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I was just reading about this live tv production in color from 1959 - it sounds like a terrific made for tv version . The super score from the MGM classic is sung by all the principals- Jane Powell(Esther), Jeanne Crain(Rose), Myrna Loy(Mother), Walter Pidgeon(Father), Patty Duke(Tootie), Ed Wynn (Grandpa), Tab Hunter(John) & Reta Shaw(Katie)(What a great cast). It does survive at the Museum of TV & Radio in NYC. What a shame most of us will never be able to see it for ourself. Im sure its partly a rights issue but couldnt Turner have included it on the deluxe 2 dvd set? There are a quite a few of these TV Musicals Id love to see given legitimate release such as : DAMN YANKEES(Phil Silvers, Lee Remick), KISS ME KATE(several versions -'58 w. Alfred Drake & Patricia Morrison, '68 w. Robert Goulet/Carol Lawrence), KISMET(Jose Ferrer, Barbara Eden, Anna Maria Alberghetti), BRIGADOON + CAROUSEL(both with Goulet), WONDERFUL TOWN(Roz Russell) and many more. Perhaps Manderley or Joecaps will have some thoughts on these tv musicals(including originals like HANSEL & GRETAL(Red Buttons, Barbara Cook ,Rise Stevens- score by Alec Wilder)).
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Accoding to the imdb site, it was a live tv event - it also mentions that this was a rare "live" tv appearance for Jeanne Crain. The charcater she plays - "Rose"- doesnt have a solo(in the film anyway) and only sings with "Esther"(Jane Powell)the title tune. Her part is more dramatic. Tab Hunter talks about his work on this in his autobiography.
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Posted: |
Feb 7, 2006 - 4:06 AM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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I remember seeing this when it aired---almost 50 years ago---broadcast live!!!
It was a charming and quite faithful representation of the film, as I recall, and
the cast (amazing for a TV production) was terrific, but, of course, their heydays at the studios who nurtured them were over and they were making do as best they could in a new career world. Television specials of this sort were the gathering places of the great stars of film who couldn't get regular work in Hollywood anymore, but were of great benefit to the budding TV industry.
This version of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS was, I believe, a David Susskind-Talent Associates production for CBS. I don't remember it being in color, but it might have been aired that way in some locales. While it can never fully compare with the 1944 MGM classic film, this show was pretty spectacular stuff for TV in those days.
There were so many of these kinds of "specials" on TV in the fifties---usually at least one-a-month, usually high-budget, usually broadcast in color, usually highly publicized, and often musical in nature. Many were produced by an entrepreneur/producer named Max Liebman for NBC broadcast, to promote their early entry into color TV, and were often referred to as the "Max Liebman Spectaculars".
I recall seeing SATINS AND SPURS with Betty Hutton, LADY IN THE DARK with Ann Sothern and Carleton Carpenter, THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO with Alfred Drake and Doretta Morrow, the aforementioned WONDERFUL TOWN and KISS ME KATE, ANYTHING GOES with Ethel Merman and Frank Sinatra, a musical version of "Lost Horizon" (called SHANGRI-LA), starring Richard Basehart and Anna Maria Alberghetti, A BELL FOR ADANO, an all-star version of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, and many more.
Some "specials" were also on film in those days, and included HIGH TOR with Bing Crosby and Julie Andrews and THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN with Van Johnson, Claude Rains, and Lori Nelson.
Many of them had original cast albums which can be found even today---sometimes remastered on CD.
There are tapes of kines of a number of these shows floating around out there, and the Van Johnson HAMELIN actually appears on a DVD in a pretty good (for a public domain film) transfer on the Alpha Video label.
I, too, wish there were enough interest in this kind of material to warrant a quality issue on DVD of some of the shows, perhaps colorized with some taste and expertise, to reflect their original color hues.
In the meantime, most of us will have to be content with listening to the audio recordings.
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Thanks Manderley for the great response. I have some of these purchased off ebay - especially interesting is the ABC production of CAROUSEL with Robert Goulet , Pernell Roberts & Marlyn Mason. Goulet seems a better choice for Billy than Gordon MacRae- he's quite good in the role.
Another one not mentioned is the last Cole Porter musical - ALADDIN starring Sal Mineo, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Cyril Ritchard, Basil Rathbone, & Dennis King - 90 minutes broadcast "live" in color and black and white on February 21 1958. It only survives as a B&W kinescope( like Julie Andrews' CINDERELLA & MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS).These treasures from the Golden Age of TV remind me of the lost silent films - how much of early television shows, especially live productions, are lost, I wonder?
In the week ALADDIN was shown(telecast only once), here's a sample of what else was on --
!)The Jerry Lewis Show with Betty Grable & Sophie Tucker live from the Sands Hotel in color,
2)Hans Christian Anderson's The Nightingale(on Shirley Temple Storybook)music by Mack David & Jerry Livingston starring Thomas Mitchell,
3) a Comedy in Music hour with Victor Borge & Marguerite Piazza,
4)a live Playhouse 90 production of John Marquand's Point of No Return w. Charlton Heston and & Hope Lange,
5) Verdi's Rigoletto- a 2 hour NBC production starring Orestes -broadcast live in color and in English from Brooklyn at a cost of $125,000!
Television sure has changed, hasnt it?
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I have always heard that R&H had an early color videotaped version of CINDERELLA, but that it sustained water damaged and was deemed unsuitable for the DVD release. One of my earliest memories is the color broadcast of CINDERELLA. Mostly because it seemed that all of the neighborhood was crammed into our rather small Philadelphia home, as we were the only family with a color television (my father had won it in a contest); and everyone oooh'd and aaah'd at it, repeatedly. I fell in love with Julie Andrews and her beautiful complexion and blue eyes, that evening. The kinescope is less than flattering; but she was something to behold, in color.
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It would be nice to have a cd release of these three great musicals too by Sony ---
I believe they hold the rights to the Columbia catalog -- or maybe DRG might consider releasing them ...
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