Wiglet-to-wiglet combat.
Showing posts with label theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theatre. Show all posts
The Director's Cut
Original Broadway production of On the Town (1944)
Original Broadway production of Along Fifth Avenue (1949)
Human Feelings (1978, NBC)Proverb: The quicker picker-upper gets the pearl necklace.
June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Nancy Walker and Harry James in Best Foot Forward (1943, MGM)
The Ballad of Alexis and Gladys
OK, we promised the Mystery Guest reveal today... but forgive us, darlings, because we're pushing it back again -- there's another birthday to celebrate! Today, we pay homage to the cool elegance of Miss Alexis Smith.
The statuesque, stylish, intelligent Smith was born in British Columbia with the decidedly less glamorous moniker of Gladys. By the time she made her first featured appearance in Dive Bomber (1941), opposite no less a superstar than Errol Flynn, she had thankfully been rechristened Alexis, after her father, Alexander.
Fred MacMurray, Alexis Smith and Errol Flynn in Dive Bomber (1941, Warner Bros.)
Perhaps hoping to recreate the success of Flynn's earlier teaming with the genteel Olivia de Havilland, Warner Brothers capitalized on Smith's patrician beauty by casting her as Flynn's love interest a total of four times. Her subsequent outings with the dashing lothario were Gentleman Jim (1942), San Antonio (1945) and Montana (1950). Although these films didn't quite measure up to Flynn's previous successes with de Havilland such as Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), they were popular with audiences, and Smith's contributions grew more substantial as her own popularity grew.
Gentleman Jim (1942, Warner Bros.)
San Antonio (Warner Bros., 1945)
Montana (Warner Bros., 1950)
Unfortunately, Warners didn't seem to know exactly what to do with their new star; by 1945, the lot was crowded with formidable female talent, with Queen Bees Bette Davis and Joan Crawford leading the pack, followed closely by Ida Lupino, with the likes of contractees Ann Sheridan, Eleanor Parker and a dark horse, Jane Wyman, nipping at their heels. Smith seemed to get lost in the shuffle, often playing stylish second leads opposite bigger stars, as in The Constant Nymph (1943) with Charles Boyer and Joan Fontaine; One More Tomorrow (1946) with Dennis Morgan and Sheridan; Of Human Bondage (1946) with Paul Henreid and Parker; and The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947) with Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck.
The Constant Nymph (1943, Warner Bros.)
Sheet music for One More Tomorrow (1946, Warner Bros.)
Of Human Bondage (1946, Warner Bros.)
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947, Warner Bros.)
Given the chance to play the star, Smith proved an engaging presence, but she seemed to dwarf (at 5'9", sometimes literally) the second-string male leads she was given in smaller films like Stallion Road (1947) with Ronald Reagan and Whiplash (1948) with Zachary Scott and Dane Clark. And opposite such powerhouse talent as Cary Grant in the laughable-but-successful Cole Porter biopic, Night and Day (1946), or Clark Gable in Any Number Can Play (1949), Smith had little to do but look attractive.
Stallion Road (1947, Warner Bros.)
Whiplash (1948, Warner Bros.)
Night and Day (1946, Warner Bros.)
Any Number Can Play (1949, MGM)
As the 1940's closed, Smith left Warners when her contract expired. Her fortunes didn't immediately improve, as she quickly went into three Universal cheapies: Undercover Girl (1950), where she at least got to act tough and get top billing; and two Westerns, Wyoming Mail (1950) and Cave of Outlaws (1951), the latter being less notable for acting than for the asbestos britches Smith had to be outfitted for, as a scene called for co-star Macdonald Carey to administer a severe spanking!
Undercover Girl (1950, Universal)
Wyoming Mail (1950, Universal)
Cave of Outlaws (1951, Universal)
Things looked considerably brighter when Smith landed a showy supporting role in the markedly more lavish Paramount comedy, Here Comes the Groom (1951) with Bing Crosby; she was such a scene-stealer that Paramount gave her the lead opposite William Holden in The Turning Point (1952). Holden was fresh off of his success in Sunset Blvd. (1950), but this film was certainly no repeat of that classic, and once again, Smith found herself on the sidelines of the largely male-motivated action.
Alexis Smith and character actress Adeline de Walt Reynolds on the set of Here Comes the Groom (1951, Paramount)
The Turning Point (1952, Paramount)
Smith concentrated her attention increasingly on the stage, touring successfuly in stock productions of Private Lives and Bell, Book and Candle, among others. She also freelanced in the occasional motion picture; Split Second (1953, with Stephen McNally), The Sleeping Tiger (1954, with Dirk Bogarde) and The Eternal Sea (1955, with Sterling Hayden) didn't exactly further her career, but they helped pay the bills.
Split Second (1953, RKO)
The Sleeping Tiger (1954, Anglo-Amalgamated)
The Eternal Sea (1955, Republic)
By the end of the decade, Smith's stock had fallen to where she was given below-the-title billing in such witless fare as Bob Hope's Beau James (1957) and the Blake Edwards misfire, This Happy Feeling (1958). More satisfactory was her small but effective role as the boss' wife who seduces Paul Newman in The Young Philadelphians (1959) -- but that would prove to be Smith's final film role for over a decade. Ironically, it brought her back again to the Warners lot.
The Young Philadelphians (1959, Warner Bros.)
During the 1960's, Smith continued to keep busy with regional theater, sometimes appearing with her longtime husband, Craig Stevens, another former Warners contract player who had gained newfound fame as TV's Peter Gunn (1959-61). It seemed as if Smith would fade into obscurity, when she had one of the most unexpected third act revivals in show business history: landing the role of Phyllis in Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking Broadway musical, Follies. Aside from warbling a few inconsequential numbers in her 1940's films, Smith had never sung or danced before, and certainly not on the scale that Sondheim's music and Michael Bennett's choreography demanded. But against the odds, she triumphed: finally, the stars aligned for Alexis Smith, and she won a Tony and landed the cover of Time magazine for her efforts.
Such was Smith's success in the legendary show (which, incidentally, only ran for a little over a year), that on its reputation alone, she became a bona fide theater superstar. Curiously, Smith's character doesn't even have the score's most memorable solos -- as elegantly bitchy as she was performing "Could I Leave You?", the real showstoppers were Dorothy Collins' heartwrenching "Losing My Mind" and Yvonne de Carlo's trenchant "I'm Still Here." Yet, somehow, the aura of true stardom, which seemingly eluded the movie cameras all those years, carried across the footlights and resulted in total audience adulation.
Alexis Smith in the original Broadway production of Follies (1971)
This remarkable renaissance resulted in Hollywood once again knocking on Smith's door; unfortunately, the results were somewhat less than stellar. Playing "the fifth wealthiest woman in the world" in the atrocious film adaptation of Once is Not Enough (1975), Jacqueline Susann's final (and worst) novel, Smith's lesbian love scenes with Melina Mercouri (as a Garbo-esque film star) were embarrassing to behold. More interesting -- if lower rent -- was the atmospheric thriller The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1977), in which Smith meets her end at the hands of an adolescent Jodie Foster.
Once is Not Enough (1975, Paramount)
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1977, AIP)
In 1977, following brief runs in a revival of The Women (1973) and a short-lived reinterpretation of William Inge's Picnic called Summer Brave (1975), Smith planned a further Broadway triumph with a star vehicle tailored specially for her talents: Sunset, later retitled Platinum. It seemed perfect both for Smith and the times; her character, Lila Halliday, is a faded 1940's movie queen now touring in stock productions of Hello, Dolly and Mame. She falls in love with a much younger rock star, who immerses her in the rock and disco scene, and she attempts a comeback with the "now" sound.
Program for the pre-Broadway tryouts of Sunset (1977)
Besides the star power of Smith, Platinum boasted direction and choreography by Joe Layton. Layton's big directorial success had been nearly fifteen years earlier, with No Strings (1962), but more recently, he had proven remarkably successful in directing and choreographing splashy one-woman shows for Bette Midler and Diana Ross, so Platinum's contemporary score and setting seemed a good fit. Bob Mackie designed the glittering costumes, and all seemed set for THE musical event of 1978... except that the book was a mess and the songs were horrendous. The show closed after only 33 performances, although Smith emerged relatively unscathed: her personal reviews were largely positive, and she was nominated for another Tony. However, she never again graced the Broadway boards.
Publicity photo for the original Broadway production of Platinum (1978)
An infrequently recurring role on Dallas aside, Smith was low-key for much of the 1980's. She made a surprise return to the big screen in The Age of Innocence (1993), before her death at age 72 from brain cancer. Despite Hollywood's shortsightedness, and her too-brief run as a Broadway baby, Alexis Smith remains a favorite here for her grace and style -- and for being an enduring reminder that third acts can, indeed, stop the show.
ALEXIS SMITH
June 8, 1921 - June 9, 1993
June 8, 1921 - June 9, 1993
Gray Pride
No, this is not our most recent Mystery Guest (we promise the reveal tomorrow, darlings!), but today, we just had to recognize one of our very favorite performers on their birthday: Miss Dolores Gray!
Extravagant, opulent, campy, vampy, glamorous: all of these adjectives could accurately describe Dolores Gray's outsized persona. She was singing in nightclubs by the age of 14, encouraged by a formidable stage mother who, as Gray later recalled, "...once said to me, 'It's not a very happy life unless you make it very big.'"
Gray's first major triumph was being chosen to star in the London production of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun in 1947, after the Broadway star, Ethel Merman, declined to reprise the role. Gray made her West End debut on her 21st birthday, and was an immediate smash, staying with the production for two years and 1,304 performances.
With this triumph under her belt, Gray was wooed back to Broadway, where she had previously co-starred in two ill-fated shows: the Cole Porter flop Seven Lively Arts, and Are You with It? -- the answer to which was "no." This time, Gray was co-starred with Bert "the Cowardly Lion" Lahr in a slick musical revue, Two on the Aisle.
The show opened on July 19, 1951, and was a modest hit, running for 276 performances. However, it marked the beginning of a series of contretemps between Gray and her leading men: she and Lahr detested each other, and each would pull all the stops out to upstage the other during the performance. Given the showy nature of the songs by Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, one can easily imagine that this one-upmanship merely served to entertain the audience; Gray's showstopper was the deliciously wordy "If You Hadn't (But You Did)," which further crystallized her wink-and-nod maneater image.
It was inevitable that such an explosive performer, described as being "a sexy Ethel Merman" and "the Esther Williams of the stage when it comes to shapliness," with "more sudden curves than Niagara Falls," would eventually turn her attention to films. Gray caught the eye of Arthur Freed, head of production for MGM's fabled musicals, when she performed out-of-town previews of the Broadway-bound Carnival in Flanders in Hollywood and San Francisco. When the show finally opened in New York on September 8, 1953, it lasted a mere six performances; but Gray, as had become custom, won rave reviews, introducing the standard "Here's That Rainy Day," and even won a Tony as Best Actress in a Musical -- going down in the history books as having performed the briefest run in a production to still win a Tony.
Audrey Hepburn, Dolores Gray and Jo Van Fleet at the 1954 Tony Awards
Gray signed her contract with MGM in 1955; had she arrived at Metro even just five years earlier, lightning might have struck, but the timing was all off. Musicals in general were on the wane, and the new, no-nonsense head of MGM, Dore Schary, had little interest in maintaining the glamorous images of MGM's veteran superstars or creating any new ones. Gray's first film, It's Always Fair Weather (1955), could have been a hit, pedigreed as it was with star/director Gene Kelly, co-director Stanley Donen, and writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who had worked so well with Gray on Two on the Aisle. The film itself had a darker, more cynical edge than audiences expected of a glossy Metro product; but even if the movie may have caught 1955 audiences off guard with its satirical bite, what really sank it at the box office was MGM's complete lack of promotional support: it was quietly released on a double bill with the bleak noir-Western, Bad Day at Black Rock, of all things.
Dolores Gray and Gene Kelly on the set of It's Always Fair Weather (1955, MGM)
Dolores Gray and Howard Keel in Kismet (1955, MGM) 
Dolores Gray, June Allyson and Joan Collins in The Opposite Sex (1956, MGM)
In 1956, Gray was also strongly in the running for the Diana Vreeland-inspired role of magazine editor Maggie Prescott in Funny Face, starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. She turned the role down, feeling that it was yet another "sexless caricature" -- but it would have been a showcased role in a wildly successful, ultimately classic film. Instead, Gray wound up her all-too-brief MGM tenure as "the other woman" in the stylish, non-musical comedy, Designing Woman (1957). She looked splendid in her Helen Rose costumes, and sparred nicely with Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall, but it was too little, too late to save her floundering film career.
Dolores Gray and Gregory Peck in Designing Woman (1957, MGM) Once again taking on a Marlene Dietrich role, Gray returned to Broadway in 1959 with a musical production of Destry Rides Again, which had been Dietrich's 1939 film comeback. She was paired with Andy Griffith, with whom she reportedly did not get along. The show was directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd, who had co-starred with Gray in It's Always Fair Weather; but if either expected a happy reunion, all hopes were dashed when Kidd called Gray "a slut" in front of the entire company, and his leading lady hauled off and slapped him, then stormed off the set. In spite of the backstage tensions, the show did well, running for 476 performances.
Gray kept busy for the first half of the 1960's with numerous television appearances, her celebrated nightclub act, and regional theater performances. In 1966, the 42-year-old married for the first time, to Andrew Crevolin, described in newspaper reports as a multimillionaire horsebreeder and landowner. Although their marriage legally lasted until his death in 1992, and they remained lifelong friends, Gray and Crevolin's actual union only lasted a few years. In 1967, she made another splashy return to Broadway in Sherry!, a musical version of The Man Who Came to Dinner. Despite high hopes, the show was a failure.
The 1970's saw Gray perform more frequently in her beloved London, both in her cabaret act, and succeeding Angela Lansbury in the 1973 revival of Gypsy. Throughout the years, she remained an outrageous, glamorous, larger-than-life personality, delighting the press with her penchant for carrying no less than 36 pieces of luggage (packed with 120 pairs of shoes and 25 evening gowns); booking a private cabin on the Queen Elizabeth solely for her Persian cat; and, on one trip to England, traveling with a dozen full-length mink coats -- and two full-time bodyguards to protect them.
Gray enjoyed one last major London hurrah when Stephen Sondheim personally asked her to come out of retirement to appear in the 1987 revival of Follies. She agreed, and once again, brought down the house as Carlotta, putting her own stamp on the done-to-death "I'm Still Here."
Dolores Gray in the 1987 London production of Follies
Flamboyant and outspoken to the end, Gray continued to be a glamorous addition to Manhattan nightlife, squired about town by friends and fans like John Epperson, a.k.a. Lypsinka, and holding court in her plush Upper East Side apartment (described by Epperson as being decorated in gold, purple and leopard skin!). Dolores Gray passed away in 2002 of a heart attack at the age of 78; but, here at SSUWAT, she is still a living, breathing icon -- no gray area there.
DOLORES GRAY
June 7, 1924 - June 20, 2002
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