Prologue

I Put My
Hand In

It Takes
a Woman

Put on Your
Sunday Clothes

Ribbons Down
My Back

Motherhood

Dancing

Before the Parade
Passes By

Elegance

Hello Dolly!

It Only Takes
a Moment

So Long,
Dearie

Finale

"Hello Dolly" (for all intents and purposes) is really an MGM product of the 50s even though it was made by 20th Century Fox and released in 1969. MGM veterans: Gene Kelly (as Director) and Roger Edens (as Associate Producer) brought all the dazzling "spit and polish" of the Arthur Freed unit (famed in-house factory of MGM musicals) to the screen. Kelly lured choreographer Michael Kidd (his co-star from "It's Always Fair Weather") to stage the magnificent dancing sequences.

Carol Channing (who had originated the role of Dolly Levi in the 1964 Gower Champion directed stage production) was considered too zany and wacky to repeat her signature role for the screen. She suffered from the same problem stage stars, Ethel Merman and Zero Mostel, had in being too "over-the-top" for the screen. Box office favorites who were considered and courted for the role before La Streisand accepted it were Lucille Ball and Elizabeth Taylor. Both later got their chance to sing with unfortunate results in 1973's "Mame" and 1977's "A Little Night Music", respectively. At least Lucille Ball made some comic sense but Elizabeth Taylor as Dolly Levi? Legend has it that Josh Logan actually gave her a screen test in 1957 for Mary Martin's signature stage role of Nellie Forbush in the "South Pacific" movei version but she was so nervous she ran out of the audition and threw up. Another unbelievable casting consideration was the role of Irene Molloy (a video screen test still exists!) portrayed by Ann Margaret. Imagine Barbra and Elvis' former girlfriend squaring off in the hat shop. Instead it went to the unknown (and obviously dubbed) Marianne McAndrew.

E.J Peaker as Minne Fay had modest box office value as a Disney juvenile and Danny Locklin as Barnaby can be seen in 1962's "Gypsy" as one of Mama Rose's Farm Boys. Michael Crawford (who later scored big in the title stage role of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera") gives an energetic if somewhat quirky portrayal of Cornelius. Watch for his strange hand wringing during It Only Takes A Moment after the title song. Gene Kelly's wife urged him to give the role to the British actor after being taken with Crawford in a Broadway comedy. No scripting explains why Cornelius Hackl has a British accent. Tommy Tune is seen (long before his Broadway directorial fame) in the relatively small role of Ambrose. Tune later got a meatier featured role in Ken Russell's 1972 bizarre version of the 1954 Julie Andrews Twenties pastiche import to Broadway, "The Boyfriend".

Two stage songs were lost and two "original" songs were added. Dolly's opening number I Put My Hand In was replaced (but using the original introduction) with the more vocally bombastic Just Leave Everything To Me for Streisand. The specialty number Motherhood was dropped from the hat shop scene and a love ballad (hoping to sell more records) was added for Barbra right before the Hello Dolly number. The new number was commissioned by Gene Kelly and Executive Producer and Screenplay author, Ernest Lehman. Jerry Herman gave them Love Is Only Love and they were delighted with it. It was only later when Kelly traded airline memories with MGM veteran, Angela Lansbury, did he learn that Herman has given them Love Is Only Love as a reject trunk song from Lansbury's signature hit "Mame". Lehman smoothed out some plot wrinkles from the stage libretto and made the Widow Molloy the much more attractive and unmarried Miss Molloy to appeal to the youth audience of the late sixties. Otherwise the script is scene for scene repeat of the Broadway original. Of course, Louis Armstrong is trotted out to sing just one more verse of the title tune he made commercially famous. Barbra even scats with him a little and it works.

Much was made of Streisand's shifting portrayal of Dolly: first as a Jewish matron (not unlike her signature "Funny Girl") and later as a takeoff on Mae West - complete with eye-rolling side glances). Truthfully the needy and screen-green Streisand was desperate for some solid directorial advice and Kelly was more comfortable in the company of his previous star, Matthau (in "A Guide To A Married Man") than with this talented but demanding newcomer. Due to that slight and her belief she was miscast as Dolly, Barbra does tend to shift in her portrayal. Is she funny and gifted? Absolutely! Does she make the role glow with star power? Another affirmative! Does she and Walter have screen charisma? Absolutely not. You can tell they hate each other with a passion which makes the Love Is Only Love a curious song. Only in the eleven o'clock number So Long Dearie do they click and that is because she is goading him in this number as a part of the plot and Matthau's doubletakes are acknowledged as some of the best in screen history.

Is the movie overblown? Yes in two obvious places: the Dancing sequence is far too long and then following it is the mammoth Before The Parade Passes By number. Dancing is just plain too long and should have been cut and Parade needs a little less spectacle. One would expect the Macy's balloons to appear at any moment. Also jarring the period flavor of this number is the unforgivable posturing of La Streisand (at her Sixties worst) when she throws back her head and hands at the end holding the final note count way beyond what is needed! This is not 1890's Dolly but 1960's Barbra displaying her worst Greenwich Village nightclub mannerisms.

All that being said, does "Hello Dolly" work as a big movie musical? Yes. Was it a scapegoat for studio excesses and escapist movies when sixties' audiences were asking for movies with a political message? Sure it was. If it had been made in the Fifties, it would have been lauded and praised as superb family fare.

"Hello Dolly" was the first time I saw Barbra Streisand exhibit her own special brand of movie magic and I was thoroughly enchanted and still am. The movie is wonderful eye candy with some nifty Jerry Herman tunes throw in for good measure. I watch it every time it is on the tube!