Here I go again, waxing poetic on the talents and watch-ability of Barbara Cook. Haven't I done that recently? Well, these excepts from the Bell Telephone Hour from 1960, 1962, and 1965 back up my opinion.
Ms. Cook serves up Broadway, operetta, and Americana songs without missing a note or a beat. Perhaps it was this early experience doing all types of music that made her musically curious (and what do I mean bi-curious) in the exploration of songs for her later cabaret acts. Whatever the outcome, I'm glad to have seen these early television appearances to remember that Ms. Cook is not only a very good singer, but was also a lively performer. She dances quite a bit in these excerpts, something I'm sure she's not doing at 80+ now.
I very much liked the three songs from No Strings, by Rodgers without Hammerstein. I must check out a full recording of this show.
Ms. Cook performs with two top baritones of the 1960s in these clips: Robert Goulet (hot, and I do mean HOT off his success with Camelot) and Alfred Drake. Goulet and Drake are of two very different musical generations with Drake teaming with Cook for the operetta offerings, such as The Merry Widow. The Bell Telephone Hour Chorus also makes a lot of appearances, and I swear one of the male choristers was Bob McGrath from Sesame Street.
Well, we all start somewhere.
Barbara Cook: the Bell Telephone Hour Appearances 1960-1965
Music by Johan Strauss, Jr., Lerner and Loewe, Jerry Herman, Franz Lehar, Stephen Foster, Richard Rodgers, and others.
Cast: Barbara Cook, Robert Goulet, Anita Gillette, Alfred Drake
Ms. Cook serves up Broadway, operetta, and Americana songs without missing a note or a beat. Perhaps it was this early experience doing all types of music that made her musically curious (and what do I mean bi-curious) in the exploration of songs for her later cabaret acts. Whatever the outcome, I'm glad to have seen these early television appearances to remember that Ms. Cook is not only a very good singer, but was also a lively performer. She dances quite a bit in these excerpts, something I'm sure she's not doing at 80+ now.
I very much liked the three songs from No Strings, by Rodgers without Hammerstein. I must check out a full recording of this show.
Ms. Cook performs with two top baritones of the 1960s in these clips: Robert Goulet (hot, and I do mean HOT off his success with Camelot) and Alfred Drake. Goulet and Drake are of two very different musical generations with Drake teaming with Cook for the operetta offerings, such as The Merry Widow. The Bell Telephone Hour Chorus also makes a lot of appearances, and I swear one of the male choristers was Bob McGrath from Sesame Street.
Well, we all start somewhere.
Barbara Cook: the Bell Telephone Hour Appearances 1960-1965
Music by Johan Strauss, Jr., Lerner and Loewe, Jerry Herman, Franz Lehar, Stephen Foster, Richard Rodgers, and others.
Cast: Barbara Cook, Robert Goulet, Anita Gillette, Alfred Drake
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