A Movie Scene Quiz

You got it, Bree. I'm sorry for the delay in answering. We had a thunderstorm and I shut down the computer.

I had forgotten that Freed and Brown wrote Temptation. That was a huge hit for Perry Como in the fifties.

Is that the song that goes, "You are temptation"? If so, I know it from somewhere, but I don't think I've heard Perry Como sing it.

Yes, I have it on Perry's CD of hits and once dated a fellow who used to croon it ,Perry Como style, to me. (lol)

Temptation
Perry Como
Written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed

Charted by Perry at # 15 in 1945 and then at # 21 on a re-release in late 1946/early 1947
Sung by Bing Crosby in the 1933 film "Going Hollywood".
Initially, 3 versions charted in 1934: Bing Crosby (# 3), Ted Fio Rito (# 15), and
Ferde Grofe (# 19)
Charted in 1944 by Artie Shaw at # 21
Charted in 1947 by Red Ingle at # 1
Instrumental versions charted by Roger Williams (#56, 1960) and Boots Randolph (#93,
1967) Also a # 27 hit for the Everly Brothers in 1961

You came, I was alone
I should have known
You were temptation
You smiled, luring me on
My heart was gone
And you were temptation

It would be thrilling if you were willing
And, if it can never be, pity me

For you were born to be kissed
I can't resist, you are temptation, I
Am yours, here is my heart
Take it and say that we'll never part
I'm just a slave, only a slave

To you, temptation
I'm your slave!!!

My, you were up late with Perry!

After I went to bed, I began wondering if I had programmed the correct channel for Streetcar Named Desire so I came downstairs to be sure. I had. And, of course, I couldn't resist peeking in here.

Today I watched The Last Time I Saw Paris (now, that's a tearjerker, but a favorite); An American in Paris and Gigi.
Question:
How do you pronounce "Hermione" (Gingold)?

I say it:

Her - MY - oh - nee

(I have no idea if that's right, but it's how I say it.)

I've just started reading Becoming Justice Blackmun, a biography of Harry Blackmun (the Supreme Court Justice who is probably best known for having written the opinion in Roe v. Wade). This passage is part of a description of his college years (in the 1920's) in the first chapter:

A lover of live performances of all kinds, Harry was dazzled by a first encounter with Broadway. He got a ticket for Show Boat in the new Ziegfeld Theater. "The theatre itself is wonderful, perfumed air, and such accessories. The show was good, tho a bit dragged out, and sparked with some good songs, in 'Old Man River,' 'Can't Help Lovin That Man,' and 'Why Do I Love You.' The last is a peach."

Love these lines. (lol)

"The show was good, tho a bit dragged out, and sparked with some good songs, in 'Old Man River,' 'Can't Help Lovin That Man,' and 'Why Do I Love You.' The last is a peach."

(I would love to hear your opinion of the book when you've finished it, Bree.)

The announcer for TCM said "Gigi, costarring 'Her ME Own' Gingold" and that just didn't sound right to me. (lol)
(I've always said it the way you do, Bree.)

I learned it as her - MY - nee, but maybe the "o" is just so light that I didn't hear it. Hermione Gingold was Eulalie MacKechnie Shinn, the Mayor's wife, in The Music Man. I loved her in that.

By the way, Hermione is the name of a major character in the Harry Potter books, so there's a new generation of folks trying to figure out how to pronounce it.

Three against one. "Her My O Nee" it is. Thank you ladies.
Aaah yes, I remember her in "Music Man" and also singing "Liaisons" in "A Little Night Music." I've not read and will not be watching Harry Potter. He has a friend (in the zoo) that I DON'T like.

I'm recording "Carousel" now.

A snake-o-phobe, are we?

It would be interesting to know how Jim Dale pronounces Hermione's name in the recordings of the Harry Potter books, in which he plays all the characters (brilliantly, with different voices for each). I heard part of the third book once, on a long car trip with my sister and her husband, but I can't remember how he pronounced it.

Yep. I miss a lot of movies for that reason. But don't tell anyone. We'll keep it a secret.

The same Jim Dale that played "Barnum" on B'way?

I have heard Jim Dale pronounce the character's name Her-my-nee. (My teenage sons have the Harry Potter tapes.)

Bree says Her-My-Oh-nee
Mac says Her-My-Nee
Aggie says Her-My-O-nee
Wandelj says Her-my-nee
and TCM says Her-me-own.

Let's call the whole thing off!

But oh! If we call the whole thing off,
Then we must part.
And oh! If we ever part,
Then that might break my heart!

So, if you say Her-my-nee
and I say Her-my-o-nee
And you say eether and I say eyether
And you say pajamas and I say pajahmas
I'll wear pajamas and give up pajahmas.
For we know we need each other,
So we better call the calling off off.
Let's call the whole thing off!

Yes -- the same Jim Dale.

You sounded good, there!

I saw Barnum in December of 1980. It was fabulous. I was particularly impressed with Glenn Close (who wasn't famous yet) as Mrs. Barnum.

Yes, nice lyrics there.

I saw Jim Dale in Barnum on TV (don't remember if Glenn Close was in it), but I'll be hanged if I can find that special listed on the net anywhere. I've just been reading about all the projects he's been involved in. Am I ever behind the times!

Oh, this is funny. I'm listening to Carousel (the movie) as it records and the opening notes to Susan Luckey's ( I guess she did her own dancing)ballet (beach scene) just before The Carousel Waltz, are "Some Enchanted Evening". I had never noticed that before.

And I can't find out what happened to Claramae Turner (Cousin Nettie, You'll Never Walk Alone).

IMDb says:

"Born in 1920 -

The song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was reportedly written for her.

Participated in the first complete opera recorded by the Metropolitan Opera Company in 1947. The opera, released that same year by Columbia Records, was Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel und Gretel," sung in English translation. Singing the role of the Stepmother, she was joined by fellow Met luminaries Rise Stevens (Hansel), Nadine Conner (Gretel), Thelma Votipka (The Witch), and John Brownlee (The Father). Max Rudolf led the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus for this recording, which remained in print through the early 1980s.

Actress - filmography

Carousel (1956) .... Cousin Nettie
... aka Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel (USA: complete title)

Notable TV Guest Appearances

"Toast of the Town" playing "Herself" (episode # 9.18) 22 January 1956
"Omnibus" playing "Madame Flora" in episode: "The Medium"
"NBC Opera Theater" playing "Mother" in episode: "Hansel and Gretel" 25 December 1950 "

(She would have been 36 when she made the movie carousel. It's strange that she just disappeared. )

Claramae Turner apparently went on to have a career in opera, which explains why she didn't make any more movies. As of 1994, when this interview with her was published in Opera News, she was alive and well and living in Santa Rosa, California.

Opera News interview with Claramae Turner

As for Barnum, are you sure it wasn't our old friend Michael Crawford who played the title role when you saw it on TV? The only TV version of the show I was able to find was a taped version of a live performance in London, where Michael Crawford played the role. (Jim Dale played the role on Broadway, but not in London.) The imdb listing is at:

Barnum

Nice catch on that "Some Enchanted Evening" music preceding the Carousel Waltz, by the way!

I, too, read about the Crawford "Barnum" and remember seeing part of that show. (I wasn't too impressed with him before he donned a mask. )
But, I did see Jim Dale perform a song/songs from Barnum on TV - maybe a guest appearance before the Tonys Awards - maybe the Tony Awards. And why I remember him so vividly I have no idea as I don't have any of his recordings. The more I think about it, the more I think I saw him perform some musical numbers on TV before 1972 (my mother died in 1972 and, if my memory isn't playing tricks on me, I can hear her saying that she liked him.) Funny how memories resurface. I haven't thought or heard about Dale since the eighties.

Thank you for the Claramae Turner interview, Bree. I was surprised at this comment:

"I nearly had the Broadway version (Sound of Music) too, and Dick Rodgers was pulling for me all along. But Mary Martin said, 'I don't want that voice on the stage with me.' So that was the end of that."

(Not Mary Martin. )

I also note mention of Regina Resnik (Liaisons), the performer who so impressed me in the TV production of "A Little Night Music" - the one I copied onto DVD the other day.