Family Fun Saturday - Once Upon a Mattress (1972)

CBS, 1972

Starring Carol Burnett, Ken Berry, Jane White, and Wally Cox

Directed by Ron Field and Dave Powers

Music by Mary Rodgers; Lyrics by Marshall Barer

The 2005 Disney rendition of this show was far from the first time it was adapted for the small screen. The star of the original Broadway hit Carol Burnett appeared in two versions in 1964 and 1972. Along with White and Jack Gilford, who also appeared with her in the original Broadway cast, we have TV sitcom vets Cox and Ken Berry and then-hot stage ingenue Bernadette Peters in a wacky retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen story The Princess and the Pea. How nutty does this one get? Let's begin with Carol as she tells her daughter the fairy tale as a bedtime story and find out...

The Story: Prince Dauntless the Drab (Berry) wants to find a bride, but his controlling mother Queen Aggravain (White) gives every prospective princess a series of impossible tests that scares them off. No one in the kingdom can marry until Dauntless does. This is a problem for Lady Larkin (Bernadette Peters) and her knight suitor Sir Harry (Ron Husmann). They've had a...little indiscretion...and she's now expecting. King Sextimus (Gilford) can't do anything either, as he's under a curse that won't allow him to speak until "the mouse devours the hawk." 

Harry goes in search of a bride who can pass the tests and comes up with Princess Winifred (Burnett), who swims the moat to get in the castle. Call her "Fred." Fred is loud, brash, and has more energy than everyone else in the castle put together. Aggravain immediately hates her, but Dauntless wants to marry her. The queen devises a test that would have Fred feel a single pea under twenty mattresses. Larkin, Harry, and the Jester (Cox) lend a hand to make sure Fred will feel that darn pea no matter what!

The Song and Dance: No wonder Burnett loved this so much, she played Fred twice. She's got energy to spare and has some great routines, including her attempts to sleep on that towering bed. Berry is an adorably awkward Dauntless, Cox gets some of the best lines as the deadpan Jester who sees all and knows all, and Peters is hilarious as the sweet noblewoman with a big problem and a clueless boyfriend. The bright sets give the show the look of a pop-up storybook, and the colorful Bob Mackie costumes mix every color in the rainbow with total abandon.

Favorite Number: We open with Burnett singing "Many Moons Ago" as she tells the idealized picture book version of the story to her daughter. "An Opening for a Princess" gives us the actual version as Cox explains what's going on and we see the tests and learn Harry and Larkin's situation. Harry and Larkin admit that they'll be having an addition to the family "In a Little While." Princess Winifred tells everyone about "The Swamps of Home" when she arrives. She can out-dance the entire court, including the Queen and Prince, in "The Polish Panic." 

The Queen's ladies-in-waiting chant that the Queen wants "Quiet," when she's hardly quiet herself. While studying for her Princess Test, Fred laments that her "Happily Ever After" is a lot harder than for most fairy-tale heroines. Dauntless and his father have a "Man to Man Talk," or mime, about what Dauntless should expect on his wedding night. Harry and Larkin reprise "In a Little While" when they intend to run away. We end with the cast singing "An Opening for a Princess" as Dauntless carries the very worn-out Fred to their bed.

Trivia: The stage version started off-Broadway in May 1959, but moved uptown later that year. It played for over a year, until Burnett left the show. The 1960 London production with Jane Connell expired after three weeks. A Broadway revival in 2005 with Sarah Jessica Parker barely ran five months. Last month's Encores concert with Sutton Foster as Fred and Cheyenne Jackson as Dauntless seems to have been better received.

What I Don't Like: Once again, a lot was revised and eliminated from the Broadway version. Most of the Minstrel's exposition role went to Cox and to Lyle Waggoner as a nobleman the Queen is trying to seduce. Among the songs lost were the cute but extraneous "Very Soft Shoes," "Normandy" for Larkin, the Queen's "Sensitivity," and two more duets for Larkin and Harry, "Song of Love" and "Yesterday I Loved You." Oh, and if you don't like Burnett or her broad style of comedy, forget it. Also, I kind of wish we could have returned to the bedtime story prologue in the finale, if only to hear the kid's reaction to Burnett claiming that was the real story. 

The Big Finale: If you love Burnett, her show, or the wacky sitcoms of the late 60's and early 70's, you'll probably get a very big kick out of this satirical take on fairy tales. 

Home Media: This can currently be found as an extra on the DVD Carol + 2: The Original Queens of Comedy, a 1966 Burnett special that also includes Lucille Ball and Zero Mostel. It's also on YouTube (along with the long-lost 1964 version). 

DVD - Carol + 2: The Original Queens of Comedy

YouTube

Family Fun Saturday - Annie (1982)

Columbia/Rastar, 1982

Starring Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, and Ann Reniking

Directed by John Huston

Music by Charles Strouse; Lyrics by Martin Charnin

I'm pre-empting my original plans for tonight in honor of British actor Albert Finney, who passed away yesterday. I reviewed one of his two musical films, Scrooge, in December. He was already known as a character actor on stage and in movies like Murder On the Orient Express when he appeared as billionaire Oliver Warbucks in this version of the beloved Broadway show. Is this huge movie worth "Daddy" Warbucks' billions, or should it be dropped on a bridge? Let's head to an orphanage in New York in 1933 to find out...

The Story: Annie (Quinn) is a spunky orphan in 1933 Manhattan who continually runs away to look for her parents. Thanks to the half of a locket she wears, she's convinced they're out there somewhere, but she's always found and brought back to perpetually drunk Miss Hannigan (Burnett). She returns from one such excursion with a raggedy mutt, Sandy, in tow, but Hannigan doesn't really cotton to either of them. She's even less happy when Grace Farrell (Reniking), the secretary of billionaire  Oliver Warbucks (Finney), takes Annie and Sandy to his huge mansion on the other end of Manhattan for a week as a publicity stunt. 

Warbucks doesn't take to her at first, but she soon wins him over with her blunt and sensible nature. The week isn't even out before Warbucks and Grace want to adopt her...but Annie's still holding out for her real parents. He offers a reward for anyone who knows about her locket and the wherabouts of her parents. Feeling bitter over Annie getting out of the gutter and not her, Miss Hannigan readily agrees to the scheme suggested by her brother Rooster (Tim Curry) and his girlfriend Lily (Bernadette Peters). The latter two will dress as Annie's parents, bring Warbucks the locket, and collect the money...but they underestimate how much Annie means to both Warbucks and to her friends at the orphanage.

The Song and Dance: I have never understood why critics continue to be hard on this movie. I suspect it gets too many comparisons to the original Broadway show. This was one of my favorite movies when I was very young - my mother says it's one of the first live-action movies I ever saw in a theater - and it remains a lot of fun. Burnett, Peters, and Curry dig into their roles as the comic-book villains with relish, while Finney gets to show off his comedic range as the devoted bachelor and businessman who finally softens with Annie. The little girls are hilarious, and Reniking demonstrates  the dancing skills that's made her a favorite on Broadway since the 70's. There's some gorgeous sets and cinematography, too, especially at Warbucks' expansive mansion and in the big action finale. 

Some aspects of the comics that were cut from the stage show were restored here. Punjab (Geoffrey Holder) and, more briefly, The Asp (Roger Minami), Warbucks' bodyguards, both turn up, and Punjab has a major role in the finale. President Franklin Roosevelt (Edward Hermann) and Warbucks argue over their differing politics in a way that I wish a lot of politicians (or people in general) would keep in mind nowadays. And it doesn't bother me that the movie is set in the summer, rather than at Christmas, like the show. 

Favorite Number: Even as a kid, my favorite song from this movie was "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile," which is first performed on the radio show where Mr. Warbucks makes his announcement about Annie's parents and the reward, then by the orphans who just listened to it. The girls have a ball with their kickline and singing into their shoes. Reniking leads one of the big ensemble numbers and one of the numbers added for the movie, "We've Got Annie"; she and Annie have a girl-to-girl moment with "Let's Go to the Movies" before the glamorous chorus at Radio City Music Hall takes over. Burnett dodges "Little Girls" and drinks herself into a stupor in one of the show's best songs, while she, Curry, and Peters have a blast sliding down banisters with their version of "Easy Street." Miss Hannigan tries to seduce Finney, to no avail, when he comes to adopt Annie in another song written directly for the film, "Sign!"

Probably the two most iconic numbers from this show and the film are Annie's hopeful ballad "Tomorrow," which she performs at the White House with FDR, Eleanor, and Warbucks, and the girls' first chorus number "It's a Hard Knock Life." The latter, with its swirling sheets and bittersweet lyrics, sets the stage for the movies - the girls have a rough life, but Annie's gonna get out, no matter what.

Trivia: "Easy Street" was originally supposed to be a much bigger chorus number, but apparently, it came off as too sour and too big and had to be reshot several months after most of the filming had already wrapped.

The exterior of Mr. Warbucks' mansion was filmed at Wilson Hall in Monmouth College in northern New Jersey; the bridge sequence was filmed at the real (defunct) NX Train Bridge in Newark.

This has been remade twice, as a Disney TV movie from 1999 (which I have seen), and an updated story set in the modern day from 2014 (haven't caught this one yet). 

What I Don't Like: As with The Wiz, this movie has director problems. John Huston was mainly known for his action and drama films. That may be why there's some unnecessary action sequences towards the end, including the orphans breaking out of the closet Miss Hanngian locked them in and Punjab rescuing Annie from the bridge in the finale. The latter in particular mainly exists to pad out the film and give it a slightly edgier PG rating. The movie moves at a glacier pace; some younger kids may get fidgety after a while. While the fidelity to the comic book is nice, Punjab and The Asp are both a bit on the stereotypical side today, and the Asp has one line and is barely seen afterwards. 

Miss Hannigan changes her mind about killing Annie way too quickly! One minute, she's agreeing to the whole "Easy Street" deal; the next, she's trying to keep Rooster from chasing Annie up the bridge. She probably should have gone to jail too (as she did in the original play), even if she did repent. 

The Big Finale: While it can be corny and a bit cutesy, this remains one of my favorite movies...and I'm not the only one. This was a fair-sized hit in 1982, and a lot of women my age have told me they have equally fond memories of it. Some wonderful performances and really fun numbers overcome a few dated stereotypes and slow pacing. If you grew up when I did and saw this movie a lot on video or cable, or you have little girls of your own who may enjoy the music and rags-to-riches story, this is highly recommended.

Home Media: I have the later widescreen DVD; if you're not a fan of widescreen, there's an earlier DVD that included the fullscreen version as well. It's pretty easy to find on Blu-Ray and most streaming platforms, too.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Family Fun Saturday - Once Upon a Mattress

Disney, 2005
Starring Tracy Ullman, Carol Burnett, Zooey Deschanel, and Denis O'Hare
Directed by Kathleen Marshall
Music by Mary Rogers; Lyrics by Marshall Barer

From 1997 to 2005, ABC revived The Wonderful World of Disney anthology series. While it mainly showed miniseries and theatrical films, original TV musicals also popped up from time to time. This is the last of five musicals filmed just for the series, and the third adaptation of this show (all featuring Burnett) to turn up on television. Is this comic version of The Princess and the Pea worth swimming the moat for, or should it be cursed into silence? Let's go to the castle and find out...

The Story: Queen Aggrivain (Burnett) has created a rule that no one in the kingdom may marry until her son Dauntless the Drab (O'Hare) does. The problem is, Aggrivain has no desire to share her kingdom with anyone, let alone her son's bride. In an attempt to keep him under her thumb, she devises a series of impossible tests for every princess who tries to court him. None have been able to pass, and everyone is in despair. Sir Harry (Matthew Morrison) and Lady Larkin (Deschanel) are especially frustrated. It seems they had an...indiscretion...and Lady Larkin now has a little one on the way.

What he finds is Princess Winifred of the Swamplands (Ullman). Call her "Fred." She's brash, noisy, and could probably wrestle an alligator if she felt like it. She was so desperate to find the castle, she swam the moat to get there. Dauntless adores her the moment he sees her, to his mother's horror. The Queen devises a test involving 20 mattresses and a tiny pea to see if she's a true princess. The rest of the kingdom, however, just wants to love the way they choose and go about foiling the queen and bringing both sets of lovers together.

The Song and Dance: Ullman makes a great Winifred; she's having a blast as the definitely not "Shy" princess who proves that you don't have to be dainty to be royalty or worthy of a prince. Tom Smothers is a lot of fun as King Sextimas, who was cursed to be silent until "the mouse devours the hawk." He has a few great scenes of pantomime, especially his "Man to Man Talk" with O'Hare. Burnett brings the house down with her hilarious Queen Aggrivain, especially when she's plotting during the second half. I also like the side plot with Larkin and Harry; it gives this show a slightly risque edge that most fairy-tale adaptations of this type lack.

Favorite Number: Ullman's best moment is "Happily Ever After," where she vents her frustration that she doesn't have help from magical characters like most fairy tale princesses. Her introductory number with the chorus, "Shy," and the dance number "The Spanish Panic" are also a riot. The aforementioned "Man to Man Talk" is also funny. The Queen has a great moment towards the end with "Quiet."

Trivia: As I mentioned, this is the third go-around for this musical on television. Carol Burnett starred as Winifred in the two previous broadcasts in 1964 and 1972, as well as in the original Broadway cast in 1959.

What I Don't Like: I kind of wish more songs from the original Broadway show had made it in, including the cute-but-expendable "Very Soft Shoes." Also, while their side plot is interesting, Deschanal and especially Morrison are a tad on the stiff side as the ingenues with an unusual problem for a fairy tale musical.

The Big Finale: If you love Burnett, Ullman, or fairy tale spoofs, this is absolutely worth looking around for.

Home Media: While I believe the DVD is out of print, it's neither expensive nor that hard to find, and it's on Amazon Prime.

DVD
Amazon Prime