Silver Spring documentary producer Walter Gottlieb has compiled rare films,
stock footage and new on-camera interviews to create a survey of the career
of one of the most successful composers/lyricists of Tin Pan Alley,
Hollywood and Broadway. Frank Loesser first made an impact with songs
written for publication in sheet music, but soon branched out into revues,
movies and shows. As a contract employee at Universal and Paramount Pictures
in Hollywood, he produced songs for more than sixty films before moving on
to success on Broadway. His first Broadway show was the musical version of
Charley's Aunt staring Ray Bolger. Where's Charley? included
the long time hit "Once In Love With Amy." He followed that show with
Guys & Dolls, considered by many to be one of the finest musicals of the
golden age of Broadway. Later he composed The Most Happy Fella and
Greenwillow before tackling his final Broadway success, How To
Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He died of lung cancer in
1969 at age 59. |
Storyline: A documentary
covering the career of Frank Loesser who wrote songs including "Heart and
Soul," "Baby its Cold Outside," "On A Slow Boat To China," "Spring Will Be A
Little Late This Year" and "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" as well
as scores for many Hollywood Musicals and Broadway shows including two shows
that won the Tony Award for best musical, Guys & Dolls and How to
Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
The video is the product of Walter Gottlieb who has a
number of films to his credit, but none on a show business topic. His prior
work includes films on trade unionism, street children in Latin America, the
Soviet space program and one on the history of Silver Spring. Gottlieb
doesn't attempt to break any new ground in the by-now well established
format of television documentaries looking at the life and work of notable
people. Instead, the subject is what sets this video apart. It is, as far as
we can tell, the first full-length video biography of Frank Loesser, one of
the few songwriters to hold a Pulitzer Prize. (How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying won the 1962 Pulitzer for Drama.) There are
interviews with people who knew and worked with him as well as with family
including his widow and his children. There are clips from filmed versions
of his shows and pictures from his private life all set into perspective
through the use of stock footage of Broadway and Hollywood in the forties,
fifties and sixties.
The documentary has been aired on public television
stations, but the video has features in addition to the documentary itself.
Included are a short presentation on the recording of the musical background
for the documentary, film of the New York ceremony on the occasion of the
fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Guys & Dolls, and extended
portions of the interviews that were conducted in preparation for the film.
There is an extended segment on the first rehearsal program held at Arena
Stage in preparation for the world premiere of the musical Loesser left
unfinished when he died,
Seņor Discretion Himself.
Director Charles Randolph-Wright, artistic director Molly Smith and
Loesser's widow Jo Sullivan Loesser speak briefly about the project.
Of particular interest to theater lovers in the Potomac
Region are short clips from the production of Guys & Dolls at Silver
Spring's Blair High School. The clips are used during the discussion of the
success of Guys & Dolls after its original production on Broadway and
its film version. It has become, the documentary says, the most frequently
produced musical show in high schools across the country.
Written and directed by Walter J. Gottlieb. Musical
supervision by Jeff Gruber. Narration by Jerry Whiddon. Design: Michael Gehman (editor) Ken England
(visual effects) Martin Andrews (photography). Interviews with members of
the Loesser family and Matthew Broderick, Cy Feuer, Jerry Herman, Robert
Morse, Charles Nelson Reilly, Stephen Schwartz, Maury Yeston. |
