Singin' and Dancing Back in Time.: GENTLEMAN PREFER BLONDES (1953) Fun Facts.

Friday, December 18, 2009

GENTLEMAN PREFER BLONDES (1953) Fun Facts.

Originally bought by Fox for Betty Grable. But after the success of Niagara (1953), Monroe got the part.

Marilyn Monroe wears a gold lame evening dress previously worn by Ginger Rogers in Dreamboat (1952).

In the "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?" number, Jane Russell's fall into the pool was an accident. Howard Hawks decided to kept it in the film.

When Marilyn Monroe was told she was not the star of the film, Marilyn Monroe said "Well whatever I am, I'm still the blond."

The ship model shown is the one used previously in Titanic (1953) and was refurbished to resemble the SS Ile de France, as seen in the film.

According to Marni Nixon, at first they wanted Marilyn Monroe's entire voice dubbed, Nixon thought her voice suited her personality. Nixon told The New York Times in March (2007) that she ended up only dubbing the "no, no, nos" at the beginning of the song.

This was Jane Russell's only film with Marilyn Monroe. They got along well. Russell called Monroe "Blondie" and was often the only person on the set who could get Monroe out of her trailer to film.

Marilyn Monroe suggested the line "I can be smart when it's important, but most men don't like it."

The chemistry of Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe proved to be so successful, that Fox wanted Russell and Monroe to star in the film How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955). Monroe didn't like the script. So in January (1955), the studio cast Sheree North as Curly (intended for Monroe) and Betty Grable as "Stormy Tornado" (intended for Russell).

Soundtracks:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"A Little Girl from Little Rock"
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Leo Robin
Sung as "Two Little Girls from Little Rock" by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell with Chorus
Also sung at the wedding

"When Love Goes Wrong"
Music by Hoagy Carmichael
Lyrics by Harold Adamson
Performed by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell with Parisians

"Bye Bye Baby"
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Leo Robin
Performed by Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe with Passengers

"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Leo Robin
Performed by Marilyn Monroe with Chorus
Also performed by Jane Russell
Also sung at the wedding
Sung by a chorus at the end

"Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?"
Music by Hoagy Carmichael
Lyrics by Harold Adamson
Performed by Jane Russell and the Olympic Team

"Bridal Chorus"
From "Lohengrin" (uncredited)
Music by Richard Wagner
Played at the wedding

3 comments:

montyDecember 18, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Great stuff about the movie Dawn. And it is also one of my favorites. An essential Monroe film that is one of her best.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Paul 2December 29, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Dawn, one of my favorite Howard Hawk films. He could and did direct just about every thing. Why he only has only one film on the AFI's top 100 films is a OUTRAGE (and the main reason I gave up on AFII YEARS AGO)
Jane gives Howard lots of credit for making this film as good as it is.
ReplyDelete
Replies
DawnDecember 30, 2009 at 5:59 AM
Monty, I agree... :)

Paul, Gentleman Prefer Blondes, is one of my favorite Marilyn Monroe films. I'm just starting to learn about directors.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

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.