Customer Reviews

Silk Stockings (1955 Original Broadway Cast)

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SILK STOCKINGS is seldom performed today--and this is really a great pity, for on stage it is a memorable show: with words and music by the legendary Cole Porter and a script by Leueen MacGrath and the legendary George S. Kauffman, everything about the play is very "high style" indeed. Recorded in stereo shortly after the play's Broadway opening in 1955 with the original Don Walker orchestrations directed by Herbert Greene and with the original cast, this soundtrack is one of the better 1950s Broadway recordings.

The story, of course, is a riff on the classic Garbo film NINOTCHKA--the tale of an icy USSR agent (Hildegarde Neff) who arrives in Paris to check up on the behavior of several Soviet agents (Henry Lascoe, Leon Belasco, and David Opatoshu), only to find her communistic determinations undermined by the attentions of an American suitor (Don Ameche.) The story also contains a subplot about an American actress (Gretchen Wyler) on the loose in the City of Light, and the witty story offers considerable scope for Porter's ultra-urbane music and ultra-witty lyrics.

This would be Porter's last Broadway show, and some critics consider it one of his weakest scores--but that is really only true when compared with such frequently revived Porter classics as KISS ME KATE and ANYTHING GOES. Everything one could expect from Porter is here, from elegant ballads to wickedly witty patter songs with the most convoluted lyrics imaginable. "Paris Loves Lovers" offers a memorable duet between Ameche and Neff, as he details the sensual delights of the city even while she rattles off the party line in retaliation--and then goes on to verbally body slam the entire notion of romance with the comic dryness of "It's A Chemical Reaction, That's All." And "As On Through the Seasons We Sail" is a classic, if little known, Porter ballad.

But the real knock out here is Gretchen Wyler, who has three of Porter's drop-dead comic numbers in "Stereophonic Sound," "Satin and Silk," and "Josephine"--numbers that mock movie audiences, make hilarious commentary on underclothing, and bombastically present a Hollywood mythology of French history. Who would have thought Josephine was "commonly called Jo?" It's truly memorable stuff.

If you're looking for the crackle of Porter's 1930s work or the sly qualities of his 1940s hits, you may be disappointed with SILK STOCKINGS--for this is very much a 1950s musical, brash, lightweight, and with everything in the shop window. But no matter how you approach it, it is still Cole Porter. And even a lesser Cole Porter jewel is still a jewel for all that.

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--

I ordered this CD because I'm a fan of Hildegard Knef (Hildegarde Neff)and in Germany you can't buy songs by her of the 50th. But this record is more than an episode of her career. All actors sing brilliant an Cole Porter's music is fascinating. I'm also impressed by quality 50 years ago.

It was Cole Porter's score that led Silk Stockings to a 478 performance run. While it is not Porter at his best it contains plenty of swell numbers. Maybe the best is "All of you" which critic Fred Lounsberry called "a lyric masterpiece>"

Being a huge fan of the best of Cole Porter, I hope that his future reputation will not rest on this, his last Broadway show.....certainly one of the worst of Cole Porter.

The overture to this musicalization of the Ernst Lubitsch-Billy Wilder movie "Ninotchka" (starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas) is bright and bouncy in a typically 1950's way. And it all goes downhill from there. True, there are some clever lyrics in a couple of comic songs: "When we meet in sweet Siberia/ Far from Bolshevik hysteria...." and some lousy ones: "When the electromagnetic of the he-male/ Meets the electromagnetic of the she-male..." and, luckily for us, a few absolutely first-rate ones: "After watching your appeal from every angle/ There's a big romantic deal I've got to wangle/ For I've fallen for a certain lucious lass/ And it's not a passing fancy or a fancy pass."

But, even though the music is continually listenable,it is unremarkable and most of the lyrics are just not up to Porter's best.

And then the performances: Don Ameche simply sounds past his prime; Hildegarde Neff sounds lugubrious & hoarse and Gretchen Wyler hits so many sour notes, one cringes. The comic trio of Russians played by Leon Balasco, Henry Lascoe and David Opatoshu are charming. And their songs hit the mark each time.

The orchestrations and sound on this RCA disc are lush and the liner notes come complete with an interesting "history" of this troubled show, but all in all one is left with a very second-rate musical.

Too Bad: Some people think this not one of Porter's best. I remember when my musical comedy/drama class first heard it and the fun we had with its songs. It's stayed with me all these forty nine years and many of it's selections where used by Mervin Nelson in his musical comedy audition classes in New York in the sixties and seventies, with great success. If you don't know who Mervin Nelson is, you know little about Broadway musical history and I think if you've worked in the theatre for any length of time, "Silk Stockings" can get under your skin.

Cole Porter's last Broadway score, while not his best is certainly very pleasant.

The classic film NINOTCHKA does not cry out to be transformed into a musical and the authors did not do a spectacular job with the adaptation. The show was a modest hit running a little more than a year on Broadway. RCA Victor made the original cast album.

The cast is not the best. Hildegarde Kneff sounds more German than Russian as Ninotchka. Don Ameche has a sharp somehat nasal voice, and Gretchen Wyler's voice is not pleasant at all!
There are better voices on the film soundtrack but some of the saucier lyrics were toned down. Still, the movie version offers a more enjoyable listen retainng all but two of the songs of the stage score ("As On Through the Seasons We Sail" and "Hail Bibinski.)

The CD reissue has a dated sound: flat and boxy (like many early RCA cast albums.) The original LP cover (one of the most hideous ever used for an Lp!) was not retained for the Cd which uses instead a more attractive design from the 1965 Lp reissue.

There is nothing memorable in this score to the musicalized version of the Garbo film NINOTCHKA. Astonishing that Cole Porter wrote it. The show and the resultant film were hits but terribly mediocre. Why this score is on CD is a puzzlement when more worthy ones are not.