MovieChat Forums > Mame (1974) Discussion > Lucy ruins gorgeous songs

Lucy ruins gorgeous songs

posted 12 years ago by shulma2002
5 replies | jump to latest

As a big Lucy fan, I adored her in this film but her voice totally ruined those gorgeous songs. Why wasn't she dubbed or at least enhanced? Such a shame to ruin these classics. Somebody posted that "We Need a Little Christmas" was written for the film. Wrong! It was from the Broadway show as well.

[–] Harold_Robbins 12 years ago

There were rumors that she was to be dubbed - or partly dubbed - by throaty-voiced Lisa Kirk (as Rosalind Russell was in GYPSY [despite Russell's denial of this]) but apparently Lucy talked Warner Bros. out of it, claiming that with Mame's exhuberant life-style - which includes lots of smoking and drinking - she couldn't be expected to sound like Julie Andrews.

In his memoir SHOW TUNE, composer/lyricist Jerry Herman describes the ordeal of Ball recording "Open a New Window."

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mdonln 10 years ago

but apparently Lucy talked Warner Bros. out of it, claiming that with Mame's exhuberant life-style - which includes lots of smoking and drinking - she couldn't be expected to sound like Julie Andrews.

I think that's a very good and important point. I know people want to hear beautiful voices singing beautiful songs but part of the reason I hate musicals is because they are so unrealistic.

Whatever is going on in the movie, all of a sudden everyone starts to sing and dance, perfectly. All their voices sound great; all their moves are synchronized; ugh, how annoying. There's plenty of numbers like that in the movie to satisfy the purist (following the fox hunt, for one).

I had no problem with Lucy's voice; it made everything seem more believable. Besides the reasons Lucy states, the Mame character's personality is such that she would be the type to break into song even if she's not exactly the best singer. She's all about embracing life to the fullest; whoever you happen to be.

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

[–] marvelass 10 years ago

I know people want to hear beautiful voices singing beautiful songs but part of the reason I hate musicals is because they are so unrealistic.

I had no problem with Lucy's voice; it made everything seem more believable.

Yeah, because bursting into song is so realistic. 

I heard this same, stupid argument when Les Miserables came out three years ago. The main complaint was that most of the cast sounded terrible, and there were defenders who tried to justify the terrible vocals by pointing out that they were portraying destitute people, so they shouldn't sound like trained singers.

Hogwash! If the filmmakers wanted to portray realism (i.e. real poverty), they should've done a non-singing adaptation of the book, instead. The Les Miz musical is chockfull of power ballads meant to be belted by professional singers, not whispered or speak-sung by adequate to terrible singers.

Likewise, Mame's songs were written to be sung beautifully and so should've had a good singer performing them. Furthermore, once you've established that people will sing to convey their emotions, all realism goes out the window.

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[–] marktayloruk (2590) 3 years ago

I am totally opposed to dubbing except in a biopic.