MARY MARTIN: HELLO, DOLLY! ROUND THE WORLD (TV)

Summary

This documentary special, hosted by actress Mary Martin, follows the first tour of the West End musical "Hello, Dolly!", which traveled overseas to several East Asian countries as part of a "cultural exchange" for the State Department. Martin, who plays vivacious matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi, opens the program from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, where the cast members are formally introduced to Queen Elizabeth. The 71-person touring company is then whisked off to Tokyo, Japan, where they are given an enthusiastic greeting. Martin goes sightseeing and prepares for opening night, which is attended by American ambassador Edwin O. Reischauer and his wife Haru Matsukata, and many audience members don translator earpieces, like the ones used at the United Nations. The show is a success, with Martin singing part of the title song in Japanese, and she later meets with various locals, including children at a Salvation Army school, learning about the "beauty and order" of Japanese culture.

Martin's co-stars, including Marilynn Lovell, who plays Irene Molloy, answer students' questions at a talk session at the American Cultural Center. After some late-night partying, Martin and her friends take the high-speed Tokaido train "back in time" to Fushimi Inari-taisha, a Heian shrine in Kyoto, where Martin admires the architecture and has her fortune told by a Shinto priest. Explaining that actors must "start with an emotion and improve on it," Martin and the rest of the cast visit several other notable people and spots in Japan, including a group of pearl-divers, silk merchants dyeing their wares, a "geisha" ballet, and a performance from a prestigious all-male Kabuki company.

Martin finds herself "shocked" by their next location, Vietnam, noticeably "gray and grim" after the colorful and lively Japan. Operating out of a base in Saigon, the actors are taken to classified locations to perform for largely military audiences. Several of the actors visit field hospitals alongside General William Westmoreland, who knows many wounded soldiers by name. One young dancer in the company is happily reunited with her enlisted "beau," and Martin sings directly to the soldiers, then proudly introduces producer David Merrick. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: NBC
• DATE: 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:52:34
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: 133816
• GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
• SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Specials; Musical theater; Japan; Vietnam
• SERIES RUN: NBC - TV, 1966
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Lucy Jarvis … Producer
• Stanley Losak … Associate Producer
• J. Baxter Peters … Director
• Sandford Dody … Writer
• Ron Hobin … Writer
• Mary Martin … Host, Narrator
• Marilynn Lovell
• David Merrick
• Queen Elizabeth II
• Edwin O. Reischauer
• Haru Matsukata Reischauer
• William Westmoreland