A lovely way to spend an evening

"If my own experience had taught me anything, it was that, if a thing had to be done, it could be done."

Gertrude Lawrence was destined to be a star from an early age. Despite having an incorrigible stepfather whose gambling led them to do many a "moonlight flit" from lodgings to lodgings when she was little, her memory of her mother dressing up each time (with best hat, best coat and evening gloves) as they loaded their possessions into a cart - such a camp theatrical flourish! - left an indelible impression on her. And indeed, she let nothing get in the way of her pursuit of the glamorous life and audience acclaim for the rest of her life...

This fascinating insight, among many, many illuminating (and often quite salacious) details about the life of one of Britain's most glittering stars of early 20th century theatre, was revealed courtesy of the brilliant show Gertrude Lawrence - A lovely way to spend an evening, a one-woman show that Madam Arcati and I went to see at the fantabulosa Wilton's Music Hall on Friday night.

A tour-de-force by actress and opera singer Lucy Stevens [pictured at the top of this post], accompanied only by the talents of pianist Elizabeth Marcus, with a knowing wink and an assured tone she took us through the ups and downs of Gertrude's life, her triumphs and adventures, men, marriages, bankruptcies and her lifelong "partnership" with Noël Coward, peppered with many of the great songs that made her so famous and so beloved.

"Everything that has value has its price. Nothing worth having is ever handed to you gratis."

Among the numbers that Miss Lawrence premiered [and most of which Miss Stevens sang for us in this show] were the Gershwins' Do, Do, Do and Someone to Watch Over Me [which became an enduring standard] from her Broadway smash Oh, Kay!, Body and Soul (written especially for her by Johnny Green), The Saga of Jenny and My Ship from Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark (another hit show for Gertie) - and of course, she popularised many of The Master's finest numbers, including Parisian Pierrot, Poor Little Rich Girl, Mad About the Boy and London Pride.

"In London I have been by turns poor and rich, hopeful and despondent, successful and down and out, utterly miserable and ecstatically, dizzily happy. I belong to London as each of us can belong to only one place on this earth. And, in the same way, London belongs to me."

The latter was particularly emotionally performed by Miss Stevens, as she recounted the oft-forgotten fact that in the midst of WWII Gertie abandoned what might have otherwise been a comfortable life in America for her beloved homeland, and embarked a gruelling tour with ENSA, entertaining the troops on the frontlines of Normandy and the Far East.

Another fact that was new to me was the fact that not only did she premiere as "Anna" in The King and I, she had in fact commissioned Rodgers and Hammerstein to write it! Of course, starring alongside the youthful and hunky Yul Brynner came with its own additional delights - as I recounted way back in 2011. 

Truth be told, Gertie's proclivities - despite her enduring marriage to Richard Aldrich, who outlived her - were legendary, and her affairs included Douglas Fairbanks Jr., the future Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor, assorted nobles and military officers, Bea Lillie and Daphne Du Maurier!

"Very few among us are noble, or even mature, in all parts of our nature at the same time."

This was a stupendous show, immaculately performed and presented (and directed by Fascinating Aida's Sarah-Louise Young)! I am so very glad we got to see it...

It continues to tour, so catch it if you can - see https://gertrudelawrence.com/ for further details.

[Also worth reading is this witty tribute to the great lady on the "Dame Town" site.]

The Wise Man

To have been responsible, as director, for one of my all-time favourite films - West Side Story - is an accolade worthy of applause. To also have directed another - The Sound of Music - marks a man out as a genius!

Today we celebrate the centenary of Mr Robert Wise, the genius in question.

[Shamefully, this momentous occasion appears to have gone all but unnoticed in what tattered feeble remnants remain of what was once known as The British Press - so obviously unable to afford proper grown-up journalists these days, replaced by automatons whose only connection with the outside world is Twitter (fine if you happen to be interested in the lives of nonentities such as Rita Ora or Iggy Azalea, or in stupid/outrageous/heart-string-pulling {*strike out as appropriate} YouTube videos), that one might be forgiven for thinking that there were never people with actual talent in the history of the universe.]

Mr Wise began his estimable career back in the 1940s - he was nominated for an Oscar as film editor on Citizen Kane:

Citizen Kane trailer (1941)

By the 50s, he had already created a bit of a reputation for directing dark, menacing films such as The Body Snatcher before adding his special touch to that most iconic of "world-in-peril" movies of the era, The Day the Earth Stood Still - and science fiction obviously remained in his blood, as decades later he won huge accolades for the classic The Andromeda Strain, and went on to bring Star Trek to the big screen.

But it was when he turned his hand to the burgeoning genre of movie musicals in the 60s that his noirish artistry gave way to pure cinematic camp. West Side Story set the bar for big-screen musicals, winning ten Oscars (including one for Mr Wise), and has often been named as the best of its kind in musical history. And no wonder - here's the Gym Mambo:

West Side Story "Gym Mambo"

The Sound of Music, however, eclipsed even that magnificent movie - in commercial success, at least. To date the film has earned at least $300,000,000 worldwide (making it one of the top grossing movies of all time), and for it Mr Wise deservedly won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. Here (in case anyone's never seen it before; ha ha) is the official 1965 trailer:

The Sound of Music trailer

Speaking of camp, another of Mr Wise's notable films, the otherwise completely soulless biographical movie about Gertrude Lawrence Star! - which was a critical and commercial flop - nevertheless (in his hands) provided some spectacularly OTT moments. Such as this one - The Physician:

Star! - "The Physician"

Robert Wise's sheer range of filmic styles, and his willingness to always take up a challenge (regardless of box office success), has been an acknowledged influence on generations of directors who followed - everyone from Scorsese to Spielberg to M. Night Shyamalan. It is difficult, of course, to "pin down" a recognisably "Robert Wise movie" because of this eclecticism, but, as the great man himself said:

“Some of the more esoteric critics claim that there's no Robert Wise style or stamp. My answer to that is that I've tried to approach each genre in a cinematic style that I think is right for that genre. I wouldn't have approached 'The Sound of Music' the way I approached 'I Want to Live!' for anything, and that accounts for a mix of styles.”

Robert Earl Wise (10th September, 1914 - 14th September 2005)

For more, those fab people over at The Film Experience blog are doing a whole week of tributes to Mr Wise.

Dirty Gertie from Number 30

Gertrude Lawrence, photographed by Cecil Beaton, 1930

From an article in The Daily Mail [of all places!]:

Yes, it was a spectacle the star's daughter was never to forget. As Pamela Clatworthy opened the door of the Number One dressing room at New York's St James Theatre on an April afternoon in 1951, she encountered a scene that froze her in her tracks.

Her mother, the legendary musical star Gertrude Lawrence, was in flagrante.

Her oyster-pink hooped satin ball gown was over her head like an inverted circus tent. Burrowing beneath it with dedicated zeal was a man of whom Pamela could see only his bare feet and equally bare buttocks.

'When they noticed I was there, and he emerged, his head was as bald as his backside, and I realised it was Yul Brynner'.

That was the first intimation Pamela had that her mother was involved in a passionate affair with her co-star in the hit Broadway musical, The King And I, a married man 17 years Gertie's junior, who owed to her his ascent to stardom.

'It was a closely guarded secret,' says Pamela. So secret that it has eluded every biographer of Lawrence and Brynner.

'It makes me laugh when I keep hearing stories about my mother supposedly being a lesbian. She was the complete reverse. Her appetite for men verged on nymphomania.'

Gertrude Lawrence on Wikipedia