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Decent Quality Since 1847

More What's My Line?

3/26/2015

5 Comments

 
This is a bit of a different Mystery Guest segment than those I usually post, but it's one of the most adorable and also hilarious.  The celebrity guest is someone who was quite well-known in her day, but not at this point, Helen Traubel.

Helen Traubel was a famous Metropolitan Opera star.  Never the prima donna (which will be clear as you watch), later in her career, she made a slight and "controversial" shift and began performing in more popular music venues, and her contract with the Met was not renewed when she refused to give them up.  Most famously, she  starred in a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, one of their lesser-knowns, called Pipe Dream, based on a couple of John Steinbeck novels, Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.  It has a pleasant score, if not distinguished.  Two songs I recall as being nice are “All At Once You Love Her” and “The Man I Used to Be.”  

(Side note:  a very unsuccessful movie – but one I liked a great deal – was made of Cannery Row in the 1980s with Nick Nolte and Debra Winger.  I was working at Universal Studios at the time, and ran into the producer Michael Phillips after it flopped.  I explained why I liked it so much, and his face lit up when he said, “You got it!  Yes, that’s exactly what we were going for.”  The story is about a bunch of bums and low-lifes in the Skid Row district of, I believe, San Francisco, and that’s how it got reviewed, with disdain and no reason to care about the downtrodden characters.  But in their little world, they didn’t see each other as bums and low-lifes at all, but had respect and dignity and charm, in their own little microcosm, separate from the outside world.  That’s the sweetness that I loved, and what the producer was SO happy I got.  Phillips and writer-director David S. Ward had previously made The Sting together.)  

Anyway, back to What's My Line?  Helen Traubel is an utter joy -- but what also makes the video such a treat is panelist Wally Cox, sitting in for Bennett Cerf.  Wally Cox always played a sort of shy, nerdy comic character -- made famous in the TV series, Mr. Peepers, which was on the air at the time.  He clearly is totally lost with how the game is played and how to ask the proper questions, but he has such total lunatic fun with his bewilderment that he turns what could have been annoyingly awkward into a hoot.  And Helen Traubel eats it all up.

I can't edit the video to just the Mystery Guest segment, but just scroll to the 17:50 mark.

 

5 Comments
Walt Patterson link
3/30/2015 10:39:00 pm

Bob - Mark Evanier sent me to your site - hooray! Pipe Dream actually has one of Richard Rodgers' most memorable scores, and the overture orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett is stunning. Alas, John Steinbeck could not write the book for a musical, and wrote the novel 'Sweet Thursday' instead. The book of the show, and Hammerstein's lyrics, did not work. But the music - and Helen Traubel - were terrific. So were Bill Johnson and Judy Tyler - rich warm voices. Alas, both died the year after the show opened. I cherish the original cast recording. Best wishes - Cheers - Walt Patterson

Reply
Robert Elisberg
3/31/2015 12:51:20 am

While I don’t have the same opinion as you about the music to “Pipe Dream," I do find it a pleasant score, particularly in relation to its unfamiliarity. At some other time I’ll give it another listen…

Reply
Greg Checketts
4/1/2015 05:27:10 am

I'm not sure the "Pipe Dream" score holds quite as lofty a position in my affection as in Mr. Patterson's either, although I do like it, and I particularly like Helen Traubel's numbers on the recording. Regarding the more light classics aspect of her career, though, there's also a Bell Telephone Hour condensed version of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" where she plays opposite Groucho Marx's Ko-Ko. Even though she's playing the battle ax part, you can sense the same kind of good humor that she displays in this clip, and she manages to be horrible, sympathetic and altogether wonderful all at the same time.

Reply
Robert Elisberg
4/1/2015 06:19:31 am

Greg, thanks for your note. In fact, just to add on to it -- I posted a video of Groucho Marx and Helen Traubel in that production of "The Mikado," which can be found here --

http://www.elisbergindustries.com/blog/a-night-at-the-mikado

Reply
Greg Checketts
4/1/2015 07:51:05 am

Aw! Well THAT gave my afternoon a little pick me up, seeing that again!

Reply



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    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.

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