Sammy Davis, Jr. toured the country, played on Broadway and filmed for television a custom version of the Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse musical, Stop The World I Want To Get Off. This is the filmed production which also starred Marian Mercer.
Sammy Stops The World came after Davis had a chart hit with the musical's signature tune, What Kind Of Fool Am I?. Others included in this production's creative team include Newley, Bricusse, director Mel Shapiro, producer Hillard Elkins, and Sammy's ubiquitous musical director, George Rhodes. I've also uploaded a PDF of the original theater program to archive.org. Download the program here: https://archive.org/details/sammy-stops-the-world
And the Sammy rhythm doesn't stop there! Here's a special piece of Sammy ephemera. This concert program was bought by my Mom and Dad when they went to see Sammy (in Vegas, I believe) sometime around 1970/71. The program is a short biography of Sammy and his career with loads of pictures. Enjoy!
Julian Eltinge was internationally renown as a female impersonator in the aughts and teens of the 20th century. He made his name on vaudeville stages and in Broadway theatres - even as he christened the Julian Eltinge Theatre on Broadway, September 11, 1910. In the 1920s as Prohibition was changing the country and vaudeville was dying, Eltinge went to Hollywood and made several films. One of these films is called Madame Behave and I've just posted the film to YouTube with a score made of jazz tunes from the 1920s. (See song titles and artists at the bottom of this post.)
Madame Behave • 1925
I had never seen Eltinge perform on film and by the contemporaneous reviews I'd read of his live performances, I imagine he had a lovely singing voice and his female mimcry was legitimately spot on (and not what we would consider campy). In fact, Eltinge was so popular with the female population for his raiment and makeup that he started a cottage industry with Julian Eltinge's Magazine of Beauty Hints and Tips which promoted his own line of cosmetics, corsets and shoes. One ad has a picture of Eltinge as a woman with the copy "See What the Julian Eltinge Cold Cream Does for a Man. Imagine What It Will Do For a Woman".
No one pronounces Eltinge's name correctly. Here are instructions from the horse's mouth.
My guess is that Madame Behave was made to capitalize on Eltinge's fame because it doesn't hold up to the imagination after reading reviews of Eltinge's live performances. We (obviously) don't hear a singing voice and we certainly don't see a high standard of female mimicry on screen so it does nothing to capture what Eltinge did on stage. In Madame Behave, Eltinge jokes around and gets in his gowns quickly and without care. There are some scenes in which he is well put together but by 1925 Eltinge was in his forties and more overweight than in his youth so it's difficult to compare the time periods in that respect. Madame Behave is also not funny despite its best attempts. The film co-stars Ann Pennington as Eltinge's girlfriend and there is a minute or so of Pennington dancing the Charleston; she was a very famous dancer of the day known for her Black Bottom and others so this is something of a see.
Cast of Madame Behave: Jack Duffy, Evelyn Francisco, Lionel Belmore Ann Pennington kissing Eltinge (in drag) and David Jones
Other than Pennington and the fact that it is a surviving Eltinge film, Madame Behave is similar to movies like Charley's Aunt, Tootsie and Some Like It Hot in its use of drag is a pretext that a straight man must do to get out of whatever situation he finds himself. Unfortunately, it's just not as good as the aforementioned titles but it is 95 years old! Music used to score Madame Behave includes the following tracks in order of aural appearance.
Chant of the Weed Don Redman and his Orchestra
Four O’Clock Blues The Original Memphis Five
The Minor Drag Fats Waller
Viper’s Dream Django Reinhardt
Bull Frog Blues Six Brown Brothers
Do-Doodle-Om Piron’s New Orleans Orchestra
Forgetful Blues The Original Memphis Five
New Orleans Wiggle Piron’s New Orleans Orchestra
Pianoflage Fate Marable’s Society Syncopators
Red Man Blues Piron’s New Orleans Orchestra
Red Onion Drag Louis Dumaine’s Jazzola Eight
Sad New Blues The Original Memphis Five
Pillow Fight SFX
All Muggled Up Blue Steele And his Orchestra
Astoria Strut Jones and Collins Astoria Hot Eight
Dear Almanzoer Celestin’s Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra
Henpecked Blues The Original Memphis Five
Mobile Stomp Sam Morgan’s Jazz Band
New Orleans Blues Johnny de Droit and His New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
West Indies Blues Piron's New Orleans Orchestra
More pictures from (and an article or two regarding) Julian Eltinge's life and career are available on my Julian Eltinge Pinterest board.
In 1972, Pocket Books published Grease: A New ’50’s Rock ’N’ Roll Musical as a mass market paperback with the tag The Book of the Newest Broadway Hit. The tie-in contains the 1972 libretto of the musical, 12 black and white photographs from the production (Barry Bostwick, Adrienne Barbeau, etc.) and one color cover photo. You can download a PDF of this out-of-print paperback from here.
In 1976 the BBC series Rock Follies, already a success in the United Kingdom, crossed the Atlantic and became a success on PBS stations in the United States. The scripted series of six episodes told the story of The Little Ladies, three women (played by Evita's Julie Covington, Alberto VO5's Rula Lenska and the Royal Shakespeare Company's Charlotte Cornwell) trying to hit it big in the rock music. It was a hit in the United States and there was (seemingly) an attempt to replicate that success with American talent when Kenny Solms and Gail Parent created a 4-episode variety show called 3 Girls 3.
3 Girls 3 starred three then-unknowns Debbie Allen, Ellen Foley and Mimi Kennedy whose overnight success as the stars was the show's premise. In the context of the show, the little ladies played themselves with Allen the dancer, Foley the singer and Kennedy the comic - although all three sang, danced and performed in sketches. The first episode aired in March, 1977 right after its broadcasting network, NBC, decided to cancel it. The three remaining episodes aired during the summer of 1977. All four episodes in their entirety can be found on Mimi Kennedy's YouTube Channel. There's also some interesting videos on Kenny Solms YouTube channel. I've posted some lovely performances by one of my favorite singers, Ellen Foley, and some other musical moments from the show.
Ellen Foley sings New Kid In Town
Debbie Allen, Ellen Foley and Mimi Kennedy sing Broadway Baby
Debbie Allen performs The Music and the Mirror
Ellen Foley sings This One's For You
Ellen Foley sings Dear Friend/Will He Love Me from She Loves Me
3 Girls 3 Theme Song
Celebrity Maids
Debbie Allen, Ellen Foley and Mimi Kennedy sing Sondheim's You Could Drive A Person Crazy with, of all people, Steve Martin, the wild and crazy guy
These six videos were posted (and originally recorded on VHS tape, I assume) by lovelightpeace. They include the meat of a couple of episodes of The Ellen Burstyn Show, a situation comedy that ran on ABC for 13 episodes in 1986 and the summer of 1987. The videos don't include title credits, commercials or end credits and the episodes run into each other but seem to be complete.
The show had three powerhouse actresses in Ellen Burstyn, a very young Megan Mullally and an even younger Elaine Stritch (big kiss) as grandmother, mother and daughter (not respectively) all living under the same roof. Megan Mullally's character also has a young son played by Jesse Tendler, a very natural child actor who holds his own against these ladies. The first follows the family dog's pregnancy and the second has Mullally's character trying her hand at mom Burstyn's profession: writing. For a sitcom, the writing is intelligent...which holds no surprise when I see Ellen Burstyn's name attached to the title.
The links in this entry lead to a treasure trove of recordings that preserve Broadway performances for posterity. For example, a complete performance of Raisin, the 1973 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, is preserved on an audio recording taped by a member of the audience. How do I know? The person sitting next to the person recording the show had a persistent cough. I was listening to the recording on a particularly long drive and after a half hour I turned to the empty passenger seat in my car and said There's got to be a lozenge or cough syrup. Something..
The downloadable recordings (free via one-click hosting servers like Rapidshare) vary in quality. Some are theatrical soundboard recordings of excellent quality; some (as noted) are listenable with caveats. It is worth searching through the lists if you're a fan of Broadway and musicals.
