MovieChat Forums > It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) Discussion > Too much opera, needs more Jule Styne m...

Too much opera, needs more Jule Styne musical numbers

posted 15 years ago by oldsenior
7 replies | jump to latest

I think the three classical numbers were due to Leo B Mayer's desire to be thought of as "classy", him and Sam Goldwyn.

It's like if it was today, you don't put in classical numbers in "High School Musical" (although I have'nt seen any of the "HSM" movies), The time does'nt warrant that kind of music in today's musical world, nor was it in the 1947 post war era when "Brooklyn" was made.

Alright, I'll give the wonderful Kathryn Grayson one semi-classical number, but geez, you had Frank Sinatra in his early "heyday", singing wonderful Jule Styne/Sammy Kahn music. I counted 8 musical numbers (3 classical) when there should have been at least 12 or 15 numbers, with Sinatra crooning at his best the love ballads of Styne, as well as the up-beat numbers, and the Durante tunes.

Also, why would you want Sinatra singing "classical"?

[–] trhickey 15 years ago

To a carpenter, every problem looks like a nail. Cast Kethryn Grayson in a film, and a lot of the music comes out sounding classical.
Be happy you haven't seen any of the "High School Musical" series...

[–] dmnemaine 13 years ago

Actually, there was an audience for classical music in the 1940s. The youth of the 1940s weren't as narrow-minded musically as a lot of the young people have become in recent years.

[–] skiddoo 13 years ago

I agree! Movies then used all sorts of music, educating the audience that good music was good music no matter what the genre. The breadth of talent under contract was astounding. Postwar films started to move into the "music for kids" point of view where classical music or ballads had to be "updated" the way Sinatra did at the party and the way the kids did with his song at the music store until he won them over.

Starting around the 1920s there was a strong push for self-improvement and that included an appreciation for opera and classical music, rebelling against schlock. Of course their children rebelled against what they liked.

[–] steven_torrey 12 years ago

WQXR the radio station of the New York Times played classical music at that time. It has since been sold and is now part of Public Radio. The point being, there was a place in those days for classical music on radio on a regular basis. And they had excellent voices for classical music. They handle it excellently.

[–] elena-28 13 years ago

I came in on the last 45 minutes or so of this movie just now. I think Sinatra sang classical very nicely, and harmonized well with Grayson. Also, I love the Bell Song from Lakme and Grayson did very well with it (until the last note, which I think Lily Pons handled just a smidge better and with a purer tone). I also think Sinatra had a lot of fun singing "It's Gotta Come from the Heart" with Durante.

Besides, this story happens in Brooklyn (as a Brooklynite I am pleased, though Frankie's a Jerseyite by birth) and as it states at the beginning of the movie version of "Arsenic and Old Lace", "This story takes place in Brooklyn, where anything can happen ... and usually does."

So it should surprise you that Frankie sings Mozart in Brooklyn?

[–] aciolino 13 years ago

It wasn't too long ago, before the hegemony of rock and roll and it's concomitant destruction of musical taste, that people were far more diverse in their appreciation of different kinds of music.

Ergo, most of the people of the audience of this time either KNEW the classical pieces well enough to really enjoy them well, or were able to enjoy them for themselves.

Troglodytes like you, no doubt born AFTER 1975 or so, cannot imagine that.

Go away. You and your kind.

[–] jayhn1111 12 years ago

I"m with you. I really really don't like Opera singing.