Something I ran a few years ago but you may have missed. One of a series of promotional Radio programs done for various studios and feature films of the 1950s, starting with this one – a promo for the film Guys & Dolls, starring, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and Frank Sinatra. Actor Walter Pidgeon conducts the interviews and this half-hour program features, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, director Frank Mankiewicz, Vivian Blaine and Samuel Goldwyn.
Guys and Dolls was a 1955 American musical film starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. The film was made by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is based on the 1950 Broadway musical by composer and lyricist Frank Loesser, with a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, which, in turn, was loosely based on “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” (1933) and “Blood Pressure”, two short stories by Damon Runyon.[1] Dances were choreographed by Michael Kidd, who had staged the dances for the Broadway production.
At Samuel Goldwyn and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s request, Frank Loesser wrote three new songs for the film: “Pet Me Poppa”, “(Your Eyes Are the Eyes of) A Woman in Love”, and “Adelaide”, the last written specifically for Sinatra. Five songs in the stage musical were omitted from the movie: “A Bushel and a Peck”, “My Time of Day”, “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” (although portions of these three songs are heard instrumentally as background music), “More I Cannot Wish You” and “Marry the Man Today”.
It’s an interesting glimpse into a long-gone aspect of Hollywood and I don’t believe these interviews have been heard since they were first broadcast. Apparently, this was supposed to have been recorded for the BBC, but I have no idea if it was broadcast in the States.
In any event, here’s a rarity from a classic film of the 1950s and the first of several over the next few months.
