Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...
Judy Garland was wrapping production on one movie and starting production on another when she filmed a cameo for the WWII wartime musical, Thousands Cheer. Despite the fact that Garland was one of MGM's biggest stars, this cameo with José Iturbi was the first Technicolor movie she had made since The Wizard of Oz four years previous. The films between Oz and Thousands Cheer, though large in spirit, were small in budget due to Great Depression constraints. However, the onset of World War II brought about an audience boom - everyone was going to the movies to catch a newsreel and escape the fears of the war. As a result, budgets were about to skyrocket as MGM began to give Judy Garland big and colorful sets, costumes, and scenery to match her big and colorful voice.
The Movie: Thousands Cheer (1943)
The Songwriters: Roger Edens,...
Judy Garland was wrapping production on one movie and starting production on another when she filmed a cameo for the WWII wartime musical, Thousands Cheer. Despite the fact that Garland was one of MGM's biggest stars, this cameo with José Iturbi was the first Technicolor movie she had made since The Wizard of Oz four years previous. The films between Oz and Thousands Cheer, though large in spirit, were small in budget due to Great Depression constraints. However, the onset of World War II brought about an audience boom - everyone was going to the movies to catch a newsreel and escape the fears of the war. As a result, budgets were about to skyrocket as MGM began to give Judy Garland big and colorful sets, costumes, and scenery to match her big and colorful voice.
The Movie: Thousands Cheer (1943)
The Songwriters: Roger Edens,...
- 5/11/2016
- by Anne Marie
- FilmExperience
Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit musical is a savage, brilliant satire, and is making millions. So why do musicals thrive in a recession?
This week, the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon opened in London. Even before a single review had appeared, tickets were being resold at up to £350. The show has already earned millions for its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who also gifted the world with South Park. It's enough to make you ask: "Crisis? What crisis?"
There's no mystery about the show's recession-busting success, in the Us and – one feels safe in predicting – here. It's simply a work of genius, so brilliantly conceived and executed that it makes astonishingly savage and sophisticated satire into joyous, hilarious, literally all-singing, all-dancing fun and glamour.
Remarkably, despite the fact that there's barely a moment's respite from robust engagement with issues generally guaranteed to provoke hysterical controversy, The...
This week, the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon opened in London. Even before a single review had appeared, tickets were being resold at up to £350. The show has already earned millions for its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who also gifted the world with South Park. It's enough to make you ask: "Crisis? What crisis?"
There's no mystery about the show's recession-busting success, in the Us and – one feels safe in predicting – here. It's simply a work of genius, so brilliantly conceived and executed that it makes astonishingly savage and sophisticated satire into joyous, hilarious, literally all-singing, all-dancing fun and glamour.
Remarkably, despite the fact that there's barely a moment's respite from robust engagement with issues generally guaranteed to provoke hysterical controversy, The...
- 3/23/2013
- by Deborah Orr
- The Guardian - Film News
Screenwriter for Don Siegel and writer/producer of classic TV series, he named many of his colleagues as communists
In 1951, when the screenwriter Richard Collins, who has died aged 98, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (Huac), he named more than 20 colleagues and friends in the film industry as belonging to or sympathising with the Communist party. Although by so doing he saved his Hollywood career, it was an action that cast a shadow over the rest of his life, regardless of his success in film and television as a writer and producer.
According to many, it was a cowardly act, which Collins later tried to justify, as did directors Elia Kazan and Edward Dmytryk, by saying that it was his patriotic duty, and that Huac knew the names anyway. However, in an interview in Victor Navasky's book Naming Names (1980), Collins called himself "a son of a bitch, a miserable little bastard.
In 1951, when the screenwriter Richard Collins, who has died aged 98, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (Huac), he named more than 20 colleagues and friends in the film industry as belonging to or sympathising with the Communist party. Although by so doing he saved his Hollywood career, it was an action that cast a shadow over the rest of his life, regardless of his success in film and television as a writer and producer.
According to many, it was a cowardly act, which Collins later tried to justify, as did directors Elia Kazan and Edward Dmytryk, by saying that it was his patriotic duty, and that Huac knew the names anyway. However, in an interview in Victor Navasky's book Naming Names (1980), Collins called himself "a son of a bitch, a miserable little bastard.
- 2/20/2013
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
A composer of classic musicals, he wrote Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Among the perennial Christmas songs, one of the most performed and popular is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, with words and music by Hugh Martin, who has died aged 96. Since it was first sung by Judy Garland in the film Meet Me in St Louis (1944), this bittersweet yuletide ditty has been performed by hundreds of artists from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day and Bing Crosby to rock bands including Coldplay and Twisted Sister.
The song has featured in several other films, notably The Victors (1963), in which the Sinatra version is used ironically during the execution of an American soldier for treason; The Godfather (1972); When Harry Met Sally (1989); Home Alone (1990); Miracle On 34th Street (1994); and Donnie Brasco (1997). In 1989, the song received the award for most-performed feature-film standard from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Among the perennial Christmas songs, one of the most performed and popular is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, with words and music by Hugh Martin, who has died aged 96. Since it was first sung by Judy Garland in the film Meet Me in St Louis (1944), this bittersweet yuletide ditty has been performed by hundreds of artists from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day and Bing Crosby to rock bands including Coldplay and Twisted Sister.
The song has featured in several other films, notably The Victors (1963), in which the Sinatra version is used ironically during the execution of an American soldier for treason; The Godfather (1972); When Harry Met Sally (1989); Home Alone (1990); Miracle On 34th Street (1994); and Donnie Brasco (1997). In 1989, the song received the award for most-performed feature-film standard from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
- 3/15/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Singer and Hollywood star best known for her roles in MGM musicals of the 1940s and 50s
When coloratura soprano Kathryn Grayson, who has died aged 88, sang five songs, including an aria from La Traviata, in MGM's all-star patriotic parade, Thousands Cheer (1943), she began her 10-year reign as the prima donna of Hollywood. With her china-doll features, little turned-up nose and patrician manner, Grayson raised the tone of more than a dozen musicals. Although opera managers did not beat a path to her door, her clear, slightly shrill, small voice carried well on film in popular classics and operatic scenes.
Her classical training led her not to the opera house, but to the radio, in particular The Eddie Cantor Show, on which she was discovered by an MGM talent scout at the age of 18 in 1940. In the same year, she married the minor film actor John Shelton.
In her first film,...
When coloratura soprano Kathryn Grayson, who has died aged 88, sang five songs, including an aria from La Traviata, in MGM's all-star patriotic parade, Thousands Cheer (1943), she began her 10-year reign as the prima donna of Hollywood. With her china-doll features, little turned-up nose and patrician manner, Grayson raised the tone of more than a dozen musicals. Although opera managers did not beat a path to her door, her clear, slightly shrill, small voice carried well on film in popular classics and operatic scenes.
Her classical training led her not to the opera house, but to the radio, in particular The Eddie Cantor Show, on which she was discovered by an MGM talent scout at the age of 18 in 1940. In the same year, she married the minor film actor John Shelton.
In her first film,...
- 2/20/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
"Kathryn Grayson, whose beauty and lilting soprano brightened MGM musicals of the 1940s and 1950s including Anchors Aweigh, Show Boat and Kiss Me Kate, has died," reports the AP. "She was 88." The Auteurs community remembers her with a photo, filmography and clip, and the Baltimore Sun's classical music critic, Tim Smith, posts three more clips.
Update, 2/19: "When coloratura soprano Kathryn Grayson... sang five songs, including an aria from La Traviata, in MGM's all-star patriotic parade, Thousands Cheer (1943), she began her 10-year reign as the prima donna of Hollywood," writes Ronald Bergan in the Guardian. "With her china-doll features, little turned-up nose and patrician manner, Grayson raised the tone of more than a dozen musicals. Although opera managers did not beat a path to her door, her clear, slightly shrill, small voice carried well on film in popular classics and operatic scenes."
Image: With Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945).
...
Update, 2/19: "When coloratura soprano Kathryn Grayson... sang five songs, including an aria from La Traviata, in MGM's all-star patriotic parade, Thousands Cheer (1943), she began her 10-year reign as the prima donna of Hollywood," writes Ronald Bergan in the Guardian. "With her china-doll features, little turned-up nose and patrician manner, Grayson raised the tone of more than a dozen musicals. Although opera managers did not beat a path to her door, her clear, slightly shrill, small voice carried well on film in popular classics and operatic scenes."
Image: With Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945).
...
- 2/19/2010
- MUBI
Singer and Hollywood star best known for her roles in MGM musicals of the 1940s and 50s
When coloratura soprano Kathryn Grayson, who has died aged 88, sang five songs, including an aria from La Traviata, in MGM's all-star patriotic parade, Thousands Cheer (1943), she began her 10-year reign as the prima donna of Hollywood. With her china-doll features, little turned-up nose and patrician manner, Grayson raised the tone of more than a dozen musicals. Although opera managers did not beat a path to her door, her clear, slightly shrill, small voice carried well on film in popular classics and operatic scenes.
Her classical training led her not to the opera house, but to the radio, in particular The Eddie Cantor Show, on which she was discovered by an MGM talent scout at the age of 18 in 1940. In the same year, she married the minor film actor John Shelton.
Continue reading...
When coloratura soprano Kathryn Grayson, who has died aged 88, sang five songs, including an aria from La Traviata, in MGM's all-star patriotic parade, Thousands Cheer (1943), she began her 10-year reign as the prima donna of Hollywood. With her china-doll features, little turned-up nose and patrician manner, Grayson raised the tone of more than a dozen musicals. Although opera managers did not beat a path to her door, her clear, slightly shrill, small voice carried well on film in popular classics and operatic scenes.
Her classical training led her not to the opera house, but to the radio, in particular The Eddie Cantor Show, on which she was discovered by an MGM talent scout at the age of 18 in 1940. In the same year, she married the minor film actor John Shelton.
Continue reading...
- 2/19/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Kathryn Grayson, the lilting soprano who starred in the classic MGM musicals "Show Boat," "Kiss Me Kate" and "Anchors Aweigh," died Wednesday at her Los Angeles home. She turned 88 last week.Grayson's longtime companion and secretary, Sally Sherman, said Thursday that the actress died of natural causes.Grayson also was professionally linked with Howard Keel, with whom she co-starred in three movies. With him, Grayson sang and acted as the riverboat belle Magnolia in "Show Boat" (1951); as a Parisian dress shop owner in "Lovely to Look At" (1952) -- in which she sang Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" -- and as a high-strung actress in "Kiss Me Kate" (1953). Later in their careers, Grayson and Keel performed together in nightclubs -- she was a coloratura soprano, he was a baritone -- and toured in summer stock.Born as Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick on Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C., she...
- 2/18/2010
- backstage.com
Kathryn Grayson, the lilting soprano who starred in the classic MGM musicals "Show Boat," "Kiss Me Kate" and "Anchors Aweigh," died Wednesday at her Los Angeles home. She turned 88 last week.
Grayson's longtime companion and secretary, Sally Sherman, said Thursday that the actress died of natural causes.
Grayson also was professionally linked with Howard Keel, with whom she co-starred in three movies. With him, Grayson sang and acted as the riverboat belle Magnolia in "Show Boat" (1951); as a Parisian dress shop owner in "Lovely to Look At" (1952) -- in which she sang Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" -- and as a high-strung actress in "Kiss Me Kate" (1953).
Later in their careers, Grayson and Keel performed together in nightclubs -- she was a coloratura soprano, he was a baritone -- and toured in summer stock.
Born as Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick on Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C., she...
Grayson's longtime companion and secretary, Sally Sherman, said Thursday that the actress died of natural causes.
Grayson also was professionally linked with Howard Keel, with whom she co-starred in three movies. With him, Grayson sang and acted as the riverboat belle Magnolia in "Show Boat" (1951); as a Parisian dress shop owner in "Lovely to Look At" (1952) -- in which she sang Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" -- and as a high-strung actress in "Kiss Me Kate" (1953).
Later in their careers, Grayson and Keel performed together in nightclubs -- she was a coloratura soprano, he was a baritone -- and toured in summer stock.
Born as Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick on Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C., she...
- 2/18/2010
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.