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Ray Bolger made Broadway history by getting audiences to join him in singing Frank Loesser's "Once In Love With Amy" every night in WHERE'S CHARLEY? The Amy whose praises he was singing was played by singer-dancer Allyn Ann McClerie, whose death was just announced. Long after her musical ingenue days, she was a very fine, very busy character actress. I was fortunate to get to know this lovely lady during that latter period, when we both were studying a course in self-hypnosis of all things. WHERE'S CHARLEY? was filmed with its two original Broadway stars, but for some reason it's long been missing from TV broadcasts and home video. I'd certainly love to see it now.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/allyn-ann-mclerie-dead-wheres-charley-they-shoot-horses-dont-they-actress-dies-at-91-1115247
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Most won't recall the name of this outstanding actress, but I certainly do. 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' is argueably my alltime favorite film. She played Sailor's, (Red Buttons), dance partner in this 1969 drama about the dance marathon craze of the 30's. She endured extreme hardship in the film, and in one absolutely terrifying scene, goes crazy with thoughts that insects are crawling on her. 'THEY'RE CRAWLING ALL OVER ME, THEY'RE CRAWLING ON ME!' she shrieks in terror about the (imagined) horror. Not until Gig Young comes into the scene and dispenses his own brand of 'smarts', does she eventually calm down. Riveting scene and great performance by McClerie. R.I.P.
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A laugh riot in CALAMITY JANE, a big hit in The Tony Randall Show, and great fun in THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MOLLY DODD. I think her first appearance was walking next to Perry Como in an MGM musical, looking so fetching in polka dots.
A loss.
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I alaso think she did a great job guest-starring in a LOU GRANT episode about a woman seeking justice for her dead daughter, (if memory serves).
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Posted: |
May 31, 2018 - 4:30 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The Broadway musical comedy, "Where's Charley?", was based on the 1892 British play "Charley's Aunt" by Brandon Thomas. The musical had its book by George Abbott, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, and was produced by Ernest Martin and Cy Feuer. The show opened in New York on 11 October 1948. Ray Bolger and Allyn McLerie were in the original Broadway cast, along with supporting actors Robert Shackleton and seventy-year-old Horace Cooper. The show ran for 792 performances, and Ray Bolger received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
The 1952 film version of WHERE'S CHARLEY? remained a period piece. Set in 1892, the film opens at Oxford University's Commemoration Day, where roommates "Jack Chesney" (Shackleton) and "Charley Wykeham" (Bolger) invite their girl friends, "Amy Spettigue" (McLerie) and "Kitty Verdun" (Mary Germaine), to their rooms for lunch, as Charley's rich aunt from Brazil, "Doña Lucia d'Alvadorez" (Margaretta Scott), is expected to arrive by train and can act as chaperone. The film was directed by David Butler. Robert Farnon arranged the score, which was conducted by Louis Levy. No authorized soundtrack release has been issued.
Ray Bolger and Allyn McLerie in WHERE'S CHARLEY?
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Posted: |
May 31, 2018 - 5:24 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In the 1953 musical CALAMITY JANE, Allyn McLerie co-stars as "Katie Brown," who meets Calamity Jane (Doris Day) in Chicago, when Calam attends the closing night performance of famed actress "Adelaid Adams" (Gale Robbins), and visits her dressing room after the show. Unaware that the actress has already left, Calam mistakes Adelaid's maid, Katie Brown, for her employer and invites her to perform in Deadwood. Katie, seeing a chance to break into show business, agrees to return with Calam, silently hoping that she can keep her deception a secret in remote Deadwood.
David Butler directed the film, his second with McLerie. Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster composed the song score and received an Academy Award for their song "Secret Love." The song also became a pop hit single for Doris Day. Although Ray Heindorf was nominated for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, he lost to Alfred Newman's CALL ME MADAM.
Allyn McLerie in CALAMITY JANE
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After her small role in BATTLE CRY, except for an unbilled part in 1962's 40 POUNDS OF TROUBLE, Allyn McLerie was away from the screen for 14 years. She returned in 1969, in Sydney Pollack's THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?. Now billed as Allyn Ann McLerie, she played "Shirl," a contestant in a Depression-era dance marathon. She was partnered with a middle-aged sailor suffering from heart trouble (Red Buttons). John Green did the arrangements of the period songs heard in the film as well as providing some incidental scoring. The film's soundtrack was released on an ABC Records LP, but it has not been re-issued on CD.
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In the 1969 Steve McQueen adaptation of William Faulkner's THE REIVERS, Allyn Ann McLerie plays "Alison McCaslin," the wife of "Maury McCaslin" (Lonny Chapman). Mark Rydell directed this piece of Americana. John William's score was released on a Columbia LP, and re-released on CD with one extra track by Legacy in 1995.
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As 1970's MONTE WALSH opens, "Monte Walsh" (Lee Marvin) and "Chet Rollins" (Jack Palance), two aging cowboys, ride into the town of Harmony, and manager "Cal Brennan" (Jim Davis) offers them a job at the Slash Y Ranch. There they meet an old friend, "Shorty Austin" (Mitch Ryan), and the three men ride into town where Monte visits "Martine Bernard" (Jeanne Moreau), his mistress, at the local saloon, while Chet courts "Mary Eagle" (Allyn Ann McLerie), a widow who has inherited a hardware store.
Set in the late 1880's, this "Death of the West" film was directed by cinematographer William A. Fraker, making his directorial debut. John Barry's score was released by Film Score Monthly in 1999.
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In 1972's THE COWBOYS, Allyn Ann McLerie played school teacher "Ellen Price," from whose school "Wil Andersen" (John Wayne) recruits the boys for a cattle drive after his hands quit to mine a new gold strike. Mark Rydell directed the film. John Williams' score was released by Varese Sarabande in 1994.
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THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDE! was the fourth Mirisch Productions film based on characters from the 1960, John Sturges-directed United Artist release THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. Lee Van Cleef took over the lead role of former hired gun-turned-marshal "Chris Adams." Allyn Ann McLerie played the mother of jailed teenager "Shelly Donavan" (Darrell Larson), who is charged with robbery. George McCowan directed the 1972 film, which has an unreleased score by Elmer Bernstein.
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In her third film for director Sydney Pollack, Allyn Ann McLerie co-starred with Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford in the 1973 blockbuster romance THE WAY WE WERE. McLerie played "Rhea Edwards," a Hollywood talent agent. Marvin Hamlisch's Oscar-winning score was released on a Columbia LP and later on CD.
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