TO CATCH A THIEF). I was particularly taken with Cyd's dark green dress with those green gloves, green shoes and handbag - perfect for her first meeting with Astaire and in that red room. She actually has a lot of marvellous handbags here. Then of course there is the simple white outfor for "Dancing in the Dark", the sensational red dress for the "Girl Hunt", and just seen briefly that very Minnelli yellow dress with the splash of red. Divine!

Funny Face - more 1957 chic. S'Wonderful

Plus of course "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and "Think Pink"! and Paris ... Quite a few stylish musicals were made in 1957, not only FUNNY FACE but also LES GIRLS and SILK STOCKINGS (both also set, if not filmed, in Paris) as well as DESIGNING WOMAN (well, Dolores Gray sings), PAL JOEY and THE PYJAMA GAME. Other film-makers in Paris then included Billy Wilder (and Hepburn again) for LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON and that Fox production, headed by Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner, of Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES. A busy year in Paris then. Does anything though beat the sheer elegance and pizazz of Stanley Donen's very '50s fashion show that is FUNNY FACE? - Fred may be too old for Audrey but it doesn't matter here (whereas for me it does in DADDY LONG LEGS with Leslie Caron), add in Kay Thompson delivering "Think Pink" and that send-up of the beat scene and some classic numbers and delirious moments like Audrey descending the steps in the Louvre saying "shoot the picture shoot the picture" as we sit entranced.

Best musical evah !

Its THE BANDWAGON natch! - it was on again yesterday afternoon so I cleared the decks and luxuriated in it all over again - enjoying Minnelli's palette of colours - all those yellows and reds - SINGING IN THE RAIN looks drab by comparison! SINGING by the way, which was on the day before just doesn't do it for me, I have enjoyed it all the times I have seen it but it just isn't that special for me, apart from every appearance and utterance of Lina Lamont.
But back to THE BANDWAGON - Fred is wonderful here in 1953, Cyd is at the pinnacle of her career, Fabray and Levant are fine and - maybe best of all - Jack Buchanan is an insane delight as highbrow theatre director Jeffrey Cordova, maybe based on Orson Welles - even the throwaway shot of that poster for his show Oedipus Rex (where we first see him hamming it up) has it billed as presented by, starring, written and directed by him. This Arthur Freed production, with Roger Edens also on board, the witty script satirising show business folk is by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, with Michael Kidd handling the dances and those Howard Dietz songs which all mesh perfectly without a dull moment, starting with that satire on ageing star Tony Hunter and the auction of his top hat and then his arrival in New York - where we have two of Fred's best ever numbers: the wistful "By Myself" as he leaves the train (those journalists were waiting for Ava Gardner!) - Judy makes this song an angry powerhouse statement (which is also perfect in its context) in her I COULD GO ON SINGING, but Fred's version is delightful here; and then we have that dazzling "Put A Shine On Your Shoes" with everything in the amusement arcade thrown in, before Fred meets the Martins (Nanette and Oscar) and their idea for a new show - which leads us to theatre egomaniac Jeffrey Cordova as we go backstage at his Oedipus Rex. Cue seeing ballet dancer Gabrielle Gerard (Cyd) on stage and then we all adjoin to Cordova's town-house and that perfect yellow and white study (pure Minnelli) while Gaby and her partner choreographer Paul Byrd (James Mitchell) are in an adjoining red room. We overhear Cordova wowing the investors as Fred and Cyd size each other up. There is also that delicious scene when Cordova calls Paul over at 3 a.m. and skillfully manoeuvers him into demanding that dancer Gaby is cast in the show! as Hal - Cordova's constantaly on-call assistant (or maybe more?) - wearily rings the papers. Minnelli's THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE in '58 also had decor to die for [as per my post on that].

Lots of amusement follows as the show is cast and begins to work and then we get that perfect number "Dancing in the Dark" as Fred and Cyd escape the rehearsals and take a horse and carriage to the park and the number expresses their concerns about dancing together as they effortlessly mesh together rising and falling until spent and exhausted they fall back into the carriage. Its a moment of pure rapture.


Then we have the giant egg with appropriate sounds as the opening peformance is a colossal flop - and Fred takes over and the show is re-done and we get one marvellous number after another: Cyd in that yellow dress with the splash of red, "Triplets", "Louisiana Hayride" and Fred and Jack in that delightful "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan". I really only know Buchanan from this movie, its a shame there were no later great musicals for him. Then we get the iconic "Girl Hunt" ballet where Fred and Cyd dazzle - when Cyd displays that red dress and those legs ... and finally that last reprise of the anthem "That's Entertainment" as Cyd tells Fred the show will run forever. Its all bliss, pure bliss. For me, the best MGM musical then, followed by KISS ME KATE - and Gene's later ones ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER and LES GIRLS. Time now to dig out the dvd and those extra features and making-of documentaries... Fred of course went on to those other favorites of mine FUNNY FACE and SILK STOCKINGS (sorry, not DADDY LONG LEGS). Perfect end comment: "This was THE smart and sophisticated musical comedy of the '50s, an era when New York adults still set pop trends and before American culture became corrupted and dumbed down by television. It's not just nostalgia to say they don't make them like they used to."

"Too Darn Hot" - '50s/'60s musicals

I love this 1967 paperback on musicals by Douglas McVay.
‘50s and ‘60s musicals – where to start! First, the ones I don’t much care for: SINGING IN THE RAIN is of course perfectly entertaining [and Jean Hagen's Lina Lamont is an immortal], I have seen it lots of times, but I wouldn’t for a minute regard it as the best musical ever. That has to be Minnelli’s THE BANDWAGON, sheer perfection if only for Jack Buchanan’s Broadway producer/director/star and the brilliantly staged numbers and Minnelli's color schemes, followed by Sidney’s KISS ME KATE, splendidly realised for the camera, particularly Ann Miller’s “Too Darn Hot” … one of the best numbers on film ever. Add in her numbers with Tommy Rall, and Rall, Fosse and Van hoofing, as well as Keel and Grayson! Then of course there is Cukor’s drama with music A STAR IS BORN, one of the first films I saw in 1954 when 8 and those widescreen compositions floored me, the beach house windows with the reflections of the sea as Norman Maine goes for a swim, the slap at the awards ceremony, the breakdown in the dressing room. One was also enchanted by Ann Blyth's singing barmaid in the routine THE STUDENT PRINCE.

I never liked AN AMERICAN IN PARIS – pure schmaltz, apart from Nina Foch – and I positively loathed SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS [though I bought the dvd for the Tommy Rall interview, he is still terrific now…] – as Pauline Kael said about the Von Trapps: “surely there was one little Von Trapp who didn’t want to sing his or her heart out, or who got sick before performing?”, that’s how I feel about the 7 Brides and Brothers; and although WEST SIDE STORY was among the first soundtrack albums I bought, the movie never meant much to me. [The soundtrack to SOUTH PACIFIC and Broadway cast album of MY FAIR LADY were also early purchases]. Of the big shows on film SOUTH PACIFIC is mainly ok, despite some weak casting; we liked THE KING AND I, CAROUSEL and OLKAHOMA didn’t do it for me at all, and FLOWER DRUM SONG has it moments, good to see it again a while ago, not being a Fox film it does not get as re-packaged as often as the other O&H shows.

I love Astaire in the ‘50s: THE BANDWAGON, SILK STOCKINGS and FUNNY FACE (not DADDY LONG LEGS, despite Thelma Ritter and Fred Clark – its gruesome). The Kelly I rate in the 50s is ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER and even BRIGADOON isn’t too bad… LES GIRLS too for the girls and Cukor and that studio Paris. There are bits of other musicals: Doris Day on top form in THE PYJAMA GAME which also has Carol Haney and Fosse’s “Steam Heat”, and then there is Sinatra and PAL JOEY. ANYTHING GOES is pure tedium now, but at least preserves Zizi Jeanmaire. Mitzi, Bing and Donald O’Connor do their best.

The early 60s was perhaps the last flowering of show musicals: GYPSY [and “You Gotta Get A Gimmick”, just one of it’s great numbers], JUMBO, THE MUSIC MAN. Much as I like MY FAIR LADY its an embalmed version of a show [and practically the last gasp of the old hollywood] and I skilfully avoided THE SOUND OF MUSIC for decades, but then gave in on New Year’s Day 1996 and it fitted the moment perfectly. Much more exciting for a teenage me then were Dick Lester’s two: A HARD DAY’S NIGHT and HELP! which I returned to frequently – the Beatles in color on the big screen! Then Demy’s two, UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT, Vitti bursting into song in MODESTY BLAISE, Bardot & Moreau in VIVA MARIA and then the arrival of Barbra! I saw the stage show of FUNNY GIRL in London from the front row in ’66 when I was 20, we had already loved Streisand’s albums then – the movie was and is perfection despite losing numbers like "The Music That Makes Me Dance", I even liked a lot of HELLO DOLLY and ON A CLEAR DAY and again, back in that pre-video age, we had the soundtrack albums. Another soundtrack album I liked was Judy's I COULD GO ON SINGING, with those 4 great numbers, Judy and Bogarde are great together, despite, as he wrote about, the tensions of its making.

Now at least with dvds, A STAR IS BORN is better than ever, and those 3 marvellous alternate takes of “The Man That Got Away” with great scope compositions, all just as good as the one in the movie, and all that footage of the premieres with all the stars of the day [Doris, Debbie, Peggy Lee, Crawford, the Bogarts, the Curtises, the Wildings etc and Raymond Burr “just back from Korea” with a cute young marine in tow], all lining up to praise Judy and having such high hopes for the film.

THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS. 20th Century Fox musicals tend to get overlooked by all the great MGM, Warner and Columbia efforts, but I particularly like this one, following on from Marilyn and Jane Russell in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES and Merman’s success in CALL ME MADAM. This is just a excuse to use some Irving Berlin songs, done up in gaudy Fox color, but it moves along nicely as it follows the O’Donohue song and dance act: Merman and Dan Dailey again, Mitzi again, Donald O’Connor and priest Johnny Ray! Then Marilyn enters – her 3 numbers, as choreographed by Jack Cole, are sizzlers: “Heat Wave”, “After You Get What You Want You Don’t Want It” and “Lazy” where Mitzi and O’Connor dance up a storm. Marilyn is at her peak here in ’54 and shows she is a great vocal artist too – and there is that blue dress she wears at the end!... and a special mention for Jane Russell's "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love?" [another Jack Cole extravaganza] with the olympic team in Hawks's GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES !

ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER – still marvellous today is this Kelly-Donen collaboration from ’55 a further riff on the 3 army pals – maybe those 3 from ON THE TOWN? – reuniting and realising they have nothing in common. There is a lot of satire on the vacuity of television shows as we follow rehearsals of “The Throb of Manhattan” with its star Madeline – Dolores Gray at her archest. Gene gets involved with Cyd Charisse [who, to quote Kael again, “is benumbed until she unhinges those legs”] who decides to use the reunion for the saccharine tv show. Dan Dailey is terrific here as the self-loathing ad man, and Michael Kidd is the third guy. It all winds up nicely at the ghastly tv show, with gangster Jay C Flippen, where Gray has one of those moments: that number “Thanks A Lot But No Thanks”. Bliss, pure bliss …

MY SISTER EILEEN, another long-unseen 1955 charmer by Richard Quine, has sisters blonde Janet Leigh (Eileen) and Betty Garrett [so wonderful in ON THE TOWN] as the Sherwood sisters from Ohio moving to Greenwich Village and renting that basement room from Kurt Kasznar. Young publisher Jack Lemmon falls for Betty who is trying to become a writer, while Janet has to fend off Tommy Rall and shy Bob Fosse. Rall and Fosse dance up a storm and its all very pleasant, culminating in that conga line of dancing sailors. Lovely to see again.

LES GIRLS – probably MGM’s last musical of note, this Cukor from 1957 is a key movie for me, I loved it as a kid and still do now. Its one of Kay Kendall’s last movies and she is perfect here as Lady Wren being sued in court over her memoirs by rival showgirl Taina Elg. There is a lovely cut back to the studio Paris and that apartment of theirs, as we meet Mitzi Gaynor, the third girl in the act run by Gene Kelly, nicely self-depreciating here. Kay has a wonderful drunk scene and its all endlessly entertaining as we see each version of the story, with Orry-Kelly’s costumes a standout, even if the Cole Porter score is below par. [I got to meet Kelly in '75 when he was doing a Parkinson talkshow, and he signed that biography on him, which later fetched a good price!].

FUNNY FACE. Fred, Audrey and Paris. Donen’s very 1957 musical is perfectly of its time and still a charmer now, with numbers like “How Long Has This Been Going On?” and “S’Wonderful”…. as Audrey yells “Shoot the picture” at the fashion shoot , and then there is Kay Thompson and “Think Pink”! SILK STOCKINGS is also Fred in Paris in this remake of NINOTCHKA with Cyd just right in Garbo’s role, and again some great Cole Porter songs. Janis Paige is superb support, and Fred does the “The Ritz Rock’n’Roll”.

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE - The one Julie Andrews film I absolutely loved, everything about it is perfect for me. Julie as Millie, Bea Lillie as Mrs Meers, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Channing, and James Fox and John Gavin. Its a delicious pastiche of the 1920s flappers, white slavers, and the dangers of Chinatown. Previn and Elmer Bernstein handle the music and George Roy Hill directs. We have seen it regularly over the years as several friends also like it a lot, with its endlessly quotable lines.

THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT. A big treat last year was finally seeing this 1967 Jacques Demy musical on the large screen, there is also an excellent 2 disk issue by the British Film Institute, which includes documentary on its making and 25th year reunion by Agnes Varda. The 60s costumes are marvellous now, the whole town of Rochefort seems to be dancing, the documentary shows what a huge undertaking it was to make this. Once sisters Catherine Denueve and Francoise Dorleac (who died in a car accident shortly afterwards, which does cast a pall over it) ditch the mortician makeup look they look much more natural as they sing and dance. Then we have Danielle Darrieux as their still attractive mother, Jacques Perrin as the blonde lovelorn sailor, an older Gene Kelly, George Chakiris and Grover Dale as the main dancers and Michel Piccoli. I want to see it again right now.