Oklahoma!

Since I'm a Newbie and go into detail on some the dance routines, I'm stating that there may be spoilers here just to cover myself.

Being afflicted with little coordination or a reliable short-term memory, I've developed a great respect, if not admiration for anyone who is or aspires to be a dancer, since those qualities are essential.

I used to attend the Solid Gold shows and marveled at how those dancers were expected to pick up complicated steps on the first take, repeat the routine time and time again until the director was happy, and then show lots of first-take energy. One dancer told me they always had swollen and sometimes bloody feet after the show. But at least they were always properly credited. I have no doubt that it's the same for the stage and screen dancers except that in so many cases they are treated as a throwaway commodity when it comes time to the credits.

Although "Oklahoma" is one of my all-time favorites, it is a classic example of the latter. In earlier viewings, I had noticed/liked/wondered about that perky little blonde dancer who has a crush on Will (Gene Nelson) and her almost-prominent presence in all of the dance routines. Being laid up with a broken foot gave me time to scan IMDBs comments and message board quotes for this movie, which prompted me to take a detailed, and in some cases a frame-by-frame look at this dancer's performances.

Well, leisurely dissecting her work in freeze-frame and slo-mo, you suddenly discover what a talented little gem this girl is (apparently Jennie Workman, but how can we be sure? - Updated 07/24/06 - Nope, it turns out she's Lizanne Truex). She first appears, and immediately establishes a stand-out presence as an infatuated-with-Will teenager in "Everything's Up To Date In Kansas City". At one point in the "ragtime" routine, she kicks so high she knocks off Will's hat -- and he is not a short guy. I thought he used the old trick of snapping his head back, but no, that little gal kicks her foot up as high or higher than her head with a disciplined precision (how many takes for that one?). Her disapproving look at Will's horse (who nuzzled him) typifies a little girl pique. Check out her adoring looks at Will while dancing with him as compared to her partner, who seemed concentrating on the steps. When the girls race with Will to the train, her arm-swinging energy makes it look like the start of a 100-yard dash. Freeze-frame caught her extra little toe-heel-toe step just before she jumped on the train – a nice professional flourish that I don't think was choreographed as her partner, who usually danced in unison, didn't perform.

Then there was her performance in "Many a New Day". First it was a how-can-I-fix-my-hair primping before a mirror followed by a hair-fluffing attention-getter and a dreamy head-in-arms swoon that personifies a young girl in love. At the end of the routine, when the dancers all fall to the floor around Laurey, she assumes a contorted position with such a fluid and graceful movement that you wonder if she has any bones.

In the early part of Laurey's (Shirley Jones) dream sequence, she shyly presents a bouquet of flowers to Dream Curly (James Mitchell) and when he accepts, she flashes such a winsome smile that it squeezes your heart. Dagnabbit, I'm in love -- and with a 50-year-old image at that! Follow her around in the "Farmers and Ranchers" bit and notice how she's not just acting, but having REAL fun -- by-God-enjoying every minute of it and probably thinking "And to think they're paying me to do this!"). There's a notably cute bit where she bounces up on Will's hip, seemingly light as a feather, and then rewards him with a very ladylike curtsy.

In "All er Nuthin" she and her partner come out and do some fancy high-stepping and strutting around Will and when he gives her girlfriend a peck on the lips, she does a great arms-akimbo pouting look of HMMMPH! This little lady consistently gives a great professional account of herself throughout the film both as an actress and a dancer. She has spot-on timing and always seems to kick a little higher and express a little more verve and elan than the others.

And for all this she gets a generic "Dancer" in the film credits!!! They could at least have said "Perky Little Blonde Teenager" or "Foxy Teenage Blonde Infatuated with Will". Heck, I'd even settle for "Young Girl No. 1". At least you would have been pointed in the right direction. Shame on whomever was responsible, for this little lady had lots of potential and in my opinion, her subsequent absence was a loss to the trade. Evidently this was her only film and biographical info on her is non-existent. All the other Internet movie references for her appear to be taken from IMDBs database. Perhaps she was so disgusted at the lack of recognition that she quit the business. Then again, I'd like to think some smart (as in lucky) guy married her soon after and by now she has lots of grandchildren.

In any event, I pass on a "Well Done and I wish I could have seen more of you" to her, wherever she is. It's the least I could do for someone who owns part of my heart. In keeping with IMDb's restriction on URLs, check out my tribute to her by clicking on nevkid12's name in the message board's reply to "Who are the 2 dancers?".

The stage-to-screen musical became an institution during the 1950s, one that would reach its peak in the mid-1960s and then quickly decline. Within the industry, I wonder if a certain prestige attached itself to established directors who could create good musicals, because many a veteran director tried his hand at it. Between 1955 and 1970, directors like Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Robert Wise, George Cukor and Carol Reed, none of them known as musical directors, would make some of the best-known and best-loved screen musicals of all time. Fred Zinneman tossed his hat into the ring with "Oklahoma!"

And, as it happens, made a pretty good job of it. Many a film director struggled with how to open up stage-bound material for the screen. Some didn't try (George Cukor in "My Fair Lady") and some improved on the original material through doing so (Robert Wise in "The Sound of Music"). Zinneman's efforts fall somewhere in between. The vast landscapes that serve as a background for his film contribute a realism that the stage version could never capture, but Zinneman doesn't always know what to do with the space he's given, and his transitions from scene to scene (that would have been covered up on stage through extra business and music) suffer from clunkiness. The score sounds remarkable, and those involved knew well enough to leave the original songs mostly intact.

Where "Oklahoma!" surpasses other film musicals is in its wonderful cast. Gordon MacRae could play a signing cowboy without making him twerpy. Shirley Jones could convince you with her soprano warble that she was an innocent country girl. Rod Steiger is almost too good for the material as the psycho Jud Fry. James Whitmore, Eddie Albert and Charlotte Greenwood have priceless little bits that they make the most of. And Gene Nelson and Gloria Grahame steal scene after scene, making you almost wish the movie was about them.

Most importantly, Zinneman knew how to stage a musical number and effectively capture dance on film, which is something Mankiewicz, whose "Guys and Dolls" came out in the same year, did not.

Grade: A

I emphasize 60 because the musical debuted on Broadway in 1943, even though the film version was released 12 years later.

An unforgettable score. Perfect singer-actors. Tantalizing cinematography. It does not seem to get much better than this.

The main thing I admire about Oklahoma is that like the Rodgers and Hammerstein adaptations that would follow it (Carousel, South Pacific, Flower Drum Song, and, of course, The Sound of Music), the movie was fronted by legitimate musical talent, unlike in My Fair Lady and West Side Story. Further, it was a movie that did not rely on major stars, Rod Steiger notwithstanding, to make it an enjoyable picture. (Lest you forget this movie 'introduced' Shirley Jones as Laurey. Lest you would also like to know, the stage musical Oklahoma debuted on March 31, 1943, which coincidentally was a birthday of Miss Jones (I won't say which one). Prophetic? Maybe.

I just acquired the set of Rogers and Hammerstein's musicals on DVD, and am enjoying them immensely; the picture clarity and sound are outstanding and the music and story good to boot!! I believe this was Shirley Jones' debut in a movie, and she portrays Laurie to a tee, and has ample support from all of the other actors, with fine comedy support from Gloria Grahame and Charlotte Greenwood; have enjoyed Ms Greenwood in earlier films she did at Fox, and am wondering if she played Aunt Eller on Broadway.... The ballet sequence is exquisitely handled by Agnes DeMille, and the dancing in all scenes superb; if there was any complaint it would only be that the scenes with Jud seem a little prolonged and drawn out, but overall, an excellent film...

`Oklahoma' is the sexiest film of the 1950s. The film is all about sex, (well, it's about romance, as well, but what does that lead to?). Curley keeps finding different ways to woo Laurie. Jud, who lives in a dug-out surrounded by pictures of naked women, has plans for her, too. Will and Ado Annie have plans of their own, if they can ever stop both their wandering eyes. Annie's father knows what they are up to and figures to use his shot gun to set things right. Those spyglasses with the interesting pictures keep showing up. Women dance around in their underwear and we visit a dance hall where they are similarly dressed except for the colors. Finally there is Laurie's skinny dipping sequence. I assume Shirley Jones had a flash-colored bathing suit, but who knows? Deep Throat isn't any more about sex than this film is. Yet it's Rogers and Hammerstein so it's shown constantly as a family film. Well, I guess that's how families get made!

Other comments: I see nothing in the choreography that Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones couldn't have done, at least in the close-ups. We see Rod Steiger in the dream sequence and to see two other faces as Laurie and Curly kind of shatter the illusion.

While many sequences are clearly shot on a sound stage, the beautiful outdoors photography in Todd-AO adds so much to the spectacle. When I saw the recent tape of a British stage play of this, it had no where near the impact and this was one of the reasons.

Another was the casting, which was dead-on perfect. Gordon McRae is the picture of the singing cowboy, (which was not a Hollywood invention). He more than holds his own with Rod Steiger, a year after Steiger was holding his won with Brando. Shirley Jones is the image of Laurie. She has all the physical endowments of a Marilyn Monroe but with the added qualities of sweetness and intelligence that make her marvelously sexy and appealing. Steiger gives the piece dramatic weight. He also shows surprising singing ability, (this site says he had an operatic voice but no sense of key), Gloria Grahame is the ideal Ado Annie. I saw a clip of Celeste Holm, of whom I am a big fan, doing `I Can't Say No' on the Ed Sullivan show. She doesn't hold a candle to Grahame, who underplays the lines but has the sex coming out of her eyes, right along with the innocence. Gene Nelson is a wonderfully easy going dancing cowpoke and his songs with Ado Annie have unending charm. Charlotte Greenwood is a wonder as Aunt Eller, all arms and legs and home spun philosophy. James Whitmore makes a meal of shotgun toting Dad. Eddie Albert has one of his best roles as Ali Hakim. It's hard to imagine anyone being better in these roles.

Of course, Roger's and Hammerstein's music and lyrics are timeless. The title tune, `Oh What Beautiful Morning `, `Surrey With the Fringe on Top', `People Will Say We're in Love', `Everything's Up-to-Date in Kansas City', `I can't Say No', and the others keep playing in your memory long after you've heard them.

But that story, (you can't really call it a plot). Have you ever seen a musical like it?