Singin' and Dancing Back in Time.: Lovely to Look At(1952).

Monday, June 28, 2010

Lovely to Look At(1952).

Lovely to Look At(1952). Director: Mervyn LeRoy. cast: Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Howard Keel. Marge Champion, Ann Miller and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

A couple of Broadway producers, are looking for backers for their fashion show. Al is one of the heirs of a dress salon in Paris, but it is almost bankrupt. The two other heiresses, Stephanie and Clarisse and the three producers are able to convince the creditors to back a fashion show. Of coarse everything becomes complicated, when Al and Tony fall in love with Stephanie.

I really loved the dance numbers by Ann Miller and The Champions. I also loved the gorgeous fashion show designed by Adrian The designers at the end of the film. Grayson and Keel, seemed a little stiff together. Red Skelton was funny, but.. this was not my favorite skit, that I have seen him perform in. Zsa Zsa her presence added a bit of charm to the movie.

Fun Facts:
During a party scene, Al Marsh (Red Skelton) does an "Irish tenor" skit, intermingling comedy and song. As the audience laughs, he comments "Well, you knew I wasn't Howard Keel when I came out here." Howard Keel, of course, co-starred in the movie as "Tony Naylor."

Howard Keel's character was named "Tony Naylor". During the 1950s and 60s, one of the most popular hang-outs for the stars in to meet after the filming was called "Tiny Naylors". It was located in Hollywood at the corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine Streets. Keel's characters' name was a nod to that famous coffee shop.

The lavish fashion-show sequence, directed by the uncredited Vincente Minnelli, showcased the gowns of Adrian, the influential designer associated with MGM's golden age of Garbo, Shearer, Harlow and Crawford. Adrian's work on the entire feature concluded his 28-year film career.
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Soundtracks:

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach and Dorothy Fields
Sung by Kathryn Grayson, and later danced by Gower Champion and Marge Champion

"Lovely To Look At"
(uncredited)
(from the 1935 film version of "Roberta")
Music by Jerome Kern
Original lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Sung by Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel

"The Touch of Your Hand"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach
Sung by Kathryn Grayson

"I Won't Dance"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Dorothy Fields
Sung and Danced by Marge Champion and Gower Champion

"Yesterdays"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach
Sung by Kathryn Grayson

"You're Devastating"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach
Sung by Howard Keel

"I'll Be Hard to Handle"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Bernard Dougall
Sung and Danced by Ann Miller and Men's Chorus

"Lafayette"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Performed by Howard Keel, Red Skelton and Gower Champion

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Bob Fosse

Was a musical theater choreographer and director, screenwriter and film director. He won an eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of Cabaret. He was identified with his third wife, Gwen Verdon. She was both the dancer/collaborator who he choreographed much of his work and, together with dancer/choreographer Ann Reinking, a guardian of the Fosse legacy after his death. Fosse is considered to be one the most influential coreographers of the 20th Century.

Esther Williams.

JANE POWELL

After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens. Once there, the studio utilized her vocal, dancing and acting talents, casting her in such musicals as Royal Wedding, with Fred Astaire, A Date with Judy, with friend Elizabeth Taylor and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with Howard Keel. In the late 1950s, her film career slowed, only to be replaced with a busy theater and television career.Click picture to enter websight.

Jeanette MacDonald

Singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (Love Me Tonight, The Merry Widow) and Nelson Eddy (Naughty Marietta, Rose-Marie, and Maytime). During the 1930s and 1940s she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Oscars (The Love Parade, One Hour With You, Naughty Marietta and San Francisco), and recorded extensively, earning three gold records. She later appeared in grand opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of most influential sopranos of the 20th century. Click picture to view fan website.

Joan Crawford.

Click picture to view website. Joan Crawford, born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford began a campaign of self-publicity and became nationally known as a flapper by the end of the 1920s. In the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well-received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money and by the end of the 1930s

Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Richard Rodgers (1902 – 1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895 – 1960) the songwriting duo, on our musical page. They created many popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age. With Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics, five of their shows, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. They won thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammys. Click picture to read movie reviews.

Cab Calloway

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86 .Click picture to view official website.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Lovely to Look At(1952).

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