Ezio Pinza Sings and Sells

After a career on the opera stage, bass Ezio Pinza (1892-1957) moved on to films, Broadway and the recording studio in the postwar years. Today's post is devoted to that late period in his career. We have five LPs - an expanded version of Ezio Pinza Sings "Enchanted Melodies", a promotional record for Magnavox from about 1956, and remastered versions of Ezio Pinza in Opera, Broadway and Hollywood and the LPs from Pinza's films Mr. Imperium and Tonight We Sing.

Ezio Pinza Sings "Enchanted Melodies"

I first posted this 10-inch record 15 years ago, but decided that it warranted a new transfer. My pithy comments back then were that the LP makes reference to Pinza's big hit "Some Enchanted Evening" in its title without actually including the song. Instead this 1950 album resurrects some items that Pinza had recorded for Columbia at various times in the 1940s.

I wrote, "In truth, it makes an attractive if not enchanted program, and gives the singer ample opportunity to display all his best qualities. The cover is by Alex Steinweiss, who thought that Pinza would look good with green skin and teeth."

Nor were the reviewers back then entirely enchanted by the program. One called the Fleger and Holmès songs "hardy veterans of the women's club recital circuit." But the opera excerpts were met with acclaim: regarding the Rossini aria, one reviewer gushed "at no time that I can remember was he more subtle in conveying the meaning of the words" and "The voice is mellow, round and luscious." The accompanist in the songs is Gibner King, who worked with Pinza for many years.

Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza in South Pacific

In addition to the eight selections on the LP, I have added six additional songs from the same period - including "Just a Kiss Apart" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and "Bali Ha'i," which Pinza did not sing in South Pacific, but which Columbia had him record anyway. He did of course sing "Some Enchanted Evening," and I have made up for Columbia's oversight in compiling the Enchanted Melodies album by including it in this augmented package.

The LP is from my collection; the extras are courtesy of Internet Archive. The sound is very good in ambient stereo.

LINK to new transfer and bonuses

"I Hear Music . . . " (Magnavox Promo)

In late 1955 or early 1956, the Magnavox high-fidelity people hired Pinza to narrate a record of selections from the RCA Victor catalog while touting the many virtues of the equipment. The excerpts included orchestral works conducted by Toscanini, Reiner, Fiedler and Stokowski, and opera arias with Cellini and Perlea accompanying leading voices of the time. The Stoky selection is his peculiar Beethoven Pastoral Symphony with actual sounds of nature added to the orchestral effects the composer had written.

Florence Henderson and Ezio Pinza - opening night of Fanny

Pinza himself is heard in his solo from the Broadway musical Fanny (music and lyrics by Harold Rome), which ran from late 1954 to late 1956. It certainly is not the best thing Pinza ever sang; the music is unremarkable and the lyrics were perhaps suggested by Goodnight Moon, which was published several years earlier. Well, at least Pinza's last act was a great success.

In addition to the record, which was provided to buyers of Magnavox equipment, Pinza appeared at magazine ads for both the company's hi-fi sets and its televisions. The example below is from late 1955.

About two-thirds of the way through the record, either RCA ran out of excerpts or Pinza ran out of things to say. He then turns things over to George Melachrino and his strings, who play five selections without commentary. 

Back in 1954, RCA had inaugurated its LPM series of 12-inch popular LPs by releasing seven Melachrino albums, all but one with the title beginning "Music for ...", including such gems as "Music for Faith and Inner Calm" and "Music for Courage and Confidence." The series culminated in "Music to Help You Sleep," which sums up the soporific effect of the Melachrino manner. The Magnavox selections are drawn from this series.

Some of the Melachrino LPs were expanded versions of previously released 10-inch albums. I suspect that the Magnavox promo itself was originally intended to be a 10-incher, then was inflated to 12 inches at the last minute, necessitating including the "Music for" excerpts.

This curiosity is from my collection. It was apparently owned by someone who couldn't afford another record after buying the pricey Magnavox console, and so played it so much it became remarkably noisy. I've managed to remove 99 percent of the crackle, so the sound is now reasonably good. This comes from my collection.

LINK to Magnavox promo LP

Ezio Pinza in Opera, Broadway and Hollywood 

RCA Victor took over Pinza's recording contract from Columbia in 1950 or 1951, and this LP is among the first fruits of that new partnership. I posted it in 2011, noting that the bass's career as a Hollywood leading man began with Strictly Dishonorable, where he plays to type as an amorous opera star.

"There is no soundtrack album from Strictly Dishonorable," I wrote, "but this RCA Victor 10-inch LP from 1951 includes an aria from Gounod's Faust that Pinza sings in the film, although this is not the same version. Otherwise, the LP is split down the middle between Pinza's operatic repertoire and pop songs. He is in fine voice for all, but is more comfortable with the operatic material. His phrasing in the pop songs is foursquare, and he sounds under rehearsed. Only in 'The Way You Look Tonight' does he go below the surface, and in that he captures some of the ardor that made him so magnetic in South Pacific."

I've now remastered the LP in ambient stereo, and edited the original article to include a few photos of Pinza in Faust and The Marriage of Figaro.

LINK to original post

Mr. Imperium

Pinza's second film was Mr. Imperium: "Once again playing to type, Pinza is a playboy prince who becomes romantically entangled with singer Lana Turner," I wrote in 2011.

The songs from the film include a few by Harold Arlen and Dorothy Fields - "My Love and My Mule" is not their best work, I'd say. But then there is Augustin Lara's wonderful "You Belong to My Heart," so that helps matters.

On the LP, the Turner numbers are taken by RCA contractee Fran Warren, although Trudy Erwin dubbed them for the film. You can hear Erwin's work in the recent comprehensive post devoted to her, including a song that I strongly suspect was slated for the film but not used.

The original post of Mr. Imperium also has been augmented with new photos, with the sound thoroughly overhauled and now in ambient stereo.

LINK to original post

Tonight We Sing

Pinza's final film was 1952's Tonight We Sing. Here's how I described the proceedings when I first wrote about in in 2010: "The film is a biopic on impresario Sol Hurok. Why anyone would want to watch a movie about a concert promoter is beyond me - I guess it was just a way to string together musical sequences featuring Hurok's attractions such as Ezio Pinza and Roberta Peters. That's them acknowledging the unseen audience on the cover above as Jan Peerce looks on from the prompter's box. (Poor Peerce didn't actually get into the film, although his voice did.)"

Pinza as Chaliapin, mink and all 

This LP does include the songs directly from the soundtrack, which include Gounod and Puccini arias, along with some Mussorgsky, necessary because Pinza was playing his basso predecessor Feodor Chaliapin, who specialized in Boris Godunov. Back in 2010 I commented that the film made the bass look like a blustering fool. Someone wrote in to point out that Chaliapin was, in fact, a blustering fool. 

You don't have to wade through the film, of course, to enjoy the singing on this effective LP. Once again, the sound has been completely updated and is now in ambient stereo.

LINK to original post

Ezio Pinza and Mr. Imperium

Another installment in our ongoing series looking at Ezio Pinza's career as a movie star following his retirement from the operatic stage. Here we have the quasi-soundtrack from his 1951 starring vehicle Mr. Imperium. (It's a quasi-soundtrack because the songs were remade in the studio for RCA Victor.)

Once again playing to type, Pinza is a playboy prince who becomes romantically entangled with singer Lana Turner (dubbed by Trudy Erwin). Apparently Pinza tried to make life imitate art, but Turner would not succumb to his royal presence.

I have watched some of the film (just enough to get a sense of Pinza's performance), and can report that you will not see such broad acting outside of an Abbott & Costello comedy. If you want to sample the movie yourself, it's available on Internet Archive.

The good news is that some of the songs here are by Harold Arlen and Dorothy Fields, a self-recommending pair, although this is hardly their finest work. On "Andiamo" and the unpromising "My Love and My Mule," Pinza is joined by RCA contractee Fran Warren (billed as "Fran Warren, soprano" for the first and surely the last time). Fran was from the Bronx and probably had never been within a thousand miles of a mule. She was, however, a good singer who even so sounds distinctly thin next to Pinza. By the way, despite what Wikipedia tells you, Lana Turner's songs in the film were dubbed not by Warren but by Trudy Erwin.

Fran Warren

Also to be heard from Pinza  are three songs chosen, no doubt, for their potential as a "Some Enchanted Evening" blockbuster - "Yesterdays," "September Song" and Augustin Lara's superb "You Belong to My Heart" - all highly enjoyable. The singing is magnificent.

Pinza never did become a movie star, but he made the most of his time in the spotlight - in the liquor ad below, he is shown in one of his Mr. Imperium costumes (click to enlarge). This transfer is from a mint 45 box set and has very good sound. Note (May 2024): it has now been remastered in ambient stereo and the sound is better than ever.

LINK

The Popular Ezio Pinza

There was a time when Ezio Pinza was possibly the most famous opera singer in the world, but it was after he quit singing on the opera stage.

After Pinza retired from the Met in 1947, he almost immediately was cast as Emile de Becque, one of the leads in the new Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific. The play was a huge hit, Pinza won a Tony Award for best actor in a musical, and Columbia's original cast album sold in large numbers, not the least because of Pinza's sonorous bass voice and his passionate rendition of "Some Enchanted Evening."

Hollywood soon came calling. Pinza had already appeared in the 1947 classical farrago Carnegie Hall, but now he was to become a leading man. The first film to be released was Strictly Dishonorable, based on a Preston Sturges play. Pinza plays to type as an amorous opera star, and Janet Leigh as a music student who is smitten with him.

Pinza in Faust

There is no soundtrack album from Strictly Dishonorable, but this RCA Victor 10-inch LP from 1951 includes an aria from Gounod's Faust that Pinza sings in the film, although this is not the same version. Otherwise, the LP is split down the middle between Pinza's operatic repertoire and pop songs. He is in fine voice for all, but is more comfortable with the operatic material. His phrasing in the pop songs is foursquare, and he sounds under rehearsed. Only in "The Way You Look Tonight" does he go below the surface, and in that he captures some of the ardor that made him so magnetic in South Pacific.

Pinza and Bidu Sayão in The Marriage of Figaro

When Hollywood came to call, so did Madison Avenue and American television. Pinza appeared in a variety of ads at this time, including the 1951 cigarette ad below. He also began appearing on TV that year, and did so almost up until his 1957 death.

Following Strictly Dishonorable, Pinza's movie career continued with Mr. Imperium, also in 1951, and Tonight We Sing! in 1953. This blog has previously presented the Tonight We Sing! soundtrack as well as a Pinza recital, both of which can be found here. And we have the Mr. Imperium LP coming up soon.

I should add that the sound on the LP at hand is quite good, and so is the quality of the various accompaniments. The classical items are led by Erich Leinsdorf; the others by Norman Leyden and Johnny Green.

Note (May 2024): this album has now been remastered in ambient stereo and has even better sound.

LINK

Ad in Life magazine, 1951

Tonight We Sing

The latest in our series of mainly obscure musicals on 10" LPs is Tonight We Sing from 1953.

The film is a biopic on impresario Sol Hurok. Why anyone would want to watch a movie about a concert promoter is beyond me - I guess it was just a way to string together musical sequences featuring Hurok's attractions such as Ezio Pinza and Roberta Peters. That's them acknowledging the unseen audience on the cover above as Jan Peece looks on from the prompter's box. (Poor Peerce didn't actually get into the film, although his voice did. Pinza and Peters were more lucky, if you can call it that.)

Tonight We Sing is available on Hulu so I sampled some of it, and was amazed to find that Fox had cast David Wayne as the Ukrainian immigrant Hurok. Pinza played Chaliapin. (Wayne couldn't have been more miscast if they had cast him as Chaliapin.) The segment I saw showed Chaliapin (depicted as a blustering buffoon) only agreeing to leave Russia for an American tour when the Bolsheviks set off a bomb outside his window. Then he shows up in New York unexpectedly and Hurok goes to fetch him for what appeared to be an instant tour, leaving his wife (Anne Bancroft!) miffed because it means once again postponing their long-delayed honeymoon. This rift apparently supplied whatever tension the movie had.

Ezio Pinza and Roberta Peters

So the film isn't that great (what I saw of it) but the music is surprisingly good. The LP starts off with Peerce and Peters in a love duet from Madama Butterfly, presented in a extroverted, crowd pleasing manner. The rest of the program - Pinza in Boris Godunov scenes and a Russian folk song, various combinations in Gounod and more Puccini - is on a similar high level. Leading the Fox orchestra is Alfred Newman, who keeps things moving along. The band plays well, as far as I can tell - the voices are well to the fore. Balance aside, the sound is good.

Below is a 1953 Billboard ad that touts not only this flick but The Jazz Singer and The Desert Song - both of which are available here, for those interested.

Note (June 2024): This soundtrack has now been remastered in ambient stereo, and has much better sound.

LINK

Ezio Pinza Sings "Enchanted Melodies"

The second in our series of 10-inch LPs from the stars of the original production of South Pacific - this one featuring Ezio Pinza.

Pinza's big tune in the show was "Some Enchanted Evening," and Columbia makes reference to that in the LP's title without actually including the song. Instead this 1950 album resurrects some items that Pinza had recorded for Columbia at various times in the 1940s.

In truth, it makes an attractive if not enchanted program, and gives the singer ample opportunity to display all his best qualities.

The cover is by Alex Steinweiss, who thought that Pinza would look good with green skin and teeth.