Bell Telephone Hour Tribute to Harold Arlen

I have to confess, I don't know much about the music or career of Harold Arlen. Yes, his most famous song is "Some Where Over the Rainbow." But what else did he do? Well, this Bell Telephone Hour Tribute gives only a sense of his musical contributions. The problem with the format may be that producers try to accomplish too much in a very limited amount of time.

Dinah Shore presents nearly half the songs in this presentation, which offers 37 of Arlen's songs. That allows for about a minute and a half per song--not enough to really give them their due. Ms. Shore is a very likeable performer, as are her castmates--Gordon MacRae, Gretchen Wyler, and Leslie Uggams. I was taken aback by the appearance of Mr. MacRae, who appeared to have aged significantly from his Carousel/Okalhoma days a decade earlier. He sings well enough, but perhaps not as robustly as I remember from his heyday.

Included is a performance of "Stormy Weather", but it's not sung--it's performed by Duke Ellington and his band. Given the strength of this song in a catalogue that is not all that familiar to people, why would they not have Leslie Uggams (who seems to channel Lena Horne) sing this song? Ms. Uggams gives a lovely rendition of "Sleepin' Bee" from the Arlen/Truman Capote musical House of Flowers; that song was introduced in the show by Diahann Carroll in her Broadway debut.

I also have some qualms about there being NO duets in this performance.

Bell Telephone Hour Tribute to Harold Arlen
Broadcast in December 1965
Music by Harold Arlen
Lyrics by Ted Koehler, Truman Capote, Yip Harburg and others
Cast: Dinah Shore, Leslie Uggams, Gretchen Wyler, Gordon MacRae, Duke Ellington

Carousel film on DVD

Carousel has to be my favorite of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals; I've seen the film version many times and actually been involved with three stage productions of it. I am very biased, but I think it has the best score of any R&H show. The music really reaches a new level, and the way the book leads right into the lyrics is masterful. If the story is a bit far-fetched at times, I don't mind when I get to hear "If I Loved You" or the "Soliloquy." Even the character songs like "When I Marry Mister Snow" and "When the Children Are Asleep" are high and away better than your average show's best songs.

The filming in Cinemascope works well in this film, with blocking and sets designed to take advantage of the wide angle, allowing for two-shots that don't seem static. And it shows off more beautiful wooden sailboats in the harbor, which is almost as important to me as the show itself!

Dance again is a big part of this show, which was originally choreographed by Agnes de Mille. The dream ballet works the best, but the chorus dancing is demanding stuff for the musical's chorus.

Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones are paired again as they were in the film version of Oklahoma! Rather than a happy ending, as in their first film, Carousel has a much darker side to its love story. If the perennially perky Jones doesn't give the most nuanced performance, I'll forgive her because her singing has just the right balance of legato in the more lyrical portions of the score. And later in her career, Jones will prove her acting chops in Elmer Gantry, for which she won an Oscar. I like to think that her efforts in Carousel lead to a more successful result in the later film.

Robert Rounseville as Enoch Snow is an interesting performer, who played quite a bit on Broadway as well as on more "legit" stages. He originated the role of Candide in Bernstein's operetta, and well as being in the original casts of Babes in Arms (Rodgers & Hart), Knickerbocker Holiday (Weill), and Man of LaMancha (Mitch Leigh). Not a bad career by that list of credits, and this doesn't even count his New York City Opera performances. Do cross over performers like that exist today? Maybe Audra McDonald?

Carousel
Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
20th Century Fox Film from 1956
Directed by Henry King
Cast: Shirley Jones, Gordon MacRae, Barbara Ruick, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Rounseville