AMERICA SALUTES RICHARD RODGERS: THE SOUND OF HIS MUSIC {PT. 1 OF 2} (TV)
Summary
This televised musical special, hosted by Gene Kelly and Henry Winkler, celebrates the career of renowned composer Richard Rodgers through clips and live performances. In the first portion, Kelly and Winkler "portray" Rodgers' longtime lyrical collaborators Lorenz Tate and Oscar Hammerstein II and discuss their friend's talents, after which Cloris Leachman performs "Do I Hear A Waltz?", "A Wonderful Guy" from "South Pacific" and "Out Of My Dreams" from "Oklahoma!" in an extended dance sequence featuring several costumed performers. "Oscar and Larry" chat about some of Rodgers' less well-known songs, recalling that Rodgers and Hart enjoyed their first success with the 1925 revue "The Garrick Gaieties" and went on to write many more musicals together, including "I Married an Angel," which was adapted into a film in 1942. Their musical "Pal Joey" was adapted in 1957, with Frank Sinatra starring as the rascally Joey Evans, and Sinatra sings "I Could Write a Book" in a clip from the film. Rodgers and Hart's partnership was loosely depicted in the 1948 film "Words and Music," which ironically starred Kelly, shown in the "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" dance sequence alongside Vera-Ellen.
Sandy Duncan performs "Ten Cents a Dance" from "Simple Simon" in a television special, and Rodgers' pals admit that despite his talents, he did not have a dynamic onscreen presence, as seen in a clip of Rodgers and Hammerstein's appearance on "You Bet Your Life" in which they are mercilessly teased by Groucho Marx. "Larry" comments that Hammerstein always wrote "from the heart," and Sammy Davis Jr. and Diahann Carroll perform a medley of songs including "Soliloquy," "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught," "An Ordinary Couple," "When the Children Are Asleep," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "Hello, Young Lovers" and "You'll Never Walk Alone." Program continues on B:13749. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: December 9, 1976 Thursday 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:52:08
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:13748
- GENRE: Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Music; Music; Specials
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1976
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- David Susskind … Executive Producer
- Jack Haley Jr. … Executive Producer
- Gary Smith … Producer
- Dwight Hemion … Producer, Director
- Rita Scott … Associate Producer
- Bill Glaze … Associate Producer
- Buz Kohan … Writer
- Ted Strauss … Writer
- Richard Rodgers … Music by
- Oscar Hammerstein II … Lyrics
- Lorenz Hart … Lyrics
- Stephen Sondheim … Lyrics
- Ron Field … Choreographer
- Gene Kelly … Host
- Henry Winkler … Host
- Cloris Leachman … Performer
- Sandy Duncan … Performer
- Sammy Davis Jr. … Performer
- Diahann Carroll … Performer
- Groucho Marx
- Frank Sinatra
- Vera-Ellen