| re: Barbra vs Carol in HELLO, DOLLY! (long) |
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| Posted by: |
pierce 05:43 am EDT 04/03/14 |
| In reply to: |
re: Barbra vs Carol in HELLO, DOLLY! (long) - bicoastal 06:47 pm EDT 04/02/14 |
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Julie Andrews hadn't been scarred by Star! when Hello, Dolly! was being cast; when Streisand was announced for the lead role, Andrews was still riding high with the success of Thoroughly Modern Millie (she was named the top box office star for 1967). The doomed Gertrude Lawrence biography wasn't even released in the States until after Dolly! had completed filming.
And while Billy Rose's Jumbo was indeed a box office disappointment when released in 1962, Doris Day was still named the top box office star of the year thanks to the smash hit That Touch Of Mink (she was also the top box office star for 1963 and 1964 as well). But there's no question her box office pull had dwindled by the time Dolly! was being cast. With Six You Get Eggroll was actually profitable and one of her top ten box office hits, but it wasn't released until after Streisand was signed to play Dolly.
Dolly! producer Ernest Lehman initially thought Carol Channing should be cast in the title role, but he changed his mind after seeing Thoroughly Modern Millie. The name most often associated with the project (when it was in development) was Elizabeth Taylor. You're right that there was a backlash when Streisand's casting was announced, but it subsided after Funny Girl was released; after that, people wanted to see what she could do with the part. Dolly! was the fifth highest-grossing film of the year, but (as you stated) that wasn't enough to cover its cost. And the critical reception wasn't as uniformly negative as some have stated; reviews were mixed in New York (the Daily News gave it 4 stars and Pauline Kael recommended the film in the New Yorker) and uniformly positive in Los Angeles. Notices across the country were mixed to positive, and most critics tended to be kinder than they were in New York.
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re: Barbra vs Carol in HELLO, DOLLY! (long) - bicoastal 06:47 pm EDT 04/02/14 |
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Streisand being cast as Dolly was announced in May 1967 - AlanScott 07:04 pm EDT 04/02/14 |
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