Larry Kert
Larry Kert
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
Larry Kert#1
Posted: 11/17/07 at 9:40am
I've been posting these "Passing Angels" threads for the last 2 years. December's will be the final one and for the first time I'm having absolutely no luck at all finding a photo. Larry Kert was the star of "West Side Story" and other Broadway shows. Despite this, I've gone through over a hundred books here and hours on the Internet and I STILL can't come up with a decent photo of him! Lots of distant shots of the stage and some terrible screen caps from the Ed Sullivan/WSS appearance, but nothing I can really use.
SO - I'm asking your help. Does anyone out there have any decent pics of Larry that I can use in the next thread? Send me a PM if you do. I promise to give you photo credit!
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
Broadway Star Joined: 6/17/04
re: Larry Kert#2
Posted: 11/17/07 at 10:07am
Funny you should mention him Mamie, I was looking for photos of him a short while ago and came up empty. I was not aware that he had passed away. Shame.
I didn't know who he was way back when, but first saw him on Johnny Carson in the mid-to-late 70's when he sang a tune from WSS - Something's Coming (I think that's the title). I remember the audience reaction was really great, and it gave me chills! When did WSS open in NY? So, his appearance must have been a good 10-15 years after it opened.
The reason he was on the show, if my failing memory is correct, was to help promote a play he was appearing in, in LA - Irma LaDeuce. My memory really is failing me, because I can't recall who played Irma. A little help please from the BWW crowd, LOL. Was it Liza?
Anyhow, I did see the play, I thought he was wonderful, and I often wondered what else he had been up to.
re: Larry Kert#2
Posted: 11/17/07 at 11:02am
I'm sorry about no more Passing Angels threads Mamie.
But thank you for working so hard and giving us so much to enjoy.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Larry Kert#3
Posted: 11/17/07 at 11:29am
Lauren -
Larry was Tony in the original cast, in the late 50's, early 60's. He had a GORGEOUS voice and it's hard to understand why so few photos of him exist.
I remember reading a review of the OBC recording of WSS on CD. They compared it, track by track, with the film's CD soundtrack. The reviewer's overall opinion was that a recording with Larry Kert and Marni Nixon (Maria's singing voice on the soundtrack) would have been close to perfection!
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Thank you for the nice words, Glebby. I guess if anyone wants to see them, they'll just have to resurrect the old ones (occasionally adding to them, I guess).
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
re: Larry Kert#4
Posted: 11/17/07 at 11:49am
Funny--he was so handsome and there are so few pictures on line. We'll have to find a photo and scan it.
This is all I could find, from New York, New York:
re: Larry Kert#7
Posted: 11/17/07 at 12:02pm
Just found it. I have his early 60s LP called "Larry Kert Sings Leonard Bernstein" (small label, terrible arrangements) and it has a gorgeous picture of him.
I'll try and get the album cover scanned today (I don't have a scanner).
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Larry Kert#8
Posted: 11/17/07 at 12:06pmOh - lovely! Thanks PJ!
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
re: Larry Kert#9
Posted: 11/17/07 at 12:24pmI just looked in my copy of Craig Zadan's Sondheim & Co., and there are about 6 photos of Larry in it. Mayeb there's a way to access some of these photos on line?
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
**********
"If any relationship involves a flow chart, get out of it...FAST!"
~ Best12Bars
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Larry Kert#11
Posted: 11/17/07 at 12:38pmonce upon a time the Williamstown Theatre Festival web site had a history page that listed all the performers who've appeared there in the past. They also had a page that listed all the productions from each year. I just went there and (naturally) now all they have is the production page. I don't supposed anyone would know if LK ever performed there?
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
Broadway Star Joined: 6/17/04
re: Larry Kert#12
Posted: 11/17/07 at 1:02pmAnswering my own question - Larry played opposite Priscilla Lopez in Irma La Douce, 1977.
re: Larry Kert#13
Posted: 11/17/07 at 3:34pmhe looks like Joel Grey in that first picture
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
re: Larry Kert#14
Posted: 11/17/07 at 6:15pmThere are quite a few pictures of Larry on Ask.Com. I'd post them but my Copy/Paste features have disappeared on this computer.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Larry Kert#15
Posted: 11/17/07 at 7:08pm
Thanks Dolly, but I've gotten all of these from other sources. The problem is that none is a large, clear, closeup of LK. They're either very tiny (and will lose all clarity when I blow them up) or they're really fuzzy now.
If PJ is unable to scan that album cover I'll just use a screen cap from that Sullivan recording. One of those appears on the ASK.COM site. I made some of my own so I wouldn't have to blow it up so much. (It's still awfully blurry though)
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Larry Kert#17
Posted: 11/17/07 at 7:29pmYes. Ebay is actually a very good source for a lot of photos. The only one of LK that's shown up lately is the cover of the WSS album though.
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
re: Larry Kert#20
Posted: 11/17/07 at 9:49pmTry the Ken Bloom book "Broadway Musicals" (the one with the shiny silver dust jacket). There are several good ones in there and one of him with his shirt off with Mary Tyler Moore from "Breakfast At Tiffany's"
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Larry Kert#21
Posted: 11/17/07 at 11:10pmUnfortunately I don't have the book. Maybe someone with a scanner has it and can help.
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
Broadway Star Joined: 6/17/04
re: Larry Kert#22
Posted: 11/23/07 at 11:57am
I went to the library and took out the OBC recording. Oh how I wish I had seen this on stage. He deserves his own website.
Question - In looking at the credits, Mickey Calin played Riff. I remember the actor Michael Callan used to be a dancer, and just looked him up and it turns out he was Riff (according to IMDB). Are they really the same person? I wonder why he changed his name.
Also, the credits lists Elizabeth Taylor playing one of the Sharks girls, Francisca. That's not Our Miss White Diamonds Elizabeth Taylor, is it?
Broadway Star Joined: 6/17/04
re: Larry Kert#23
Posted: 11/23/07 at 10:36pm
Found these charming clips of him singing:
White House performance - Something's Coming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqrjhq2j_Sw
Continuation of that clip - Maria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-31K0cZI7I
Old Ed Sullivan performance - Tonight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2a-_knb5f4
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
re: Larry Kert#24
Posted: 11/23/07 at 11:30pmMickey and Michael Callan are one and the same person. Elizabeth Taylor is not the Elizabeth Taylor.
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