Sunday Drive: I Could Have Danced All Night

Last Sunday, I posted a famous film song apparently sung by Deborah Kerr that was actually dubbed by studio singer Marni Nixon.  Here's another one she did, from the musical My Fair Lady (1964) starring Audrey Hepburn:

This making-of doco (1995) shows how the film was restored to its original glory of sight and sound, as well as how the original negative was saved from destruction just in the nick of time:

Bonus: Julie Andrews, who originated the role on Broadway, sings the same tune live on the Ed Sullivan variety show on July 15, 1956, with no dubbing at all:

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What We're Watching: Cinderella (1957)

One of our top favorite shows:  the 1957 live television version starring Julie Andrews in the title role and Jon Cypher as the Prince.  Amazingly, they are both still alive, nearly seventy years later.

Bonus:  This 2004 making-of video features interviews with several cast members, including Andrews and Cypher.

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Sunday Drive: Do-Re-Mi

You know you want some. 

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Sunday Drive: Do-Re-Mi

The cheery mnemonic song from one of the most beloved films of all time is a good way to start a summer Sunday morning:

What's My Line, 2/7/60

For the 500th episode of the long-running game show in 1960, Julie Andrews is the Mystery Guest - but I think you fellas will be even more captivated by the studly first challenger, as I was.




FYI - Coach Brown was a champion swimmer who set many state and national records in his day. As recently as 2013, the 79-year-old was still swimming competitively in events for his age group.

Sunday Drive: Impossible; It's Possible

Even when all the world seems dreary, dark, and hopeless, sometimes a miracle happens for those who believe.  Julie Andrews and Edie Adams show how in the marvelous 1957 television production of Rodgers' and Hammerstein's Cinderella:

The Academy Awards, 1965

The 37th Academy Awards were emceed by the indefatigable Bob Hope on April 5th, 1965, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium; that year, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, and Zorba the Greek took the lion's share of awards. Here are a few highlights, including some famous faces my truckbuddies will remember fondly:








Curiously, Dick Van Dyke, who gave an unforgettable performance in Mary Poppins, was not nominated for any awards. But just so my truckbuddy Tim from England won't be disappointed, here is Dick singing his smash hit, which I'm sure Tim told me is his all-time favorite too - isn't that right, Tim?




Bonus: Jimmy Durante and Martha Raye present the awards for documentary films, and these two old pros are a hoot:

Sunday Drive: Sweet Sounds

Just for fun, a little compilation of sugared songs from my early life. First up is one from 1958 by the McGuire Sisters that was a hit when I was just a tiny fellow, and one of the first songs I remember hearing:




Next, from 1964, the incomparable Julie Andrews singing one of everybody's favorite tunes from Mary Poppins, which was released fifty years ago - can you believe? - on August 27, 1964, to universal acclaim:




The Four Tops, led by the late, great Levi Stubbs, had a number-one hit in 1965 with this next one, which remains my all-time favorite dance tune:




As I remember it, this next song swept to the top of the charts just about the time school was starting in 1969. I remember I'd get up every morning in the early darkness and play this record over and over again on the living room stereo while getting dressed - and my mom walking in from the kitchen and yelling at me: "For God's sake, turn that damn thing down, you'll wake up all the neighbors!" Oh but I just couldn't get enough of this bouncy, catchy number - here's studio singer Ron Dante performing all the parts for his nonexistent group, and very convincingly too:




And the following year, Canadian group The Guess Who cut down on the sweetness with this plaintive number about the absence of sugar, whatever that might mean:

Sunday Drive: In My Own Little Corner

From the 1957 live television special, Cinderella, by Rogers and Hammerstein:




Watch the whole unforgettable show here.