Why was Mitzi Gaynor cast in South Pacific?

Why not Doris Day, or Shirley Jones, or Shirley Maclaine, or Debbie Reynolds, or Jane Powell, or Marilyn Monroe? Why Mitzi?

Believe it or not, Elizabeth Taylor actually made a screentest. Not sure about any of the others. Doris insisted on a radio show last year that she was too busy with other projects and her agent/manager/husband felt R&H weren't coming up with enough dough. She would have been perfect, of course.
Sooooooooooooo fucking FAB! Watch in full screen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DMJMG2uDzKHs
Supposedly, Doris Day refused to sing songs from "South Pacific" at a party, and angered Josh Logan and Richard Rodgers. (This seems fairly unbelievable to me.) I'd guess that Marty Melcher asked for too much money. (They should have ponied up the dough, in my opinion. DD would had been perfect.)
I think Doris Day would have been great acting the part, but I never liked her singing of some of the sons from the show. Of course, for the movie, she would likely have done it differently. Debbie Reynolds was never a favorite of mine but I think she would have been an interesting choice. Poor Mitzi did an adequate job. Unfortunately, under Josh Logan's horrible direction, it was bound to be a dud. I still enjoy watching it but can never shake the feeling that it could have been much better.
Big tits.
Bigger and better tits on many of the seabees.
Josh Logan
Despite her carrying on about Jack Bean being the great love of her life, our little Mitzi did a great deal of comparison shopping during their marriage, as did he. Okay, she was a tramp. (Maybe still is, but it seems unlikely, given her venerable age.) And that might be a clue as to how she landed the role. Yes, R2, there was something terrific about a lot of her TV specials, as pure, escapist entertainment. But she couldn't act, and wasn't much of a singer. They build spectacles around her on TV. The formula also worked in nightclubs once her screen career essentially went no where.
Doris Day - see above. Shirley Jones - too staid. Also her legit soprano sound was not really right for the music - they wrote it for Nellie to have a musical comedy voice vs. Emile's legit one. Shirley MacLaine - could have been good. Gaynor's a bit of a better singer, I would say, which probably appealed to them about Gaynor. Debbie Reynolds - could have been good, but might have been a tarter, feistier Nellie than Mary Martin or Gaynor (which might not have been exactly the way they saw the character). Jane Powell - same issue with her legit operetta-y sound as with Shirley Jones. Also I think her career may have slowed a little by that point so she wouldn't have been considered an exciting choice. Marilyn Monroe - ludicrous. Everything about her aura and persona were absolutely wrong for the role.
Gale Storm?
Audrey Hepburn
About fifteen years ago, I saw Mitzi Gaynor on stage and her voice was fantastic. So much better than the wispy voice she had when young and playing Nellie. It would have been great to have her re-dub all her songs for that film and re-release it.
Julie Andrews would have been great. Or Florence Henderson.
[quote] Audrey Hepburn When you say Audrey Hepburn, I think you mean Marni Nixon.
A sober Garland would have been ideal. Martha Raye could've done it. Betty Hutton probably could've pulled it off since she played essentially the same role throughout the early 1950s, too old to be so naive. I could just never envision Mitzi joining the service under any circumstances outside of performing for the USO.
R2, her dress is amazing in that clip! But that's some of the most laughable choreography I've ever seen. Urgh.
Tell more about Mitzi whoring around for roles, or otherwise. I too thought she , and Bean, were supposed to be such a solid couple in Hollywood. Was he into chicks, or was it always considered a marriage of 'convienence'.
If SOUTH PACIFIC doesn't work, it's not Mitzi's fault. I still think there's a great film version of this story. But it's not Mitzi's version, and god knows it's not the Glenn Close version.
Garland, Raye and Hutton and even Jane Powell were all too old for the role by 1958. In spite of Mary Martin's success on stage as a middleaged woman, in the film the audience has to believe Nellie is a young and naive and inexperienced girl.
Most of these are awful ideas. Debbie Reynolds, however, could have been good. I think Polly Bergen could have been a wonderful choice. It doesn't really matter though because it was an awful movie. One of the most insipidly directed of all Broadway musical film adaptations.
Betty Grable would have been better than Doris Day, if they had managed to get some of the weight off of her--she was beginning to look matronly by the early 50s, although she was still young.
I didn't realize it came out in '58. Hell, just dub Sandra Dee or Tuesday Weld.
A 16 year old Barbra Streisand could have been made up to look a few years older and would have nailed the part.
Emile%2C%20wait%21
The Glenn Close version had fantastic scenery and Harry Connick Jr. was great as Lt. Cable.
maybe so, but i was waiting and waiting for 'happy talk' and the fucking thing was cut.
Betty Grable always looked so artificial, with her delicate skin and false eyelashes, she never cou ld have been believable as a nurse in wartime. Really, her persona was almost as fakey as Gaynor's, although she was much more likeable. Doris Day was willing to be seen with frowsy hair and leathery skin when the part called for it, she would have been more believable as a smart woman living in rough conditions. And I agree that she wasn't the best possible singer for the part, but in a movie good acting is more important than perfect singing. The question is whether she could have saved the film from Logan's leaden direction. She did have a lot of clout in those days, but did she have enough? Did she understand enough about filmmaking to have made a difference?
I think Logan almost spitefully avoided using Doris Day simply because everyone told him how perfect she would be. Like so many famous directors, he was in love with his own brilliance. No one could tell him anything. I think he thought he could be a Svengali to Miss Mitzi.
All these years I just figured she was a placeholder for Sutton Foster.
r15, it was the 1960's. :)
Doris suggested in a somewhat recent radio interview that Rodgers and Hammerstein were not willing to meet her usual fee and she was fine with walking away from it. She also hinted that Mitzi Gaynor was willing to take less money to get the role.
Doris Day should have done it. So they offered her a few less dollars than she usually made. Big deal. Wouldn't have made a bit of difference to her in the larger scheme, and she might have delivered another career defining performance. Instead it went to B-list Mitzi Gaynor, who was not able to make the role a memorable one for herself.
Rodgers and Hammerstein were notoriously cheap. They knew SOUTH PACIFIC was going to be a pre-sold hit no matter who appeared in it. Doris Day was a much bigger star than Mitzi Gaynor. Doris could hold out for big bucks and not worry about finding something else to do if they passed on her. Mitzi, on the other hand, would have been a fool to turn down the part at practically any price.
I love Doris, but it's a shame she didn't do it, particularly since it was a matter of money. Doris is a great, versatile, and under-appreciated actress. Had she done SOUTH PACIFIC, THE GRADUATE (yes, she was almost signed to play Mrs. Robinson), and other roles, I think she'd be much more highly regarded today than she is. The rom-coms with Rock are fun, but she could have had a much bigger legacy.
the%20ghost%20of%20Sue%20Mengers%27%20Stretch%20Pants
I think you're probably right, R26. I'd guess that the money guys at Paramount were nervous about paying big bucks for Doris, and then Logan took advantage of that anxiety, along the lines of your logic.
[quote] Doris Day could have had a much bigger legacy Are you joking? Her legacy is about as big as it gets.
R33, all the R&H musical films (except for FLOWER DRUM SONG) were released by 20th Century Fox. When the Doris Day casting fell thru, and Liz Taylor proved she couldn't lip synch, they went with Mitzi, who was a B-level talent but was under contract to Fox so would work cheap. Rodgers & Hammerstein (rightly at the time) believed that by the time their shows reached film, the titles alone were well-known enough that they didn't need a "movie star" casting - Doris Day would have been the exception. NONE of the 5 big R&H films (Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, King & I, or Sound of Music) had already-known movie stars in the leads, and that was by design. The films were always "Rodgers & Hammerstein's....." and that's what sold it to audiences. Even Julie Andrews as Maria hadn't won her Oscar for Mary Poppins when she signed to do Sound of Music - in fact, it's well known Robert Wise saw a rough cut of Poppins and hired her - the film wasn't even released yet. Of course by the time SOM opened she was an Oscar winner, but that was a result of circumstantial timing.
Darryl%20F.%20Zanuck
r35, you're forgetting Deborah Kerr, who was already a major movie star when they cast her in THE KING AND I.
Tallulah Bankhead
Little-known fact: Betty Hutton (who by 1954 was pretty much persona non grata in Hollywood) was offered the role of Ado Annie in the film version of Oklahoma! She turned it down, saying she was still a big movie star and didn't want to play a supporting role - it was either Laurie or nothing. Self-deluded much?
Fred%20Zinneman
Interesting interview with John Kerr at the link--he sounds like a really nice guy. Apparently he was considered for "Psycho!
http://www.bmonster.com/cult33.html
Juliet Prowse would probably have won an Oscar if she'd gotten the role.
Joshua Logan considered virtually every top actress of the day for the role of Nellie Forbush, including Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn and even Ginger Rogers.
According to some sources,Mary Martin did not play Nellie Forbush in the movie because Ezio Pinza, who had portrayed Emile de Becque on the stage, had already died and the producers considered it to be a hopeless task to find anybody who could match her in the movie. Other sources say that, at 45 years of age, Martin was too old for the role by the time the film was made.
Patti Page relates in her book that she was among those who tested for the role of Nellie Forbush.
[quote]Julie Andrews would have been great. Julie Andrews cannot hide her British accent to save her life. She would have been ludicrous playing an Arkansas girl afraid to buck the racist sentiments of her family back home.
Mary Martin was like Tallulah Bankhead: whatever magic she had onstage got lost on the big screen.
Mary Martin wasn't photogenic, to be polite about it.
Actually, Mary Martin WAS photogenic. Her actual appearance was worse.
Mitzi Gaynor was perfect casting. I thought she was terrific in the part.
Anoymous
If they'd changed the name to Nellie Lovett instead of Forbush, then Julie could have done it.
A sober Garland? A fat sober Garland? Forget it.
I'm more troubled by the casting of the wan John Kerr as Lt. Cable when Tab, Troy, Fabian, Ty, Rory and Guy were all floating around Hollywood. Was he really the hunkiest Josh could come up with?
I would have liked to have seen Lucy give it the Mame treatment.
Betty%20White%20Picket%20Fence
Julie Andrews did her Nellie Forbush role in "The Americanization of Emily." Good movie, by the way.
We know.
Like%20you%20think%20you%27re%20telling%20us%20something%20new%3F
I'm truly baffled by everyone saying Doris wouldn't sing it well. Her recordings of South Pacific songs were POP recordings. She could more than deliver musical theatre brass when needed (I'm Not at All in Love", "There Once Was A Man", "The Deadwood Stage" from Calamity Jane!!) . She would have sung the shit out of the score AND acted it beautifully. A real lost opportunity. Whip Crack-a-Way!
Howard%20Keel%20and%20John%20Raitt
[quote] or Florence Henderson You mustn't have heard the Lincoln Center South Pacific CD with Henderson. Her singing is awful on it - no blend between chest and head voice. It almost sounds like two different singers. Dolores Gray would have sounded great as Nellie. Indeed, she sang the shit out of Wonderful Guy as part of a Richard Rodgers medley on the Bell Telephone hour. It's available on DVD.
r55 Not true. It's not like she sings the belty parts in head voice. She shouts the usually belted notes.
"Julie Andrews cannot hide her British accent to save her life. She would have been ludicrous playing an Arkansas girl afraid to buck the racist sentiments of her family back home." Agreed. In "Thoroughly Modern Millie" she was supposed to hail from Small Town America yet she sounds her usual British way. Audrey Hepburn was another who never/couldn't hid(e) her accent. Her "Sabrina" was born and raised in Long Island yet she talks like she's from another land.
R58, surely Sabrina's accent was affected by the years in Paris. My CPA left his wife for a marginally less obese woman who explained that her own accent was the consequence of where she grew up. It turned out that she grew up in the home of two aunts who had been to France, but lived year-round in the city that she pronounced de-TWAT.
[quote]NONE of the 5 big R&H films (Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, King & I, or Sound of Music) had already-known movie stars in the leads, Gordon MacRae (Oklahoma!) had already starred in seven or eight musical films prior to being in "Oklahoma." He was also well-known on radio's "The Railroad Hour" for singing the lead in musicals. He was popular on juke boxes in songs with Jo Stafford. His film musical co-stars include Doris Day, Katherine Grayson, and June Haver.
r58, Sabrina's father is British and there's nothing about her being born in Long Island. As far as Nellie is concerned, I think Mitzi does a great job. I think if they had waited another year, Shirley Maclaine would have been a big enough star that they might have considered her. She wasn't a movie star yet, just an up and comer. And I still think Marilyn would have been a great Nellie Forbush. I also think John Kerr is perfect for the part. At that time he had only played teenagers. The point being that he was still a kid rather than a big brawny leading man. It makes it more believable, being that this was towards the end of the war when the officers were getting younger.
Speaking of Doris Day- April is DORIS DAY month on Turner Classic Movies. Yes, MIDNIGHT LACE will be broadcast!
You just have to watch Gaynor perform 'Georgy Girl' at the '67 Academy Awards to know why she won the role of Nellie Fullbush. The crowd ovation for the performance is the longest and most raucous in Academy broadcast history.
Right after A STAR IS BORN opened, One of the big movie magazines (I think PHOTOPLAY) ran a huge article on hoe "JUDY was BACK". It was mentioned that Garland was talking to R&H about playing Nellie in the movie. It's a shame that Fox didn't make the film then instead of waiting a few years as Garland would have been perfect at that time.
One of the greatest! The musical numbers are incredible. I love the beginning, movie version, with all the sexy sailors dancing and singing. How gay is that! There so many great musical numbers in this, I can't even begin...Mitzi was fantastic, no other at the time could have characterized this role as well as she.
[quote] hoe "JUDY was BACK". I think you mean 'ho', doll.
Mamie%20VanDoren
"Dolores Gray would have sounded great as Nellie. Indeed, she sang the shit out of Wonderful Guy as part of a Richard Rodgers medley on the Bell Telephone hour." But she would have been completely wrong for the role in every possible way. Doris would have been great as Nellie; her not having been cast is one of the worst examples of a missed opportunity in film history. But at any rate, as others have pointed out, Logan's direction is so awful that the movie would have been bad no matter who was in it. And, really, Mitzi's performance is one of the best things in it.
Ron Ely, muscle guy who played Tarzan, is in the first scene showing the sailors and Seabees. Several gay bodybuilders are in the film. And Doug McClure is in a scene in a hospital ward where Nellie is talking to wounded men. You can't take your eyes off McClure lying in bed in that scene.
Doris couldn't carry a tune, she was so flat, her voice was screeching and her expressions would have been horrible in that role. She works my nerve like no other, with her insipid, sunshiny schtick. I did like DD in the "Pajama Game" though. With her lesbo hair-do and playing hard to get with the incredibly sexy John Raitt. Everybody could sing but DD, they had to carry the tunes, but it worked. Who was DD fuming to get all her roles?
The show was the star - the studio felt they did not need to pay for a big name to carry it - which is why the male leads were the dull John Kerr and bland Brazzi. Doris usually worked at Warners or MGM, so Fox who were making the movie would have to pay to get her, and had used Mitz several times before - in Theres No Business Like Show Business etc.
Ed Fury is another muscle guy in South Pacific - they must have had a lot of fun on set between takes, I think Josh Logan liked having attractive guys around ?
I find it interesting that there is someone in the world who thinks that Doris Day could not sing. WTF? She had/has a beautiful voice. Secret Love? Sentimental Journey? Que Sera Sera? Heaven.
Judy Garland never recovered her ingenue looks after Easter Parade in 1949, a requirement for her to be correct casting for South Pacific in 1958.
I agree with you. R72. Doris Day was a wonderful singer. That straightforward, unadorned approach to singing is a lost art in this era of American Idol caterwauling for gratuitous effect. Judy Garland would have been all wrong for Nellie Forbush. She was old beyond her years in the 1950s and not in a good way.
Ed Fury's ass.
http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/27800000/Ed-Fury-vintage-beefcake-27873135-628-801.jpg
No response to my suggestion of Polly Bergen? I was sure someone would have by now at least have told me I was completely crazy.
"And I still think Marilyn would have been a great Nellie Forbush." I literally can't imagine the fragile, hyperfeminine, Monroe as an army nurse! Army nurses are tough and brave and willing to put up with rough living conditions, Monroe spent most of her career being too frightened to come out of her trailer and do her job. I also can't imagine her with a tan.
OK, Polly Bergen was typed as playing Manhattan style sophiticates and socialites, even in the 1950s. She was far too ironic to pull off "corny as Kansas" and her voice was too sultry for Nellie's twang.
R78, Polly Bergen is from Tennessee. You may be right about her voice though.
I actually like Mitzi Gaynor in this film. She's not a great actress, but she's genuinely quite moving and believable in her big anguished "I was born this way!" moment. I agree Doris Day or Judy Garland would have been much better, though. Judy would have been perfect singing, although for me this is during her hypertwitchy acting phase where she might have been too much for the big emotional breakdown scenes. (I imagine her gasping and twitching hysterically after hearing Emile had been shot down.) Doris would have been the best: she would have been really fun for "Honey Bun," and she would have made "A Cockeyed Optimist" sound generally sweet. Plus she was a fine dramatic actress. And the score doesn't give her any of the pissed-off numbers she tended to make sound too strident in some of her other musicals (like "I'm Not at All in Love" in THE PAJAMA GAME). Dolores Gray would have been terrible. She was too horsey-faced and campy to play an ingenue like Nellie Forbush--she was best off on Broadway or playing the kinds of secondary campy parts she got in KISMET and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER. The problem with the movie is not the actors at all but the infamous color filters during the musical numbers that are so lurid and ugly. What a weird idea that was.
Delores Gray would have been much too sophisticated for the role. Nellie can NOT be sophisticated, it's the opposite of everything the character is meant to be.
[quote] she was best off on Broadway or playing the kinds of secondary campy parts she got in KISMET and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER. Gray actually originated the role of Lalume in KISMET when it opened in Los Angeles, prior to its Broadway run.
I love Dolores Gray but she was completely wrong for Nellie. Frankly, I don't think there was an ideal choice among the known singer/actresses working in film at the time. Nellie is a tricky role because although she is not sophisticated she is quite smart, soulful, self-conscious, and witty; and she must be vulnerable and capable of much more courage than she gives herself credit for. She defies stereotype. Ironically, both Debbie Reynolds and Shirley Jones might have been excellent. But it's very easy to imagine performances forced into congruency with their musical movie images at the time (sanitized Eisenhower era images they would both break through from with some success in non-musical films) that would have been abysmal. And Logan wouldn't have helped matters. His direction of South Pacific is pathetically bad.
[quote]Other sources say that, at 45 years of age, Martin was too old for the role by the time the film was made. Why on earth did they let Close do it in her 50s????
[quote] Why on earth did they let Close do it in her 50s???? Because she produced it, and all the R&H org cares about now is money.
[quote]Ironically, both Debbie Reynolds and Shirley Jones might have been excellent. Debbie Reynolds, yes; but not Shirley Jones. She doesn't have the right kind of voice. You need a fun musical comedy voice for Nellie, not an operetta soprano like Jones (or Ann Blyth or Kathryn Grayson, for that matter). If you don't believe me, listen to the studio recording they made in the 80s with Kiri Te Kanawa, who wrecks the role because she doesn't have a fun musical comedy voice like Mary Martin or Mitzi Gaynor.
[quote] If you don't believe me, listen to the studio recording they made in the 80s with Kiri Te Kanawa, who wrecks the role because she doesn't have a fun musical comedy voice like Mary Martin or Mitzi Gaynor. Don't blame Kiri solely for wrecking that recording. Sarah Vaughn and Mandy Patinkin were FAR worse in their roles. At least Kiri looked and sounded like she was having fun.
Agreed: Mandy Patinkin sounds like he's having a grand mal seizure during "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught."
[quote]Because she produced it, and all the R&H org cares about now is money. I was so embarrassed for her; nothing is more ridiculous than an actor/actress clearly playing a part that they are too old for.
I, too, love Gaynor as Nellie. She's cute, sweet, killer ass, provincial and knows it, and I totally believed that Emile De Beque fell in love with her at first sight. I thoght the entire cast was perfect. I just could not like Kelli O'Hara as Forbush because she suffered in comparison to Gaynor. I always get a lump in my throat when the old commander tells Forbush that "no matter how tough, they (the soldiers) talk," the Thanksgiving Follies is "a big show."
Della
I always think Debbie Reynolds as the only one to pull off the character, singing and acting. She would have been excellent.
RE 89 HOW DARE YOU !
Barbra%20Streisand
I agree Kiri Te Kanawa was an embarrassment in the studio recording of "South Pacific." They should have let me sing the role in my famous and much loved falsetto! In fact, I should have sung all the parts. I'm quite talented, you know.
Mandy%20P.
Gwen Verdon would have been FIERCE as Nellie.
Fosse
[quote] Gray actually originated the role of Lalume in KISMET when it opened in Los Angeles, prior to its Broadway run. EXCUSE ME????
Joan%20Diener%2C%20original%20Lalume%20and%20wife%20of%20director%20Albert%20Mar
Why wasn't Mitzi Gaynor cast [italic]into[/italic] the South Pacific?
Here's the Mitz performing "Georgy Girl" at the Academy Awards, R63. Sweet Christ Almighty, she's terrible--so bad that I love it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DNu6-oxdV1Bg
So often Mitzi's choreography seems like the prelude to a striptease. The only thing she had over Doris Day is that she was a better dancer. But Nellie isn't really a dancing role. Did George Sanders really sign up to play Emile on screen and drop out due to his own lack of confidence? He sang surprisingly well, as can be heard in the film version of CALL ME MADAME. Although he was no Pinza, he could have done his own singing without apologies to the role.
Debbie would have brought nothing new to the role of Nellie - we know exactly how she would have played it, just like all her other musical roles. Don't even mention THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN !
Actually r99, I think you've also nailed it on the head about Doris Day. Doris was so perfectly cast as Nellie that audiences wouldn't have even bothered seeing her in the film. Totally predictable performance.
Mitzi was the perfect Nellie, out of all of the aforementioned possibilities. As the old saying goes....Why reinvent the wheel?
The problem is that these women, talented as they were, were turned into bland post-war types in Hollywood musicals, including Mitzi. Nellie is a much more interesting character than a 1950s Hollywood musical could handle. These women could deliver a whole lot more, were capable of a whole lot more. This 1950s type Hollywood musical even persisted into the 60s - even more disastrously - with The Unskinksable Molly Brown. There was a hell of a lot more depth, intelligence and subtlety to Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, and Shirley Jones than they were allowed to show at their time.
As Oscar Levant once brilliantly observed, "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin."
R102 has a good point. But I'll take it further and say that the 'blanding' of women's roles extended beyond musicals and it was just films in general.
Speaking of Oscar Levant: HE would have made a great Nellie Forbush! He certainly was nellie.
[quote]He certainly was nellie. Yes, but not for bush.
OL
Rumor has it that Doris didn't get it because she refused to sing for Rodgers at a party, which was intended as some sort of an audition. But it was probably over money. Doris was top box office in 1958. She would've been an awesome Nellie however. She was great in "Pajama Game" around the same time.
Dolores Gray didn't play another hick, Annie Oakley, for three years in London for nothing. Check out this video: she's sweet, girlish and goofy. Sure it's a little more cartoony than what South Pacific would require, but she could have refined it. Gray was unfortunate that her screen image was cemented as the flamboyant, vampy bitch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uXwBhCv-Q8
Dolores Gray and John Raitt - Isn't It A Lovely Day?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJld5qzTzmU
Has Debbie Reynolds said snything about wanting or being considered for the role?
Dolores Gray would have been better cast as Bloody Mary than as Nellie Forbush.
Here's a thought: Barbara Nell Cook, native of Georgia.
r112 Have you seen that Hitchcock episode she did?
VIVIAN VANCE!
Petula Clark!
Horrible movie: overacting, ugly, boring, grating songs. Shit.
I read here at DL about a year ago that Josh Logan was unhappy with the sky colors but when he saw it, it was too late to make any changes. Don't recall if they said it was due to time or dollars. You would think modern technology could rework the garish skies into something more subtle.
Jaye P. Morgan could have nailed this with ease.
So could JP Morgan. And yes, R113, I did see it. I STILL think she cudda done it.
R112
r119 With or without chin strap?
Dorothy Collins!
I'm still waiting for Hugh Jackman to do "Carousel" before he gets too old. That would be great to see updated.
Even as a child I found Jones irritating in "Carousel" and "Oklahoma" -- and btw, even then I didn't buy John Kerr as a romantic figure, even for a moment. After college I worked in theatre for a while; I heard about Richard Rodgers' auditions, and Shirley Jones' dating habits -- then the movie casting decisions made sense. Thanks to whoever wrote here about Gaynor's Fox contract; the money decision's the only way *not* casting Day made sense. Except maybe her husband (Melcher) promised Rodgers an audition at that party -- but didn't clear it with Day, then couldn't talk her into it once they'd arrived.
Mitzi didn't get much of a career boost out of this; her IMDB profiles shows only three film credits after SP. I can't imagine what Logan was thinking with Elizabeth Taylor. She would have been about as suited for the role as Marlene Dietrich.
RE: Oscar Levant quote @R103...that's exactly why Doris day should have done 'South Pacific,' despite a lower than usual salary. For many the Rock Hudson-Doris Day comedies have made people forget what a wonderful musical performance Doris Day was...even in "The Man Who Knew Too Much."
I can see disliking Shirley Jones in "Carousel" (that cheesy ersatz Maine accent is pretty intolerable), but she's pretty terrific in "Okalahoma!" I have trouble understanding why you'd bitch about her there. But you are right she did sleep with Richard Rodgers--but then so did many of his leading ladies: Jan Clayton, Diahann Carroll...
[quote]Dolores Gray would have been better cast as Bloody Mary than as Nellie Forbush. Actually, she would have been ideally cast as Luther Billis.
r 123: Gaynor had left Fox by 1958. She was freelancing when she signed for SOUTH PACIFIC. In Mitzi's first Fox film (MY BLUE HEAVEN, 1950) she introduces a musical take-off on SOUTH PACIFIC called FRIENDLY ISLAND performed by Betty Grable & Dan Dailey.
Was Connie Stevens considered? She had the correct youthful zest in 1958 and often sang as Cricket on Hawaiian Eye.
Bobby Conrad
Mary Tyler Moore would have KICKED ASS had she been given the opportunity to play Nellie.
r122, you have no taste - Hugh Jackman's nasal, grating voice has no business singing the score of CAROUSEL.
Perhaps, R130, but at the time MTM was best known as Happy Hotpoint, the Dancing Elf who promoted Hotpoint appliances during the commercial breaks on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Miss Carol Burnett, thank you very much
Interesting theory, R102, but you forget South Pacific began its dramatic life as a play written 1949, and there's very little difference between the screenplay and the original playscript. And in 1955, just 3 years before the South Pacific film, you still had women of depth in musicals - specifically Doris Day in "Love Me or Leave Me."
Paul%20Osborne%2C%20screenwriter
Was Doris really the huge star in the mid-fifties that you all go on about? I thought her biggest fame and popularity was after Pillow Talk in 1959? I realize she was a big movie star but I'm not believing she had quite the cache to make the Fox execs or R & H fall all over her in 1956-57 when the SP film was being cast and planned.
Speaking of Doris Day -- The menacing voice in the fog! The shocking phone calls at midnight! The unexplained accidents! The TERROR on the face of the beauty wearing Midnight Lace! MIDNIGHT LACE! DORIS DAY! REX HARRISON! JOHN GAVIN! and MISS MYRNA LOY! on TCM next week! Also catch JULIE where terrorized flight attendant Doris lands a plane!!
Constance got her box
Doris Day was the top revenue producing female star in the business for four years in a row, a status that has not been equaled since.
CD%20liner%20notes
Excellent point R135. In the Hitchcoch films of the 1950s, Grace Kelly was a bigger draw in "Rear Window" and "To Catch A Thief" than Doris Day was in "The Man Who Knew Too Much." Even Kim Novak in "Vertigo," while not as big a star as Doris Day in the mid 1950s, survived the initiate poor reaction to the film, which is now considered one of Hitchcock's best...not true of "The Man Who Knew Too Much." Certainly, Rodgers and Hammerstein wanted Mary Martin badly for the Broadway "South Pacific," to the degree that they easily granted all her wishes...such as Martin not singing a duet with Ezio Pinza and having her clothes designed exactly as she wished, etc. They apparently were not all that interested about Doris Day for the film.
r126 -- 123 here. Dunno, but I've always found Jones phoney. Something about her body language and the way she produces her sound. Odd that would resonate with a little girl in the audience, but it did.
Day first appeared on the top 10 box office draw list in 1951: 1..John Wayne 2. Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis 3. Betty Grable 4. Abbott & Costello 5. Bing Crosby 6. Bob Hope 7. Randolph Scott 8. Gary Cooper 9. Doris Day 10.Spencer Tracy
Day & Grable are the ONLY women on that list. Randolph Scott surprises me.
On that list, one is a team of two comedians, then there are two teams of a comedian and a singer. Both the women could sing and play comedy. Two of the men primarily acted in westerns. I suppose Hollywood really can do different things in different eras, but when they find a winning formula they repeat it until they wear it out, and then move on to something different.
What films did Doris Day make in 1951 that put her on that list? I really can't imagine.
Janis Paige
The role Hugh Jackman was born to do is Zaza in La Cage Aux Folles. Patrick Wilson would be good in that movie role, too. (If the musical movie ever gets made.)
Patrick Wilson is a Jean Michel. A very old Jean Michel
Ethel Herman
Anyone know if there are plans for a movie musical version of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES?
r147 No.
The Birdcage
Mary Tyler Moore, r130??? Surely you are pulling our leg. Mary put the perkiness into over-perkiness. Plus, her singing is totally shitty.
Doris also appeared on the 1952 list: 1. Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis 2. Gary Cooper 3.. John Wayne 4. Bing Crosby 5. Bob Hope 6. James Stewart 7. Doris Day 8. Gregory Peck 9. Susan Hayward 10. Randolph Scott She didn't appear on the list again until 1959. She would appear on the list for the next seven years: 1. Rock Hudson 2. Cary Grant 3. James Stewart 4. Doris Day 5. Debbie Reynolds 6. Glenn Ford 7. Frank Sinatra 8. John Wayne 9. Jerry Lewis 10. Susan Hayward
Now THERE's a thought; Susan Hayward with vocals by Jane Froman.
Eydie Gorme should have been cast. She had the vocal chops like no other.
Josh Logan told a funny story on Rodgers and Hammerstein. Apparently they had the final say in casting and they signed Rossano Brazzi to play Emile de Becque. Brazzi was so thrilled he flew home to Italy and cut a record singing some operatic material. A concerned soul forwarded a copy to R&H who realized to their horror that the leading man they had announced to the world could not sing worth a damn. Logan had no idea how Brazzi had conned these two great masters into believing he could pull it off. They had to hire Giorgio Tozzi to dub the vocals. Brazzi was so humiliated he fussed and fumed on the set whenever he had to mouth to the other man's voice until Logan (according to Logan) told him off then convinced him to cooperate.
[R153] Great story. To add some more, Brazzi was so pissed off that he complained loudly and publicly "I cannot sing along to that cheap-shit voice" referring to Tozzi. Apparently Josh took Brazzi aside and tore him a new one.
R154, do you think that "cheap-shit" was used as an adjective in the late 50's? Or was Brazzi translating literally from the Italian?
Actually, Logan himself attributed the phrase "cheap shit" to Brazzi in his autobiography.
I think we have a consensus: They should have waited a few more years until Liza Minnelli was old enough to play Nellie.
Mitzi still lives in the same Bev. Hills house she's been in for over 50 years. I see her in her Caddie often, and she seems very sweet, and looks terrific. Annie Miller used to live 1 block over, on Alta Dr., and used to see her in her (old) white Caddie too.
Beverly%20Hills%20elder%20G
Didnt they tear Ann Miller's house down ? Used to drive by, and loved the old Hollywood style of the house. Red tile roof, Mediteranian style, and those great black & white awnings. And yes, with her 1968 white Cadilliac, parked in the driveway. They'll probably put up some Persian monstrosity, in it's place.
Another%20Elder%20G/%20B.H.%20resident
[quote] Mary Tyler Moore, [R130]??? Surely you are pulling our leg. Mary put the perkiness into over-perkiness. Plus, her singing is totally shitty. OMFG, how can you say that??
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dl-T11erq_kI
R130
Wow R160, I LOVE MTM but that was bad. And Letterman looks completely embarrassed.
...she had good legs?
I've never seen any of Rosemary Clooney's films, but she would've been a better vocal fit than Doris Day (Clooney had a belt in the 1950s). Clooney also had the right look.
Clooney couldn't act. MTM would have been a bit young -- and that clip at 160 really was appalling. But she wasn't the worst thing in it. Letterman was deliberately trying to look bemused, as though he were above the job that was paying his bills. He should have just sucked it up, like Michael Keaton did. But Letterman has made a career out of implying that he is superior to the fools around him. As long as we're indulging in anachronistic casting (not a bad idea for another thread, by the way), I gather that in her day Billie Burke was not only comely but had a well-turned ankle and a way with a ditty. Perhaps she could have been cast as Nellie Forbush.
Ethel Merman would have been great. I'm sure with all those weird color filters and lighting tricks they used on this movie Logan could have some way to make Merman appear younger and female.
It never worked in her other movies, R165. Except maybe "Airplane."
R165 I know you are joking because Merman was 6 or 7 years older than Mary Martin.
Oh, R167, you sly boots, you. you caught on so quickly.
Angela Lansbury would've been awesome.
A young Robert Wagner in drag with Marni Nixon dubbing would have been perfect.
Eddie%20Murphy
I remember the reviews of Close's abortion mentioning how her arms never raise above her waist in the 'I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair' outdoor shower number.
You might want to rethink your criticism of Mitzi after watching this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DdUtSrN_W5I8
One of her screen tests . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DCQBQsKJcPrU%26feature%3Drelated
Gaynor's prettier in R173's link than she was in the finished movie.
[quote]I remember the reviews of Close's abortion mentioning how her arms never raise above her waist in the 'I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair' outdoor shower number. Well cripes, what hair was she washing?
Watching Glenn Closes' remake all I could think of was Norma Desmond in her much talked about "return".
Every time I scroll past this thread, I think it reads "Why was Mitch Gaylord cast in South Pacific?"
Tim%20Daggett
MTM's choreography at R160 has that distinct mark of Bob Fosse.
R160
Yes r160, Bob Fosse does Romper Room School.
RE 173 - Thanks for posting that ! I think Mitzi was much thinner when she did the film. Her face looks very puffy here, and she looks shorter- which usually means a person's heavier. She was sick thin (for the 50's) in the film.
I agree that Mitzi looks better in the test than in the film! I don't like really short hair on a woman, though, as it wound up in the finished product. Either a way to invoke Mary Martin or keep things simple for "Wash that man..." (which wouldn't even have been necessary for a movie where things can be cheated!) What about Anne Francis?? She was allegedly good enough in Funny Girl to warrant Babs having her cut out of it, practically. She had the right pert look and acting chops.
LOVE that clip of John Raitt at r109!!! Thanks for posting. Sexy as he is, he really wasn't Hollywood photogenic so I guess I can see why he never became a movie star.
Howard Keel
I either heard or read a Gaynor interview in which she said during the SP shoot in Hawaii Brazzi complained bitterly about Tozzi's being used for voiceover, until she and her husband told him bluntly that Brazzi could be replaced with someone who didn't mind so much. He shut up. He would show up at the beach in a speedo, and his wife would wear all her jewelry with her swimsuit, in case she met someone important.
Wasn't Gaynor's hair short for "There's No Business Like Show Business?"
Mitzi was MAD, I tell you, MAD!
Kimberly%20Novak
Alice Faye would have been perfect if the movie was made in 1938 instead of 1958.
And Jenny Lind would have been perfect, if the movie had been shot in 1850. So would the history of cinema, to say nothing of the history of the second world war, which kinda rules out Alice Faye in 1938.
All of those young 1950s stars had that short dykey hair: Doris, Mitzi, KIm, even Liz and Ava. Exceptions were Audrey, Grace and Marilyn.
RE 188 - Have you ever SEEN a photo of Audrey H. from the 50's. She had a short pixie cut for years. Do your research.
Mel%20Ferrer
Audrey and Leslie Caron and Shirley MacLaine had different versions of pixies hairdos. They did not have those short dykey hairdos like the others.
In the best of all possible worlds, it would have been Judy Garland at the time of A Star In Born. "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" was a fixture of her concerts in the 50's and she sang the hell out of it!
[quote]You just have to watch Gaynor perform 'Georgy Girl' at the '67 Academy Awards to know why she won the role of Nellie Fullbush. O. My. God.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DNu6-oxdV1Bg
In the best of all possible worlds, R191, RIchard Rodgers would have found a better lyricist, and we'd have been spared the preachy crap that flowed from the fingers of Oscar Hammerstein. "You've Got to be Carefully Taught" is too heavy handed for even a child to enjoy. Perhaps Hammerstein somehow inspired Rodgers, even though his lyrics added nothing (although they were better than the absolute drivel of "Carmen Jones," or other collaborations with composers who apparently didn't keep him in check as well as Rodgers did). But I think that Rodgers should have bid him adieu ("adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu"). NO star of the fifties could have made that garbage sound intelligent.
A%20lark%20who%20is%20learning%20to%20prey
That MTM show clip is one of the most embarrassing things I've seen in a while. Letterman doesn't look smug. He looks like he's doing his best not to laugh at the sheer awfulness around him. Mitzi always seemed a bit manic to me. Her Nellie was too shrill. "This is emotional!!!!"
[quote]in the best of all possible worlds, it would have been Judy Garland at the time of A Star In Born Hogwash. Judy was already brittle and twitchy in A STAR IS BORN. She was not the right type for Nellie in the first place and was never fully functional after 1950. Imagine taking her to Hawaii with an entire film crew and expecting her to show up every morning on time!
It could have worked, R195. Don't forget to take the time difference into account.
Judy Garland may have been right for the role voclly... but like Marilyn Monroe, she was far too fragile and vulnerable to make a believable army nurse. Those two couldn't stand to come out of their trailers and face a film crew, can you imagine them packing wounds in a jungle tent full of bugs? Doris Day was not so far off, with her leathery skin and bulletproof perkiness. You can imagine her efficintly packing the wound and telling the soldier to keep his chin up, and then going out to wash a man right out of her hair.
DL is a misogynist space, as this "frau" hatred makes clear. Imagine a comparable word with which to characterize gay men who bug you; imagine that word showing up over and over again in various threads, without a single objection; imagine how none of you would stand for it. Your misogyny is juvenile, stupid, out-of-date, destructive of your own humanity, brutalizing to children, murderous, self-loathing, and wrong. Stop it.
R197, it's hard to take you seriously when you use words like "vocily."
[quote]it's hard to take you seriously when you use words like "vocily." You're just lucky it wasn't signed by Helen Lawson.
That's hilarious R20 -- thanks for the laugh.
Dan%20Dailey
R7 is correct. How else to explain a virtual nobody -- who yes, did an "adequate" job -- landing a role that was such a huge hit on the stage. She was a whore, darlin', a WHORE.
Mitzi and Debbie Reynolds together, taken last year. No feud here.
http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Debbie Reynolds/Mitzi Gaynor/Paley Center Media Reception Debbie Reynolds/rzz6R_Mi1tf
Patti Page or Janis Paige could have done it.
Carol Channing, always the perfect ingenue at any age.
[quote]You can imagine her efficintly packing the wound... No, I can't imagine that. Just like steak and butter, the efficintly was rationed in war time and wasn't allowed to be used on wounds.
They should have redone this with Barbra about 35 years ago.
r207 Actually, I have done it in stock.
Ms%20Eden
R208, we're talking Barbra, not Barbara.
R204, don't forget Geraldine Page. Or Satchel Paige
r209 Oh, me? Only if they raise the keys.
Ms%20Cook%2C%20if%20you%27re%20nasty.
Audrey Hepburn was born for that role.
Paging Marni Nixon!
hasn't anyone seen the original 'a star is born,' with janet gaynor and fredrick march? gaynor did a terrific job as a clueless young out-of-towner, and kept her innocence throughout the movie. and march as the drunken, sinking norman main, was stunning. i don't care about the huge hype of the 1954 version being garland's big comeback. she was way too old to play the lucky young rube-turned-ingenue. of course, she killed on the musical numbers, but she was barely holding on emotionally in the acting scenes, clearly. in hindsight, i thought it was a too-long, overwrought wreck. i'm a big james mason fan, but i tought march was far superior to mason as main, and as much as i like jack carson, i thought lionel stander was far superior to carson as the studio flak.
anonymous
Well aren't you just the 1954 'A Star Is Born' hater. I think the '54 version is far superior to the Gaynor - March version. It bores me. Gaynor is sweet , March is always good, but no comparison to the Garland- Mason chemistry, and their scenes together.
Sid%20Luft
Yes, but what has this all got to do with me, Barbara?
Ms%20Payton%20%28leave%20the%20money%20on%20the%20dresser%29
What is wrong with you queens who are suggesting that Doris Day wouldn't have sung the SOUTH PACIFIC songs well? Are you insane? Still, I agree that Mitzi Gaynor's casting is the least of the film's problems, and that as long as Josh Logan was directing, it would have been a bad movie no matter who was in it.
r217 Because, I for one, have heard her recordings of some of the songs. She shouts the last note of Wonderful Guy. It sounds horrible. She probably would have been ok in the role, but not ideal.
Dotty%20Collins
Mitzi Gaynor's voice was so much better in later years. Too bad she coudln't have re-dubbed her SP songs.
The Glen Close version had some spectacular scenery. Harry Connick Jr. was a better Joe Cable than the forgettable guy in the film.
Wait, are we talking about Mitzi Gaynor or Janet Gaynor?
Connie Bennett, in her box
Polly Bergan would have been perfect.
i loved her in that role. she was good. i loved the movie.
k%20jakubik
Because the beautiful Miss Cillian Murphy wasn't even born yet.
She swallowed.
So did we ever reach a consensus? Who should have been cast?
R129 Connie Stevens wasn't considered for SOUTH PACIFIC, but she did test for MY FAIR LADY. The test is out there somewhere.
Mitzi Gaynor could have done well if her voice had been dubbed.
[quote]All of those young 1950s stars had that short dykey hair: Doris, Mitzi, KIm, even Liz and Ava. Even old bulldozers like Joan Crawford and Jane Wyman got that haircut. You have to be very beautiful and young to pull it off, though.
Is Mitzi a real name, or is it one of those made up names like Trig or Trapp?
[quote] You just have to watch Gaynor perform 'Georgy Girl' at the '67 Academy Awards to know why she won the role of Nellie Fullbush. I just watched it and the song she performed seemed to be called Hey Theh Jawchee Cull.
"Josh Logan told a funny story on Rodgers and Hammerstein. Apparently they had the final say in casting and they signed Rossano Brazzi to play Emile de Becque. Brazzi was so thrilled he flew home to Italy and cut a record singing some operatic material. A concerned soul forwarded a copy to R&H who realized to their horror that the leading man they had announced to the world could not sing worth a damn. Logan had no idea how Brazzi had conned these two great masters into believing he could pull it off." Typical Josh Logan bullshit. As if R&H would ever have signed Brazzi without a vocal audition, assuming he could handle the score, and then would find out otherwise only because someone sent them recordings of his voice. I guess Logan was a liar as well as a pathetic closet case.
Martha Raye?! Too ugly. Mitzi was always annoying for some reason. Too perky??
Nathan Lane was unavailable.
Was Josh Logan gay? Discuss.
Seabee
If they had dubbed her with Mary Martin's voice and eliminated the jello-colored skies, it could have been a great film.
It is so obvious. Mitzi is doing the best Doris Day impression that i have ever seen! From haircut to the but-shots she IS a poor man's Doris Day.
mitzi was the perfect choice for south pacific,but her career started 3 years after that, when she broke all records at the flamingo hotel in las vegas, and she never looked back, then seventeen emmy nominations for her fabulous tv shows, movie musicals were finished in the 60s, you could count on your hand the successful ones, also the top musical film stars careers were finished when musicals were no longer popular, as they could'nt hack it on the stage, most of the were dubbed on the screen
gloria
billy wilder wanted mitzi for some like it hot, as he knew using the talented and professional mitzi, the film would have taken weeks to make, instead of months and months, he had to do sometimes 80 takes just to get poor marilyn to say one word, as for mitzi getting the plum part in south pacific, mitzi was perfect, doris day would have played doris day like she did in every film, and debbie reynolds would not have been considered as her career was over by then, it only revived when liz taylor took her husband
jackie
mitzi was a great success because she did'nt take herself seriously, also she had a wonderful 52 year marriage, ignore all that fooling around nonesense, mitzi and jack had a solid marriage
barbra
Since this thread was bumped up... Mitzi was perfectly cast in "South Pacific" and the only good thing about that otherwise awful adaptation. No one would've been better.
I like Mitzi Gaynor better in r173's clip than in the movie. While I believe Doris Day would have nailed it, Mitzi could have knocked it out of the park with a better director.
Josh Logan quote: "When people tell me the direction was wonderful, I know I've failed..." Cont: "...The audience should be entranced, hypnotized, transported like children listening to a fairy tale. The individual actor, playwright, or director who breaks the spell by drawing attention to himself and crowing 'See how clever I am!' is a crook."
r243's post made me think of Bill Murray's birthday party scene in "Tootsie".
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DLWYefQWVCNs
This is my favorite clip of Mitzi from one of her TV specials. She's very sexy (even though the clip makes clear she's really not all that good of a dancer--her movements are not focused or crisp), and the song is arranged exactly in her range and style (she always sounded forced when trying to sing pleasant ballads rather than growly sexy numbers). It's incredibly cheesy, but this does show why she had a following in the 50s and 60s and early 70s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D1j_zUxuWNvs
[quote]even though the clip makes clear she's really not all that good of a dancer Mitzi was an excellent dancer with years of extensive training, though she often suffered from poor choreography. Yankee Doodle Mitzi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DXVxnhrBYZ64
Look at the clip at r245 again, and watch her movements closely when she strips down to the corselet. Her gestures are very muddy and poorly executed. It's not just the fact it's weakly choreographed--she's not dancing very well. Maybe she was having an off night, but one thing I will say about Joey Heatherton (who is even cheesier than Mitzi Gaynor, and who also did those same sorts of sexpot dancing specials on TV in the early 70s): Joey never had an off night in terms of her dancing that I ever saw.
Actually on closer inspection you're right, R247. I guess I was distracted by Mitzi's fabulousness when I first saw it. Her walk at 1:51 also looks quite amateurish and not at all like a professional dancer's. Although normally she's better. Here she is with Gene Kelly's choreography, sharp and graceful: (as Kelly would've demanded)
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DSPs_tBlCe8E
go to youtube and watch how mitzi had matured into a consummate entertainer, see her sing the song "everything old is new again",,triple threat entertainer, mitzi is 82 years of age this year and is still strutting her stuff, and not for the money as she is a very very rich lady, after decades of being the top female act @ the nevada casinos, she is now an american treasure and icon, deservedly so
ryan
"Alice Blue Gown" was written about Alice Roosevelt, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, and the most noteable BITCH of the early 20th century. "Alice Blue" was her favorite color.
Is Mitzi lonely? Her husband died and she has no family.
Who gave a better performance, Betty Hutton in "Annie, Get You Gun" or Mitzi Gaynor in "South Pacific"?
This (link below) is the Mitzi Gaynor performance that revived her career. It's the 1967 Academy Awards ...she was sensational. From this performance she got her Christmas special (1967) and then a string of 8 more TV specials. She sounds a little flat and breathy at the beginning but she pulls it together. I doubt her voice is being augmented. And remember too: this is all done in one take...unlike a dance number in a movie. She truly commands the stage, every inch a star. She's already 36 years old here ...and radiant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DnvZHEh0YyW0
She's on tour right now with her one-woman show. She's going to be in a nearby city next month so I may check her out.
Getting back to the original question, how about DL fave and possible closeted lesbian Kaye Ballard?
How is that the original question, R255?
[quote]It's the 1967 Academy Awards ...she was sensational. Sort of. She's very cute and sexy, and her dancing is great; but her singing there is genuinely awful. That song is not something she could sing. And don't pretend otherwise. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.
Her singing isn't awful, not great but it's in tune and an easy song to sing.
It's awful. On other songs it's okay, but there it's genuinely awful.
don%27t%20try%20to%20polish%20that%20turd
Good lord, that link at R253 is just awful on every level.
It's fabulous on every level and she received the longest standing ovation in Academy history for it. (I don't think if the record still holds.)
She was perfect.
[quote]It's fabulous on every level You had just admitted previously at r258 that her singing on it wasn't great. Those were your exact words.
Yes, it's not great nor is it awful. It's okay.
She retired for a few years and put on weight. Then she decided to make a comeback; lost all the weight and got back in great shape. But her voice had changed and that was another real plus. Her singing was rich and full for the first time. She went on tour to sell-out audiences. Helen Reddy took ten years off. She's back on tour at 71 with a voice as powerful as ever.
if it's "not great," then it's not "fabulous on every level."
"I just could not like Kelli O'Hara as Forbush because she suffered in comparison to Gaynor." There really is no accounting for taste.
Mitzi's voice isn't great but her interpretation of the song is, better than the original. The song "Georgy Girl" doesn't require a great vocalist only a decent singer with enthusiasm. Her voice in general is untrained but singing that song it's fine. Like the score to "South Pacific" it requires a comedic voice, which is why Jane Powell would've been awful in that movie and awful singing this song.
Can someone tell me just what exactly was wrong with Mitzi in "South Pacific". I thought she was wonderful.
The pic's cute:
http://www.everydaytreats.com/wp-content/uploads/Mitzi_Gaynor_b228.jpg
If she was 36 in 1967 when she sang Georgy Girl, she must be about 22 in that photo at r270 that looks like it was taken in 1953.
From that 1967 number you can see why Gaynor got those 9 TV specials. Who else could have done anywhere near as well? Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon would have been all wrong. Donna McKechnie would have danced the shit out it, but she was still unknown. Juliet Prowse is probably the only popular performer back in '67 who could compare.... but she was not as likable or as beautiful.
But even by 1967 that Georgy Girl number was a throwback and look hopelessly dated to anyone under 30, especially as it was erformed by a 36 year old former movie star.
R273 wrote: "But even by 1967 that Georgy Girl number was a throwback and look hopelessly dated to anyone under 30, especially as it was erformed by a 36 year old former movie star." So? In 1967 everything looked dated to kids under 30. The truth is, that silly "Georgie Girl" number was exactly the kind of thing the very popular Carol Burnet Show did at the time as did other TV variety shows.
1968 was a seminal year in the transitioning of America into an entirely youth-based and dominated pop culture.