Inspired by daughter Susan Loesser's biography, "A Most Remarkable Fella", the film traces the artistic arc of Loesser's career from his early days on Tin Pan Alley, to his success in Hollywood as a lyricist and (later) composer/lyricist, to his triumphs as composer/lyricist on Broadway. It also highlights Loesser as a member of that elite club of songwriters who successfully wrote both music and lyrics for Broadway, placing him in the company of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and (later) Stephen Sondheim. One commentator in the film calls him, "Cole Porter, without the martini in his hand," because of his ability to capture everyday American speech and emotions in music and lyrics—a songwriter whose common man's touch belied the sophistication of his music. A significant amount of screen time is spent detailing Loesser's work on Guys and Dolls, considered by many to be the best Broadway musical ever. The Guys and Dolls segment focuses on Loesser's collaboration with co-book writer Abe Burrows and his use of diverse musical forms to craft what one interviewee characterizes as the first "truly American musical."
Loesser's temperament is also explored, including a perfectionist streak, volatile temper, and colorful lexicon (according to his daughter, he never met a four-letter word he didn't like), improbably combined with a generous heart, a wicked sense of humor, and a commitment to mentoring the next generation of American songwriters. Loesser abhorred amplification in Broadway theaters and favored singers who could belt. According to the film, he even had a sign printed up during rehearsals for his operatic musical The Most Happy Fella declaiming his favorite slogan, "Loud is Good!"
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1948.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1950.
Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows as well as shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the latter. He also wrote songs for over 60 Hollywood films and for Tin Pan Alley, many of which have become standards, and was nominated for five Academy Awards for best song, winning once for "Baby, It's Cold Outside".
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, such as "Pick the Winner".
Michael Kidd was an American film and stage choreographer, dancer and actor, whose career spanned five decades, and staged some of the leading Broadway and film musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Kidd, strongly influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Léonide Massine, was an innovator in what came to be known as the "integrated musical", in which dance movements are integral to the plot.
Burton Lane was an American composer and lyricist primarily known for his theatre and film scores. His most popular and successful works include Finian's Rainbow in 1947 and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in 1965.
Ignacio Herbert "Nacio Herb" Brown was an American writer of popular songs, movie scores and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s. Amongst his most enduring works are the scores for the 1952 musical film Singin' in the Rain, and the 1939 film of the 1937 Broadway musical Babes in Arms.
Arthur Schwartz was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz.
Sam Levene was an Russian-born American Broadway, film, radio and television actor and director. In a career spanning over five decades, he originated some of the most legendary comedic roles in American theatrical history, including Nathan Detroit, the craps-shooter extraordinaire, in the 1950 original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls (1950), Max Kane, the hapless agent, in the original 1932 Broadway production of Dinner at Eight (1932); Patsy, a professional if not always successful gambler, in the longest running and original Broadway production of Three Men on a Horse (1935); Gordon Miller, the shoestring producer, in the original Broadway production of Room Service (1937); Sidney Black, a theatrical producer, in Moss Hart's original Broadway production of Light Up the Sky (1948), Horace Vandergelder, the crotchety merchant of Yonkers, in the premier UK production of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker (1954), a play that became the basis for the musical Hello Dolly, Lou Winkler, a businessman in the original Broadway production of Fair Game (1957) a comedy by Sam Locke that Larry Gelbart attributed its 217-performance run mostly to the performance and drawing power of Sam Levene who starred in the comedy with Ellen McRae, a 25-year ingenue making her Broadway debut and who later changed her name to Ellen Burstyn; and Al Lewis, the retired vaudevillian, in the original Broadway production of The Sunshine Boys (1972), Neil Simon’s salute to vaudevillians opposite Jack Albertson as Willie Clark, a role Levene performed 466 times on Broadway, first with Jack Albertson until October 28, 1974 and later opposite Jack Gilford, October 30, 1974 until February 10, 1975. In 1984, Levene was posthumously inducted in the American Theatre Hall of Fame and in 1998, Sam Levene along with the original Broadway cast of the 1950 Guys and Dolls Decca cast album posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"A Bushel and a Peck" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser and published in 1950. The song was introduced in the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls, which opened at the 46th Street Theater on November 24, 1950. It was performed on stage by Vivian Blaine and a women's chorus as a nightclub act at the Hot Box. It is the first of two nightclub performances in the musical. Although Blaine later reprised her role as Miss Adelaide in the 1955 film version of the play, "A Bushel and a Peck" was omitted from the film and replaced by a new song, "Pet Me, Poppa."
Ella Sings Broadway is a 1963 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by the American bandleader Marty Paich. Ella had previously recorded with Paich and his more familiar Dek-tette on the 1957 album Ella Swings Lightly, and was to record with him again on her 1967 album Whisper Not. Shortly before the sessions for Ella Sings Broadway , Ella had recorded two singles with Marty Paich, the Antonio Carlos Jobim song 'Desafinado' and a Bossa Nova version of the jazz standard 'Stardust'.
Elizabeth Josephine Sullivan Loesser was an American actress and high lyric soprano singer. She became a musical theatre star with her performance in the original production of The Most Happy Fella, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award in 1957.
Cy Feuer was an American theatre producer, director, composer, musician, and half of the celebrated producing duo Feuer and Martin. He won three competitive Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, and a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award. He was also nominated for Academy Awards as the producer of Storm Over Bengal and Cabaret.
Joseph Aloysius Burke was an American composer, pianist and actor. His successful songs, written with various lyricists, included "Down Honolulu Way" (1916), "Oh How I Miss You Tonight" (1924), "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" (1929), "Moon Over Miami" (1935), "Getting Some Fun Out of Life" (1937) and "Rambling Rose" (1948).
Guys and Dolls is a 1955 American musical film starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. The picture was made by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is based on the 1950 Broadway musical by composer and lyricist Frank Loesser, with a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, which, in turn, was loosely based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon. Dances were choreographed by Michael Kidd, who had staged the dances for the Broadway production.
Don Walker was a prolific Broadway orchestrator, who also composed music for musicals and one film and worked as a conductor in television.
Pleasures and Palaces is a musical with a book by Frank Loesser and Sam Spewack and music and lyrics by Loesser. It is based on Spewack's flop 1961 play Once There Was a Russian and takes its title from the opening lyrics of the 1823 song "Home, Sweet Home": "Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
Music Theatre International (MTI) is a theatrical licensing agency based in New York City.
The John Wilson Orchestra was formed by British orchestral conductor John Wilson in 1994. It is a symphony orchestra that includes a jazz big band. It performs the original arrangements of MGM musicals and the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The orchestra has performed annually in The Proms summer festival since 2009.
"More I Cannot Wish You" is a song written and composed by Frank Loesser and first performed by Pat Rooney, Sr. in 1950. The song was featured in the musical Guys and Dolls. The sentimental lyrics relate the feelings of the oldest character in the play, missionary Arvide Abernathy, who sings it tenderly to his granddaughter, Sarah Brown.
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