Open thread 4/28/21
Regarding the discussion on yesterday’s Oscar thread, about the original cast of “Guys and Dolls” – yes, the role of Sky Masterson was played by Alan Alda’s father Robert (born Alfonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D’Abruzzo). He had a good voice that was actually a bit like Sinatra’s, and Alda’s versions of the songs from the show are the ones I was raised on. For me, the movie is markedly inferior (I’ve written in this post about the problem I find with Sinatra’s Nathan Detroit).
Here’s Alda singing “Luck Be a Lady”:
Let us not forget the great Stubby Kaye (who Wikipedia tells me was a second cousin of Bill Maher).
I agree that Sinatra just isn’t good in the movie. He tries hard though. I have never seen Guys and Dolls in the theater or as a movie until our neighbors loaned us their stash of old musical DVDs during Covid. We watched the 1955 Guys and Dolls last and it was one of our favorites. There is real chemistry between Brando and Simmons. And the Havana sequence made us laugh and admire the dancing. Not Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire but the type of dancing that seems organic to the story.
Mostly the chemistry between Simmons and Brando surprised and charmed us. And I rather liked Brando’s Luck Be a Lady … the singers voice did not overwhelm the song.
In 1992 I had been in Cincinnati for 3 years having moved from New York City. One thing I missed very much was not being able to catch Broadway shows and one big regret was not being able to catch Nathan Lane in Guys and Dolls.
Here’s a link to a recent great version of another Guys and Dolls tune: I’ve Never Been in Love Before, Even if your are not a jazz fan, this rendition is infectious and joyful. The musicians are playing in the Brooklyn apartment of the piano player. They all need haircuts. They are originally from New York, LA , Jamaica, and central France. Thank you guys and thank you Frank Loesser.
Oops, here’s the link.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QhxRxHQqBc
I was reading this article this morning about how social media corp. censorship doesn’t all stem from internal or client pressures. Much of it is apparently state sponsored censorship. I clicked through to the article below by Freddie Brewster, a reporter at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
State worked with social companies to remove election misinformation
It is amusing but also informative to read about this stuff from a source who no doubt considers most or all of these activities to be the actions of a benevolent Big Brother. I find necessary to read it carefully and skeptically in order to get the full flavor of it.
You don’t have to go to Broadway to see a great Broadway-quality production. Example: The Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts put on a superb production of “Guys and Dolls” in 2011. Terry Teachout’s review in the WSJ (apologies for the paywall):
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304070104576399521269301728
Teachout’s conclusion: “Outside of that sole deficiency [a small pit orchestra], there’s nothing even slightly wrong with this ‘Guys and Dolls.'”
Barrington Stage Company: https://barringtonstageco.org/. There be Wokeness, but still an interesting line-up.
G&D: never saw the 1955 movie. It sounds good. I’m part of a small group that hosts in-person Friday night movies at our houses, so will add this one to my list. Sinatra in the movies is a mixed bag. Liked him in “Young at Heart” (1954), “Some Came Running” (1958–Dean Martin was even better in this one), “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962), and of course “From Here to Eternity” (1953). Not crazy about him in “On the Town” (1949–nice duet with Betty Garrett, though), “The Man with the Golden Arm” (1955), or his later 1960s stuff.
tcrosse,
Stubby Kaye singing, “Sit Down Your Rockin’ the Boat” is a great performance!
michael hassan,
That was a great performance! A lot of fun to watch and hear. Thanks!
Although I like the song, “Adelaide,” which was written for the 1955 movie, if you haven’t seen a production that includes the songs removed from the 1955 movie you ought to. There are some great numbers that were not performed in the film; “A Bushel and a Peck”, “My Time of Day”, “I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” “More I Cannot Wish You” and “Marry the Man Today”.
Oh! Stubby Kaye! I know little about his theater performances and singing talents, but he was a clever soul, appearing often in the 60’s in “Stump the Stars”, a TV charades show which I watched with my parents. Hosted by Mike Stokey, the rotating cast was a collection of quick witted and intelligent personalities, among whom were Vincent Price, Sebastian Cabot, Beverly Garland, Ross Martin, Hans Conreid and Ruta Lee, as well as other stage and screen actors. We, the audience, could see the assigned phrase/sentence, well more than just a mere word. Watching those brains work to either act it out, or suss it out was tons of fun. Thanks for the memory.
“A Bushel and a Peck”, “My Time of Day”, “I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” “More I Cannot Wish You” and “Marry the Man Today”.
For the life of me I have never understood why they do that. The best songs in the King and I were dropped from the movie
I confess a weakness for the Sinatra version, at least per the audio. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the show, on stage or in film, but Sinatra won my heart as an actor in “The Manchurian Candidate.”
The first live theater performance I ever attended was when my mother took me to see a local amateur production of Guys and Dolls when I was about 8 or 9. I was blown away by it and it has been my favorite show ever since.
I have seen a number of excellent amateur productions of Guys and Dolls since, all of which were better than the movie in my opinion.
Sam Levene was born to play Nathan Detroit. Accept no substitutes.
Actually, Abe Burroughs wrote Nathan Detroit specifically for Sam Levene, even though Sam couldn’t sing.
I’ve never seen Guys and Dolls in a theater production and only vaguely remember the movie. I am a Sinatra fan and have an album with his cover of Luck be a Lady Tonight. IMO, it is far superior to Alda’s. That’s as one would expect of course. In parts that suited his limited range, Sinatra was a fine actor.
It’s perhaps expecting far too much to hope for both superb acting in a wide range of parts and great singing in one person.
Tcross – Abe Burroughs in his memoir recounts that they were delighted to get Sam Levine for Nathan but had to frantically re-write and re-frame the musical numbers when they discovered that Sam absolutely could not carry a tune. He has only one talk-sing number,Sue Me. Perhaps – I don’t really know- Sinatra’s extra vocals were what was originally conceived. Every fantasy set in the movie is a delight. Wish I could walk into that “Mindys “ and order a pastrami on rye and a beer.
Capitalism at its finest:
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/06/the-feds-paycheck-protection-program-gave-a-tiny-nj-bank-5-3-billion-9-percent-of-all-the-money-its-spent-thus-far/
How about ‘Fugue for Tinhorns’?
Another excellent song.
“Fugue for Tinhorns” is a clever number and a really smart way to open that show.
The thing speaks for itself.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9523465/Feds-backup-plan-ARREST-Derek-Chauvin-court-cleared-killing-George-Floyd.html
Anyone here surprised by this claim?