Customer Reviews

Anything Goes

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The "Anything Goes" from eOne is GREAT! This is the 1954 episode of the Colgate Comedy Hour that featured a much-abridged version of Cole Porter's 1934 Broadway show (later made into a movie and with many revivals on, and off-, Broadway. This "hour long" show starred Ethel Merman and Frank Sinatra with Bert Lahr and Sheree North filling out the cast. It was "Produced" by Jule Styne.

The show was done live but kinescopes were made and were circulated among collectors in poor condition for many years. After Merman's death, a relative called theatre writer Stephen Cole and said she found Merman's original kinescope print. Its from this print that eOne - and the Archive of American Television produced this DVD. Its in pristine condition!

Like many versions of the musical, other Porter songs are inserted into this production. At least eight full-length versions of "I Get a Kick out of you", "You Do Something to me", "All Through the Night" and the wonderful "Blow Gabriel Blow" are here in addition to two versions of the title song. When Lahr was asked to join the cast, he insisted that he and Merman reprise their duet - "Friendship" from their run of DuBarry Was A Lady. It's wonderful! As you will hear in the "bonus interview" with the show's musical arranger - Buddy Bregman (who was Styne's nephew) - Lahr often flubbed his lines. Look out for when he refers to Merman's character as "Annie Oakley" (when her character is Miss Oakley.).

The show is presented here with the commercials deleted, so it only runs 47 minutes. When the show originally aired the director thought that it might run "over" so they cut one song. The cast found themselves with four minutes to fill at the end, so we get an impromptu encore!

The "bonus interview" I noted above is with Bregman and is not dated - but is apparently fairly recent. It lasts nearly 25 minutes and Bregman does nearly all the talking. He is certainly engaging and has great stories to tell, skipping ahead in school so that he was in college when he was 16 (and living at the Beverly Hills Hotel while attending school. He has some great stories about Judy Garland too! I won't spoil the fun. You need to hear these for yourself.

The set has a nice 20-page booklet with lots of history from Cole. If I had one small complaint it is that the show itself is presented with nine chapter stops but none are at the beginning of the 10 musical numbers. It wouldn't have taken much to index the DVD so that viewers could return to selected performances. But that's not enough to even drop my rating one notch.

This DVD belongs in EVERY American Musical Theatre collection!

Steve Ramm

"Anything Phonographic"

For anybody who has never seen la Merm strutting her stuff, this is an excellent opportunity to see why she was the toast of Broadway for decades.

But, for fans of the play, this version has been chopped and clipped and cut and sewn into something that barely even resembles "Anything Goes." It's a shame that, with each of the versions of the Cole Porter classic, there has yet to be a filmed version of the actual play with the intended songs and dances.

Frank Sinatra sings pleasantly - though his being the love interest of Merman - easily 25+ years his senior - is a little ridiculous. Sheree North as the gangster's moll does a very credible job in another role that has been cut up and blue penciled into oblivion. Bert Lahr is Bert Lahr - yes, that means very funny and very professional.

I'm giving this production three ''s. Really, just one star for the production as a whole. But, it is definitely worth seeing for Ethel Merman's performance. There is nothing like seeing Ethel face forward, plant her feet, and belt to the balcony! She's a real theatrical legend and deserves to be seen.

Ethyl Merman does a standout job reprising her Broadway performance of "Anything Goes", with Frank Sinatra's velvet voice and the hijinks of Bert Lahr (o.k., Bert sings a bit, too, let's just leave it at that!)

What a joy to watch this after all those years of having this great show locked away in the vault. Sure it's before my time and probably yours, too, but I found it really enjoyable, at least knowing about all the major performers.

The original commercials are quite interesting, too. I highly recommend AG for everyone!

This is a 50-minute TV musical from the 1950s, set in the Roaring Twenties. It's built around Cole Porter songs, some of which are from his 1934 Broadway musical of the same title.

The plot and dialog are radically different from the Broadway original, though there are some common points: it's still a shipboard comedy, Merman again plays a nightclub singer named Reno Sweeney, and there's still a comical gangster named Moonface (played beautifully by Bert Lahr) and a pompous nobleman named Lord Evelyn. But the script was largely new for this TV version.

It's a great cast and the program is fun, as long as you're not expecting the Broadway show. One highlight for theater buffs: Merman and Lahr singing "Friendship," which they originally introduced together in another Porter musical in the 1930s.

The picture and audio quality on this DVD release are a pleasant surprise: they're much clearer than any of the earlier video releases I've seen of this live broadcast.

It is The Ethel Merman Show...and you know how loud she is...

But Frank just smiles over the whole thing and the two take

on a Cole Porter score and make it a great TV musical.

Of course this is a great old classic Broadway musical. It is most enjoyable, but is in black and white. Be aware that it does not follow the play story line that most high schools use for their productions. Still, it is a great introductory activity to show students in order to help prep them for the school version...not to mention the stars of days gone by....nothing like Frank Sinatra and Ethel Merman.

Any similarity between the hit broadway show and this Ethel Merman vehicle is purely unintentional. Since it was broadcast in the early days of television I can overlook the tacky sets and cheesy costumes. It follows none of the original story, Porter songs have been inserted willy-nilly and Frank Sinatra looks totally lost and out of place. The idea of Sinatra & Merman as a couple actually turned my stomach. Lyrics have been changed (".....you're Crosby's salary". Crosby was not around in the 20s) and Sherri North seems to serve no purpose than to strutt her "stuff" and add to the scenery. Bert Lahr may just as well be in his Cowardly Lion costume from "The Wizard of Oz" because his shtick has nothing to do with anything. What a hideous mess............

I loved Frank Sinatra and like Ethel Merman but this Video was terrible. I thought it was going to be a movie and you stated in the Information that Bind Crosby was in this and he was not. This was a live TV show and it was terrible. The singing was great but everything else was not good. You could see that Frank Sinatra whom I am a great fan of was not comfortable in this show. Do not buy this you will very disappointed.