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.
Judy at Carnegie Hall is a two-record live recording of a concert performed by Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in New York.
This concert was held on the night of April 23, 1961, has been called "the greatest night in show business history".
After her battle with drugs and alcohol, she returned to the concert stage with a program of 'Just Judy.' Garland's 1960-1961 tour of Europe and North America was a huge success and eventually she was known as 'The World's Greatest Entertainer'.
Hedda Hopper (May 2, 1885 – February 1, 1966)was one of the best-known gossip columnists. She had been a small-time actress of stage and screen for years before writing the column "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood' in the Los Angeles Times in 1938. This revealed a gift for invective so vicious that it brought physical retaliation from Spencer Tracy and Joseph Cotten, among others, and she also named suspected communists in the McCarthy era. Hopper continued to write gossip to the end, her work appearing in countless magazines and later on radio.
Hedda Hopper, reviewed Garland's gift of embracing her audience by saying, " I never saw the likes of it in my life." All reviews of the show gave Garland high marks, and commented on her healthy appearance, exuberance, energy, vocal power.
The release of Garland's record set, only two months after the concert, was a huge best seller.. charting for 73 weeks on the Billboard chart, including 13 weeks at number one, and being certified gold. It won four Grammy Awards, for Album of the Year (The first live album and the first album by a female performer to win the award.), Best Female Vocal Performance, Best Engineered Album, and Best Album Cover. The album has never been out of print.
In 2003, the album was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
The Constant Nymph(1943). A romantic drama. Cast Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith, Brenda Marshall, Charles Coburn, May Whitty, and Peter Lorre. It was adapted by Kathryn Scola from the Margaret Kennedy novel and play by Kennedy and Basil Dean, and directed by Edmund Goulding.
After, composer Lewis Dodd's latest symphony does not go over very well in London, he goes to visit an old friend musician, Albert Sanger. One of Sanger's four daughters Tessa, falls in love with Lewis and dreams of helping him follow his dream as a composer.
The very ill Sanger has removed his daughters away from society and now worries about what is to become of them. He asks Lewis to inform the girls wealthy uncle, Charles Creighton, if he dies. Soon after, Sanger then scolds Lewis for the lack of feeling in his music. When the girls play a little song that Lewis wrote for them, Sanger tells Lewis that, the beautiful melody is better than his more intellectual work.
Some time later, Sanger dies. Lewis sends for Creighton, who arrives with his beautiful daughter Florence and Kate travels to Milan to study music and Toni marries wealthy Fritz Bercovy. Lewis and Florence fall in love and when they announce their engagement, the frail Tessa faints. Creighton arranges for Tessa and Paula to attend school in England and Lewis and Florence marry.
Six months later, Lewis is frustrated by Florence trying to take over his career and the couple quarrel constantly. When Tessa and Paula run away from their school, Lewis leaves to look for them, not attending the party that Florence has planned to introduce him to her friends. Lewis, later finds them home waiting for him. Paula leaves to join Fritz and Toni, who is pregnant and Tessa stays with Florence and Lewis. When Tessa hears Lewis' latest composition, based on the song that he wrote for her and her sisters, she believes it is not his best work.
Later, Tessa encourages Lewis to put sentiment back into his music and with Tessa's help, Lewis changes his composition. Florence, now knows that Tessa is her rival and tries to get rid of her, but Lewis comes to her defense. The night of the first performance, Lewis realizes that he is in love with Tessa and asks her to go away with him, but Tessa refuses because he is married to her cousin. The excitement of Lewis' proposal and the premiere of his composition causes Tessa to have another fainting spell, and Florence insists that Tessa stay home, rather than attend the concert. Will Lewis' concert go well and will Florence decide to let him go?
Fun Fact: Alfred Hitchcock was considered for directing this film. Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville was one of the writers of The Constant Nymph 1928 version.
A very romantic film, with beautiful music by Erich Korngold. Alexis Smith as the unloved wife gives a perfect performance, as does Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer. The supporting actors are also very good, including Charles Coburn, Peter Lorre, Brenda Marshall, Dame May Witty, and Jean Muir. You will need plenty of Kleenex for the very touching ending.
Brenda Marshall (September 29, 1915 – July 30, 1992) Marshall made her first film appearance in the 1939 Espionage Agent. The following year, she played the leading lady to Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk. After divorcing actor Richard Gaines in 1940, she married the actor William Holden in 1941 and her own career quickly slowed. She starred opposite James Cagney in the 1942 film Captains of the Clouds. The Constant Nymph (1943) was a popular success but she virtually retired after this, appearing in only four more inconsequential films. Among these, she played scientist Nora Goodrich in the grade-B 1946 cult classic Strange Impersonation.
