Two other "Marni Nixon"s.

Don't forget Anita Ellis, who was also Larry Kert's sister.

---

Here's Muriel singing for Zsa-Zsa in Moulin Rouge. It's such a gorgeous song. Zsa-Zsa performs it wonderfully here (and is delightful and charming in the film). She strikes these wonderful visual poses evoking the Jane Avrill sketches and posters by Toulouse-Lautrec.

But Muriel sings this beautifully. And she's in the movie herself as one of the main dancers, Aicha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLyKbOtASHA

I honestly have NO problem with dubbing, anymore than I have a problem with a stunt man doing a fall or jump for an actor. It's all part of the illusion. As long as it's done well. You have to convince me, that's all.
Muriel Smith photo

---

Did Betty Wand or Marni Nixon dub Rita Moreno in "America" as well? I thought there was a mixture of Moreno's vocals with someone else in that number, especially at the beginning (as she sings "Puerto Rico").
Thanks for all those wonderful links, Besty and PJ. Those voices!

---

Ray,
I can answer your question because I have seen it on here MANY times :)

Rita Moreno sang "America" and the solo portion for Anita at the beginning of "Quintet". All the other parts for Anita in that song were dubbed by Marni Nixon. So essentially you have one woman singing for two character AT THE SAME TIME.

Also, in an interview with Rita Moreno she said that at the time of WSS, she would have been considered to be a coloratura. However, in the bonus features for WSS she said that she was dubbed because she couldn't hit the high notes in "A Boy Like That", specifically the 'Very Smart Maria, very Smart'. However, if she WAS a coloratura, I would think she would have been able to hit the notes EASILY. Maybe not belt them, but hit them.

Also, in ANOTHER interview, she said that she was upset with Betty Wand's rendition of "A Boy Like That" because she sounded like "a mexican" (those are Moreno's words, not mine).

I can tell you that I got the OBC of "South Pacific" AFTER I had seen the movie (and recently too) and after listing to the OBC I thought that Juanita Hall sounded MUCH BETTER on the film/soundtrack...later I found out why.

She can sing pretty good, but her dubbed vocals were better. However, it doesn't matter too much. She got to BE IN THE FILM, and I think that she's lucky to have gotten that!

Rita Moreno can definitely sing, and she has a great voice! She's sung on variety specials, the Electric Company, etc. And she sings "America" in the movie WSS, and the beginning of the Quintet just as mentioned before.

Back in that "golden age," they used to care about getting the right voice quality for a specific song or character. Some ladies had gorgeous soprano voices, but if they were playing a role that called for something more smoldering and low, they would be dubbed by someone with the appropriate tone.

Today, they barely care if anyone can hold pitch. And if they can, they're called "good singers."

Of course most of the material being done in musicals today doesn't called for highly trained vocalists the way a Rodgers & Hammerstein ballad does, or something by Bernstein or Sondheim. The pop sounds today require little training at all. Belt loud and on key, riff a little ... and if you're a star, you're hired!

Also there is a huge stigma placed on dubbing in films now, which I think is completely ridiculous. This isn't the same as Milli Vanilli who were passing themselves off as singers in the music business. And it's not the same as paying to see a live concert of a singer and getting a playback track instead.

These are movies. Nothing is live. Nothing is real. It's all prerecorded, processed, rerecorded, retaken, and enhanced with both visual and audio effects.

So, why not dub? Just convince me that it's "really you" singing. If you do it badly, I'll complain, just like if a star jumps out a window in a movie and suddenly gains 20 pounds for the one shot, I'm gonna call "foul!" That's a bad stunt double.

But I agree with Stanley Donen, who disagreed with Jean Renior's comment: "Film is truth for 24 frames per second." Donen countered with, "Film is actually a lie for 24 frames per second."

Just don't get caught doing it.

---

I just meant that Hall was lucky that as a middle-aged black woman that she was lucky to have a substantial part in a film in the 1950's.
However, I guess that doesn't matter so much because it was her race that got her the part in the first place!

Doodle---I don't think I would have liked Marni Nixon's voice on stage, back in her prime. I know what you mean about the thinness.

But legit theatre sopranos on the giant movie screen often come off shrill and overblown. Until Julie Andrews came along, no theatre sopranos had ever crossed over into film. And Julie was mic'd on stage in both My Fair Lady and Camelot.

The only other theatre soprano I can think of before that who became a movie star is Irene Dunne. And she made it big in non-musical roles.

The movie sopranos of the '30s and '40s were Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell, Kathryn Grayson, Deanna Durbin, etc. None of them were big stage stars. And when Kathryn Grayson later tried to make a legit operatic debut, it was an artistic disaster. She was booed off the stage.

Their voices were "smaller" and more palpable for movies. When you blew them up 60 feet high and filled the movie theatres with amplification, they were just right.

I think Marni fits this category perfectly. If you've ever seen My Fair Lady, WSS, or the King and I in a big movie theatre, you'll see just how well her voice works for the medium.

Unfortunately, it left star theatre sopranos like Isabel Bigley and Barbara Cook without film careers. Not even dubbing. And Patricia Morison and Marion Bell had minor film careers, but again, without singing a note.

---

That's funny because Nixon replaced Mary Beth Peil in the recent revival of NINE and yes, her voice was not really comparable to Peil's. Yet, I do love her voice performance in WEST SIDE STORY as Maria. I think it's beautifully sung.
Besty, maybe to play devil's advocate I'm not as fond of dubbing as you are. Simply because I think what a good actor, a good performer (versus a trained singer) can do with their voices can be really fascinating and I think it adds so much to their character and their performance as a whole. For example, while I don't necessarily agree with Rita Moreno that her performance of "A Boy Like That" doesn't work (I find it to be one of the highlights of the film), I do get what she is saying in that she was robbed of the opportunity of making that scene her own through her singing. This may be sacrilege but I'm not as concerned with someone hitting the right notes if in turn we get a beautifully-acted turn. I was one of the people who thought Helena Bonham Carter did a great job with SWEENEY TODD and her vocals went with her take on the character.

---

That would be Saul Chaplin. Bass did the credits on the film. Marni Nixon only sings for Moreno, during the latter part of The Quintet.

This is what West Side Story would have been like WITHOUT Marni Nixon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V45BswY3IgI



This is what My Fair Lady would have been like WITHOUT Marni Nixon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q671QIDeH-U

I love me some Natalie Wood and I LOVE me some Audrey Hepburn, but Marni makes these musical movies magical.

---

Updated On: 4/7/09 at 10:37 PM

Well, I wasn't trying to "best you," no pun intended. :-P

---