Lucy Schmeeler: "She's a grand girl"!

Let's end the year by picking up some sailors, going on the town and celebrating a great comic talent. Happy New Year !

Lucy Schmeeler (Alice Pearce) is the super-plain room-mate of Brunhilde Esterhazy (Betty Garrett) in the 1949 MGM musical ON THE TOWN, a perennial favourite I can enjoy anytime. I do not know Leonard Bernstein's original but it seems some of the songs were junked for the movie (but doesn't that always happen, as in FUNNY GIRL or CABARET?).

We enjoy following our 3 sailors on shore leave in late 40s New York, and the real locations help. Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munchin zoom around the city and the underground train system, Gabe (Gene) sees and falls for "Miss Turnstiles" (a monthly pin-up) whom he imagines is a celebrity, while she (Vera-Ellen at her loveliest) turns out to be from the same small town as his! Jules gets entangled with ritzy Ann Miller who has a thing about "Prehistoric men" and Jules' face fits just right, as they cause havoc at the museum and the dinosaur (or Dinah Shore!) collapses! Frank teams up with taxi driver Brunhilde - Betty Garrett who woos him back to "my place" - where Lucy Schmeeler ["she's a grand girl" says Betty with vitriolic sweetness...] is staying in with a cold. Betty finally gets to her leave so she can get close to Frank. They are supposed to be looking for the elusive Miss Turnstiles, but Gabe finds her at the rehearsal halls and they do that lovely dance to "Main Street" ....

Later they all team up at the top of the Empire State Building and head off "On The Town", this sequence is bliss as they visit one crowded nightclub after another where the revue girls always sing "thats all there is folks, and goodnight to you, we hope your enjoyed our .... revue" as the last girl always shoves her rear end in their faces... Miss Turnstiles has to flee though to her late night job as a coochie dancer at Coney Island, after Gabe gets stuck with Lucy Schmeeler who joins them for a riot of a number and some other sailors from the ship mistake her for Gabe's girl, so they will have a lot to tell the other guys back on the boat ... Gabe takes Lucy home and has to let her down gently as he is in love with Vera --- poor Lucy is back to her laundry lists and won't wash for a week after Gabe kisses her! Her plain character is being patronised of course but its part of the fun here.



Things work out ok at Coney Island and the 3 girls see off the 3 gobs back on their boat, as another flock of sailors disembark to explore "New York New York its a wonderful town"!. That's it in a nutshell, but it is so infectious and a sheer delight from start to finish [screenplay by Comden & Green] - a key musical then with Kelly and Stanley Donen co-directing, paving the way for all those 50s musicals ... including SINGING IN THE RAIN and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER (see post at musicals label) where their partnership broke up!



Alice Pearce's Lucy is a scream - Alice was a terrific comedienne, she was also Olga the "Jungle Red" manicurist spreading all the gossip in THE OPPOSITE SEX in 1956, [Dolores Gray label], that delicious musical remake of THE WOMEN, which I like so much. She was highly regarded also on tv, appearing in the BEWITCHED series, but she died aged only 48 in 1966. She also played Lucy Schmeeler in the original Broadway production of ON THE TOWN.
That iconic shot of Donen (below) with Kelly & Sinatra ...

Its too darn hot !

KISS ME KATE. I have enthused here about key musicals for me [musicals label] - A STAR IS BORN, THE BANDWAGON, ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, LES GIRLS, LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT etc - so here is another addition. Sharing the acclaim with THE BANDWAGON for 1953s's most inventive musical is George Sidney's marvellous version of KISS ME KATE. No matter how many times one has seen it, and I have seen it quite a few, there is always something new going on, and the lyrics and performances still spellbind.

From that fabulous opening where Cole Porter (Ron Randall) has written a new score for a musical version of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" and those two egotistical now divorced (from each other) stars Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson arrive for a run-through of the songs. Then Ann-Miller turns up with her combo to deliver her knockout "Its Too Darn Hot", probably the best staged for the camera number ever, as she advances on the audience dancing all over the room. This was initially shot in 3D so objects keep being thrown at the camera. Lily (Grayson) fumes but decides to star in the production, as rehersals get underway.



Ann though is now seeing dancer Tommy Rall - marvellous to see her with someone who can dance and sing as well as she can, he is only one of the greatest dancers ever (as shown in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, MY SISTER EILEEN, where he and Fosse also dance up a storm, and his comedy cameo in FUNNY GIRL) - their numbers like "Why Can't You Behave" and "Always True To You In My Fashion" sparkle and are full of inventive moments. Then there's Ann's number "From This Moment On" with that fabulous trio of Rall, Bob Fosse and Bobby Van, and speciality dancers Carol Haney (whose "Steam Heat" by Fosse in THE PYJAMA GAME deserves a post of its own) and Jeanne Coyne (who went on to marry Gene Kelly).



Among the backstage incidents are the arrival of two comic gangsters Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore who have to collect an IOU signed by Keel, but actually done by Rall faking Keel's signature, its beyond hilarious when they have to appear on stage to prevent Lily leaving, as her cattle baron beau also turns up, and they sing "Brush Up Your Shakespeare". Keel's swagger is perfectly utilised in his numbers, with those amazing costumes, like "Where Is The Life That Late I Led", while Grayson's solo "I Hate Men!" amuses. Miller as Bianca the younger sister has to choose between her 3 beaus in "Tom Harry or Dick" as the boys in tights dance up a storm. Sheer delirium! So, maybe Porter's best and wittiest score, endlessly inventive numbers, a cast of sheer perfection - what's not to love! It is as marvellous as ON THE TOWN. Chalk up another success to MGM.

"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!

Summer Repeats: Movies I Absolutely Love

Summertime and TCM (UK) are finally showing some interesting afternoon double-bills, so its a case of laying out some cold drinks and snacks and enjoying once more items like Minnelli's LES GIRLS followed by Tashlin's ever-delirious THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT. Logically speaking as I have the dvds I can watch these any old time, but if they are on television I simply have to watch them again. There was also a nice double bill of two I don't have and have not seen since I was a kid: BELOVED INFIDEL and THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. INFIDEL is one of the 3 Kerr made in '59, all very unseen now - I like THE JOURNEY (as per Kerr label), but will we ever get to see again COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS? Deborah and Peck should have been a dream team in '59 (like Greg was with Jean Simmons, Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall, Ava Gardner) if only the film had been worthy of them.
But it got me thinkiing on all those movies I love and can see any time: not only my top 25 or so movies (Top 50+ movies label) but choice items like: THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE, WOMAN'S WORLD, DESIGNING WOMAN, THE OPPOSITE SEX, JUPITER'S DARLING, ANATOMY OF A MURDER, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, WILD RIVER. Then there's those recent (re)discoveries of mine like I WAS HAPPY HERE (Sarah Miles label), THAT MAN FROM RIO (Belmondo, Dorleac labels), Visconti's SANDRA or OF A THOUSAND DELIGHTS (Visconti, Cardinale, Sorel labels), THE SEA WALL or THIS ANGRY AGE (Mangano label), and Jayne in the delirious THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT - it will be on to WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? next!



So,just a few images to remind ourselves of Lady Wren (Kay Kendall label) in court in LES GIRLS, Jimmy Dean in EAST OF EDEN, Lee Remick in WILD RIVER, Kay and Rex and Angela in DEBUTANTE, Sarah back in Ireland in I WAS HAPPY HERE, Belmondo and Francoise Dorleac in THAT MAN FROM RIO, Silvana and Tony Perkins dancing in THE SEA WALL, Jean Sorel and Lilli Palmer in ADORABLE JULIA, Kate in SUMMERTIME, and those striking images from Visconti's SENSO and SANDRA (Sorel, Cardinale, Alida Valli, Visconti labels)...

Then there's all those other favourites, commented on here, like ALL FALL DOWN, THE CHAPMAN REPORT, QUENTIN DURWARD, MOONFLEET, THE PRODIGAL, THE EGPYTIAN, THE WAY TO THE STARS, NOW VOYAGER, OLD ACQUAINTANCE, PLEIN SOLEIL, THE LION IN WINTER, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, SOME LIKE IT HOT, BLACK NARCISSUS, I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING, LA LOI, THE LEOPARD, AMERICAN GIGOLO, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, and those Lorens, Hitchcocks, Von Sternbergs ... quite a few more "Movies I Love" to write about then!

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.