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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 09:48 am EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - Billhaven 11:21 pm EDT 03/31/21 | |
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| Hepburn had been told that her vocals would be used (w/ some assistance on the high notes from dubbing) throughout the film. When she was interviewed at the opening, she apparently still thought that was the case. However, she had been lied to and stated years later that she never would have accepted the role if she had known her vocals would mostly not be used. | |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:25 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - BroadwayTonyJ 09:48 am EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| If she didn't know at the time of the opening, then she was the only person in the Western World who didn't know. For months before the movie opened, it was said in the press that Marni Nixon had provided Hepburn's singing voice, and not just in articles about Nixon playing Eliza onstage in the City Center production that opened five months before the film. The soundtrack album was released a couple of weeks before the movie, and that made the situation clear enough that Douglas Watt, reviewing it in the Daily News, seemed to think that Hepburn was not heard on it at all. | |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 05:47 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 05:45 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - AlanScott 04:25 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| I remember the interview (although it was 57 years ago). I believe she gave it on or just prior to the opening. It could have been previously taped. My recollection was that Hepburn stated that the vocals in the film were hers with only the high notes being dubbed. She did not acknowledge that entire musical numbers had been dubbed. I do believe she was surprised by the question. It's possible she just said what she said because it was the diplomatic thing to do under the circumstances. I've always assumed she was just telling the truth (as she knew it). In '64 my family subscribed to 4 daily Chicago papers (Tribune, Sun-Times, American, Daily News) and 2 weekly magazines (Time and Newsweek). I was just a 16-year old kid and was probably not aware of columnists who reported rumors and gossip. Did Warner Bros. officially acknowledge Marni Nixon's vocals were used for virtually all of Eliza's songs prior to the film's release? Was that information ever stated publicly on TV reports about the film before it was completed? Did this information appear in print as fact, written by respected journalists? I'm not trying to be a jerk. I just don't recall ever reading or hearing the fact that Hepburn had been almost completely dubbed prior to the film's opening. When I went to downtown Chicago with my mom and grandmother to see My Fair Lady in '64, I thought I would be hearing Hepburn sing Eliza's songs. I was familiar enough with her performances in Funny Face and Breakfast at Tiffany's to know that most of the vocals in the film were not hers. |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 06:19 am EDT 04/03/21 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:17 am EDT 04/03/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - BroadwayTonyJ 05:45 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| Oh, I don't think you're being a jerk. If anything, I feel like I was a bit snarky in my reply above. I should first say that the reply below by TheOtherOne is thoroughly correct as far as I know. I'll give quotes from some of the articles I found before I posted my earlier reply. There were more, but I often labor too long over replies here, sometimes never completing them to my satisfaction and therefore never posting them. In a Newsday article titled "'My Fair Lady' Dancing Along," from the edition dated November 8, 1963 (11 months before the film's release), Hepburn was quoted thus: "As for the singing, I have recorded all the songs, and the girl (soprano Marni Nixon) has recorded them, too. Now it is up to the studio as to which will be used. I expect the songs will emerge as a combination of us both. "I have done my best, but after all, I am not a singer. And some of the songs are not easy. 'I Could Have Danced All Night' is practically an aria." In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of November 20, 1963, “At Random" columnist Harold V. Cohen wrote that Hepburn's vocal coach, Sue Seiger Seton, praised her highly and said that she “will be a revelation." But he told his readers that Frederick Loewe had told him this: “Forget it. Audrey won't sing a note. She'll be a wonderful Eliza. I've seen some of the rushes, but the numbers will be dubbed in for her by somebody else." Cohen then wrote that Jack L. Warner insisted to him a couple of days later that “Audrey will do every song herself." Cohen then quoted Hepburn (as quoted in AP dispatch by Bob Thomas): "I have already recorded all of the songs for 'My Fair Lady.' So has Marni Nixon. The studio has both soundtracks. It's entirely up to the powers that be which sound track [sic] they use." On March 17, 1964, Daily News “On the Town" columnist Charles McHarry reported (somewhat inaccurately) that “Marni Nixon, the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn in the film version of 'My Fair Lady,' actually will do the Liza Doolittle role in a West Coast stage production this spring." In the Elmira Star Gazette on May 4, 1964, Dorothy Kilgallen’s syndicated column reported that “Marni Nixon, who has done soundtrack singing for Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn, took the lead in the upcoming City Center production of 'My Fair Lady' . . ..” Btw, I have found that syndicated columns often appeared in different papers on different dates. This was true even for daily columnists. So when I give these dates, it may be that the column from which I'm quoting appeared in other papers on different dates than the ones I mention here. In the Newsday review of the City Center production, which appeared in the issue dated May 21, 1964, second-stringer Ron Ever mentioned that Nixon “will be the voice of Audrey Hepburn in the upcoming movie version of 'My Fair Lady.'" To save my fingers and your time, I will merely mention that were several (or more than several) other syndicated columns and articles during late May and June, including at least two articles completely about Nixon, in which it was mentioned that Nixon would be the singing voice of Hepburn in the My Fair Lady film. Every one I have found says simply that Nixon did the singing (or words to that effect), not that there would be a mix of Hepburn’s and Nixon's voices in the songs. One article about Nixon was by AP theatre critic William Glover. On June 28, 1964, it appeared in the Chicago Tribune with the title “'Ghostess' Now Sings for Herself." From this one: "For the least-kept secret of the entertainment year is that she [Nixon] is Audrey Hepburn’s vocalizing alter-ego in the movie version of 'My Fair Lady' which premieres next October. "Miss Nixon, pledged to contractual silence on the matter, anxiously looks away when the topic arises." As I mentioned in my earlier reply, Douglas Watt, reviewing the soundtrack album in his Daily News “Record Review" column, made it clear that Nixon did the singing and that Hepburn was hardly heard at all. The review was titled “Marni & Rex." It’s not clear if he realized that Hepburn’s voice was heard singing the interlude in "Just You Wait." He does seem to have realized that Hepburn was heard at least in a few spoken lines. The review was in the issued dated October 4, 1964. The film opened on October 21. On the day of the films opening, the New York Times ran an article by Richard F. Shepard titled “Eliza Doolittle, Ex-Urchin, to Start New Career." Near the end of the article, he wrote “. . . Marni Nixon, a singer, substitutes for Miss Hepburn's voice in the songs." So in all of these columns and articles, except for those early ones in which Hepburn was quoted, it seemed as if the writers thought that Nixon would be doing all of the singing. |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 04:07 pm EDT 04/03/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - AlanScott 06:17 am EDT 04/03/21 | |
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| AlanScott, THANK YOU for reproducing all of those quotes, with their sources. Very valuable to have them all in one place, for the record. Just one clarification on the following: ***Douglas Watt, reviewing the soundtrack album in his Daily News “Record Review" column, made it clear that Nixon did the singing and that Hepburn was hardly heard at all. The review was titled “Marni & Rex." It’s not clear if he realized that Hepburn’s voice was heard singing the interlude in "Just You Wait." He does seem to have realized that Hepburn was heard at least in a few spoken lines. *** I'm not sure why you used the word "interlude" here, as Audrey sings the beginning and ending sections of the song, and on the soundtrack album, Marni sings the entire center section, from "One day I'll be famous" right through "Guard, run and bring in the bloke." |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:22 pm EDT 04/03/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - Michael_Portantiere 04:07 pm EDT 04/03/21 | |
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| Yes, after I posted, I realized my mistake, which probably came in part because I was so concerned with trying to get everything else right. I didn't get the chance to come back here till just now, but of course it's the other way around from what I wrote. | |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 01:14 pm EDT 04/03/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - AlanScott 06:17 am EDT 04/03/21 | |
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| Wow! Thanks for doing all that research. No, I didn't think you were being snarky. It's just that your earlier post made me feel like I was one of the Farrellys in Watch on the Rhine, i.e., kind of shaken out of the magnolias. I must have read the article titled "'Ghostess' Now Sings for Herself" in the Trib. However, when I heard Audrey Hepburn in that interview, I probably thought "Hey, she was Sister Luke in The Nun's Story. She wouldn't tell a lie about lip-syncing to somebody else's vocals, not on TV anyway. To paraphrase Haywood in The Scottsborro Boys, I'm finally making friends with the truth. |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Posted by: TheOtherOne 12:31 pm EDT 04/03/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - AlanScott 06:17 am EDT 04/03/21 | |
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| "In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of November 20, 1963, “At Random" columnist Harold V. Cohen wrote that Hepburn's vocal coach, Sue Seiger Seton, praised her highly and said that she “will be a revelation." But he told his readers that Frederick Loewe had told him this: “Forget it. Audrey won't sing a note. She'll be a wonderful Eliza. I've seen some of the rushes, but the numbers will be dubbed in for her by somebody else." Cohen then wrote that Jack L. Warner insisted to him a couple of days later that “Audrey will do every song herself." I fully understand Loewe not wanting both of the leads in the film to be talk-singers, or non-singers, but I wish the version of Wouldn't It Be Loverly? that Audrey recorded had been left in the film. I actually find it charming. I suppose it isn't legal to post a link to it, but it can be found on YouTube. I also prefer the version of Just You Wait without Marni singing in the middle. The King sang so much of the section in the film anyway that Marni's voice wasn't necessary. Otherwise, I think the decision to dub was essential to the film's success and is quite well handled in The Rain In Spain (with Audrey speaking and Marni singing) and I Could Have Danced All Night, with Audrey singing just a bit of the intro. |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Last Edit: TheOtherOne 07:42 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| Posted by: TheOtherOne 07:41 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - BroadwayTonyJ 05:45 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| She did not know going into production that the majority of her singing was to be dubbed, but she was well aware that she could not do it all. I believe her understanding had been that she would record all of the songs to the best of her ability, that Marni Nixon would also record the songs, that they would be filmed with Audrey lip-synching to both her own and Marni’s playback and that a decision would then be made as to which versions or combinations of versions to use. She was told after a couple of her numbers were shot that they were primarily going with Marni. She angrily left the set and returned the next day, apologized for her rudeness and got on with the shoot. She may have been contractually obligated to not discuss her dubbing with the press, though there is footage of her at the film’s premiere acknowledging the work it took to make two voices seem as one. She also, many years later, could not remember Marni Nixon’s name in a Larry King interview, but described her as a “lovely girl.” |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 06:38 pm EDT 04/02/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - TheOtherOne 07:41 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| "There is footage of her at the film’s premiere acknowledging the work it took to make two voices seem as one." Yes, I've seen that footage. I believe it's included in a documentary on MY FAIR LADY, maybe the documentary about the film's restoration? |
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| re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 01:24 pm EDT 04/01/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The messy brilliance of the MY FAIR LADY film (VERY LONG) - BroadwayTonyJ 09:48 am EDT 04/01/21 | |
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| "Hepburn had been told that her vocals would be used (w/ some assistance on the high notes from dubbing) throughout the film. When she was interviewed at the opening, she apparently still thought that was the case. " I don't believe she really still thought that at that point, I think she was just trying to save face in interviews. I'm pretty sure she knew by that point that MOST of her singing would be dubbed. But since she probably didn't know the exact amount, and since her understanding was that at least some of her actual singing remained in the completed film (as, in fact, it did in "Just You Wait" and a tiny bit in "I Could Have Danced All Night"), she was able to make a statement about her vocals being "assisted" (or whatever) without actually lying. |
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