Cole Porter in “Sleuth” (1972)- Page 2

[jpbran]

Posted: 1/3/19 at 10:16pm

Have you asked Shazam or Siri yet? (dumb, but honest question)  

[Nalkarj]

Posted: 1/5/19 at 12:19pm

GavestonPS said: "Nalkarj said: "Sorry just to pop up to bump this one silly thread, but someone on IMDb v2.0 found a promising lead—David Kernan, who sang Berlin, Coward, Sondheim, and Porter both on Broadway and the West End.

If anyone here knows of him, could you please tell me if he’s a likely choice? I tried asking at the Theatre Board devonian.t recommended, unfortunately to no avail.

Thanks!"

I know Kernan's voice well from SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM, live on Broadway several times and countless playings of the OLCR. I can't say that he couldn't imitate the Rudy Vallee-style voice on the SLEUTH recording, but his normal voice has more vibrato in it. Check out "I Remember" in SIDE BY SIDE (available to sample on iTunes) for a comparison.

Al Bowlly's voice--judging from the links in this thread--is much brighter than the SLEUTH singer. But again, I don't know that he couldn't alter his singing style. If Jane Horrock ofLITTLE VOICE can sound so authentically Garland, etc., then almost anybody might have done the SLEUTH numbers.

I also listened to some samplingof Rudy Vallee himself, even though I feel sure someone else would have identified him if he were the singer in SLEUTH. Vallee comes closer than the two singers I reference above, but his voice is lower, in range and in timbre; the SLEUTH singer goes to what sounds almost like a falsetto effortlessly, but with Vallee the effort on the high notes definitely shows."

Thanks!

[Nalkarj]

Posted: 1/5/19 at 12:20pm

Niles Silvers said: "Just about everyone connected with this production passed away years ago, including the music director and arranger. The producer is deceased, and the production company, Palomar Pictures is defunct. The only person still alive that would possibly have knowledge of what you seek, besides Michael Caine,is sound engineer Graham V. Hartstone (uncredited).If you have IMDbPro, it might list agent contact information for this individual, and you could write him a nice letter. Other than that, I would declare this one of those unknowable facts lost to history. Good night."

Thank you! I actually reached out to Hartstone a while ago, unfortunately to no avail.

[Nalkarj]

Posted: 1/5/19 at 12:22pm

jpbran said: "Have you asked Shazam or Siri yet? (dumb, but honest question) "

But a fair question nonetheless, and, yes, I and others have tried it.

[Nalkarj]

Posted: 3/20/19 at 11:34pm

Yes, I’m back! I get re-interested in solving this one every few months. No real news, but, GavestonPS, I did receive some messages like yours that suggest it’s not Kernan. So that lead has dried up, I suppose.

I’d say I’d give this one up, as Niles Silvers here suggested, but (as noted) the interest comes back every few months. For God knows what reason, I’d love to solve it.

Thanks as always, everyone.