MovieChat Forums > I Need To Know > Singer in "Sleuth" (1972) [PROBABLY FORE...

Singer in "Sleuth" (1972) [PROBABLY FOREVER AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY]


I'm sure somebody has posted about this before because it's seemingly such a big mystery (see http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/forum/displayquestion.php?topicid=7598, http://en.allexperts.com/q/Classic-Film-2786/Cole-Porter-Sleuth-movie.htm, and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069281/board/thread/10107549), so, if there is another thread about this, it would help me a great deal if someone can post a link to it.

The mystery is that just about no one seems to know who sang three Cole Porter songs--"Just One of Those Things," "You Do Something to Me," and "Anything Goes"--in the movie Sleuth (1972). Here's a link to a video of Laurence Olivier's character dancing to them in a scene from the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_VVr8ScGOc. One would think that by this time someone would have some idea of who sang them, but the identity of the singer just seems a mystery despite some promising leads over the years, none of which have panned out. Even more curiously, there is no singer identified in the end credits, and the three songs did not appear on the movie's soundtrack.


From what I could find, the last time that someone could look into this question was at the website "Soundtrack Collector" on March 5 of this year; the last poster stated that he had found "the exact song" of "Anything Goes" on Amazon Music for $1.29. After checking Amazon Music and looking through/previewing the many different versions of "Anything Goes," I was unable to find the song to which he referred and could not find the version from Sleuth. The poster immediately before him suggested that "You Do Something to Me" was on the soundtrack for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight, but, after checking that, I discovered that that version was sung by Frank Luther for Leo Reisman's orchestra, a candidate considered since the beginning--and not the actual singer from Sleuth. The weird thing about the whole thing is that it seems so mysterious. Why should it be so difficult to find who sang three songs? Why wasn't the singer's name in the credits? Why didn't the soundtrack include the songs?


My only guess--and I concede that this is far-fetched--is that it's on purpose. The film is all about tricks, games, mysteries, puzzles, etc., and, unlikely as it sounds, I wonder if director Joseph Mankiewicz and screenwriter Anthony Shaffer made this mysterious singer so hard to find on purpose. That is to say, I wonder if the versions were specially created for the film or put together from other recordings (somehow)--or that it's someone whom we wouldn't suspect of being a singer (someone suggested Michael Caine himself, though I very much doubt it). More likely, of course, no one ever thought that anyone would be trying so hard to find this guy--but that still leaves the above questions unanswered. I apologize for going on so long, but I did want to provide all the background that I could. Thank you all very much--it would be great if someone could finally put this old question to rest!

reply

Excellent news, everyone!

Several days ago, I sent an e-mail to Michael Feinstein (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Feinstein), and--while he hasn't yet responded to me--he posted the question on his Facebook page, with 362 "likes," 77 comments, and 23 "shares."

So now we have even more people searching for the singer...!

Link here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1715334931829080&id=304543142908273

reply

I really hope somebody out there can find out who it was for you Salzmank.

reply

Trying to bump this again, just in case anyone new is interested…

The Feinstein thing, sadly, was inconclusive, and we haven’t made much progress on this front.

reply

Not sure if you are still here and monitoring this thread, but I came across this band whose lead singer's voice reminded me of the Sleuth singer you have been searching for. His name was Bill Kenny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l6vqPUM_FE

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Bill+Kenny

It's probably not him but I thought I would throw it in the mix anyway.

reply

I don’t usually pop in here anymore, but I’m still around the ’net. Thanks kindly, keybored! I remember someone else recommended Kenny at one point… There are definitely some points in common with our man, but I don’t think he’s the one.

We have made a bit of progress. We’ve found a ’70s singer who sang Porter in this old-fashioned style–David Kernan ([url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kernanp/url]). And he’s still alive–I just can’t find any contact information to ask him!

See what you think:

https://youtu.be/HyVqj-4Z3UI

reply

A very long shot but try this agency, who had someone on their books that worked on the radio with him (I think).

http://www.bcltd.org/actresses/julia-sutton/. As an agency, they may also be able to provide some useful search tips if it's a dead end.

Also try this agency, who may have had contact with him a few years back http://www.diamondmanagement.co.uk/eden-phillips.

Try Stephen Sondheim's management also as he has worked many times with him http://www.barclayagency.com/site/speaker/stephen-sondheim.

As a very, very, very long shot, why not contact Michael Caine, (who also starred in Zulu with him) as he might like the mystery of it all https://contactanycelebrity.com/trial/do/celebrityView?name=Michael%20Caine.

You never know...

reply