Crawford in Torch Song

Torch Song is one of the great camp movies of all time. Or so I read on the various film sites. Me, I haven't watched it, although I did happen to see the clip of Joan Crawford galumphing around that appears in That's Entertainment III. I seem to have a horrible memory of it being done in blackface, which must have been in bad taste even in 1953.

Dear Joan plays a famous singer-dancer in this festival of unintentional comedy. She is quite the temperamental diva - that is until she is redeemed by the devoted love of a blind pianist played by Michael Wilding. They couldn't have been serious about this.

On to the music - this 10-inch LP presents songs from the movie as played by Walter Gross, who dubbed Michael Wilding's piano playing. Three tunes are performed by India Adams, who did the vocal dubbing for Crawford. The album doesn't say whether these items are from the actual soundtrack, but it doesn't sound like they are. The other musicians are guitarist Dave Gilbert and bassist Bob Shevak.

The music on this record is by a variety of people, including music director Adolph Deutsch and Walter Gross. Gross' big hit was Tenderly, which is one of the items here.