Ironic Moments in Show Business History

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 9:35pm

Let's see how many Ironic Moments in Show Business History we can name.

For example, in 1932, heralded Broadway Composer Jerome Kern (SHOW BOAT, etc.), hated the show he was working on--ROBERTA (Kern said it was a damn fashion show set to Music--and he wasn't far off from the truth!)

Anyway, Kern renounced Broadway and moved to Hollywood to become a Composer of Film Musicals for good. His first assignment was... the film version of ROBERTA.

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 9:44pm

June Havoc trying mightily to have the name Baby June expunged from GYPSY (at one point it was changed to Baby Clare) when that show probably brought her greater worldwide fame than anything in her distinguished career.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 9:46pm

Wildcat, Gypsy Rose Lee and June Havoc weren't exactly on the best of terms when they reunited as Adults, were they?

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 9:48pm

Audrey Hepburn being cast in My Fair Lady instead of Julie Andrews, then Julie Andrews winning the Oscar for Mary Poppins over Hepburn's performance in My Fair Lady.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 9:52pm

Dang Chrys, I was just typing that!!!!

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 9:53pm

True, Mary Ethel, but like most sisters (Lorna? Liza?)they seemed to reach a truce in their later years and met for a weekly sewing circle. Unlike the Joan Fontaine/Olivia de Haviland stand-off!

[CatieElphie1]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 10:07pm

The song "I write the songs" was not written by Barry Manillow...

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 10:08pm

Gypsy Rose Lee SEWING?

So, in GYPSY, when they presented Louise as making all the costumes, that was true! Wow!!!

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 10:18pm

Oh yeah! Old strippers don't end up quittin', they end up quiltin'!

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 10:19pm

When the writers of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" first conceived it, they saw the role of Sue Anne Nivens as a "Betty White-type."

To their vast surprise, Miss White herself agreed to play the part!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 10:46pm

Shirley Booth created roles on Broadway in "The Desk Set" and "Time of The Cukoo". Both roles went to Katherine Hepburn in the movies.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 10:55pm

Tallulah Bankhead starred in the Broadway productions of DARK VICTORY and THE LITTLE FOXES--both roles were played in their film versions by Bette Davis.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 11:02pm

But Shirley & Katherine are about as opposite as two actresses can get.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 11:03pm

Excellent point, Gotham.

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 2:27am

Shirley MacLaine got the film of "Sweet Charity" because Gwen Verdon was considered unphotogenic, and guess who ended up coaching MacLaine for the role? The exceedingly gracious Ms. Verdon.

[cturtle]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:23am

let's not forget the extensive talent hunt to find a nice talented southern gal to play our darling SCARLETT in GONE WITH THE WIND, only to have the very british VIVIEN LEIGH land the role. (better an english girl than a d#mn yankee!)

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:31am

ctuttle - I've been meaning to tell you, and now's as good a time as any. Your icon makes me weak in the knees. That movie hits me where I live! And as much as I love the quote you picked for your sig, when I see the etheral Mr. Graves, all I can hear him whispering is, "Now we shan't ever be parted."

*SWOON*

[shira467]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:39am

I love this kind of trivia!

[cturtle]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:41am

just for you, DG :)

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:43am

OK - I can go to bed now with all the most beautiful thoughts in my head - thank you, c

[cturtle]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:48am

"i know, sir ... i know, sir ..."

sorry, didn't mean to hijack this worthy thread ... hate it when people do that :/

Updated On: 2/15/05 at 05:48 AM

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:50am

I know, it's awful - but thank you anyway

[Marquise]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 11:22am

Barbara Parkins won the role of Anne Welles in the film "Valley of the Dolls" after Candice Bergen was originally cast.

Barbara co-starred in the film with Sharon Tate.

Sharon Tate's husband, Roman Polanski was directing Mia Farrow in "Rosemary's Baby" at the time. Mia Farrow was Barbara Parkins' co-star on the TV soap "Peyton Place".

Mia Farrow later married Andre Previn, who along with then-wife Dory Previn wrote the songs used in "Valley of the Dolls".

In 1969 Sharon Tate was brutally murdered by the Manson Family in a house that was once occupied by record producer Terry Melcher and girlfriend Candice Bergen.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 11:57am

I just have to say (this bothers me) that it's KathArine Hepburn, with an A, not KathErine with an E.

Katharine Hepburn.

[Sister George]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 1:03pm

I found the audience at the Academy Awards giving a post accident Christopher Reeves a standing ovation painfully ironic.

Updated On: 2/15/05 at 01:03 PM