Romance On the High Seas

Warner Bros, 1948

Starring Janis Paige, Don DeFore, Doris Day, and Jack Carson

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Music by Jules Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn

This week, we go on vacation with Doris Day in her first movie, and one of her lesser-known ones. Day started off as a singer with several big bands during the mid-40's. She was called in by Curtiz to replace a pregnant Betty Hutton. Curtiz was so impressed with her emotional performance of "Embraceable You," he gave her a contract on the spot. Janis Paige was another last-minute addition and was technically the star, but it was Day who got the spotlight and the great songs. How well does she do with her first film, a complicated romantic comedy involving misunderstanding and fear of infidelity? Let's begin with the wedding of Elvira (Paige) and Michael (DeFore) Kent, which they spend suspecting each other of looking more at the wedding party than them, and find out...

The Story: Three years later, Elvira is setting up a cruise to Rio de Janeiro for their third anniversary. Michael canceled vacations for their previous anniversaries, supposedly to handle various deals. Elvira believes he's really having affairs at his office. She gives her tickets to singer Georgia Garrett (Day), who hangs around the travel agency dreaming of the vacations she can't afford, as long as she goes under her name. 

Georgia is delighted to do so at first, but then she falls for charming Peter Virgil (Carson). He's a private detective Michael hired to make sure Elvira wasn't having her own affairs on vacation. Not only does he really think Georgia is Elvira and he's having an affair with his client's wife, but Georgia's would-be boyfriend Oscar Farrar (Oscar Levant) turns up on-board looking for her. When Georgia gets a singing job onboard in Elvira's name, that finally brings Elvira and Michael to Rio to see this for themselves, too.

The Song and Dance: You can easily see why Day made such a big impression with both Curtiz and audiences. You'd never guess this was her first movie. She's just as ease in front of the camera as she is with a ballad and an uptempo dance number. Carson and Levant both play off her well as the private eye and nightclub owner who get caught up in the deception in spite of themselves. The gorgeous ballad "It's Magic" was a massive hit and remains associated with Day. Gorgeous production, too, including some really lovely gowns and hats for the ladies and attractive Technicolor cinematography in a romantically recreated Rio.

The Numbers: The Samba Kings get the title song over the credits. "It's You or No One" is Georgia's first number in the club. She sings the more uptempo ballad "I'm In Love" with the musicians on the ship. Avon Long sings about "The Tourist Trade" after the ship docks in Brazil. Georgia first sings  the standard "It's Magic" with Peter, and later reprises it on her own. Oscar shows off his piano skills with "Brazilian Rhapsody." Peter admonishes the Samba Kings to "Run, Run, Run" from women. Georgia's opinion on men is "Put 'Em In a Box, Tie 'Em With a Ribbon, an' Throw 'Em In the Deep Blue Sea," the other hit from this film. Georgia sings about how "She's a Latin from Manhattan" in the club near the end.

What I Don't Like: Paige and DeFore are the big problem here. Not only do they actually have less to play than the supporting cast, but their distrustful and obnoxious characters are so unlikable, you wonder how they ever got married in the first place. DeFore in particular comes off as more of an idiot than anything. In fact, the story can get both too silly and too convoluted at turns. By the end, you stop wondering what's going to happen and wish Georgia and Peter would give that spoiled, silly couple a good shaking.

The Big Finale: Even with the annoying story, there's enough good music here for Doris Day's first movie to be recommended to her fans and fans of smaller-scale 40's musicals.

Home Media: Easily found on all major formats. The Blu-Ray is from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

Disney, 2008

Voices of Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Jim Cummings, and Sally Field

Directed by Peggy Holmes

Music and Lyrics by various

By 2008, Disney's series of direct-to-home-media "sequels" had entertained children for fourteen years..but they made a lot of other people less than happy. Most critics complained that the stories were rehashes, the animation was way under Disney's standards, and they were cheapening the brand. Indeed, this would be the last of those films made, and the last direct-to-home-media animated film that wasn't a Disney Fairies movie. The second Little Mermaid  had done well enough to warrant this "prequel." Is it an improvement on Return to the Sea, or should it be silenced? Let's begin with a younger King Neptune (Cummings), his wife Athena (Lorelei Hill Butters), and their daughters and the merfolk of Atlantica and find out...

The Story: After Athena is killed when a pirate ship crashes into the lagoon, Neptune banishes all music from Atlantica. Ten years later, his daughters live by a strict routine, kept up by the governess Marina Del Rey (Field). Marina really wants to take over the job of attache from Sebastian the Crab (Wright), Neptune's right-hand crustacean. Ariel is frustrated and bored with her father's rules and ends up following sweet little Flounder (Parker Goris) to an underground club, where Sebastian and fish and crustaceans have a band.

Delighted, Ariel brings her sisters to the club to let them enjoy music for the first time in their lives. Unfortunately, Marina catches them and spills the beans to Neptune. He destroys the club, arrests Sebastian and the band, and locks the sisters in the castle. Ariel runs away and frees the band, but she decides to go back after she finds a music box that belonged to her mother. She hopes to remind her father how much fun and happiness music brings, but Marina isn't about to give up her position with the king now and sends electric eels to kill Ariel and her friends.

The Animation: While this is a major step-up from Return to the Sea, it's still not at the level of the original Little Mermaid or what they were doing for the big screen in 2008. The colors are vibrant, the characters have fairly mobile expressions - even on the fish and crustaceans - and the backgrounds are far more detailed than in most of the direct-to-home-media movies.  

The Song and Dance: This actually wound up being rather sweet. At least it isn't a full-on rehash of Little Mermaid this time. My favorite character was by far Benjamin (Jeff Bennett), the gentle and lovable manatee who worked with Marina. He was drawn more like a character from Studio Ghilbi, with his big, soft body and tiny eyes, and was such a gentle dear, he almost seemed to come from another movie entirely. I also like that we finally get to know Ariel's sisters somewhat, or at least that they're a bit less interchangeable than they are in the other two films. Sebastian and especially Flounder have some great moments, notably when he's helping Ariel find the music box and Flounder saves everyone from the eels. 

The Numbers: We open with "Athena's Song (Endless Sky)" as Athena sings and plays with her husband and daughters in the lagoon. "Just One Mistake" is Marina's song. She initially sings it in the hope that Sebastian will drop his guard, and she'll be able to take over. Later, she reprises it after he's arrested and she's hired, to her delight. The standard "Jump In the Line" is the bouncy number for Sebastian and the band at the club. It's reprised by Ariel and the band after they flee the castle. Ariel performs the gentle ballad "I Remember" when she finds the music box and tries to recall all the things she did with her mother as a child. We also hear another Calypso standard, "Man Smart, Woman Smarter." 

What I Don't Like: Though better than Return to the Sea, this still isn't all that great. Not only does the story not align with what we see in The Little Mermaid, it doesn't make much sense. Neptune bans music just because his wife was killed by a pirate ship? His banning his daughters from the surface would make more sense. Field's Marina is more annoying than a real threat; Benjamin being a total sweetheart, too much to be hanging around with her, doesn't help there. The music is once again bland, including two Calypso interpolations that could have been done with original music.

The Big Finale: Mainly worth checking out for major fans of this franchise and little girls who can't get enough Little Mermaid and can handle some of the scarier or sadder moments, especially early-on. 

Home Media: Easily found anywhere, including on individual DVD, packaged with Return to the Sea, and on Disney Plus with a subscription.

DVD

DVD - Little Mermaid II and Ariel's Beginning 2-Movie Collection

Blu-Ray - Little Mermaid II and Ariel's Beginning 2-Movie Collection

Disney Plus

Cult Flops - Earth Girls are Easy

Vestron Pictures, 1988

Starring Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, and Julie Brown

Directed by Julien Temple

Music and Lyrics by various

If you thought an animated musical about mutated street animals saving a post-apocalyptic world was weird, get a load of this one. This adaption of the hit Julie Brown song apparently had its genesis in 1986, but Warner Bros lost interest when Temple's previous project bombed and they couldn't interest any major stars in the film. It ultimately ended up with the De Laurentis Group and Vestron...but Temple's eye for detail drove up costs and flared up tempers. The fact that it was filmed while the De Laurentis Group was facing bankruptcy likely didn't help matters. By the time it limped into general release in 1989, it was an enormous flop, not even making its relatively small budget back. Does it deserve that fate, or should these aliens get a second chance to show their stuff? Let's begin with three hairy, horny aliens in a spaceship on their way to Earth and find out...

The Story: Valerie Gail (Davis) is having a really bad week. First of all, she let her girlfriend Candy (Brown) give her a complete makeover to put her fiancee Dr. Ted Gallagher (Charlie Rocket) in a more amorous frame of mind. He ends up bringing home a buxom nurse (Stacey Travis) instead, and Val kicks him out. Not long after that, a strange yellow alien ship crash lands in her swimming pool. She nearly drowns investigating it. The aliens turn out to be friendly and help her inside, but she has no idea what to do with them or how to keep Ted from finding them while her surfer friend Woody (Michael McKean) drains her pool

She ends up taking them to Candy for makeovers...revealing three hot, if goofy, guys under all that hair. Mac (Goldblum), the group's leader, ends up falling for Valerie during a trip to a nightclub. Ted, however, does not like Valerie hanging out with three weirdos and calls off their engagement. The aliens also know very little about human culture besides what they've gleaned off TV. When Zeebo (Damon Waynas) and Wiploc (Carrey) land in the hospital, Mac and Valerie go after him before Ted can figure out they're aliens. Valerie still thinks Ted might be the one, but when the spaceship is finally repaired, she begins to wonder if an out-of-this-world love might be better for her than an earthbound doctor who doesn't appreciate her.

The Song and Dance: This is one of the most original live-action musicals in an era where comedies about teen witches, alien stepmothers, and vampire besties abounded. Carrey and Waynas get to show early signs of the wacky, rubbery comic geniuses that would make them household names in the next decade, while Goldblum is charming as the sweetest and least-goofy of the three aliens. Davis is a riot as Valerie, desperately trying to bed Ted while figuring out what to do with these guys, and Michael McKean has a lot of fun as surf bum Woody who has probably had one too many falls off his board. The filming in real-life LA adds considerably to the film's weird charm.

The Numbers:  We open with the title song in the alien's ship and over a unique animated credits sequence depicting sci-fi tropes. Our first chorus number is at the salon where Candy and Valerie work, the Curl Up and Dye, as Candy and the hairdressers claim they're going to turn Val into a "Brand New Girl." Val and Candy take the shaved aliens for a night on the town, where they and the chorus "Hit Me." Mac impresses Val with a charming instrumental number at the piano. "Baby Gonna Shake" lets Zeebo show off his moves against another dancer in a cage. Candy reveals why she's so glad to have gone platinum at the beach in another signature Julie Brown number, the chorus routine "'Cause I'm a Blonde." Woody, Zeebo, and Wiploc "Shake That Cosmic Thing" during a huge car chase downtown. The aliens navigate being turned around on the highway to Depuche Mode's version of "Route 66." The movie ends with Hall & Oates' version of "Love Train" over the credits.

What I Don't Like: Did I mention how weird this is? Weird and very, very 80's. It plays on a lot of stereotypes of the time, including valley girls and their obsession with landing wealthy beaus. Nowadays, Val probably would have kicked Ted's rear to the curb permanently the first time she found him cheating. Brown's Candy can get annoying fast, especially in that "Blonde" number. (Incidentally, if the "Blonde" number seems a bit extraneous, it was added at the last minute to give the film a second hit Brown tune.)

The Big Finale: If you love the cast or other truly unique science fiction or fantasy comedies from this era, you'll want to ride the wave over to California to meet three of the most rockin' aliens to ever crash into a manicurist's swimming pool.

Home Media: Easily found on all formats, often for under $10. Tubi currently has it for free with commercials.

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Blu-Ray

Tubi

Animation Celebration for Adults - Rock & Rule

MGM/Nelvana, 1983

Voices of Don Francks, Paul Le Mat, Susan Roman, and Greg Duffel

Directed by Clive A. Smith

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we dive into the weirder side of the 80's with two cult flops from the decade of decadence that deserve to be better-known. Although most people still saw animation as merely children's fodder, there were attempts in the 70's and early 80's to move it beyond princesses and talking mice. We saw one such example with Ralph Bakshi's historical epic American Pop back in 2022. This one didn't start as an adult action fantasy. Canadian animation studio Nelvana originally intended their first animated film, about a post-apocalyptic world evolved from street animals like dogs, cats, and rats. Somewhere along the line, it turned into a hard-rock fantasy for grown-ups that filmed without a script. How does this singularly peculiar animated rock-and-roll epic look nowadays? Let's begin with a narrator (Chris Wiggins) explaining our story and find out...

The Story: Mok Swagger (Francks) is a legendary rock musician who is seeking "one special voice" that will unlock a powerful demon from another dimension. He and his goons return to the village of Ohmtown to see one last band. Turns out the female member, Angel (Roman), has just the voice he needs for his machine. Mok and his henchmen Sleazy (Brent Titcomb), Toad (Wiggins), and Zip (Duffel) lure Angel and the male band members Omar (Le Mat), Stretch (Duffell), and Dizzy (Dan Hennessey) to his mansion. He kidnaps Angel and traps the other three in an energy ball to force her to sing.

After Omar and the other two are thrown out of Mok's mansion, they steal a police car and follow Mok to Nuke York. The cops catch up with them, and they end up in jail. Dizzy's Aunt Edith (Catherine O'Hara) bails them out. Angel escapes with Cinderella (Catherine Gallant), the eager sister of Mok's goons, but Mok gets his claws on her again. He also makes Omar think she doesn't want to be with him anymore and brainwashes him, Dizzy, and Stretch. They finally come out of when Mok moves his concert to Ohmtown due to the huge need for power. Now, it's a race against time as Omar and his friends try to save Angel from the hideous demon, and discover that it takes more than once voice to take down real evil.

The Animation: While still not at Disney's absolute best, this is light-years beyond anything Nelvana was doing on TV at this point. The designs are appropriately hideous and wildly unique at turns, like an urban 80's fever dream crossed with a faded Art Deco print. The special effects, with all its glitter, light beams, and very early CGI, screams "early 80's." The characters move well enough, but even the "good guys" like Omar can sometimes be a little too grotesque - and there's Mok Swagger and his collection of hairpieces and wildly dramatic expressions, too.

The Song and Dance: Well, you can't say this one isn't original. Canada's first dive into English-language feature-length animation is a really weird blend of the unique butting up against the mythic. Mok Swagger alone is something else, with his bony body and ever-changing headgear. Francks gives him just the right tone of oozing menace. Duffel does especially well with Zip, the sweetest of Mok's goons who questions what they're doing, and Gallant is hilarious as party-hearty Angel. 

The Numbers: We open with Omar and his band's noisy hard rock number "Born to Raise Hell." After they're cut off, Angel manages to sneak in her "Send Love Through" which is enough to impress Mok. Toad catches Angel and Omar making love in their car to "Angel's Song." "Hot Dogs & Sushi" introduces us to Mok's enormous and rather ugly mansion. The flickering beams in Lou Reed's "Triumph" is what hypnotizes Omar and the guys. "I'm the Man" takes Omar and the guys to Nuke York in their stolen cop car.

Cindy and Angel get into the nightclub and on the dance floor with "Dance, Dance, Dance." Mok gives us his big scheme at the first concert, complete with female dancers echoing his name, in "My Name Is Mok." "Ohm Sweet Ohm" is Omar's too-sugary song under hypnosis. Angel is forced to perform the "Invocation Song" while drugged at the second concert. "Pain and Suffering" gets scary - and kind of of gross - with freaky imagery and nasty lyrics. It takes Omar and Angel together to reprise her "Send Love Through" and send that freaky demon back where he came from.

Trivia: MGM had little faith in the film, giving it almost no promotion in the US, recutting it, and replacing Omar's original voice Greg Salata with the better-known Paul Le Mat. Needless to say, it was a monumental failure that remained hard to find for years.

What I Don't Like: Hooo boy, calling this one "weird" doesn't begin to do it justice. Some of the creepy, unsettling, or flat-out gross imagery, especially during the demon's arrival, almost pushes this into horror turf. This is most definitely not kiddie animation. There's sex, exposed rears, fairly strong violence, some suggestive humor. Frankly, neither Angel nor especially Omar are all that interesting. Omar in particular is such a jerk, you don't mind seeing him hypnotized all that much. He certainly can't match Mok's theatrical flair. The story is all over the place and occasionally dips into end-of-the-world cliches. No wonder audiences (and MGM) in 1983 had a hard time figuring out what was going on. 

The Big Finale: This dark dive into a wildly strange future isn't for everyone, but fans of Deborah Harry (who is Angel's singing voice) or those wanting to see some really unique adult animation might be willing to give this early 80's fever dream a shot.

Home Media: The US DVD is wildly out of print (though the Canadian copy is available). The best way to see this one in the US is on YouTube.

YouTube

Animation Celebration Saturday - My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks

Hasbro Studios, 2014

Voices of Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, and Tabitha St. Germain

Directed by Jayson Thiessen and Ishi Rudell

Music by Daniel Ingram; Lyrics by Daniel Ingram and Megan McCarthy

Let's head to Canterlot High for this unique spin-off of the wildly popular My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. This is actually the second movie in this series, but it's the most musical. In this alternate universe, the Friendship Is Magic characters are played as Technicolor teenagers with more realistic problems whose encounters with Equestrian magic leave them changed, in more ways than one. How does this stack up against the original show? Let's begin at Canterlot High, as their Music Showcase is announced, and find out...

The Story: Sunset Shimmer (Rebecca Shoichet) is frustrated because, after being a bully controlled by Equestrian magic in the first movie, no one trusts her. Her only friends are sweet Fluttershy (Libman), stylish Rarity (St. Germain), tomboy Rainbow Dash (Ball), down-home Applejack (Ball), and energetic Pinkie Pie (Libman). Sunset is hoping to impress the three newest students, a group called The Dazzlings, by showing them around school. Not only are they not impressed, but they insist on turning the musical showcase into a Battle of the Bands. The girls are suspicious, especially after Principal Celestia (Nicole Oliver) too readily agrees to the change. Sunset Shimmer uses a magical book to write to Twilight Sparkle (Strong) for help.

Twilight does arrive, only to find that their usual magic doesn't work with the Dazzlings. She suggests writing a counter-spell into their music and joining the Battle of the Bands. Unfortunately, Twilight is neither a singer, nor a writer, and feels like a failure when she can't think of a good counter-spell. Fluttershy can't get her music heard. Rarity is upset when Applejack belittles her costumes. Rainbow Dash wants to hog the spotlight for herself, and Pinkie's worried that none of this is much fun anymore. Despite them fumbling through semi-finals, they do manage to get to he finals of the Battle of the Bands. Not only do the Dazzlings turn out to be taking their negative energy, but magician Trixie (Kathleen Barr) wants them out of the competition. It'll take help from the school's resident DJ to finally prove that the power of friendship is greater than any negative sirens.

The Animation: Pretty much the same as Friendship Is Magic, with more human-like characters. We get an equal wealth of expression. The backgrounds probably could be more detailed, but that might go along with it being Flash animation.

The Song and Dance: Unique take on Friendship Is Magic for slightly older girls. Sunset Shimmer's story as she tries to be accepted after being the villain in the previous film is the stand-out. You really do feel for her. She only wants to be friends, but people keep seeing her for what she did under the spell of Equestria magic. Ball does equally well with blunt Applejack and take-charge Rainbow Dash, while Libman is especially good as gentle Fluttershy. Kazumi Evans makes a wonderfully hissable head of the Dazzlings.

The Numbers: We open over the credits with the title song "Rainbow Rocks." The Rainbooms claim they're "Better Than Ever" as we see their first rehearsal. The Dazzlings' arrival leaves the entire school "Under My Spell." They're the ones insisting on a "Battle" with the other students. Twilight's "Bad Counter Spell" is off-key vocally and emotionally. Trixie and the Illusions have "Tricks Up My Sleeve" at the Battle of the Bands finals. Rainbow's "Awesome as I Want to Be" showcases her guitar...and pushes the others to the background. Everyone is singing "Welcome to the Show" as the Battle begins, then "Let's Have a Battle of the Bands." The Rainbooms' big finale number that finally defeats the Dazzlings is "Shine Like Rainbows."

What I Don't Like: Um...if you don't know anything about the previous film in this series or Friendship Is Magic, you're going to be seriously confused here. This basically plays on the world-building in both. Also, this is a TV production. The songs are cute but nothing special, the animation even more so. We're not getting Disney-level theatrics here. 

The Big Finale: Enjoyable enough way to pass an hour on a summer's afternoon if you're already a fan of Equestria Girls or the Friendship Is Magic series. 

Home Media: Easily found in all formats, including currently free on Tubi with commercials. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

Tubi

Happy 4th of July! - Meet Me In St. Louis (1959)

CBS, 1959

Starring Jane Powell, Tab Hunter, Patty Duke, and Myrna Loy

Directed by George Schaefer

Music and Lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine and others

We'll stay in the same time period, but jump on a cross-country train from New Hampshire to Missouri to celebrate Independence Day at the St. Louis World Fair. The original Meet Me In St. Louis debuted during World War II, where it was considered a celebration of the American family and everything Americans were fighting for "over there." Over fifteen years later, it was reworked for TV as a major "spectacular" at a time when American family values were considered just as important, even if the country was no longer under threat. How well did they do with this remake of one of the great classic MGM musicals? Let's begin in front of the Smiths' home in St. Louis in 1903 as children sing the title song and find out...

The Story: The biggest news in the Smith household is oldest sister Rose's (Jeanne Crain) beau calling long-distance from New York and the building of the St. Louis World's Fair. Second-oldest sister Esther (Powell) is more interested in admiring handsome boy next door John Truitt (Hunter), who just moved next-door. He's oblivious to her advances until she finally makes her feelings clear during a trolley ride to the under-construction fairgrounds.

Halloween doesn't go nearly as well. Littlest sister Tootie (Duke) runs home crying from the dress-up bonfire because she claims John hit her. Esther dashes over to her house and pounds him, only for Tootie to admit she lied and John was actually trying to keep her and her sister Agnes (Ginger McManus) from the police. 

Esther returns home to worse news. Their father Lon (Walter Pidgeon) intends to move the family to New York after Christmas. This makes the big Christmas ball even more important. Esther is upset when John can't go, until her Grandpa (Ed Wynn) intervenes. It takes a devastated Tootie destroying her snowman family to make Mr. Smith realize that his family is fine where they are...and there's nothing in New York that they don't already have at home.

The Song and Dance: Considering how beloved the original is, this was far better than I expected it to be. Twinkly Ed Wynn and pointed Myrna Loy steals the show as a far more charming Grandpa and slightly more caustic Mrs. Anna Smith. Wynn singing and dancing the title song with a delectably macabre Duke is a sheer delight. Hunter is such a sweet and adorable "boy next door" (especially compared to bland Tom Drake in the original), you have no problems understanding why Esther is crazy about him. (The additional two songs for him help flesh out his character further as well.) The costumes and sets are mostly historically accurate, especially the gowns at that ball later. 

And I still love how realistic all of this feels, even 120 years later. I grew up in a family of mostly women where Dad was frequently out of the loop, you never had less than three people hearing your conversation with your boyfriends (even after cell phones came into regular usage), and Halloween was scary whether you were running around bonfires or just gathering candy. 

The Numbers: We open with the title song first being sung by children playing outside the porch. Esther wistfully sings about "The Boy Next Door" who doesn't notice her. Grandpa and Tootie delightfully pick up the title song from the kids outside, dancing around Tootie's "dying" dolls as Esther and Rose play it inside. "Skip to My Lou" is the big chorus number at Esther and Rose's going away party for their brother Lon (Kelly Brown). Esther sings the genuine early 1900's ballad "Over the Bannister" in an attempt to get a kiss out of John, but he ducks out of it. 

"The Trolley Song" is performed before the trolley leaves, not on it, but it's just as spirited. John is so thrilled to have finally admitted his feelings, he tells Esther what he would do "If You Were the Only Girl In the World." He wonders "When Does This Feeling Go Away?" after a picnic with Esther on the fairgrounds. Thankfully, Walter Pidgeon is a good singer and didn't need to be dubbed for the gentle ballad "You and I," which Alonzo and Anna sing at Halloween after his announcement. Loy isn't a good singer, but she manages her part well enough. 

"After the Ball" and "Auld Lang Syne" are instrumental chorus dance numbers at the Christmas ball. Esther sings a devastating "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" with a sobbing Tootie in her arms after the ball...and Powell thought the song was so upsetting, she couldn't bring herself to perform the whole thing for Duke. We end with the entire cast singing the title song as they prepare to head to the World's Fair itself.

Trivia: This was performed live, which explains some of the cast flubs, including Loy missing a line and Powell changing the lyrics to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to make them less upsetting for Duke.

It also isn't the last time Meet Me In St. Louis would be adapted for another medium. A 1966 non-musical pilot featuring Shelley Fabares as Esther didn't make it to a full series. A stage version debuted on Broadway in 1989, but only ran for seven months.

What I Don't Like: Powell herself, for starters. She's cute and sings well enough, but lacks the heart and real feelings Judy Garland brought to this role in 1944. Though they do use most of the original score, they did drop one of my favorite numbers, the adorable (but admittedly extraneous) "Under the Bamboo Tree" cakewalk with Tootie and Esther. And yes, this was live, complete with all the flubs and changes I mentioned above. 

The Big Finale: This also ended up being a surprise. While no replacement for the original, it has enough good points to make it worth a watch for fans of 40's and 50's musicals or anyone in the cast.

Home Media: Currently available on YouTube.

YouTube

Musicals On TV - Our Town (1955)

NBC, 1955

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.

YouTube