MUSICALS, include humor, music, dancing and a story.
One of the reasons I love musicals, is the use of beautiful background scenery. Dancers seem to perform as if there is a live audience watching.
This is my version of DANCING WITH THE STARS.
Directed 5 actors in Oscar nominated performances: Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine,and Roy Scheider. Minnelli and Grey won for their performances in the film, Cabaret (1972). The film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, which was adapted from The Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play, I Am a Camera.
“I have no inhibitions about smoking or drinking, but I think too much of my voice to place it in jeopardy. I have spent many good years in training and cultivating it, and I would be foolish to do anything which might impair or ruin it.”
June Haver (June 10, 1926 – July 4, 2005). After her family moved to Ohio, 7 year old Haver won a contest of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. At age 8, she won a film test by imitating famous actresses: Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn and Helen Hayes. At age 10, she moved to Rock Island, where she began performing with Rudy Vallee. She later performed with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra, Dick Jurgens and Freddy Martin.
While she was performing in a play, she was discovered by 20th Century Fox. In 1943, Haver signed a contract with the studio. She was dropped soon after, because the studio felt that she looked too young, but Haver was re-hired, after changing her clothes and hairstyle. She debuted in the film, Home In Indiana (1944). She was to replace Faye in the film, Irish Eyes Are Smiling. Later that year she co-starred with future husband, Fred MacMurray in, Where Do We Go From Here?, which was the only time they ever performed together.
During her career at Fox, Haver was to be the next Betty Grable (she was known as "Pocket Grable"). She even co-starred with Grable in the film, The Dolly Sisters (1945), a film for which she had to put on weight.
Haver debuted in 1948 in a dramatic role in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!. The same year, she starred in the musical, Look for the Silver Lining (1948).
Following her marriage to Fred MacMurray, Haver retired from acting (her last appearances were as herself on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour in 1958 and Disneyland '59). The couple adopted two daughters and remained together until MacMurray's death in 1991.
Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969). Her career spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland was well known for her versatility, she received a juvenile Academy Award, won a Golden Globe Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film, A Star is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961 film, Judgement at Nuremberg.
At 40 years of age, she was the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.
After performing with her sisters in vaudeville, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney and the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz.
A musical fantasy film. Directed by Victor Fleming. Based on the 1900 fairytale novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Cast: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Frank Morgan, with Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Grapewin, Clara Blandick and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins.
Famous for its use of special effects, Technicolor and unusual characters, The Wizard of Oz has become, one of the favorites of all films.
Wizard of Oz, has won three Academy Awards, and was nominated for Best Picture of the Year (losing to Gone With The Wind), The Wizard of Oz was initially a box office failure and MGM's most expensive production up to that time. The song "Over the Rainbow" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the film itself received several Academy Award nominations.
Telecasts of The Wizard of Oz began in 1956, re-introducing the film to the public, becoming an annual tradition.
