New Faces

I can't imagine anyone but Broadway babies much liking this film more than 50 years after its release, but it offers a unique slice of American theater history and I am glad it's been preserved. "New Faces of 1952" was the most successful of Leonard Sillman's Broadway shows and introduced a raft of talent - Eartha Kitt (who became an overnight sensation), Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Ronnie Graham, Robert Clary and Carol Lawrence (five years before "West Side Story"). Mel Brooks was one of the writers and Sheldon Harnick ("Fiddler on the Roof") contributed to the score. The skits on contemporary events (a spoof of hip music and the Senate, a sketch on "degenerate" Southern writers like Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams) are, naturally, pretty flat these days. But some of the musical numbers are very nice and it's great to see some old familiar faces when they were young and starting out. The show ran more than a year on Broadway and did a short tour to the West Coast. 20th Century Fox was still eagerly showcasing its CinemaScope format and decided to film the show, rather hastily, in Hollywood. The film is a rarity in that it is one of the few films made from a Broadway with its original cast intact and perhaps the ONLY revue ever filmed pretty much as it was on B'way, though shortened (and somewhat revised to play up Kitt's fame - she didn't sing "Santa Baby" in the original show but does here). Regrettable, Fox didn't preserve the film and let its copyright lapse a number of years ago. The present DVDs, and there are several, all seem to stem from a worn print discovered God knows where. The transfer, washed out and fuzzy but widescreen (at least), seems to have made with a camera photographing a screening (and not quite getting all of the image in). I saw the film when I was very young and don't remember it being this disjointed, leading to suspicions that some short pieces are missing.

A 50s Broadway revue is filmed here with a backstage story about needing money to finish the show. The bill collector is locked in a closet and the show goes on.

Many of the new faces went on to stardom and solid careers. Others never made it. Surprisingly, this small show produced a couple of hit songs: "Santa Baby" and "Love Is a Simple Thing." The musical numbers come off better than the skits. The production looks incredibly cheap and the dancing is amateurish. Yet....

It's amazing to see Eartha Kitt sizzle in her musical numbers, using her patented growl to add oomph. She could sell a song with the best on them. Alice Ghostley is terrific (who knew she could sing?) in skits and her solo number "The Boston Beguine." Paul Lynde (looking very heavy) is funny is his skits. Carol Lawrence is mostly a dancer here and has great stage presence. Virginia DeLuce (also known as Virginia Wilson) does well with her ongoing "He Takes Me Off His Income Tax." June Carroll has a shining moment singing "Penny Candy." She also wrote many of the songs for this production. Rosemary O'Reilly get to sing "Love Is a Simple Thing." However, Ronny Graham is way over the top as the show's "star." He comes off as a cross between Jerry Lewis and James Whitmore. Robert Clary is just plain obnoxious and gets ways too much screen time. The rest of the cast gets little to do other than chorus work.

Unbilled and missing from the IMDb cast list are Henry Kulky as the bill collector and Robert Emhardt as the rich daddy.

The film was directed by two men and is pretty bad with static cameras and those annoying shots that show us backstage reactions when performers are singing and dancing.

Trivia: Mel Brooks was one of the writers. Robert Clary was married to one of Eddie Cantor's daughters. Grimes and DeLuce won the 1952 Theatre World awards. Kitt's rendition of "C'est Si Bon" was not in the original show.

On the whole, I found the film disjointed and silly, BUT I'm giving it a high rating because it was so much fun to see the likes of Alice Ghostly, Paul Lynde and Eartha Kitt as young performers.

I never knew Ghostly had an actual, excellent singing voice! Always the comic, she also shines vocally in her rendition of "In Boston".

Later, Lynde and Ghostly play the parents of a disappointing son in a sketch that, while amusing, reveals one of the drawbacks of going from stage to film without coaching -- they shout as if they need to work to be heard in the back row. This is an interesting bit of history to be shared with young people today who primarily observe performers fully wired for sound.

For me, the best parts of the film were the several appearances by Eartha Kitt doing her unique and delicious vamping at a time most of us think of as uptight and way too tame. There is nothing uptight or tame about Kitt's performances here! They alone are worth the price of the DVD.

NEW FACES of 1952 has a backstage structure imposed on it of the cast requiring cash in order for the show to continue; and two cast members being in love, against the wishes of the girl's Texan father. The cast mainly featured Ronnie Graham, Alice Ghostley, Robert Clary and Eartha Kitt. Additional cast members included June Carroll, Virginia DeLuce, Paul Lynde, Bill Mullins, Rosemary O'Reilly, Allen Conroy, Jimmy Russell, George Smiley, Polly Ward, Carol Lawrence, Johnny Lavery, Elizabeth Logan, Faith Burwell and Clark Ranger. The words and music were "mostly" by Ronny Graham, Arthur Siegel, June Carroll, Sheldon Harnick and Michael Brown, with additional contributions from Murray Grand, Ellisse Boyd, Alan Melville, Herbert Farjeon (who gave Joyce Grenfell her start in revues), Francis LeMarque and Peter DeVries. The sketches were written by Ronny Graham, "Melvin" Brooks, Paul Lynde, Luther Davis and John Cleveland. The numbers included: C'est Si Bon Eartha Kitt Meet the Senate Paul Lynde, Ronny Graham & Others Lucky Pierre Robert Clary Penny Candy ? Boston Beguine Alice Ghostley Love is a Simple Thing Robert Clary, Earthy Kitt Famous Southern Writer Ronny Graham Time for Tea Alice Ghostley & Others Alouette Robert Clary Santa, Baby Eartha Kitt Waltzing in Venice ? Take Off Your Mask Ronny Graham, Alice Ghostley Mr. Canker in Darkest Africa Paul Lynde Raining Memories Robert Clary I'm In Love With Miss Logan Robert Clary Pickpocket Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Ronny Graham Lizzie Borden Ronny Graham & Others Monotonous Eartha Kitt Finale Entire Cast

MEET THE SENATE was a senate investigation into jazz, with Ronny Graham in a zoot suit. PENNY CANDY is a heart tugging song by a bejeweled lady thinking back to her childhood when a piece of penny candy could make her happy as nothing in her rich life does now. BOSTON BEGUINE is a famous Sheldon Harnick number which Alice Ghostley really shines in. I couldn't figure out who the "famous Southern author" was supposed to be - Tennessee Williams; Truman Capote (the character's name is Kaput). TIME FOR TEA is a sad lament of missed opportunities in youth which lead to becoming two old maids. TAKE OFF YOUR MASK is Ronny Graham importuning Alice Ghostley to remove her mask at a ball in Vienna, but when he pulls it off, he begs her to put it back on and dashes away on a gondola. MR. CANKER IN DARKEST AFRICA is Paul Lynde in bandages and on crutches, narrating his unfortunate experiences on a recent trip to Egypt. I'M IN LOVE WITH MISS LOGAN is Robert Clary as a young boy with a crush on his teacher and not even knowing her first name. PICKPOCKET is a skit in which Paul Lynde is an unsuccessful pickpocket who is disappointed in his son, Ronny Graham, who plays baseball and gets A's on his report card, and doesn't seem to want to follow him into the family business. MONOTONOUS is Eartha Kitt as a femme fatale, bored with her life even though she "made Johnny Ray smile for me; a camel walked a mile for me."

This film really should be brought out on a decent DVD. I watched it in a washed out copy with poor sound, and slim though the story line is it is a refreshing and entertaining show of songs and amusing entertainers that during the Christmas period and other parts of the year would cheer us up in dismal times. The real star of the show is the legendary Eartha Kitt. Her ' Santa Baby ' is worth 8 out of 10 alone, and some of the Broadway antics are hit and miss, but thanks to Eartha the whole experience is brilliantly raunchy in the inimitable way that she had, and if only she were here today to entertain us all ! An adventure in Cinemascope and new as freshest paint please someone out there give it that real new coat of paint and make it shine like it did on the wide screen in 1954.