Musicals On TV - High Tor

CBS, 1956
Starring Bing Crosby, Julie Andrews, Nancy Olsen, and Hans Conried
Directed by James Neilson
Music by Arthur Schwartz; Lyrics by Maxwell Anderson

Musicals were hot on Broadway in the 1950's, and they were equally popular on early television...but most early musicals were usually an hour. Anderson had been interested in turning his 1937 play into a TV musical as early as 1949. In 1955, CBS started the Ford Star Jubilee, an hour-and-a-half anthology of plays and variety shows. High Tor marked their first attempt at an original, made-for-TV musical. Crosby was still a very popular star, on TV, movies, and recordings; Andrews was a fresh-faced British beauty just days away from opening in My Fair Lady. How does this fantasy about a man obsessed with a mountain who falls in love with a ghost look now? Let's head to the mountain High Tor on New York's Palisades and find out...

The Story: Van Van Dorn (Crosby) is a laid-back fellow who would rather enjoy the quiet life on High Tor than hold down a job. His girlfriend Judith (Olsen) is fed up with his refusal to sell the mountain to a company that would strip mine the mountain and leaves him. The real estate agent's partner Skimmerhorn (Lloyd Corrigan) and his son Biggs Jr (Conried) try to scam him to sell for less than the mountain is worth and keep the money for themselves.

Van isn't the only one who doesn't want to sell the mountain. High Tor is home to a group of Dutch ghosts who's ship vanished on the Palisades 300 years before and are still waiting for it to come every night. Lisa (Andrews) is instructed by her husband DeWitt (Everett Sloane) to romance Van and try to get him off the mountain, while he goes after Judith. Lisa does as she told, but doesn't expect to fall for Van instead, and he with her. Meanwhile, a rock slide has stranded not only the real estate agents on the mountain, but a group of bank robbers who turn their money over to them for safekeeping.

The Song and Dance: I was surprised at how charming this is. It didn't have the best reputation then or now, but there's a few gems here. Andrews' youthful beauty and fresh sweetness glows even in the black-and-white copy on YouTube, and she and Crosby work fairly well together. Olsen makes the most of a thankless role as the other woman in Van's life who just wants security, and Corrigan and Conried have a few funny moments when the Dutch sailors get them stuck in a piece of mining equipment and no one will give them food.

Favorite Number: The show kicks off with Bing's salute to the simple life as he explains his feelings about the mountain to Olsen, "Living One Day at a Time." "John Barleycorn" turns up a few times, twice as a rousing drinking number for the Dutch sailors, and later in the film for Crosby as he teases Corrigan and Conried about being stuck. "Once Upon a Long Time Ago" is the big romantic number in the end, first for Andrews as she and Crosby part, then for Crosby after she leaves.

Trivia: Crosby insisted filming this, rather than broadcasting it live - he was supposedly uncomfortable with live television.

This was Julie Andrews' first film appearance.

What I Don't Like: Obviously, this is early TV. Despite it costing 300,000 dollars at the time, the sets and special effects are pretty cheap-looking and dated. That is a set, not a mountain. Bing's not doing anything terribly different from the movies he'd made since the mid-30's, and both women are frankly a little on the stiff side compared to him; Andrews would learn far more about acting doing My Fair Lady.

The Big Finale: Not really a lost gem of early TV, but worth a look once as a curiosity if you love Andrews or Crosby.

Home Media: This is a true rarity, never on DVD or video. As of this entry, it's only found at YouTube.

YouTube