The latest installment in our slow-motion examination of RCA's "Show Time" series from 1953 is notable for documenting that year's revival of
Porgy and Bess - but I particularly enjoyed the songs from
Girl Crazy on the other side of the record.
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| Leslie Scott |
This recording presents Cab Calloway, Leslie Scott and Helen Thigpen from the Broadway Porgy. Calloway is Sportin' Life, as he was in the 1953 production. Scott is Porgy, and he was one of the Porgys on Broadway. Thigpen is Bess, although she was Serena in the stage play.
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| Helen Thigpen with William Warfield |
Calloway is vivid in this role, but as usual remarkable in the wrong way. Scott is a vulnerable Porgy, lighter voiced than such singers as Paul Robeson or even William Warfield. Thigpen is a shrill Bess. Jay Blackton conducts here; the music director for the stage was Alexander Smallens.
The LP was in effect a Gershwin double-feature, with songs from
Girl Crazy on the other side.
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| Edie Adams and Rosalind Russell |
Edith (Edie) Adams, a talented singer-comic actor, is delightful in "Embraceable You," complete with verse. She was in
Wonderful Town with Rosalind Russell at the time of this recording. Also terrific are two then luminaries of Broadway, whom we have seen before in this series. Lisa Kirk does "But Not for Me" and Helen Gallagher "I Got Rhythm". Their previous appearances in the RCA series can be found
here. Milton Rosenstock conducts.
RCA didn't bother much with documentation on these records. There is no identification of who sings what. "Bidin' My Time" is sung by a completely anonymous male quartet to close out the record. It's strange that the company was so off hand about such a well-produced, enjoyable series that shows what great talent there was on Broadway at the time.
