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| re: what no one has mentioned | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 04:27 am EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: what no one has mentioned - StageDoorJohnny 07:51 pm EDT 08/31/18 | |
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| Your post made me look up Joel Grey on IBDB because I had never thought about what he had done before Cabaret. Wow. His Broadway career goes back to 1951!! | |
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| re: what no one has mentioned | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 09:02 am EDT 09/01/18 | |
| In reply to: re: what no one has mentioned - KingSpeed 04:27 am EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| Joel Grey did regional theatre in the 40's and had small roles in a couple of 50's movie musicals. He did a lot of TV work prior to Cabaret including the title role in a musical version of Jack and the Beanstalk(in '56) with Leora Dana, Cyril Ritchard, Celeste Holm, and Dennis King. He even played Spring Byington's nephew (I think) Jimmy during the '57 season of December Bride. In any case even though his roles were always small, he was instantly recognizable and amazingly talented. He would have been perfect as Wykeham in the '52 film version of Where's Charley? if Warner Bros. had had the foresight to take a chance and cast him (since he was hardly an unknown quantity in the entertainment world). After all they did make Doris Day the lead in her first film based on her prowess as a big band singer. |
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| re: what no one has mentioned | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 10:23 pm EDT 09/02/18 | |
| In reply to: re: what no one has mentioned - BroadwayTonyJ 09:02 am EDT 09/01/18 | |
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| I think Joel Grey in the title role of WHERE'S CHARLEY? back in the day is an excellent idea in terms of his talent and his suitability for the role, but I think it's beyond the bounds of all reality that it would have ever entered the minds of any Warner Bros. executives to cast him in that role in the film version in 1952. (Really not the same situation as Doris Day, I would say.) | |
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| re: what no one has mentioned | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 07:58 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:52 am EDT 09/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: what no one has mentioned - Michael_Portantiere 10:23 pm EDT 09/02/18 | |
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| Oh, I know -- I was just in a fanciful mood (again) when I did that post. I guess being the son of Mickey Katz doesn't open as many doors as being the daughter of Judy Garland. It's too bad Borscht Capades wasn't a big hit on Broadway. Still Grey was cast as Bender, a showy role in the '52 Warners musical About Face -- his performance is the only thing worth mentioning in that awful film. I was watching Where's Charley? this morning. Although he is charming in the "Once in Love with Amy" sequence, the 48-year old Bolger is laughably (actually grotesquely) cast as a college student -- he looks like his roommate's father. He's even 7 years older then Margaretta Scott, who plays his aunt. Maybe if Warners had reconceived the film as a vehicle for Doris Day (as Amy) and Gene Nelson (as Jack), it would have allowed them to cast someone as relatively unknown (but talented and age appropriate) as Joel Grey in the title role. I'm sure that would have made Loesser happy, and most likely the film would be less obscure today. Although Day might have come across a bit like a Mrs. Robinson-type (a role which I believe she would be considered for some years later). |
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