Starring Frank Sinatra, Eva Marie Saint, Paul Newman, and Paul Hartman
Directed by Delbert Mann
Music by Jimmy Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
We celebrate our second week of All-American Weekdays with two very different TV musicals set in the early 1900's. Thornton Wilder's Our Town originally debuted on Broadway in 1938, where it was an instant success with its unique depiction of fifteen years in a typical New Hampshire town during the early 1900's. It even won the Pulitzer for drama that year. That very simplicity made it an odd choice for musical treatment, but NBC dusted it off anyway for its Producers' Showcase and front-loaded it with some of the biggest stars of the time, including Sinatra. How does this powerful exploration of life, love, and memory look as a musical? Let's begin with Sinatra, our Stage Manager, as he introduces us to the people of Grover's Corners and tells us their eventual fate and find out...
The Story: We follow neighbors Emily Webb (Saint) and George Gibbs (Newman) from their impatient teen years through their marriage, and her eventual death on the birth of their second child. She's reluctant to leave her life behind, until she's able to see her 12th birthday and realizes what she missed then and how beautiful life and love are. Meanwhile, the Stage Manager introduces the rest of the town, letting us know these people and see their charming, full everyday lives.
The Song and Dance: This may be far from the first play I'd think of adapting for a musical, but darned if they don't pull it off. The cast alone makes it worth seeing. Saint is utterly luminous as the young woman who goes from young girl yearning for love to hopeful bride to woman who discovers in death just how precious life is. Sylvia Field is charmingly bossy as George's mother, and Shelly Fabares is adorable as his younger sister. The score is also excellent, and even tossed off a standard, "Love and Marriage." Period-accurate costumes work well with the minimal sets.
The Numbers: Sinatra opens with "Our Town," and introduces us to the residents of "Grover's Corners." He first performs "The Impatient Years" while Emily and George court and tease each other behind him. They perform it later, as they recall the events leading up to their wedding. Sinatra introduces the standard "Love and Marriage" during the start of the second act, as silhouettes of Emily and George's playful courtship are seen behind him. The cast says "Wasn't It a Wonderful Wedding?" as George and Emily delight in being married. Sinatra initially sings "Look To Your Heart," but Emily picks it up in the finale as she realizes just how the little things in life mean so much.
Trivia: "Love and Marriage" would be the biggest hit written for a TV musical. It's now likely best-known for being used as the theme for the late 80's-90's sitcom Married With Children.
Originally filmed in color, the surviving kinetoscope is in black and white.
What I Don't Like: Newman is overage for his role and under-rehearsed...but to give him some credit, he was apparently a last-minute replacement for James Dean. More worrying is Sinatra is pretty much the only singer in the cast. Saint can carry a tune well enough to at least somewhat manage "Listen to Your Heart," but Newman definitely can't. Sinatra may sing "Love and Marriage" with aplomb, but his Hoboken street-wise persona does seem a tad out of place in early 1900's New Hampshire.
The Big Finale: Even the terrible copy currently on YouTube is worth seeing if you love the cast, 50's musicals, or want to see where "Love and Marriage" came from.
Home Media: And that blurry, washed-out black and white copy is currently the only way to see this one.
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