Harve Presnell

[papeetepatrick]

Not everybody will know this name, but we musical comedy fans do, especially for the 'Unsinkable Molly Brown', both the stage and the film version with Debbie Reynolds. Wonderful voice, and I think dirac is also familiar with his beautiful singing on the old early 70s recording of Harold Rome's 'Gone With the Wind' show that played London but never came to Broadway. There's a lovely song called 'How Often', that Scarlett and Rhett sing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/theater/...?ref=obituaries

[bart]

I moved it, as you requested, Patrick. Then I noticed that the link is to Karl Malden's obituary. Here's Harve Presnell's:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/theater/...?ref=obituaries

Sometimes I find myself wondering: why does this person's name seem so familiar? The Times obit includes a photo of him having a great time on stage with Tammy Grimes, which immediately triggered a memory of the first Unsinkable ... . (I was a Grimes devotee in those days.) Definitely a great team on stage.

[papeetepatrick]

So you saw the original on Broadway, bart? Tell us more if so. I never have seen Tammy Grimes, and would love to have. I bet better than the movie, which is okay, but not great, as I recall. I can't say I'm a big Meredith Wilson fan, but it's pretty good hokey stuff, I guess. I even get bored with 'the Music Mar', even though I know it's a good show.

Good lord, I'm getting dizzy, I am mixing up obit links. I'll go back and put the right one on the first post, since it won't matter if it's reposted, but they'll get it mixed up if i don't fix it. Thanks.

[bart]

I don't remember details, but I recall that it was NOT anything like the large-scale production we see in the film. More intimate and in a rather small theater, as most musicals were.

I had heard Tammy Grimes's voice on disc, though she was not a big name outiside Manhattan I suppose. I remember coming down from college to see this largely on the basis of liking her voice. I don't remember the performance, but I am sure she toned down some of her vocal eccentricities for the sake of the character and Wilson's music -- her super-sibillant "s's," the slides, the archness, the elegant way she had of making even ordinary lyrics sound witty and risque. Later, in High Spirits, in which she played a completely different character, these all had a chance to come out. I think that clubs/cabarets suited her best.

When I was young I had a couple of albums that I listened to again and again. I loved especially the way her singing projected both sincerity and a quality of self-awareness at just how much she was pulling your leg. In other words, there was always a bit of the . Nothing beats what she does with "You've Come a Long Way from Saint Louis."

But this is a Harve Presnell thread. I'd love to hear more about him.