My Square Laddie [Import]

Nancy Walker | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 19, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Sepia Recordings
• ASIN: B000N60HC2
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,869 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Many will find it hard to believe that Nancy Walker, the actress who is best remembered for her recurring roles on TV as Ada, Rhoda's Jewish mother on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"; Rock Hudson's house-keeper on "Macmillan & Wife"; Rosie, the waitress who demonstrated Bounty paper towels on commercials as the "quicker picker upper", and as Angela, Sophia's estranged sister in "The Golden Girls", had actually made records and was a pretty good singer too.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nancy Walker's 1941 Recordings from Best Foot Forward, March 21, 2009

By 

Bruce K. Hanson "Bruce K. Hanson" (Petersburg, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Square Laddie (Audio CD)

In the interest of full disclosure I must write that it was at my suggestion that Sepia Records released a Nancy Walker CD. You see, I desperately wanted the four RCA 78 rpm recordings of Walker singing songs from the 1941 Broadway musical, "Best Foot Forward" to be transferred to CD. That I was asked to write the CD notes was just the icing on the cake. These being my only contributions, I feel justified to write on what a outstanding job Sepia records accomplished with these rare and wonderful recordings.

First of all, I had no idea that my old 78 RPM records of "Who Do You Think I Am?", "Just A Little Joint With A Juke Box", "Ev'ry Time", and "Shady Lady Bird" could ever sound so fresh and clear. Of the four songs above, Nancy Walker only sang "Juke Box" in the play and even that lovely and poignant ballad was deleted from the 1943 MGM film. It wasn't until the 1963 revival that the song was reintroduced by a youngster named Liza Minnelli in the Off-Broadway production of "Best Foot Forward". (For more selections from "Best Foot Forward" you must obtain the MGM soundtrack in Rhino Records which includes Walker with Harry James on "Alive and Kickin'" as well as the show stopper, "The Three B's", with James, June Allyson,and Gloria DeHaven.) Walker imbues the RCA recordings with a softness that one might not associate with the singer-comedian best known for her later roles as Ida Morgenstein on the television series, "Rhoda"; the housekeepr on "Macmillan and Wife"; or the Bounty Paper Towel selling waitress, Rosie. But Nancy Walker enjoyed a career as one of the best singer-comedians on Broadway with too few visits to Hollywood in the nineteen-foties and fifties.

Of course, being titled "My Square Laddie", the CD starts off with a very humorous 1956 take-off of "My Fair Lady" starring Reginald Gardiner, Nancy Walker and ZaSu Pitts followed by bonus tracks- sixteen! There are the four "Best Foot Foward" tracks and then a collection of Walker solos accompanied by David Walker and recorded in 1955; numbers associated with her Broadway years as well as some beautiful tunes famous in their own right. These include: "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet", "I Can Cook Too", "Some Other Time", "I'm Tired of Texas", "Long Ago and Far Away", and "Irving". On top of that, The booklet boasts some equally rare photos of Walker from her MGM years (1943-44) through Broadway of the fifties. Finally, Tony Middleton has provided the recording dates of all the songs on the CD. Oh, and by the way...there's a wonderful 1959 Nancy Walker release still not on CD: "I Hate Men". Hint, hint!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars hilarious treat for FAIR LADY fans, April 26, 2009

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: My Square Laddie (Audio CD)

MY SQUARE LADDIE, Max Showalter and William Howe's wicked parody of MY FAIR LADY, boasts the talented musical comedienne Nancy Walker.

An hilarious role reversal of "My Fair Lady", MY SQUARE LADDIE stars Nancy Walker as a Brooklynese woman who makes a deal with her girlfriend (ZaSu Pitts) that she can completely re-train a stuffy Englishman (Reginald Gardiner) to speak slang. The only number which totally follows MY FAIR LADY in terms of base melody is the hilarious "I Could Have Boozed All Night". The rest of the songs are no less than a delight.

With interlinking dialogue and sound effects, MY SQUARE LADDIE is best played in it's complete form, although Sepia has wisely broken the songs down into individual tracks for ease of navigation. A great comedy piece for Walker to sink her teeth into. For extra fun try playing it back-to-back with a MY FAIR LADY recording!

The rest of the CD is dedicated to more of Nancy Walker's magical vocal stylings, including the songs she recorded from BEST FOOT FORWARD (the Broadway musical which took her to Hollywood in 1943), as well as the wonderful "I Can Cook, Too" and "Some Other Time" from Bernstein, Comden & Green's ON THE TOWN, one of Walker's biggest Broadway hits.

It's a perfect tribute to the woman whose early contribuitions to the world of musical theatre are now sadly diminished in comparison--and public memory--with the roles she played in sitcoms like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Golden Girls". [SEPIA 1090]