Some people are just too pretty for words. Such is the case with Lola Albright, who earned lasting fame by playing the hot-cha! nightclub singer on TV'S "Peter Gunn" in the early 1960s.
Born to gospel singing parents, Lola studied piano (for 20 years!) and later worked as a fashion model in Chicago (because obvi). In no time at all, she was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout and whisked away to Lotus Land, where she first earned her hot-cha! cred by playing an unstable nightclub stripper who has an affair with a teenage boy in "A Cold Wind In August." Le scandal!
Her smoky, torch-song vocal performances on "Peter Gunn" led to her 1959 LP "Dreamland," and it's the only record that I know of which Henry Mancini produced solely for a singer. And, yes, that means something.
Hey, have you been watching "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?" If you haven't, let me tell you, it's a giddy, whip-smart comedy - and I won't say one thing more 'cause I don't want to ruin anything, only that it takes place in the early 1960s, which means the soundtrack is chock-a-block with all sorts of delectable goodies.
You have to hand it to a compilation CD which has everything from Cyril Ritchard performing a ditty from "Roar Of The Greasepaint" to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald to Julie London to new singers, like Sutton Foster covering "I Enjoy Being A Girl," which easily bests the versions warbled by Roseanne and Sarah Jessica Parker. Such a high bar, I know! But really, it's a delightful soundtrack for an equally delightful show.
Now let's move on to gals with guns...
And gals in prison...
What do they have in common? Max Steiner, of course, who's rightly known for his near operatic scores for classic Hollywood dramas and romances, like "Dark Victory," "Intermezzo," "Gone With The Wind" and "Jezebel."
Could his scores be overbearing? Dear lord, yes, which is part of their charm. In "Gone With The Wind," for example, the music both telegraphs and emphasizes every single, solitary emotion - yet it suits the fervid romance at the movie's center. This heightened, almost gushing, musical flamboyance became his trademark, so much so that even Bette Davis had to eventually draw the line.
During the making of "Dark Victory," she was about to shoot a crucial scene - her character was scripted to walk up the stairs after a brain tumor had made her blind - when she stopped the shoot and bluntly warned the director: "Either I'm going to climb those stairs or Max Steiner is going to climb those stairs. But I'll be goddamned if Max Steiner and I are going to climb those stairs together."
In other words, both Max and Bette were divas of the highest order - and Bette knew it. Yet for all his fame for supposedly slurpy scores, Max could go dark and menacing when he was offered the chance, which unfortunately, wasn't often enough. Luckily, this lush, spanking new, 3-CD set makes a case for his stunning versatility.
It includes, of course, his moody score for "Caged" - a truly must-see women's prison drama - along with his work for "Key Largo," "The Unfaithful," and more. It's all mesmerizing,. but then what do you expect from a child prodigy who composed his first operetta at age twelve? Sheesh. That's not what I was doing when I was a kid.
A Bucket Of Sadness for you: Cougars having been crying lately (that includes you, Jennifer O'Neill), because Michel Legrand, composer extraordinaire for almost five decades, has floated up to the heavens.
Though he was well-known in art-house movie circles as early as the 1960s - primarily for his ravishing "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" song score - it was his gorgeous score for 1971's "Summer Of '42" which really sealed the deal in terms of mass audiences, so by all means, give a listen. Plus, there's oodles of Michel on this blog, so quick, click his name on the side-list and dig in.
The Secret Song File is partial to comebacks, because who doesn't like a comeback? Okay, so maybe not that one. Oh, and singers who make comebacks with "Best Of" CDs? They don't count, because that's not really a comeback, amirite?
Unlike most, this once-popular boyband - all of them are now hitting forty - actually put out a CD with new songs. Is it good? Yeah, it's ok. And if the songs aren't as memorable as those from their heyday, as long as you love them (*cough*) and want it that way (*cough*cough*), then you'll enjoy it. If not, at least they'll never break your heart.
If I can find my heart! I know I buried it somewhere.
Tell us the shape of your heart in the comments, if you like!
