And today, we conclude the Third Elisberg Industries Film Festival with our presentation of the original 1960 cast production of Camelot. (For those who may have missed any or all of the previous videos, I'll post links to them below.) In 1980, Richard Burton did a revival tour of Camelot, which later returned to Broadway. It played in Los Angeles, but unfortunately I didn’t go immediately because that’s when his back issues got too much, and he had to drop out. He was replaced by Richard Harris, which as of course a good choice, but I had no interest in going. I’d seen him in the movie (and didn’t care for his performance), and he recreated it for a live-onstage TV production (which I saw, and thought he was much better than in the movie). And mostly, not only had his performance been recorded twice, he wasn’t Richard Burton, the original, which was the entire point of the tour in the first place. Most especially since there was no video record of his performance, However, there is now a poor-quality recording of that 1980 revival production with Richard Burton online. And while most such bootleg recordings irresponsible, I do make exceptions when they are preserving something important in cultural history that would otherwise be lost forever, and I posted it on my site here. So, as a bonus, and sort of finale button on this whole “original Camelot” tribute, here is the famous four-minute finale of that revival production, with Richard Burton singing the reprise of “Camelot” to young Tom of Warwick. A battle is about to start, which marks the end of the dream of Camelot. That’s when King Arthur discovers a young boy, Tom of Warwick, hiding out, enthralled by the Knights of the Roundtable and the meaning of Camelot. And Arthur realizes that this is his chance to let the story be told and passed on to history. (SIDE NOTE: I believe that I read long ago, and even if not, it's been my firm certainty, that the character here of the young boy, Tom of Warwick, who King Arthur knights to run off and tell the story, is Alan Jay Lerner's homage to Sir Thomas Malory who in 1470 wrote Le Morte d'Arthur, which is considered the source today of most Arthurian mythology. Further, Sir Thomas was from Warwickshire. His book, actually a series of eight short books, was published in the form we now know after his death in 1485.) This finale from Camelot is deeply moving, and the line “For one brief shining moment” is not only glorious on its own, but for those who lived through the Kennedy years, it’s has such powerful resonance. In fact, Alan Jay Lerner discusses this final scene in his memoir, The Street Where I Live. He says that initially, the first act was seen as the strongest, for its charm and whimsy, and that the darker, more political second act was seen as more problematic. But after the Kennedy assassination, he says that that perception of the show all flipped. The following week, Theodore H. White wrote an article on Kennedy for Life Magazine, which quoted Jacqueline Kennedy saying how much Jack had loved the musical Camelot, and played the cast album often at night. And how he loved to hear the lines at the end, “Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.” When the article ended, it was with the passage, “She said it is time people paid attention to the new president and the new first lady. But she does not want them to forget John F. Kenney or read of him only in dusty or bitter histories: For one brief moment there was Camelot.” The magazine article made major news across the country, and then Lerner tells the story of the first performance of the show after it appeared. Camelot was on the road at the time, touring in Chicago, playing at the Lyric Opera House, a huge facility with 3,000 seats. He writes what he was later told happened that night – “The theatre was packed. The verse quoted above is sun in the last scene. Louis Hayward was playing King Arthur. When he came to those lines, there was a sudden wail from the audience. It was not a muffled sob; it was a loud, almost primitive cry of pain. The play stopped, and for almost five minutes everyone in the theatre – on the stage, in the wings, in the pit, and in the audience – wept without restraint. Then the play continued.” This is that scene. No, this isn’t from the original production. But it’s the original himself. And the production. You'll probably have to turn the volume up quite a bit -- but it's worth. And here are links to all previous episodes of this Third International Elisberg Industry Film Festival of Camelot. Part 1 – https://www.elisbergindustries.com/blog/dont-let-it-be-forgot-the-overture Part 2 – https://www.elisbergindustries.com/blog/dont-let-it-be-forgot-part-2 Part 3 -- https://www.elisbergindustries.com/blog/dont-let-it-be-forgot-part-3 Part 4 – https://www.elisbergindustries.com/blog/dont-let-it-be-forgot-part-4 Part 5 -- https://www.elisbergindustries.com/blog/dont-let-it-be-forgot-part-5 Part 6 – https://www.elisbergindustries.com/blog/dont-let-it-be-forgot-part-6 Part 7 -- https://www.elisbergindustries.com/blog/dont-let-it-be-forgot-part-7
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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