Posted on 01/22/2014 4:34:11 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
It is now definite that Mary Jane Walsh will have one of the important roles in Alfred Bloomingdale's forthcoming musical production "Allah, Be Praised!"
If I watch carefully in future theater news posts, will I see that there were massive street protests and a suicide bombing at the theater?
This RKO second tier feature is constructed like a Broadway musical, with the ensemble cast (sans Frank) breaking into song at various points. Bosley Crowther sums it up well as mainly an excuse to put Sinatra in front of his fans. It does have some interesting aspects for the twenty-first century viewer, however. In the very opening scene we have Mel Torme, looking about 15, singing in the first number. His voice is instantly recognizable. Sinatra, on the other hand, doesn’t sound much like the Old Blue Eyes many of us grew up with. That transformation would require decades of Jack Daniels and cigarettes. I heard an interview with Mel Torme towards the end of his career in which he described how hard he had worked to preserve his instrument. No booze, smoking or high living at all. The two artists followed opposite lifestyle courses but both achieved enormous success.
Another noteworthy point is the inclusion in the cast of Victor Borge as the foppish target of the gold-digging domestics. Borge, as the classical-piano-playing comedian, was a favorite of both my mother and grandmother. Him I didn’t recognize at first because of the absence of his instrument and gray hair.
Dooley Wilson, as a member of the domestic staff, accompanies Frank on one number.
Three stars, for historical interest, to “Higher and Higher” – HJS.
LOL! According to “Internet Broadway Database,” it was a flop: Date of productions, April 20, 1944 to May 6, 1944.
Interesting. Two famous singers. One chose a clean-living sober lifestyle and the other one lived it up with lots of womanizing, whiskey and tobacco.
Which one lived longer?
Frank Sinatra, he of the Jack Daniels and constant cigarettes lived to be 82. Clean living Mel Torme lived only to be 73 and he looked older than Frank when he died.
That's not meant to denigrate Mel in any way for his choices but just pointing out that perhaps this mania for clean-living that we see around us today is a bit overrated.
Life is short so seize it while you have it.
““Higher and Higher””
Time travel movie made in 1944 set in Colorado, 2014?
Wouldn't that be low living??
But on a serious note, would today's ruling class allow Ike to call his Western European campaign a "crusade"?
They'd say we were no better than Hitler and cut a deal.
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