Why did they dub all of the singing voices?
Couldn't the studio find actors and actresses who could sing? I know it was typical during the Golden Age of Hollywood when an established star (i.e. Lucille Ball) would get cast in a movie that required a singing number they would bring in someone else to do the voice, but aside from Natalie Wood, weren't the rest of the cast mostly unknown at the time?
But'Cha Are, Blanche! Ya'Are In That Chair!
Natalie Wood's voice for Maria was dubbed for obvious reasons: While Natalie Wood didn't necessarily have a bad voice, she was unable to project her voice sufficiently, which is why she was dubbed by Marni Nixon in the film West Side Story.
As for Anita's voice, only part of her singing was dubbed by Betty Wand.
I think that Riff's voice was dubbed by Tucker Smith, but I don't know about any of the other members of the caste.
I'm more than willing to overlook the dubbing in the film West Side Story for at least two reasons:
a) Dubbing was quite common during that period and beyond.
b) Due to my intense love for the film West Side Story, I'm more than willing to overlook the dubbing of voices in this film.
Thanks friendoffilm.
But'Cha Are, Blanche! Ya'Are In That Chair!
Hi, Sox575! You're welcome!
Glad I was able to help.
The other thing to keep in mind is that they were primarily casting for dancers. You can dub somebody's voice but it's harder to hide someone who can't dance. Most of the roles in the movie require dancing, except Maria and Tony.
shareTucker Smith dubbed Russ Tamblyn for "The Jet Song", but Tamblyn did his own vocals for "Gee, Officer Krupke."
Smith sounded fine, but I liked the expressiveness of Tamblyn's voice and never saw the need to dub him for "The Jet Song."
Looking at some musicals where people are obviously cast because of their names, I wish they would go back to depending on dubbing. Cause some of the singing in some musical movies are awful these days.
"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"
Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"
I agree with you. I think too many big name actors try to sing in the movie musicals today and they don't sing well enough to pull it off (not that I could sing well enough, either). Or I wish they'd cast Broadway people to play these parts so they could have people who could both act and sing. I'd rather have an actor dubbed than hear someone butcher these beautiful songs.
shareDubbing in movie-musicals was very, very common back in those days. When the Jets and Sharks were dancing on their turf, especially, dubbing was definitely necessary.
shareI remember putting the dvd movie Chicago with Richard Gere in my desk top, I got 20 minutes into it, open the disk and threw across the room, those actors have no right singing and dancing and insulting me.
Some days the elevator - Some days the shaft
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/arts/music/marni-nixon-singer-soprano-dies-86.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0
"After this he'll be a perfectly normal human being, and you know what stinkers they are!"
Hi, leader-7!
Thanks for the interesting NYT article about Marni Nixon. I met Marni Nixon, briefly, back in the late fall of 2006, at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA, right before a sing-a-long screening of the film West Side Story at that movie theatre.
Marni Nixon's then-brand-new book, "I Could Have Danced All Night." had just been published, and she was selling copies of the book and holding a book signing right there in the lobby of the Brattle Theatre. I said "hello" to her, and casually told her that West Side Story is my favorite movie. She seemed happy about that, and she was a very pleasant person to talk to.
Due to my intense love for the film West Side Story, and the fact that dubbing was quite common back during that general period, I've always been more than willing to overlook the dubbing in WSS.
I have no problem with dubbing -- They did it routinely when talkies first came out because so many actors from the silents had terrible voices even for speaking!
You're so lucky to have met her! I think the title of her book was, "I Could Have Sung All Night." ? No?
She was wonderful. And glad she fought for herself to get $$ compensation owed her finally.
What a great talent.
"After this he'll be a perfectly normal human being, and you know what stinkers they are!"
Thanks, leader-7. It was a pleasure to meet Marni Nixon and converse with her, though it was only briefly. It's possible that her then newly-published book was called "I Could've Sung All Night", but I'm really not sure.
I, too, am glad that Marni Nixon fought to obtain the compensation money owed to her. I have no problems with dubbing, either.
And Richard Beymer knew from the beginning he couldn't sing
share[deleted]