New Faces of 1952

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File:Carol Lawrence George Smiley New Faces 1953.JPG
Carol Lawrence and George Smiley take the "Restoration" skit into the Ambassador Hotel, Chicago, in 1953.

New Faces of 1952 is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped jump start the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, Carol Lawrence, Ronny Graham, performer/writer Mel Brooks (as Melvin Brooks), and lyricist Sheldon Harnick.

Broadway production

The revue opened on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on May 16, 1952 and ran for 365 performances. It was produced by Leonard Sillman, directed by John Murray Anderson and John Beal with choreography by Richard Barstow. The sketches were written by Graham and Brooks. The songs were composed by, among others, Harnick, Graham, Murray Grand and Arthur Siegel. The cast featured Graham, Kitt, Clary, Virginia Bosler, June Carroll, Virginia De Luce, Ghostley, Patricia Hammerlee, Lawrence, Lynde and Bill Milliken. De Luce and Graham won the 1952 Theatre World Award. The revue marked Kitt's Broadway debut, singing a "sultry rendition" of "Monotonous", about how boring a life of luxury was.[1]

The Equity Library Theater, New York City, presented an off-Broadway revival in 1982, directed by Joseph Patton and featuring comedic performances by Lillian Graff, Philip Wm. McKinley and Alan Safier in the roles originated by Ghostley, Lynde and Graham, respectively.[2] (Kitt joined the cast late in the run to re-create her original role.)

Another New Faces, the New Faces of 1956 ran on Broadway from June 14, 1956 through December 22, 1956. It was also conceived and produced by Sillman, with direction by David Tihmar and Paul Lynde (sketches).[3] There were seven "New Faces" in all: 1934, 1936, 1943, 1962, and 1968. According to Kay Green, of the seven "New Faces" revues, the 1952 revue was the "most admired, both for the talent of the performers and the cleverness of the writing.[4]

Songs (Broadway)

Sketches

"Of Fathers and Sons", written by Mel Brooks, was a parody of the Clifford Odets drama, Golden Boy with characters Mae, Harry, Stanley and Policeman; a pickpocket is angry with his son for not wanting to join the family business.[5] In "Oedipus Goes South", Ronny Graham parodies Truman Capote. Paul Lynde, wrapped in bandages, bemoans his African safari.[4] The narrative ballad "Guess Who I Saw Today" has June Carroll telling her husband that she saw him with another woman.[6] In "The Bard and the Beard" the characters- Miss Leigh, Sir Laurence, Call Boy and Maid- try to remember what play they are supposed to be in.[7]

Film New Faces

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Main article: New Faces (film)

Retitled New Faces, the film version was directed by Harry Horner in Cinemascope and Eastmancolor, and released by Twentieth Century Fox on March 6, 1954. Ronny Graham, Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, Alice Ghostley, June Carroll, Virginia De Luce, Carol Lawrence, Patricia Hammerlee, Paul Lynde, and Bill Millikin repeated their stage roles. The film was basically a reproduction of the stage revue with a thin plot added. The plot involved a producer and performer (Ronny Graham) in financial trouble on opening night. A wealthy Texan offers to help out, on the condition that his daughter be in the show.[8]

The song order was changed and expanded to include:

  • "Crazy, Man!" (Lynde, Graham)
  • "Time for Tea" (Carroll, Siegel)
  • "He Takes Me Off his Income Tax" (de Luce)
  • "Convention Bound" (Graham)
  • "Uska Dara"
  • "C'est si bon"
  • "Santa Baby" (Joan Javits, Philip Springer, Tony Springer)

However, some songs were omitted, or had their lyrics updated. The song "Nanty Puts her Hair Up" was omitted, however, an abridged version was used as an instrumental in a dance routine. The song "Don't Fall Asleep" was omitted. The song "Love is a Simple thing" omitted the final verse, being the Charles Addams character verse, because it was too outdated. Also, an extra verse was added to "Lizzie Borden". Some of the lines in "Monotonous" were replaced and updated, omitting the line "Ike Likes Me", and being replaced with writing the "Dragnet" theme instead.

Soundtrack

Leonard Sillman's New Faces Of 1952
Leonard Sillman's New Faces Of 1952 (Original Cast) cover art.jpeg
Cast recording by Original Cast
Released 1952 or 1953
Length 50:06 (LP)
55:20 (CD 2009 re-issue)
Label RCA Victor
Director John Beal
Producer Leonard Sillman

Leonard Sillman's New Faces Of 1952 (Original Cast) was the official release of the soundtrack of the Broadway revue New Faces of 1952. The album was originally released on 12" Long-play gramophone record by RCA Victor, catalog #LOC1008. It excluded some material as not all songs could fit on the record.

The cast recording, like the play, was produced by Leonard Sillman. The orchestral conductor for the album and play was Anton Coppola. Orchestral arrangements were by Ted Royal. Alice Ghostley, Allen Conroy, Bill Mullikin, Carol Lawrence, Carol Nelson, Eartha Kitt, Jimmy Russell, Joseph Lautner, June Carroll, Michael Dominico, Patricia Hammerlee, Paul Lynde, Robert Clary, Ronny Graham, Rosemary O'Reilly, Virginia Bosler, and Virginia de Luce all perform on the album, and are cited in doing so. The LP also lists some credits for the play itself, John Beal is cited as the plays director, and the primary sketch writers as Melvin Brooks and Ronny Graham.[9]

The first official release of the cast recording album to compact disk was in 2003 by Jasmine Records, featuring the original LP track listing.[10] However, in 2009 Masterworks Broadway released the soundtrack to compact disk and digital download, this time including the previously unreleased song "Time For Tea" performed by June Carroll and Alice Ghostley.[11] Masterworks released the album with the catalog number Arkiv RCA-04441.[12]

Track listing

12" Long Play

Track listings and credits adapted from the original label notes of album, unless other wise specified.[9]

Side A
No. Title Writer(s) Performer(s) Length
1. "Opening"  
Ronny Graham and Company 2:11
2. "Lucky Pierre"   Ronny Graham
  • Robert Clary
  • Virginia de Luce
  • Rosemary O'Reilly
  • Patricia Hammerlee
  • Bill Mullikin
 3:20
3. "Boston Beguine"   Sheldon Harnick Alice Ghostley Introduced by Virginia de Luce 4:42
4. "Love Is A Simple Thing"  
  • Rosemary O'Reilly
  • Robert Clary
  • Eartha Kitt
  • June Carroll
Introduced by Virginia de Luce		 5:08
5. "Nanty Puts Her Hair Up"  
  • Alice Ghostley
  • Joe Lautner
  • (with Virginia Bosler
  • Bill Mullikin
  • Allen Conroy)
Introduced by Virginia de Luce		 4:42
6. "Guess Who I Saw Today"  
June Carroll 2:20
7. "Bal, petit bal"   Francis Lemarque Eartha Kitt Introduced by Robert Clary 2:58
Total length:
 25:21
Side B
No. Title Writer(s) Performer(s) Length
1. "Three For The Road"

a. "Introduction"

b. "Raining Memories"

c. "Waltzing In Venice"

d. "Take Off The Mask"  



Ronny Graham

Ronny Graham

Ronny Graham

Virginia de Luce

Robert Clary

  • Rosemary O'Reilly
  • Joe Lautner

  • Alice Ghostley
  • Ronny Graham and Company
 5:23
2. "Penny Candy"  
  • Arthur Siegel
  • June Carroll
 June Carroll and Company 3:26
3. "Don't Fall Asleep"   Ronny Graham Rosemary O'Reilly 2:10
4. "I'm In Love With Miss Logan"   Unknown[13][14] Robert Clary
  • (with Rosemary O'Reilly
  • Joe Lautner)
Introduced by Virginia de Luce		 3:57
5. "Monotonous"  
  • Arthur Siegel
  • June Carroll
 Eartha Kitt 3:47
6. "Lizzie Borden"   Michael Brown
  • Joe Lautner
  • Bill Mullikin
  • Paul Lynde
  • Patricia Hammerlee and Company
 4:57
7. "(He Takes Me Off His Income Tax)"  
  • Arthur Siegel
  • June Carroll
[15]		 Virginia de Luce 1:05
Total length:
 24:45
2009 re-issues

Features previously unreleased song "Time For Tea".[11]

References

  1. ↑ Peterson, Bernard. A century of musicals in black and white (1993), Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0-313-26657-3, p. 249
  2. ↑ Wilson, John."Stage:New Faces Of 1952 Revived"The New York Times, November 2, 1982
  3. ↑ New Faces of 1956 Internet Broadway Database, accessed August 11, 2009
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Green, Kay. Broadway musicals, show by show (1996), Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN 0-7935-7750-0, p. 154
  5. ↑ Parish, James Robert. It's Good to Be the King, (2008), John Wiley and Sons, ISBN 0-470-22526-2, p. 89
  6. ↑ Green, Stanley. Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (1980), Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-80113-2, p. 165
  7. ↑ Atkinson, Brooks. "At the Theatre", The New York Times, May 17, 1952, p. 23
  8. ↑ Plot and production information, 'New Faces' tcm.com, accessed August 11, 2009
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Suskin, Steven."ON THE RECORD: New Faces of 1952 and New Faces of 1956" playbill.com, May 17, 2009
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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