1. "NEW FACES of 1952 out on CD!"
Posted by Bob Gutowski on May-1st-03 at 11:22 AM

The original cast recording (it's, strictly speaking, NOT the soundtrack, as it says on Amazon.com - "soundtrack" has become kind of a sub-literate catch-all word for show and film recordings, dammit!) was released on May 13.  The show is best known to many of us as the source of the satirical number "Lizzie Borden/You Can't Chop Your Poppa Up in Massachusetts."  The number (which can be seen in the hard-to-find VHS of the film version of the show*) is also a spoof of Agnes de Mille's bucolic dances for OKLAHOMA!

*The tape is a pan/scan version of a very widescreen film, and so, at least half of the complete image is missing at any given time; a widescreen edition has been promised several times to come out on VHS during its reign, but it never happened.  Should this title show up on DVD, I'll be the first to let you know.

ADDENDUM!  Copies of this VHS are available on eBay, in both formats, for collectors only.  Yes, I'm buying one.  

(Message last edited May-1st-03  11:31 AM.)

I got my letterbox copy (the film was shot in CinemaScope) of NEW FACES OF 1952 yesterday, and I checked out the "Lizzie Borden" number last night. 

First of all, this is a terrific collector's dupe, with very good color, and excellent framing, if not the entire image (the film would look like a ribbon across the screen if the entire frame were shown).  The number itself starts abruptly - this happens quite a bit in this film, as a backstage linking story was added, and the business on stage is often cut to directly from those shenanigans.  The song starts right on the fellow's "I just got back from Salem..."  There appears to be some material deleted from this opening section (I'll check on it tonight), but then the main body of the song begins, and Ronnie Graham appears as "Mr. Burney, District Attorney" and starts laying out the crime in rhyme.

It's obviously a low-budget shoot, and a little sloppy, but there's plenty of energy, plus Paul Lynde as the Judge!  This extreme wide-screen format meant that there were virtually no true close-ups, and the number could use some (or at least a few more medium shots with the townspeople and the jury reacting), but, as I say, this was a low-budget feature, and we're lucky to have it preserved at all.

A must if you're interested in cultural and show-biz treatments of the case.  My mom saw the show itself in Boston, in its pre-NY tryout, many years ago - as a result, I have a Playbill and the original souvenir program in my collection!

If there's someone out there who's way ahead of me on this item, please chime in - I'd be grateful.

ADDENDUM:  Yup, the opening section seems to have been shot in its entirety, but shortened, as there is quite a visible chop right before the male singer can ask "Who's Elizabeth?"  The edit picks up with a female chorus member singing "Don't you know what happened yesterday morning...?"

(Message last edited May-7th-03  11:45 AM.)

Here's a few web sites for the play Bob:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22new+faces+of+1952%22+borden&btnG=Google+Search

(Message last edited May-6th-03  11:31 AM.)

Thanks, Harry, as always!