"Gypsy" is a musical based on the memoirs of a notorious stripper. Before you get too excited, I should point out that in 1962 the Production Code was still in force, any striptease shown in the film is very tame and watered down and anyone hoping for anything racier than the sight of Natalie Wood in a bikini will be in for a disappointment.
Indeed, for much of its length "Gypsy" is not about striptease at all and its ostensible heroine, the future Gypsy Rose Lee, is not the principal character. Contrary to what I once thought, Gypsy Rose was not an ethnic Romany. Her real name was Louise Hovick and she was originally from Seattle. The main character in the early scenes is her mother Rose, played here as the stage mother from Hell. Rose Hovick drags her two daughters around the country in an effort to turn them into vaudeville stars. (The film is set in the 1920s and 1930s, a time when vaudeville was going into decline because of the growth in popularity of the cinema). The star of the family act is not Louise, who displays little talent for show business, but her younger and more talented sister June.
At first the act, "Baby June and Her Newsboys", enjoys some success, but eventually June, by now a teenager, rebels against her domineering mother and elopes with one of her backing dancers. (One might have thought that a childhood like this would have put June off showbiz for life, but in reality June Hovick went on to become a successful screen and stage actress under the name June Havoc. Her subsequent career, however, is not mentioned in the film). Rose then turns her attentions to Louise, who seems an inadequate replacement for her sister. Louise, however, gets an unexpected break as a performer in a burlesque show- much to Rose's disgust, as she has always regarded striptease as immoral.
(I should perhaps point out that this film well exemplifies the dictum that Britain and America are two countries divided by common language. In Britain the word "burlesque", in the theatre or anywhere else, means a satire or parody. It does not have any connotations of striptease. There is no such word as "vaudeville" in British English, similar entertainments being known here as "music hall" or "variety theatre").
I am not familiar with the work of Ethel Merman- I have never seen any of her films except "Airplane!" and certainly never saw her on stage. (She died when I was in my early twenties). I am therefore unable, unlike some of the other contributors to this board, to join in the debate as to whether she or Rosalind Russell should have been cast as Rose. (Merman had created the role on stage, but Russell got the part in the film for reasons connected with cinema and theatre politics). I have to say, however, that I thought Russell was very good in the role, at least as far as her acting is concerned. Her singing is another matter. Her rather gravelly singing voice was dubbed in some songs but not in others, and the overall result is far from satisfactory.
Indeed, the acting in "Gypsy" impressed me more than did the singing or the music. Russell, whatever her shortcomings as a singer may have been, makes Rose an entertaining sacred monster, the sort of woman whose antics might be fun to watch on the screen but who in real life must have been virtually impossible for her daughters to live with. She receives good support from Karl Malden as Rose's long-suffering boyfriend Herbie and from Wood as the naive, sensitive young Louise. Wood, incidentally, was allowed to sing her own songs in Gypsy, even though her singing voice had been dubbed the previous year in West Side Story. Producers were not always consistent about such things; Audrey Hepburn, for example, did her own singing in "Funny Face" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" but not "My Fair Lady". Perhaps the makers of "Gypsy" allowed Wood to sing because audiences might not have accepted that Louise lacks talent as a singer or dancer- a key plot point- had she been voiced by someone like Marni Nixon.
As a musical, "Gypsy" is not a great one. Although Stephen Sondheim's lyrics are often effective, few of the songs really stick in the memory, except perhaps for "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Let Me Entertain You". "You Gotta Have A Gimmick" is memorable not for the music but for the antics of the three strippers who perform it. As a character-driven drama and a portrayal of showbiz life, however, it is a very good one. 7/10
Indeed, for much of its length "Gypsy" is not about striptease at all and its ostensible heroine, the future Gypsy Rose Lee, is not the principal character. Contrary to what I once thought, Gypsy Rose was not an ethnic Romany. Her real name was Louise Hovick and she was originally from Seattle. The main character in the early scenes is her mother Rose, played here as the stage mother from Hell. Rose Hovick drags her two daughters around the country in an effort to turn them into vaudeville stars. (The film is set in the 1920s and 1930s, a time when vaudeville was going into decline because of the growth in popularity of the cinema). The star of the family act is not Louise, who displays little talent for show business, but her younger and more talented sister June.
At first the act, "Baby June and Her Newsboys", enjoys some success, but eventually June, by now a teenager, rebels against her domineering mother and elopes with one of her backing dancers. (One might have thought that a childhood like this would have put June off showbiz for life, but in reality June Hovick went on to become a successful screen and stage actress under the name June Havoc. Her subsequent career, however, is not mentioned in the film). Rose then turns her attentions to Louise, who seems an inadequate replacement for her sister. Louise, however, gets an unexpected break as a performer in a burlesque show- much to Rose's disgust, as she has always regarded striptease as immoral.
(I should perhaps point out that this film well exemplifies the dictum that Britain and America are two countries divided by common language. In Britain the word "burlesque", in the theatre or anywhere else, means a satire or parody. It does not have any connotations of striptease. There is no such word as "vaudeville" in British English, similar entertainments being known here as "music hall" or "variety theatre").
I am not familiar with the work of Ethel Merman- I have never seen any of her films except "Airplane!" and certainly never saw her on stage. (She died when I was in my early twenties). I am therefore unable, unlike some of the other contributors to this board, to join in the debate as to whether she or Rosalind Russell should have been cast as Rose. (Merman had created the role on stage, but Russell got the part in the film for reasons connected with cinema and theatre politics). I have to say, however, that I thought Russell was very good in the role, at least as far as her acting is concerned. Her singing is another matter. Her rather gravelly singing voice was dubbed in some songs but not in others, and the overall result is far from satisfactory.
Indeed, the acting in "Gypsy" impressed me more than did the singing or the music. Russell, whatever her shortcomings as a singer may have been, makes Rose an entertaining sacred monster, the sort of woman whose antics might be fun to watch on the screen but who in real life must have been virtually impossible for her daughters to live with. She receives good support from Karl Malden as Rose's long-suffering boyfriend Herbie and from Wood as the naive, sensitive young Louise. Wood, incidentally, was allowed to sing her own songs in Gypsy, even though her singing voice had been dubbed the previous year in West Side Story. Producers were not always consistent about such things; Audrey Hepburn, for example, did her own singing in "Funny Face" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" but not "My Fair Lady". Perhaps the makers of "Gypsy" allowed Wood to sing because audiences might not have accepted that Louise lacks talent as a singer or dancer- a key plot point- had she been voiced by someone like Marni Nixon.
As a musical, "Gypsy" is not a great one. Although Stephen Sondheim's lyrics are often effective, few of the songs really stick in the memory, except perhaps for "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Let Me Entertain You". "You Gotta Have A Gimmick" is memorable not for the music but for the antics of the three strippers who perform it. As a character-driven drama and a portrayal of showbiz life, however, it is a very good one. 7/10