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Posted: |
May 11, 2008 - 11:58 PM
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By: |
Zooba
(Member)
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Just watched this over the weekend on Public Televison station. I love the Overture of the film and Jerry Herman's songs with Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newmans additional scoring throughout. They also are credited as conducters.
"Put on your sunday clothes" always brings me cheer.
I love the Overture played over the Main Titles as the train is traveling to New York. So 60's Big Main Titles style. When movies were an Event.
Great lines: Barber to Matthau.
"Sit still, If I cut your throat it'll be practically unintentional"
I was cast as Barnaby (years ago) in a local production of the THE MATCHMAKER for which HELLO DOLLY was based. Holy Cabooses the production never got off the ground for some reason, I can't remember now. But now I'm old enough to play Vadergelder and the musical version quite appeals to me.
This was a major 20th Century Fox Production starring Babs Streisand and Walter Matthau with Michael Crawford and Tommy Tune (looking extremely Giraffe like) and was directed by Gene Kelly.
One of my best Hollywood friends the late and missesd Arthur Tovey, who I did many extra gigs with in L.A. is in the picture sitting right behind Babs at the Harmonia Gardens. He is the distinguished white haired gentleman eating and drinking and who claps most energetically when Dolly is introduced. Arthur was "King of the Extras" and a loving friend. He was in everything from THE MUMMY (1933) Boris Karloff Version, GONE WITH THE WIND (worked as Leslie Howard's stand-in and double) to BRIGADOON, THE ROBE (one of Richard Burton's prominent Centurions) NORTH BY NORTHWEST, MY FAIR LADY, ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, CAPRICORN ONE, BATMAN THE MOVIE (1966), WILLARD and hundreds more. He was in TV Series THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW from time to time and was a Vulcan in STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE. I met Arthur on THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (Eddie Murphy Version) in 1996 and we became fast friends. We spent many a wonderful night in his Studio City apartment singing old songs and hearing about the old days in Hollywood. Arthur was an accomplished pianist and composer who could play anything from "Saint Louis Blues" to Jerry Goldsmith's Theme from THE OTHER. He used to play a lot of Goldsmith for me. My good buddy sadly past away in 2000 at the age of 95. I will always treasure his friendship and stories working in the movies. He had a story about everyone from HItchcock to meeting Henry Mancini on the set of GAILY GAILY. Fortunately I have hours of video footage of Arthur playing the piano and telling stories. I plan to make a little film in his honor sometime in the near future.
Wow sorry, for going off on that tangent.
Back to DOLLY.
Please share your thought's on this Musical Film Version of HELLO DOLLY.
Thanks,
Zoob
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Posted: |
May 12, 2008 - 12:44 AM
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By: |
Browny
(Member)
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Zoob, although this film was critically panned at the time, it still has many great moments. Sure Streisand was a little too young for the part, and Matthau a little to grumpy (what's new?) but on the whole the Gene Kelly directed musical is highly watchable with knockout performances, singing and score. The Louis Armstrong cameo is well handled and certainly a highlight. Considered probably one of the last great Hollywood musicals of the 1960s. The 1994 CD reissue which was lovingly remixed from the surviving 35mm audio stems, is the definitive version of the song score; not sure if it's still in print though.
Just as an aside, did you know that some of the set from the Harmonia Gardens, was reused by 20th Century Fox (who obviously didn't throw too much away!) as some of the Promenade Room set from Irwin Allen's 1974 disaster epic "The Towering Inferno"?
Not coincidentally, sharp eyed fans of that disaster classic and diehard Trekkies may be unaware that the dramatic 340 foot cyclorama backdrop of San Francisico bay which was originally designed by Gary Coakley for TTI, was rehashed as the background to Captain Kirk's 23rd Century apartment window in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home".
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Posted: |
May 12, 2008 - 2:08 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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"Hello, Dolly!" is one of those films that demands to be seen on the big screen. I saw it twice when it was in general release in 1970, and a few times on video in recent years, but I was totally unprepared for the stunning quality of a new 70mm print that was prepared by Fox a few years ago, and which was finally shown once in Washington by the American Film Institute. In my opinion, that print is the single most colorful, sharp, and eye-popping film I've seen in 30 years of movie-going. With so few 70mm films in existence, it's criminal that they are not more widely seen, and that the technology has been abandoned.
The music is a joy to listen to today, and it couldn't be defeated even by the wretched Fox LP pressings of 1970. Aside from Jerry Herman, credit has to go to the army of scorers and orchestrators who worked on the film, including Lennie Hayton, Lionel Newman, Philip J. Lang, Alexander Courage, Herbert Spencer, and Don Costa. According to the IMDB, "Hello, Dolly!" received Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, and Best Sound, and received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing. In its online catalog, the AFI curiously omits mention of the scoring Oscar, but has all the other awards and nominations.
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Just watched this over the weekend on Public Televison station. I love the Overture of the film and Jerry Herman's songs with Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newmans additional scoring throughout. They also are credited as conducters.
"Put on your sunday clothes" always brings me cheer.
I love the Overture played over the Main Titles as the train is traveling to New York. So 60's Big Main Titles style. When movies were an Event.
Great lines: Barber to Matthau.
"Sit still, If I cut your throat it'll be practically unintentional"
I was cast as Barnaby (years ago) in a local production of the THE MATCHMAKER for which HELLO DOLLY was based. Holy Cabooses the production never got off the ground for some reason, I can't remember now. But now I'm old enough to play Vadergelder and the musical version quite appeals to me.
This was a major 20th Century Fox Production starring Babs Streisand and Walter Matthau with Michael Crawford and Tommy Tune (looking extremely Giraffe like) and was directed by Gene Kelly.
One of my best Hollywood friends the late and missesd Arthur Tovey, who I did many extra gigs with in L.A. is in the picture sitting right behind Babs at the Harmonia Gardens. He is the distinguished white haired gentleman eating and drinking and who claps most energetically when Dolly is introduced. Arthur was "King of the Extras" and a loving friend. He was in everything from THE MUMMY (1933) Boris Karloff Version, GONE WITH THE WIND (worked as Leslie Howard's stand-in and double) to BRIGADOON, THE ROBE (one of Richard Burton's prominent Centurions) NORTH BY NORTHWEST, MY FAIR LADY, ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, CAPRICORN ONE, BATMAN THE MOVIE (1966), WILLARD and hundreds more. He was in TV Series THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW from time to time and was a Vulcan in STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE. I met Arthur on THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (Eddie Murphy Version) in 1996 and we became fast friends. We spent many a wonderful night in his Studio City apartment singing old songs and hearing about the old days in Hollywood. Arthur was an accomplished pianist and composer who could play anything from "Saint Louis Blues" to Jerry Goldsmith's Theme from THE OTHER. He used to play a lot of Goldsmith for me. My good buddy sadly past away in 2000 at the age of 95. I will always treasure his friendship and stories working in the movies. He had a story about everyone from HItchcock to meeting Henry Mancini on the set of GAILY GAILY. Fortunately I have hours of video footage of Arthur playing the piano and telling stories. I plan to make a little film in his honor sometime in the near future.
Wow sorry, for going off on that tangent.
Back to DOLLY.
Please share your thought's on this Musical Film Version of HELLO DOLLY.
Thanks,
Zoob......great story , thanks for sharing,,,,,,,,,
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We've discussed this film before. I think the cast, as a whole, is fairly awful, but the production values and Jerry Herman's score are first-rate. As is Michael Kidd's choreography. I've always been under the impression that the film was virtually directed by Kidd and Lehman. Kelly was overwhelmed by its bigness. At least that's what I've been told. Lehman is solely responsible for casting Streisand, who not only was far too young, but of the wrong ethnicity for the part, as written. I virtually hate her in everything (especially Funny Girl, and On A Clear Day), but I saw Hello, Dolly!, 9 times in its road show version, during it's original release, at The Randolph Theater, in Philadelphia. It's a breathtaking Todd-AO event. Most people think of it as a major flop. It was, in fact, the fifth highest-grossing film of 1969/70. It's just that the film cost so much money, that it needed to do The Sound of Music-type business to recoup. Nothing was doing that kind of business, except The Sound of Music, which was just about to leave theaters after it's record-setting first-run.
By the way, I noticed that our PBS station was showing this, but it was horribly cropped, in a pan and scan presentation. I just changed the channel.
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We've discussed this film before. I think the cast, as a whole, is fairly awful, but the production values and Jerry Herman's score are first-rate. As is Michael Kidd's choreography. I've always been under the impression that the film was virtually directed by Kidd and Lehman. Kelly was overwhelmed by its bigness. At least that's what I've been told. Lehman is solely responsible for casting Streisand, who not only was far too young, but of the wrong ethnicity for the part, as written. I virtually hate her in everything (especially Funny Girl, and On A Clear Day), but I saw Hello, Dolly!, 9 times in its road show version, during it's original release, at The Randolph Theater, in Philadelphia. It's a breathtaking Todd-AO event. Most people think of it as a major flop. It was, in fact, the fifth highest-grossing film of 1969/70. It's just that the film cost so much money, that it needed to do The Sound of Music-type business to recoup. Nothing was doing that kind of business, except The Sound of Music, which was just about to leave theaters after it's record-setting first-run.
By the way, I noticed that our PBS station was showing this, but it was horribly cropped, in a pan and scan presentation. I just changed the channel.......hi john, my parents took me to the RANDOLPH THEATER to see it when i was a kid,,never will forget that wide, wide screen and streisand running down the path to catch them BEFORE THE PARADE PASSES BY ,,,,, do u remember the names of any other theaters around there ?
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...hi john, my parents took me to the RANDOLPH THEATER to see it when i was a kid,,never will forget that wide, wide screen and streisand running down the path to catch them BEFORE THE PARADE PASSES BY ,,,,, do u remember the names of any other theaters around there ?
I remember the names of all the Center City theaters that were around during my lifetime, and all the neighborhood theaters that were near my home. Hard to believe today, but when I was a kid, there were 7 movie theaters within walking distance of my home!
Some of the Center City theaters were: The Goldman, The Fox, The Stanley, The Stanton, The Milgrim, Theatre 1812, and the ones closest to The Randolph were, The Trans-Lux and The Midtown. There was also The Boyd, which was the Cinerama theater. Sadly, not a single one exists as a theater, anymore. Almost everyone has been destroyed. The Boyd has been saved, and I believe is now protected from destruction.
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Technically, they used both takes. One in 70MM, one in 35MM. The hat-grabbing take is on the laserdisc version.
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Posted: |
May 13, 2008 - 11:34 PM
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By: |
Ron Pulliam
(Member)
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Amazing, isn't it, that we can all have reservations on some aspects of this musical film and still LOVE IT!
Oh you beat me to it. I was going to add that despite the excruciating Streisand and Crawford performances,
How funny it all is. I consider Streisand brilliant in this film. It's not like anyone ever played the role better. Channing has always been over-the-top and no more the ideal of Wilder's character than Shirley Booth who played her in the straight film version.
Someone mentioned that Streisand was not ethnically right to play Dolly Levi. Why? On the basis of what? The fact that Wilder gave her a Christian name of Gallagher? Dolly Gallagher Levi? Whatever Wilder's intent, Dolly IS a yenta!
Yah, yah, I know all about how no wealthy man named VanDerGelder at the time of this story would EVER have associated with, much less married, a woman named Levi UNLESS she were Christian by birth...but gimmabreak! The model for Dolly is a Jewish matchmaker of unparalleled magnificence. The names are all wrong for the characterizations we're given.
Streisand is/was Dolly Levi...better than any that have come, thus far. And wouldn't it be a joy to see her do the role NOW?!!!???
No shiksa was ever so Jewish a "matchmaker". Shirley Booth and Carol Channing weren't ethnically right, IMO. The only drawback to Streisand was her age and the fact that no woman like her would have given the ludicrous Matthau the time of day. She sang the hell out of the role...something the cartoonish Channing could never have done.
Yes, yes, and unlike Mr. Maher, I think Streisand is particularly brilliant/inspired and unparalleled in her movie roles in "Funny Girl" and "On A Clear Day..."! Her Oscar for the former -- not to mention the phenomenal hats-in-the-air reviews that nearly declared her an international saint -- pretty much sums up how much she was/is respected for her screen debut.
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