Advanced look at Thoroughly Modern Millie Blu-Ray (1 Viewer)

[Noel Aguirre]

This is the movie that cost Channing the role of Dolly in the film. I guess they figured 1.85 was bad enough. In 2.20:1 you would have had a tsunami.

You know I have heard this many times but this seems more like a myth than makes sense . CC received both supporting Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and wins the GG. Maybe Babs and Ray Stark simply took HD from her and this performance had nothing to do with it- after all she steals every scene she’s in. And this role is not how she played Dolly. I think she simply wasn’t box office enough for a major production like Julie in My Fair Lady at the time that was made. But to say this cost her that roll seems odd to say the least.

 

[Thomas T]

You know I have heard this many times but this seems more like a myth than makes sense . CC received both supporting Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and wins the GG. Maybe Babs and Ray Stark simply took HD from her and this performance had nothing to do with it- after all she steals every scene she’s in. And this role is not how she played Dolly. I think she simply wasn’t box office enough for a major production like Julie in My Fair Lady at the time that was made. But to say this cost her that roll seems odd to say the least.

It simply comes down to box office value. Channing is a Broadway legend but meant zip to moviegoers. Which is why Lucille Ball played Mame and not Angela Lansbury, why Doris Day starred in Pajama Game and not Janis Paige, why Natalie Wood starred in West Side Story and not Carol Lawrence, why Debbie Reynolds starred in Unsinkable Molly Brown and not Tammy Grimes, why Barbra Streisand starred in On A Clear Day and not Barbara Harris, why Rosalind Russell starred in Gypsy and not Ethel Merman, etc.

 

[roxy1927]

“I really wanted to use Carol Channing in the picture,” Lehman admitted. “I mean, who else would you use? But then I saw a rough cut of Thoroughly Modern Millie.”


This is from the Barbara Archives a fan site where I just found it. But I remember reading it somewhere else a long time ago.
Also Streisand had absolutely no movie box office history and finished Dolly before Funny Girl was even released. She also was not a certainty for the film of Funny Girl.
Her manager told her if she did not sign a contract with Stark for four movies she probably would not get Funny Girl. Though I can't imagine who else they would have used. Shirley MacLaine with Lisa Kirk or Marnie Nixon doing the vocals?

 

[Chelsearicky]

“I really wanted to use Carol Channing in the picture,” Lehman admitted. “I mean, who else would you use? But then I saw a rough cut of Thoroughly Modern Millie.”


This is from the Barbara Archives a fan site where I just found it. But I remember reading it somewhere else a long time ago.

'Who else would you use?'...........Preferably not someone 26 years old.

 

[Will Krupp]

“I really wanted to use Carol Channing in the picture,” Lehman admitted. “I mean, who else would you use? But then I saw a rough cut of Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

What a shitty thing for Lehman to say.

That's not to say I buy it. To me, it reeks more of defensiveness regarding the criticism levelled at Barbra's casting (For the record, I think she's fine, by the way, if ill-suited to the material) than anything else but jeeze Ernie, a little gallantry would go a long way here.

 

[Chelsearicky]

What a shitty thing for Lehman to say.

That's not to say I buy it. To me, it reeks more of defensiveness regarding the criticism levelled at Barbra's casting (For the record, I think she's fine, by the way, if ill-suited to the material) than anything else but jeeze Ernie, a little gallantry would go a long way here.

CC got the last laugh.......an Oscar nom and Golden Globe win.

 

[Will Krupp]

CC got the last laugh.......an Oscar nom and Golden Globe win.

True, but I get the impression that this quote was from AFTER the release of the DOLLY movie so I think she had already won those when he (spitefully, it seems) said it.

 

[roxy1927]

Let's face it Channing didn't get Gentlemen Prefer Blondes either. And nobody missed her. She was not going to bring anyone into the Dolly film except for a few Broadway fanatics. Betty Grable would have been a better choice having a movie star face and musical chops but nobody but a few geriatrics were going to see her either. Rogers was the right age as well but she was performing kabuki and not even the geriatrics wanted to see that.

 

[David Weicker]

Let's face it Channing didn't get Gentlemen Prefer Blondes either. And nobody missed her. She was not going to bring anyone into the Dolly film except for a few Broadway fanatics. Betty Grable would have been a better choice having a movie star face and musical chops but nobody but a few geriatrics were going to see her either. Rogers was the right age as well but she was performing kabuki and not even the geriatrics wanted to see that.

what an insulting post.

You manage to throw Channing, Grable, Rogers, and geriatrics all under the bus in just a few sentences.

 

[usrunnr]

It's a tragedy that Channing didn't get to make the "Hello, Dolly" film. I believe we saw every tour she did in this, plus her one-woman show, plus the one with Rita Moreno. One of many lost Hollywood chances to preserve and protect Broadway classics. I'll try to stay cool about what is coming next.

 

[Joel Arndt]

I was fortunate to see Channing in the 1978 Broadway revival of Dolly and it was one of the most powerful and memorable theater going experiences I've ever had. She owned that stage.

It's a shame that Channing's performance wasn't captured for posterity in the film version, but I like Streisand in it. I've always thought Betty Grable was an interesting casting choice as she had done the show and it would've been her return to Fox, plus she was the right age. Geriatric?! Hardly, Grable was only in her early 50s when Dolly was filmed.

Looking forward to Thoroughly Modern Millie on Blu-ray. Long overdue!

 

[roxy1927]

Clearly none of you were going to the movies in the late 60s or have any idea of the cultural revolution that was going on at the time. Read up on it.
NOBODY regrets Channing did not make Blondes. And Channing was not going to bring in a dime on the Dolly movie. Channing like Martin and Merman was made to fill Broadway theaters not movie houses.
Grable was no longer a movie star and Rogers caked on so much make up that when I was a little boy and saw her picture in the paper when she opened in Dolly it frightened me.
If you are offended by that you are very easily offended.
And in 1969 if you were over 50...Ha!
And I am now a geriatric well over 50 no longer even on the sunny side of 60 so I know of what I speak.
And I saw the original cast in Dolly at the St James! Well Eileen Brennan had just left.

 

[roxy1927]

And I get senior discounts without even asking for them and I hate it!
Don't they think I'm 45?

 

[usrunnr]

In the Sixties, I was mostly attending the Village Theater in Claremont, California. I saw many foreign films and fell in love with a few of them including "8-1/2" (still a favorite), "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (still a favorite), some Bergman, some Antonioni, more than I could name. I often missed the bus home and had to walk many miles in the dead of night. At the same time I saw just about every production at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera at Philharmonic Hall, until the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center opened with Florence Henderson in "The King and I". Finally the first tour of 'Dolly' came and tickets went on sale in person on the plaza of the Music Center. I remember it was a very hot day and many of us drenched ourselves in the central fountain, since removed. It was worth it though. Many memories. I think I was pretty much in touch with what was going on, even considering my youth.

Prior to all this I seem to remember first reading "Lord of the Flies" while bumping along in the covered wagon.

 

[John Maher_289910]

The wonderful thing about HELLO, DOLLY!, is it is the perfect musical. It cannot be ruined, no matter who is playing Dolly. I've seen everybody from Phyllis Diller to Sally Struthers, and they were all good. In fact, it is far more important that the chorus be good than the Dolly! It is so perfectly crafted, it cannot go wrong. Still, nobody, but nobody, was more perfect in the role of Dolly, than Carol Channing. There wasn't a wasted word. She got a laugh on virtually, every line. That, and she exuded so much warmth. A once in a lifetime merger of an actress to a role. You could write a book on what is wrong with the film version, but still it succeeds. Once they went with bombast over warmth (there is nothing warm about Babs' Dolly), they pulled out all the stops. They gave us everything a 70MM film should have. Not being a fan of Streisand, it is the only film she's ever made that I like. All that being said, the last tour with Betty Buckley was the best production of the musical I ever saw. The production was flawless. Still nobody is even close to the perfection that was Channing, in the role.

 

[roxy1927]

Really the tour over the Gower Champion original?
As a boy I wrote to Champion asking about some of his staging and he wrote me a very nice letter in response. I left it in my parents' house when I moved then they moved and sadly I no longer have it.
Little Miss Marker had a preview at the Criterion and Channing entered pretty much as you see in the newsreel of Millie with everybody cheering.

 

[usrunnr]

We liked Sally Struthers as Dolly as well (Palm Springs).

There was also an amateur college production in the gym in Santa Maria,California years ago that was HUGE and everyone was good, proving that the play itself makes it difficult to ruin.

 

[John Maher_289910]

Really the tour over the Gower Champion original?
As a boy I wrote to Champion asking about some of his staging and he wrote me a very nice letter in response. I left it in my parents' house when I moved then they moved and sadly I no longer have it.
Little Miss Marker had a preview at the Criterion and Channing entered pretty much as you see in the newsreel of Millie with everybody cheering.

Yes. As good as Champion's original was, this latest tour surpassed. it. However, that would not have been possible without Champion's original, which was often duplicated by the tour. It was just so perfect. I actually cried, during Sunday Clothes and It Only Takes a Moment; and, the Hello, Dolly! number was the best I've ever seen. Pretty much the greatest show I've ever seen, and that's a lot of shows.

 

[Mark Mayes]

I saw Channing in "Dolly" in the late 70s and thought her quite mechanical at that point (and why not!?) My mother saw the original as well as that later production and thought the 60s production superior, but maybe it was an "off" matinee. Carleton Carpenter played Barnaby with Channing (and other famous Dollys...Dollies?) and thought her very disconnected when writing about it in his autobiography.
In any case, she's scintillating in TMM, and I ordered this directly from KL, hoping that would get it to me at least by Street Date. Anyone had any experience with going that route over Amazon?

 

[cinemiracle]

In the Sixties, I was mostly attending the Village Theater in Claremont, California. I saw many foreign films and fell in love with a few of them including "8-1/2" (still a favorite), "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (still a favorite), some Bergman, some Antonioni, more than I could name. I often missed the bus home and had to walk many miles in the dead of night. At the same time I saw just about every production at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera at Philharmonic Hall, until the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center opened with Florence Henderson in "The King and I". Finally the first tour of 'Dolly' came and tickets went on sale in person on the plaza of the Music Center. I remember it was a very hot day and many of us drenched ourselves in the central fountain, since removed. It was worth it though. Many memories. I think I was pretty much in touch with what was going on, even considering my youth.

Prior to all this I seem to remember first reading "Lord of the Flies" while bumping along in the covered wagon.

I saw Florence Henderson in the Broadway revival in 1967 of SOUTH PACIFIC at the Lincoln Centre.Great memories.