Gypsy | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy |
Screenplay by | Leonard Spigelgass |
Based on | Gypsy: A Musical Fable 1959 musical by
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Produced by | Mervyn LeRoy |
Starring | Rosalind Russell Natalie Wood Karl Malden |
Cinematography | Harry Stradling |
Edited by | Philip W. Anderson |
Music by | Jule Styne Lyrics by: Stephen Sondheim Music arranged and conducted by Frank Perkins |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 143 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | English (intertitles and talking sequences) |
Budget | $4 million |
Box office | $11,076,923 [1] |
Gypsy is a 1962 American musical film produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass is based on the book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable by Arthur Laurents, which was adapted from the 1957 autobiography Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for songs composed by Jule Styne. The film was remade for television in 1993.
Determined to make her beautiful, gifted daughter June a vaudeville headliner, willful, resourceful and domineering stage mother Rose Hovick will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. She drags June and her shy, awkward, and decidedly less-talented older sister Louise around the country in an effort to get them noticed, and with the help of agent Herbie Sommers, finally manages to secure a booking on the prestigious Orpheum Circuit.
Years pass, and the girls no longer are young enough to pull off the childlike personae their mother insists they continue projecting. June rebels, and elopes with Gerry, one of the dancers who backs their act. When the other dancers discover this, they also leave, presuming the act is finished. Devastated by what she sees as betrayal, Rose pours all her energy into making a success of Louise, despite her obvious lack of skill as a performer. Not helping matters is the increasing popularity of sound films, which leads to a decline in the demand for stage entertainment. Herbie sticks with mother and daughter through their struggles, vainly hoping that Rose will one day quit show-business and settle down with him. With bookings scarce, they find themselves in Wichita, Kansas, where a third-rate burlesque house books their act in hopes of keeping the vice squad at bay.
Rose appears to mature while at the burlesque house, deciding that this will be their last booking and suggesting that she and Herbie finally marry. However, when one of the strippers is arrested for shoplifting, Rose is unable to resist offering Louise as her replacement. Louise reluctantly agrees to go through with it, though it's clear she's only doing it to please her mother. This becomes the final straw for Herbie, as he is disgusted at the lengths Rose will go as a stage mother and realizes that she will never marry him. He offers her one chance to give him a reason to stay, and when she fails, he leaves her for good. At first, Louise's voice is shaky and her moves tentative, but she gains confidence as audiences respond to her, eventually blossoming as an entertainer billed as Gypsy Rose Lee. Exasperated by her mother's constant interference in both her life and wildly successful career, Louise finally confronts Rose and demands she leave her alone. Understanding that she has spent her life enslaved by a desperate need to be noticed and has driven everyone away, an angry, bitter, and bewildered Rose stumbles onstage at the deserted theatre and experiences an emotional breakdown. Realizing Louise witnessed this, Rose admits she tried to live vicariously through her and June, allowing her to reconcile with her daughter.
"Together Wherever We Go" was deleted before the film's release, but it was included on the soundtrack album, and "You'll Never Get Away from Me" was abbreviated to a solo for Rose following the initial run. In the DVD release of the film, both numbers, taken from a 16-millimeter print of inferior quality, are included as bonus features. [2]
Rosalind Russell and her husband Frederick Brisson were hoping to do a straight dramatic version of the story based directly on the memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee, but the book was tied to the rights to the play. Coincidentally, Russell had starred in the film version of the Leonard Spigelgass play A Majority of One at Warner Bros., which Brisson had produced, and all parties came together to make Gypsy, with Russell starring, LeRoy directing, and Spigelgass writing the highly faithful adaptation of Arthur Laurents's stage book.
Although Russell had starred and sung in the 1953 stage musical Wonderful Town and the 1955 film The Girl Rush , the Gypsy score was beyond her. Her own gravelly singing voice was artfully blended with that of contralto Lisa Kirk. Kirk's ability to mimic Russell's voice is showcased in the final number "Rose's Turn". Kirk's full vocal version was released on the original soundtrack, but it is not the version used in the finished film. In later years, Russell's original vocals were rediscovered on scratchy acetate discs and included as bonus tracks on the CD reissue of the film's soundtrack. [3]
Marni Nixon had dubbed Natalie Wood's singing voice in West Side Story the previous year, but Wood did her own singing in Gypsy. While Wood recorded a separate version of "Little Lamb" for the soundtrack album, she sang the song in the film "live" on the set. Other songs performed live were "Mr. Goldstone, I Love You" and the reprise of "Small World", both sung by Russell (not Kirk).
Film historian Douglas McVay observed in his book The Musical Film, "Fine as West Side Story is, though, it is equaled and, arguably, surpassed - in a rather different idiom - by another filmed Broadway hit: Mervyn LeRoy’s Gypsy. Arthur Laurents' book (for) West Side Story (adapted for the screen by Ernest Lehman), though largely craftsmanlike, falls short of his libretto for Gypsy (scripted on celluloid by Leonard Spigelgass), based on the memoirs of the transatlantic stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. The dialogue and situations in Gypsy have more wit, bite and emotional range, and the characterizations are more complex." [4]
Variety noted "There is a wonderfully funny sequence involving three nails-hard strippers which comes when Gypsy has been unreeling about an hour. The sequence is thoroughly welcome and almost desperately needed to counteract a certain Jane One-Note implicit in the tale of a stage mother whose egotisms become something of a bore despite the canny skills of director-producer Mervyn LeRoy to contrive it otherwise. Rosalind Russell's performance as the smalltime brood-hen deserves commendation...It is interesting to watch [Natalie Wood]...go through the motions in a burlesque world that is prettied up in soft-focus and a kind of phony innocence. Any resemblance of the art of strip, and its setting, to reality is, in this film, purely fleeting." [5]
Gypsy was a financial success. Produced on a budget of $4 million, the film grossed $11,076,923 at the box office, [1] earning $6 million in U.S. theatrical rentals. [6] It was the 8th highest-grossing film of 1962. [7]
Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
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Academy Awards | Best Cinematography – Color | Harry Stradling | Nominated | [8] |
Best Costume Design – Color | Orry-Kelly | Nominated | ||
Best Scoring of Music – Adaptation or Treatment | Frank Perkins | Nominated | ||
Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Karl Malden | Nominated | [9] |
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Rosalind Russell | Won | ||
Natalie Wood | Nominated | |||
Best Director – Motion Picture | Mervyn LeRoy | Nominated | ||
Most Promising Newcomer – Male | Paul Wallace | Nominated | ||
Laurel Awards | Top Musical | Nominated | ||
Top Female Musical Performance | Rosalind Russell | 5th Place | ||
Natalie Wood | Nominated | |||
Top Male Supporting Performance | Karl Malden | Nominated | ||
Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Written American Musical | Leonard Spigelgass | Nominated | [10] |
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
Warner Home Video released the Region 1 DVD on May 2, 2000. The film is in anamorphic widescreen format with an audio track in English and subtitles in English and French.
The Region 2 DVD was released on December 6, 2006. The film is in fullscreen format with audio tracks in French and English and subtitles in French.
Gypsy is one of six films included in the box set The Natalie Wood Collection released on February 3, 2009.
Gypsy was released on Blu-ray Disc through the Warner Archive Collection on November 20, 2012.
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exotic" or "burlesque" dancer.
June Havoc was a Canadian-born American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist.
Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper, actress, author, playwright and vedette famous for her striptease act. Her 1957 memoir was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy.
Gypsy: A Musical Fable is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.
The Trouble with Angels is a 1966 American comedy film about the adventures of two girls in an all-girls Catholic school run by nuns. The film was the final theatrical feature to be directed by Ida Lupino and stars Hayley Mills, Rosalind Russell, and June Harding.
Marion Suplee, known professionally as Marion Martin, was an American film and stage actress.
"Everything's Coming Up Roses" is a song with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, written initially for the 1959 Broadway musical Gypsy. Introduced in the show's inaugural production by Ethel Merman, "Everything's Coming Up Roses" became one of Merman's signature songs.
Rose Evangeline Hovick was an American talent manager best known as the mother of two famous performing daughters: burlesque artist Gypsy Rose Lee and actress and dancer June Havoc. Her career as her daughters' manager is dramatized in the musical Gypsy.
Lisa Kirk was an American actress and singer noted for her comic talents and rich contralto.
A Majority of One is a play by Leonard Spigelgass. The 1958-59 Broadway production was directed by Dore Schary and ran for three previews and 556 performances, with Gertrude Berg, Cedric Hardwicke, and Ina Balin.
Merle Louise is an American actress, best known for appearing in four Stephen Sondheim musicals, most famously as "The Beggar Woman" in Sweeney Todd.
Lady of Burlesque is a 1943 American musical comedy-mystery film, produced by RKO Pictures and directed by William A. Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Michael O'Shea. It is a faithful, if sanitized, adaptation of the 1941 novel The G-String Murders written by strip tease queen Gypsy Rose Lee.
Gypsy is the soundtrack to the 1993 television adaptation of Gypsy. It was released by Atlantic Records on November 23, 1993, in the United States. Based on the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee and the 1959 musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable, written by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, it depicts the life and times of a burlesque stripper and her domineering mother, starring Bette Midler as Mama Rose.
Roughly Speaking is a 1945 American comedy-drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Rosalind Russell and Jack Carson. The plot involves a strong-minded mother keeping her family afloat through World War I and the Great Depression. The film was based on the autobiography of the same name, published in 1943, by Louise Randall Pierson.
You Can't Have Everything is a 1937 Fox musical film directed by Norman Taurog and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. The film stars Alice Faye and Don Ameche, and was the film debut for Gypsy Rose Lee credited as Louise Hovick part of her birth name.
Doll Face is a 1945 American film released by 20th Century Fox and directed by Lewis Seiler starring Vivian Blaine as "Doll Face" Carroll. It also stars actor Dennis O'Keefe and singers Carmen Miranda and Perry Como. The film is based on the 1943 play The Naked Genius written by Gypsy Rose Lee. In the opening credits, she is billed under her birth name, Louise Hovick. The film is also known as Come Back to Me in the United Kingdom.
Burlesque is a 2010 American backstage musical film written and directed by Steven Antin. It stars Cher, Christina Aguilera, Kristen Bell, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci, Julianne Hough, Alan Cumming, and Peter Gallagher, and features cameos from Dianna Agron, and James Brolin. The film tells the story of Ali (Aguilera), an aspiring singer who leaves her small hometown for Los Angeles, where she becomes a dancer at a struggling burlesque lounge owned by Tess (Cher). After a performance is sabotaged by her rival, Nikki (Bell), Ali sings the song herself, impressing Tess and leading to her becoming the main attraction of the lounge. Burlesque marks Aguilera's first leading role, as well as Cher's first musical performance on screen.
Gypsy is a 1993 American made-for-television biographical musical comedy-drama film directed by Emile Ardolino. The teleplay by Arthur Laurents is an adaptation of his book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy, which was based on the 1957 autobiography Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee.
"You Gotta Get a Gimmick", also known as "You Gotta Have a Gimmick", is a song from the 1959 musical Gypsy, with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.