Latest Videos - Lost Vocals

Gigi - Leslie Caron 's own voice - Say a Prayer for Me Tonight

2009-01-31T04:52:25.412Z

Leslie sings this ballad, which was dubbed by Betty Wand in the released film. This track fit in quite easily, so it might have been used during filming.

"The cat reacted violently whenever it was in a scene with Leslie Caron, but director Vincente Minnelli insisted on having that particular cat, so it had to be heavily drugged. This is especially obvious during "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight."
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Gigi - Leslie Caron 's own voice - The Night They Invented Champagne

2009-01-31T01:50:52.404Z

Here's Leslie's original vocal track, which I synched to the released film (in which she was dubbed by Betty Wand).

This track fit in easily, since it is the actual track used for filming. Here's how it worked, according to Hugh Fordin's "The World of Entertainment!":

Out of necessity, the prerecordings for "Gigi" were made in a completely unorthodox and lopsided manner. [Performers] recorded their numbers [while in Paris] to Andre Previn's piano accompaniment. Voice and piano were recorded on separate bands and Lela Simone made sure the voices didn't leak on to the piano track and vice versa because ultimately the full orchestra would be added to the voice tracks at Culver City.
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Judy Garland - The Man That Got Away - Multiple Takes

2009-01-30T15:00:57.386Z

Here are all three takes of Judy Garland singing "The Man That Got Away" from "A Star is Born."

The top image is the first take, filmed on October 21st, 1953, featuring Judy in a pink blouse. The cameraman could not give Cukor what he wanted: "low light levels, the impressionistic feeling of the musical instruments, Garland moving in and out of pools of light," so he was fired.

Changes were made to the costume and set and the number was re-filmed on October 29th (the middle image).

Gene Allen: "The first time it looked as if we had painted a set to look like a bar. So to give it a slightly impressionistic look I...put a scrim between the musicians and the back bar. If you look very carefully at that scene you can see the scrim nailed down on the floor..." (Look for Tom Noonan's shadow on the scrim!)

Earl Bellamy: "When Judy sang to playback, you couldn't hear anything...She wanted me to start at full blast and then she topped it...you could hear Judy clear as a bell, and she sang right with it..."

Garland did 27 takes of the number over three days, both partial and complete. But "Cukor had her doing bits of business before the song, and all of that action didn't really fit the song - it was just too busy. And she didn't look good - her costume was wrinkled, it didn't fit right." And the color was wrong: too brown.

It was filmed for a third time in February of 1954, with new hairstyle and costume and a new set using reds and blues (the bottom image).

Cukor: "I think we have generated a lot of sex...She looks perfectly charming in a new Jean-Louis dress, and I know that this too is an enormous improvement over the way we first did it - it has fun and spirit."

Judy Garland - Embraceable You - Deleted Line - Girl Crazy - Stereo

2009-01-30T13:39:51.382Z

Judy Garland sings this great Ralph Blaine/Hugh Martin arrangement of George Gershwin's "Embraceable You" from the 1942 film "Girl Crazy."

I've replaced the film soundtrack with true stereo from the CD, and added the deleted opening line sung by the male chorus (apparently an insider joke about the recent copyright claims placed on "Happy Birthday").
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Tommy Dorsey - Fascinating Rhythm - Girl Crazy - Stereo

2009-01-30T06:30:20.375Z

Tommy Dorsey plays Sy Oliver's amazing arrangement of George Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm" in the 1943 MGM musical "Girl Crazy." Mickey Rooney mimes to Arthur Schutt on piano.

I've replaced the audio on the mono soundtrack with stereo from the CD. Stereo tracks exist since MGM recorded the music using multiple mics before mixing it down to mono for the film soundtrack.

Happily, dedicated audio techs preserved the orchestral angles on 1/4" tape when Louis B. Mayer ordered all original elements destroyed in the early 50s.

Here's Tommy's band in the late 30s - can anyone verify who is in this clip?

Saxes: Hymie Schertzer, Babe Russin, Johnny Mince, Dean Kincaide, Fred Stuice
Trumpets: Ziggy Elman, George Seaberg, Charlie Spivak, Yank Lawson, Lee Castaldo
Trombones: Tommy, Moe Zudecoff, Les Jenkins, Elmer Smithers
Trumpets: Charlie Spivak, Yank Lawson, Lee Castaldo
Drums: Maurice Purtill
Guitar: Carmen Mastren
Bass: Gene Traxler
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