Call Me Madam

One of Ethel Merman's most famous roles was Ambassador Sally Adams in the 1950 Broadway musical Call Me Madam, and the recordings from that production have been reissued many times. (There are two - one set with Merman on Decca and the RCA version with Dinah Shore, of all people, in Merman's place.)

However, the LP of the subsequent film version has been more neglected, so here is my transfer for those interested.

This is one of Irving Berlin's best scores (and by that I suppose I mean among the ones that I like the best), with a number of fine songs. The showstopper on Broadway was Merman's duet with Russell Nype on "You're Just in Love." Here Nype gives way to the terrific Donald O'Connor.

"You're Just in Love"

Also in the cast and usually in tune is George Sanders, who loved to sing and did so in several films in the 1950s. I made mild fun of Sanders' singing on an earlier occasion, only to be gently rebuked by his partisans. Here he does well in his solo, "Marrying for Love," but his entry in the duet "The Best Thing for You" is low comedy.

As often happens, Decca's pressings both for the 10-inch LP and the corresponding 45 set were grainy, but even so the sound is very good.

The George Sanders Touch

I've always considered the actor George Sanders to be slightly creepy, so I am not sure that I would consider the title "The George Sanders Touch" to be much of an inducement to buy.

The subtitle here is "songs for the lovely lady," so if there are any lovely ladies out there, this is apparently aimed at you. George is nice enough to offer you a carnation on the cover, while attempting to stifle gas pains.

If you partake, be warned that although Sanders was a thespian of some repute, his singing skills were much less well developed. He mostly relies on his sonorous actor's baritone to make an effect. Pitch, however, is not his strength, and he is at times distinctly flat.

If you can stand the inaccuracies, this is not unpleasant to hear, and the lush arrangements by Don Costa and Nick Perito are very fine. The record was issued in early 1958, shortly before the advent of stereo, and I am not sure that it ever came out in a dual-channel version. This mono pressing has excellent sound and my copy is mint.

Sanders was apparently an amateur musician who often played the piano, and wanted very much to be known as a singer. This is not unusual among actors; many of them started out as singers or in musicals, and any number of others were trained musicians. I love the genre of singing actors, and this is not a bad example, all told.

Sanders did many ads back when. That's him below (although to me it looks more like Robert Montgomery) along with then wife Sari Gabor - Zsa Zsa to you. George and Zsa Zsa were apparently in the habit of smoking cheap cigars while riding horses.