Word: hello
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Fred Allen once recalled a man whose hobby was collecting old echoes. Composer Jerry Herman easily fits that description; his score for Hello, Dolly! seems to contain the strains of nothing but borrowed melodies. Indeed, even his title song was publicly conceded to be derived from another tune by another...
...film adaptation of Hello, Dolly! matches Herman's contribution. Michael Crawford playing the young clerk, Cornelius Hackl, self-consciously recalls Stan Laurel. As Horace Vandergelder, the richest and meanest man in Yonkers, N.Y., Walter Matthau is doing Walter Matthau as he used to be in B pictures, moving through the production like a man with a strong distaste for all around him. As for the lead, Barbra Streisand oscillates between postures: now Mae West, now Lena Horne, now brassily elegant, now flying her Yiddishkeit...
...Hello, Dolly! could have used those personalities on screen. Instead, it relies almost exclusively on the celebrated eyes, ears, nose and throat of Streisand. Her musicianship remains irreproachable. But her mannerisms are so arch and calculated that one half expects to find a key implanted in her back. Still, the Widow Levi is by way of becoming a classic repertory role. Over 50 women have played her on Broadway and in road companies. The stage version is less than 300 performances away from the longest-running musical record held by My Fair Lady. It now stars Pearl Bailey, who heads...
...very special gift was a capacity to turn body English into a complete, expressive grammar of feeling. From his bulbous nose and porridge face to his spindly legs, the controlled disarray of Lahr's features and physique could point up ludicrous resonances even in a simple hello. Lyricist Johnny Mercer once wrote Lahr: "This is the first time I've ever seen a performer do my material better than I meant it. You find laughs where the laughs aren't even there...
...pretty girl came up to say "Hello Henry" and then to tell us a bit about life. "I'm so cold," she complained gently. Henry put his arm over her shoulder but the insulation that kept him warm kept it from warming her. She said so, "but it's nice anyway. I get so lonely. It's nice to have someone put their arm around...