Hello, Ginger!

Last week, I posted here a video of Bette Middler starring in the revival of Hello, Dolly!, performing the full number of "Before the Parade Passes By," with the dialogue leading into the song.  And three months ago, I posted this video of Betty Buckley doing the scene from the current national tour.  Well...let's go back a little further for one more.

After the original "Dolly," Carol Channing left the Broadway production to take the show on its tour across the country, producer David Merrick had the brilliant idea to have a string of legendary actresses play the role in New York, which kept the musical running for seven years and 2,844, one of the longest-running shows in the history of Broadway.  And the first of those actresses was the movie star Ginger Rogers, who took over the role on August 9, 1965.  And here is video of her performing that same number -- dialogue and song together.

I'm not quite sure where this is from.  It's not live on Broadway and appears to be the cast performing on a TV show.  The most-likely guess would be The Ed Sullivan Show, although the stage seems a bit smaller than I recall the Sullivan stage being.  It could also be from a Tony Awards broadcast.  

She's a bit mannered in her performance, but really throws herself into it, which helps make the number evocative and quite touching.