#billy rose

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Reginald Marsh, Cabaret, 1938. Tempera and pencil on gessoed panel.

The painting’s subject, Casa Mañana, was a nightclub at 50th Street and Seventh Avenue, equidistant between Times Square and Carnegie Hall in the center of the theater district. In 1938, the Club was owned and operated by the flamboyant entertainment impresario Billy Rose. Fortune magazine commissioned Reginald Marsh to paint a picture of the interior during a performance for a full-page illustration in its planned article, “Put Their Name in Lights,” an examination of the very substantial business of the William Morris Agency, the “oldest theatrical agent in the U.S.” The article ran in Fortune’s September 1938 issue. …

Fortune accompanied the illustration in its September 1938 issue with a text explaining that vaudeville, “with its old-time acts has almost vanished. But variety as an entertainment form lives and thrives in theatre restaurants like Billy Rose’s Casa Mañana … The roster of artists who passed through Casa Mañana in its brief year-and-a-half run (it closed in May 1939) illustrates Rose’s ability to present the talent that the people wanted to see: Helen Morgan, Abbot & Costello, the Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante, Bert Wheeler, Betty Hutton, Louis Armstrong, and Millie Picon among many others with orchestras led, at various times, by Vincent Lopez, Louis Prima, and Paul Whiteman. …

In classic Marsh fashion, the artist focuses his attention on a few figures of special interest. In the left foreground, a waitress leans over in conversation with a male patron. Behind her, a waiter makes his way through the crowd, holding aloft with one uplifted arm a tray with food and drink balanced high over his head, an acrobatic feat as much a part of the nightclub show as the activity on the stage. Two women and a man share a table near the stage, all watching the show intently. A bottle in an ice bucket sits adjacent to the table, the economic engine that made this whole scene a working business model. The patrons are dressed neatly in street clothing, the ladies with everyday hats. They are decent but there is no show of finery. While Billy Rose was famous for glamorous showgirls and as much bare skin as the law would allow, he also had an enduring fondness for vaudeville-style family entertainment. The two performers on the stage appear to be some version of acrobatic dancers, the excitement in their performance the result of breathtaking agility and grace with nothing to arouse either the libidos of the audience or the attention of the licensing authorities.

Photo & text: Hirschl & Adler Galleries

[audiemurphy1945]

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[unwelcome-ephestion]

I’m currently watching Funny Lady, which is the film sequel to Funny Girl. It’s not regarded as as strong as the original - it certainly lacks the tragic propulsion that gives Funny Girl its magnetism. But it’s good, and has a strong score by, of all people, Kander and Ebb, mixed in with a lot of early 20th century popular songs.

It’s only a film (so far), and just like it lacks Styne and Merrill who composed and wrote lyrics to the original, it also lacks William Wyler, the original director, who is replaced by Herbert Ross, who staged the original film’s musical numbers. Streisand finally agreed to do it after seeing the script, thinking it was more than a half-baked sequel, and she’s right - Fanny feels more mature than the original, like it’s real character development.

It’s an underrated gem, I think! Maybe not a knockout, but Streisand is great, and the Kander and Ebb score is better than most. Fred Ebb in particular finds the maturer, more cynical, sarcastic voice of Brice in his lyrics . It also has pretty much all diegetic music, unlike the original, possibly because in the seven years between the films, musicals were out and music films were in. Streisand does a Brice impression that is much more recognisable as the late era Brice who was captured on film and tv than her early, more innocent years, which most people are unfamiliar with, and it really feels like she’s making an adult performance in the role, and shows her talent for comedy maybe even better than the original. A shame that so many songs are montaged, but Spotify gives you them in full!

This song, I Found A Million Dollar Baby (in a five and ten cent store), sees Barbra absolutely radiant in a top hat and tails, but was also originally written by Harry Warren, Mort Dixon and Billy Rose - the latter one of the characters in Funny Lady!

[electronicsquid]

Audience members enjoying the show at Casa Mañana

(Peter Stackpole. 1938)

[eppysboys]

Salvador Dali illustrations for chapters of Billy Rose’s autobiography Wine, Women and Words

“Now, when Billy came to write his autobiography Wine, Women and Words, he convinced Salvador Dali to supply the illustrations. Billy met Dali when he was producing events at the World’s Fair in 1939. Rose helped Dali get his Dream of Venus exhibited at the fair. The two became freinds with Dali even painting Billy a series of paintings The Seven Lively Arts as a mark of his respect in 1944. When these were lost in a fire at Billy’s home, Dali gave him a new painting called ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ in 1956 which was also the name of a perfume Dali was hawking.So Billy had Dali supply the sketches for his autobiography first published in 1948. Each sketch illustrated a different chapter which reflected on some important event in his life–like his work in theatre or more particularly Billy’s marriage to his second wife Eleanor Holm who he met while still married to Fanny Brice during the production of Aquacade. There was three versions of the book. The American version is the one you really want to collect as it has more pictures than the British version. Well, whaddya know, I got the British one. It’s a fine book, full of neat stories which are well matched by Dali’s drawings.” Paul Gallagher, 2019, Flashbak

[oldshowbiz]

Soupy Sales does Broadway

[citizenscreen]

Newlyweds Billy Rose and Fanny Brice. 1929

[travsd]

For National Swimming Pool Day: The Brief Vogue for Aquatic Spectacles

For National Swimming Pool Day: The Brief Vogue for Aquatic Spectacles

The Aquatic Chorus Line, Diving Like Dominoes It’s National Swimming Pool Day, and having already done a post on the ultimate swimming pool movie, The Swimmer with Burt Lancaster, today we thought we would present a brief snapshot of one particular type of aquatic entertainment (there are others). Following the lead of Coke, Kleenex and Xerox we’ll refer to the entire form as “Aquacades” for…

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