The big hit here was the recording by Morris Stoloff, the musical director at Columbia Pictures whose recording was an instrumental. In the scene where Holden and Novak are dancing they combined the two songs Moonglow, an old song from the '30s, with the the song Picnic written for the film by George Duning and Steve Allen. Stoloff did likewise in his hit recording.
As with you I like the Picnic song much better and enjoy hearing it alone as the McGuire Sisters recorded it. This 'better' version was not as successful as the Stoloff version, but still did very well. I remember it because it was one of my mother's favorite tunes. I recall my mother often talking of this film and how much she liked it, and commenting upon how beautiful Kim Novak looked. I also recall her mentioning often that William Holden was her favorite actor.
When I eventually saw this film I was able to put together a lot of things my mother had mentioned over the years. It suddenly became obvious to me that she saw herself as Kim Novak's character and I could see much of my father in William Holden, the muscular build, the athletic prowess, the dominant personality. And in their wedding picture he did resemble Holden quite a bit.
And while I don't find the film all that wonderful, it still fascinates because of all these allusions to my parents relationship, which was very happy.
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