Elisberg Industries
Decent Quality Since 1847
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like

Once Upon a Couple Times

9/18/2019

2 Comments

 
Bear with me, this leads to a point.

The Broadway musical All American in 1962 had great pedigree -- and was a huge flop.  It has a score by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, who just two years earlier had written the show Bye Bye Birdie.  (And a few years later would win the Best Musical Tony Award for Applause -- and separately Strouse would later write the music for Annie.)  Moreover, the book was written by none other than Mel Brooks, early in his career.  And to top all that, the star of the show was Ray Bolger, the beloved 'Scarecrow' from The Wizard of Oz.  Further, the female lead was Eileen Herlie, who had a respected Broadway career, and three years earlier had starred in the Broadway hit Take Me Along.  However, for all that, All American only ran for 80 performances.

I'm not a fan of the score -- though a friend who saw the original production said that the score was joyously staged which made it fun.  For me, only one song is of much interest...though happily, the song is absolutely great and has become a standard, still heard today, "Once Upon a Time."

A great many artists have recorded the song, though my favorite rendition remains the original from the show's cast album.  In part, I dearly love the arrangement with a gentle flute weaving its way throughout the song in a lilting, floating way, almost like a bird.  But also I think Ray Bolger's performance is unique.  Most artists performing the song do it -- thoroughly appropriately -- as a tender look back on life, which it is.  Bolger, though, in the context of the show, almost talks the song and fills each line an utter wistfulness and heart-aching sadness at what once was and is now long-since passed and gone, though with a gladness at it having been.

The song is later joined by Eileen Herlie.  And though I think Bolger does the song far-better, she has such a rare sound to her voice that it fits so well.

Again, bear with me.  As much as I like bringing this version to people's attention, it's not the point here.


This below is the point.

Much as I love Ray Bolger's rendition of "Once Upon a Time" from the Broadway musical All American and is my favorite version of the song, I can't leave it there.

A couple days ago, while looking for something else, I came across this video by chance, from three years ago.  It's from a 90th birthday celebration in 2016 for Tony Bennett, who had sung the number earlier in his career and wonderfully.  And here to honor him, performing the Broadway classic "Once Upon a Time" is -- Bob Dylan!  And most especially with his gravelly tone, he does a terrific job with it.

That's the point.
​
2 Comments
Don Casalu
9/19/2019 04:45:43 pm

How great and unique! I have long loved Ray Bolger's version but Dylan really makes it his own. Thanks for sharing as it really is quite beautiful.

Reply
Robert Elisberg
9/19/2019 05:21:58 pm

Don, thanks for your note. Yes, for me, Ray Bolger's version remains the standard because it's performing the song in context of the show for how the scene and song were written together for the character. It's so rich with mood and texture. And the arrangement with the flute adds a hear-aching richness. But -- no, it is not "the best" standalone sung version. I don't think Dylan's necessarily is -- but it's quite wonderful, and if someone made it their own favorite, I'd completely understand.

What leaps out too before he even sings a word is how much he clearly respects Tony Bennett and wants to honor him, just by the simple fact that he's there.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Elisberg Industries gets a commission if you click here before shopping on Amazon.
    Picture
    Follow @relisberg

    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.



    Picture
           Feedspot Badge of Honor

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Audio
    Audio Land
    Books
    Business
    Chicago
    Consumer Product
    Education
    Email Interview
    Entertainment
    Environment
    Fine Art
    Food
    From The Management
    Health
    History
    Huffery
    Humor
    Internet
    Journalism
    Law
    Los Angeles
    Media
    Morning News Round Up
    Movies
    Music
    Musical
    Personal
    Photograph
    Piano Puzzler
    Politics
    Popular Culture
    Profiles
    Quote Of The Day
    Radio
    Religion
    Restaurants
    Science
    Sports
    Technology
    Tech Tip
    Theater
    The Writers Workbench
    Tidbits
    Travel
    Tv
    Twitter
    Video
    Videology
    Well Worth Reading
    Words-o-wisdom
    Writing

    RSS Feed

© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2021
Contact Us    About EI    Chicago Cubs