LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Composer Jerome Kern changed the face of musical theater when he and Oscar Hammerstein II created the enormous 1927 hit Show Boat, one of the first stage productions of its kind to weave songs through a dramatic narrative. In 1934 Kern had another Broadway hit in Roberta, a musical comedy that RKO would bring to the screen with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. A decade and a half later, M-G-M (which had purchased the screen rights) created a remake tailored for more modern audiences called Lovely To Look At. The title track had been added to the Roberta Broadway score when RKO made its first film version, and it earned an Oscar® nomination for Best Song in the process. In 1949 veteran M-G-M producer Jack Cummings began preparations, hiring George Wells to collaborate with writer-lyricist Harry Ruby on a new screenplay. With legendary director Mervyn LeRoy at the helm, Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Ann Miller, and Marge and Gower Champion were cast. Grayson and Keel were still smoldering after their white-hot success in Arthur Freed's 1951 remake of Show Boat. Skelton had recently teamed with Fred Astaire in Three Little Words. The story of three struggling Broadway songwriters who find love in Paris after one of them inherits a dress shop, Lovely culminates in a Technicolor fashion-show finale directed by the legendary Vincente Minnelli. The film opened profitably in June 1952 at New Yorks's Radio City, cashing in on the gorgeous orchestration of Leo Arnaud, superb musical direction of Carmen Dragon and Saul Chaplin, and top-flight performances from its cast. Discerning fans may notice that many of Lovely's lyrics bear slim resemblance to those of the original versions in Roberta. Cummings hired Dorothy Fields to write new lyrics for many of the songs, thus integrating the words into Lovely's modernized plot. For instance, "I Won't Dance" originally contained a reference that served as an in-joke for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" and "Yesterdays," however, were not touched. The original soundtrack to Lovely To Look At quickly became a bestseller upon the film's 1952 release. While several abbreviated, sonically inferior versions have been issued over the years, this Turner/Rhino Handmade package presents the premiere release of Jerome Kern's entire score, remastered from original studio prerecording masters. As a bonus, this soundtrack CD contains five never-before-released songs from the original soundtrack of M-G-M's Texas Carnival (1951), also starring Keel, Miller, and Skelton -- along with wet-and-wonderful Esther Williams. Lovely To Look At is available in an individually numbered limited edition of 2,500 copies.
TRACK LISTING MEDLEY: MAIN TITLE (SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES/LOVELY TO LOOK AT/I WON'T DANCE) / OPENING NIGHT (DON'T ASK ME NOT TO SING) (Extended Version) (2:06) I'LL BE HARD TO HANDLE (3:16) I'LL BE HARD TO HANDLE (Instrumental) (1:00) LAFAYETTE (CLEMENTINE) (3:40) YESTERDAYS (2:27) I WON'T DANCE (3:37) YOU'RE DEVASTATING (2:19) LOVELY TO LOOK AT (1:55) LOVELY TO LOOK AT (Instrumental) (2:17) I WON'T DANCE (Instrumental) (2:06) SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES (Marge & Gower Champion Dance Instrumental) (3:29) THE MOST EXCITING NIGHT (ARMFUL OF TROUBLE) (1:42) SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES (3:17) FASHION SHOW PART I (LOVELY TO LOOK AT/YOU'RE DEVASTATING/THE MOST EXCITING NIGHT) (5:46) FASHION SHOW PART II: YESTERDAYS (Marge & Gower Version) (4:39) FASHION SHOW PART III/THE TOUCH OF YOUR HAND (4:15) LOVELY TO LOOK AT (FINALE) (3:45) MEDLEY: MAIN TITLE (LOVELY TO LOOK AT/SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES) (Unused Outtake Version) / OPENING NIGHT (DON'T ASK ME NOT TO SING) (Unused Extended Version-Partial Outtake) (3:45) YOUNG FOLKS SHOULD GET MARRIED (2:35) WHOA, EMMA (3:26) CORNIE'S PITCH (2:40) IT'S DYNAMITE (3:17) TEXAS ROUTINE (DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS) (2:42)