MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

[txfilmfan]

Oh, you're so hard on the poor girl. It may interest you to know that Kim Stanley played Cherie in the original Broadway production of Bus Stop, the role that was played on screen by Marilyn Monroe. Albert Salmi played the role that went to Don Murray on film; Elaine Stritch played Grace, who was played by Betty Field in the movie.


Kim Stanley in Bus Stop on Broadway

Yes, I already knew this, Swithin. And, I noticed this was mentioned a page or so back in this thread.

However and once again, with Kim Stanley being cast in the STAGE production of 'Bus Stop' as the hopeful chanteuse whose sex appeal overwhelms the hayseed cowpoke she encounters to such a degree that he decides to in essence kidnap her...well, remember here and like I said above, with there being no close-ups of actors in STAGE productions, wouldn't this explain why Kim was replaced by Marilyn for the film role?

Or in other words ya see, Marilyn HAD "sex appeal" and with every CLOSE-UP she had in that film, she PROVED it!

(...and nope and once again, sorry, Kim had little of this, and as I said in my above little "review" of 'The Goddess' up there, in every close-up in THAT film, Kim, and at least to ME anyway, proved how little she had of this)

Marilyn Monroe was cast for two reasons:

1) Films of that era almost always pulled in at least one "big name" to help ensure box office appeal
2) Her own production company MMP1 (Marilyn Monroe Productions) was a producer.

[txfilmfan]

I actually think that Carol Channing should have recreated her Broadway role of Lorelei Lee in the film of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, instead of Marilyn. Howard Hawks was one of the great directors, but GPB was not a great film.

Well, given that I've always felt your true passion when it comes to the entertainment field lies a little more with the Broadway and the West End stage and due to your longtime career associations with them, and perhaps what I've felt might be a little less so of the passion you have for film, or in other words the feeling you might more cherish and appreciate live entertainment over filmed entertainment, this Carol Channing comment doesn't surprise me all that much.

Now, while I've always thought Channing was a very entertaining and unique talent, once again I'd say in the few films I've ever seen her in, she exused more a sense of hairbrained zanniness to me than of having sex appeal enough to have men of means shower diamonds upon her.

(...and as for the film itself, I somewhat agree with you, however I would have a slightly higher opinion of Hawks' movie than you seem to have, but perhaps this might primarily be due to what is probably the film's most famous scene, Marilyn's big "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" musical number, becoming such an iconic one)

The original Broadway cast album of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949) is one of my favorite cast albums. I was disappointed that the film didn't use much of the score, and even added new songs. The original, and its songs, are redolent of the 1920s, when Anita Loos wrote the novel. And there is no better rendition of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" than Carol Channing's.

Such is the fate of many transfers from stage to screen, as you know. Very few survive with all the songs intact. Do any? Can't think of one off the top of my head. Oklahoma! comes close, but Ali Hakim's number was cut from that one. Oliver! is also one that comes close. Some are brutally butchered for no apparently good reason (I'm thinking of On The Town here)

I think Hollywood had trouble finding space for Miss Channing. That big personality works well on stage, where the distance between the footlights and the audience tempers it a bit. On the big screen (and small), it can be overpowering. Channing had a big presence in my home state when I was growing up. There's a short street named for her in front of the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City, due to her success there with Dolly, and later, Lorelei. She even performed at halftime for a football game or two, as I recall.

[Andree]

I only tuned into it during the last hour of it or so. But from what I saw of it, yes, Kim Stanley acted your freakin' heart out in it.

And in fact, I felt she "acted her freakin' heart out in it" SO damn much so that I think I started seeing her little "Method Acting" coming out of her PORES for a time, for goshsakes!!!

And now for my take on the casting in this film.

Sorry, while Kim Stanley was indeed a very good actress, even when she was all made-up to be this "movie sex symbol" that her charcter is supposed to be, I never bought into this for one minute. Nope, and because basically Kim Stanley was a very average looking woman, and in my view, with very little "sex appeal".

And in regard to the casting of Betty Lou Holland as her backwater mother...sorry, but even as much as they attempted to frump her down, I still felt she never looked a day older than Kim Stanley did in this thing. And of course, THIS might be because these two actresses were the very same age!

(...I think I now know why casting parts in movies and as compared for stage productions differently is often the right thing to do, and because there are no "close-ups" on the stage, and not just because a "bigger star" with more name recognition might sell more movie tickets...OR, to put this another way and as that old saying goes, "Movie stars BECOME movie stars because for whatever reason 'the camera loves them' ")

I thought she was pretty good. The character, especially in the later stages, was a bit over the top
herself, so Kim had to be that way too. I thought she was very attractive, especially in the earlier
part of the film, though I never thought she looked like an 18 year old. Of course her mother wanted
to be in show biz too, though she never made it. It seems that in the later part of the film we usually
see mama somewhat in the shadows, which makes it harder to tell her age. And Holland was certainly
convincing as a religious semi-fanatic. I think it's mostly the bottom line reason--going with a recognized
name that the public knows rather than taking a chance on a relative unknown, though the camera loves
them is also likely part of the reason.

[Dargo]

I am so majorly impressed by all the people who understand the word "rhotic," which I only learned a couple of years ago. I grew up in what professors of linguistics call the Inland South, where we pronounce every "r." We are "Southern," not "Suthun." This is the hardscrabble South; no plantations with winding staircases for us.

Yep, in the "Inland South" this is probably true KR, and as one rolls westward and by the time one gets to Texas (hey, did that just sound like an old Glen Campbell song there?...oh wait, that's "Phoenix", isn't it!...sorry...for this joke that is ) the 'r's tend to be very strongly pronounced.

However though, I have friends who hail from Georgia, and it seems to me that their southern accent is almost non-rhortic, and I've also seemed to notice over the years that almost along the entire stretch of the Atlantic seaboard, north and south, people tend to pronounce their 'r's very softly.

(...of course again, this was probably what you meant with your comment "This is the hardscrabble South; no plantations with winding staircases for us", wasn't it)

[Dargo]

Only the northern part of Georgia, north of Atlanta and closer to Chattanooga, is considered part of the Inland South.

Well KR, seein' as how you've now brought up the name "Chattanooga" here, lemme ask you a little somethin'. Somethin' I've always wanted to know.

Okay, now at the end of 1953's 'Southern Fried Rabbit' here, you'll notice that Yosemite Sam pronounces the name of that city as...well, see for yourself...



And so my question here is: DO you southern boys ever actually pronounce the name of that city as Yosemite Sam did in this???

LOL

[Swithin]

Such is the fate of many transfers from stage to screen, as you know. Very few survive with all the songs intact. Do any? Can't think of one off the top of my head. Oklahoma! comes close, but Ali Hakim's number was cut from that one. Oliver! is also one that comes close. Some are brutally butchered for no apparently good reason (I'm thinking of On The Town here)

I think Hollywood had trouble finding space for Miss Channing. That big personality works well on stage, where the distance between the footlights and the audience tempers it a bit. On the big screen (and small), it can be overpowering. Channing had a big presence in my home state when I was growing up. There's a short street named for her in front of the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City, due to her success there with Dolly, and later, Lorelei. She even performed at halftime for a football game or two, as I recall.

My problem with the film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is not that they didn't cast Channing, or that they dropped a few songs, but that they changed the story to a degree and added songs, by other writers, that had nothing to do with the Broadway production.

I do remember being disappointed when I saw the films of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Bye Bye Birdie, because they dropped songs that I liked, but I understand the need for that. Bye Bye Birdie even added a title song, but at least it was written by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, who wrote the songs for the show. Pal Joey is a film that dropped/added songs, the added songs being by Rodgers and Hart, the show's composers, but from other of their shows. I don't think there was a need to do that, and the film was changed in too many other ways, to its detriment. Many films are fairly true to the original, in spirit and plot, even if they drop a few songs. The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, and Li'l Abner come close.

I didn't know of Carol Channing's connection to Oklahoma, a state to which I have a connection as well.

[Hibi]

I can't stand British accents that DON'T pronounce the R! It seems fairly common. HEAH. THEHA. WTH? Pronounce your Rs!!!!

So Hibi, lets say you're really really thirsty and you'd really like to wet your whistle.

Would this stand you've taken here then cause you to refuse service from a British server after they asked, "Would you cah for a glass of whoa-tah?"

(...bet ya wouldn't, would ya!...remember, you're really really thristy here!)

LOL

LOL. I doubt that situation would ever come up, but I might ask him to pronounce his R's!!! (Sorry, what did you say???)

[Hibi]

Well, given that I've always felt your true passion when it comes to the entertainment field lies a little more with the Broadway and the West End stage and due to your longtime career associations with them, and perhaps what I've felt might be a little less so of the passion you have for film, or in other words the feeling you might more cherish and appreciate live entertainment over filmed entertainment, this Carol Channing comment doesn't surprise me all that much.

Now, while I've always thought Channing was a very entertaining and unique talent, once again I'd say in the few films I've ever seen her in, she exused more a sense of hairbrained zanniness to me than of having sex appeal enough to have men of means shower diamonds upon her.

(...and as for the film itself, I somewhat agree with you, however I would have a slightly higher opinion of Hawks' movie than you seem to have, but perhaps this might primarily be due to what is probably the film's most famous scene, Marilyn's big "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" musical number, becoming such an iconic one)

The original Broadway cast album of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949) is one of my favorite cast albums. I was disappointed that the film didn't use much of the score, and even added new songs. The original, and its songs, are redolent of the 1920s, when Anita Loos wrote the novel. And there is no better rendition of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" than Carol Channing's.

Such is the fate of many transfers from stage to screen, as you know. Very few survive with all the songs intact. Do any? Can't think of one off the top of my head. Oklahoma! comes close, but Ali Hakim's number was cut from that one. Oliver! is also one that comes close. Some are brutally butchered for no apparently good reason (I'm thinking of On The Town here)

I think Hollywood had trouble finding space for Miss Channing. That big personality works well on stage, where the distance between the footlights and the audience tempers it a bit. On the big screen (and small), it can be overpowering. Channing had a big presence in my home state when I was growing up. There's a short street named for her in front of the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City, due to her success there with Dolly, and later, Lorelei. She even performed at halftime for a football game or two, as I recall.

I think My Fair Lady did and maybe a few of the Rodgers and Hammersteins, but yes, most did not transfer with the score intact. Many dropped songs or even added new ones.

[TikiSoo]

Maryland girl who grows up to become Hollywood's famous sex symbol Rita Shawn.

ME-a sex symbol?
Hell yeah!

[Dargo]

Speaking of "water," that word is pronounced many different ways in the US. In the "Suthun" parts of the South, it may sound like "wawter" or "wawtuh" or "wahtuh." In the Inland South it may be pronounced "wadder." In Baltimore (a.k.a. "Ballmer") it's usually pronounced "wutter."

A friend and fellow tennis player of mine is originally from New Jersey, and I often kid Shep about how he'll ask the server at the restaurants our group of players have our post-match lunches and when he says, "I'll have a glass of "worder", please!"

(...oh, and yes, I've also found that the word "water" is a very handy way of pegging where people hail from originally...and as you might have noticed after I phonetically spelled it "whoa-tah" in my earlier joking query to Hibi here)

[Hibi]

So nobody is going to watch THE GODDESS "live" with me tonight? I am crushed.

Past my bedtime! Sorry!

Aww, it's okay, I still love you, lol. Listen, good refreshing restorative sleep is definitely needed more than ever in this crazy world!

I did record it to watch another time!