Ginger Rogers Singing "Before The Parade Passes By" from "Hello Dolly"!

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 7/4/22 at 7:53pm

I found this on You Tube.  https://youtu.be/NldLf7IpI2A

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/4/22 at 8:08pm

 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/4/22 at 8:29pm

I saw her in the role several times and she was quite touching in that monologue.

My only complaint was that she was too beautiful for Vandergelder to resist.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/4/22 at 10:00pm

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 7:29am

Ginger stopped wearing the ted wig halfway through her run because her fans didn't recognize her on stage when she had it on.

[BJR]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 7:43am

That was lovely. And as we said for months on here, it makes me sad we didn't get a parade of actresses getting a crack at Dolly after Bernadette.

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 8:28am

Here's her "So Long Dearie": https://through-my-memoirs.tumblr.com/post/158973433268/ginger-rogers-sings-so-long-dearie-from-hello

 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 8:54am

Here’s a better version of that live recording of her “So Long Dearie”, which includes the dialogue that precedes the song, plus a slideshow of photos of Ginger in the show.

 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 9:36am

BJR said: "That was lovely. And as we said for months on here, it makes me sad we didn't get a parade of actresses getting a crack at Dolly after Bernadette."

 

Who would there be? Goldie Hawn comes to mind but there aren't many other "stars" today who could carry the show. The producers ruled out a revolving door of real housewives and Joy Behar tirned them down.

 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 10:34am

Ooh. Goldie Hawn and even Diane Keaton would have been great choices.  Both are fit enough to endure the performance schedule AND they both can sing beautifully.  

[Demitri2]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 10:49am

I was able to see Ginger later in life when she appeared n a production of ANYTHING GOES back in the eighties with Sid Caesar. I was amazed at how strong her singing voice was since I'd always thought from her early movies that her instrument was rather thin. She was also promoting a clothing line she had with J.C.Penney and every time she'd appear in a new scene she'd be wearing a new gown. It got kind of comical after a while.

Did anyone here ever spend time with Ginger?  She had a strange habit of talking in baby talk when she wasn't on camera. She'd say things like, "Ginger Winger is thirsty wirsty." I have no idea why she did this. It was kind of creepy yet she was a sweet woman. 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 12:33pm

She could be quite stern, too. The actor who played Cornelius (name escapes me) came down with vocal issues mid performance and in the docket scene ad-libbed that he had lost everything, even his voice. After the show he was summoned by Miss Rogers who reminded him to perform the show "as written"

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 12:44pm

The actor's name was Will Mackenzie.

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 1:05pm

Demitri2 said: "Did anyone here ever spend time with Ginger? "

I saw Ginger on the London stage in "Mame" in 1969.  I was a young sailor stationed onboard a U.S. Navy ship in Scotland.  One of my best nights ever in a theatre, and I kept the programme.  A couple of years before her passing, I went to a signing of her autobiography.  She was very glamorous, even in a wheelchair.  She signed the "Mame" programme for me, and we talked a bit about our lives so many years before.  She thanked me for my military service, and I thanked her for her service to the USO.  The "Mame" programme is framed and hangs above my desk.  A great lady.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 4:15pm

Thanks for sharing that story Highland Guy. MAME was one of my earliest Broadway musicals. I fell in love with both the show and Angela Lansbury at the same time and was able to go back twice to see it. Being a fan of Rogers, I always wondered how she put over the score's big ballad at the end of the show since the London production never released a cast album. So, I was delighted a while back when someone posted just that on Youtube. I'm still moved by that Herman gem and though only an audio of the song Ginger certainly gives it her all. There's also the title song on Youtube which is a full video from a TV show at the time where you can see her dance.

"If He Walked Into my Life":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtymfXmyXuI

"Mame"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQCTiOYeoJo

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 4:17pm

My 75th birthday is next month and my grandchildren are making it a HELLO, DOLLY! celebration. (They've already leaked the fact that my cake will be shaped like a caboose!). They plan to decorate their dining room with pictures of all the Dolly's I've seen and asked if there were any photos of Ginger without the wig. I forwarded them one from her National tour and threw in pictures of understudies Bibi Osterwald and Thelma Carpenter for good measure.

[BJR]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 7:05pm

Dollypop said: "BJR said: "Who would there be? Goldie Hawn comes to mind but there aren't many other "stars" today who could carry the show. The producers ruled out a revolving door of real housewives and Joy Behar tirned them down."

I feel like there was endless talk on here at the time.

From what I recall, folks mentioned Reba (a rumor for a second, though I doubt with much truth), Queen Latifah (doesnt wanna do Bway), Catherine Zeta Jone, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Faith Prince, Beth Leavel. Chime in folks, I know I'm forgetting many!

Oh, and Joy was offered the Nat'l tour. Still bizarre, but yeah. How odd they went to her before going to Buckley...

[Claude Perkins]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 8:02pm

I'd love to see Charles Busch as Dolly.....although I know it will never happen.

Updated On: 7/5/22 at 08:02 PM

[Ke3]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 10:29pm

BJR said: "Dollypop said: "BJR said: "Who would there be? Goldie Hawn comes to mind but there aren't many other "stars" today who could carry the show. The producers ruled out a revolving door of real housewives and Joy Behar tirned them down."

I feel like there was endless talk on here at the time.

From what I recall, folks mentioned Reba (a rumor for a second, though I doubt with much truth), Queen Latifah (doesnt wanna do Bway), Catherine Zeta Jone, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Faith Prince, Beth Leavel. Chime in folks, I know I'm forgetting many!

Oh, and Joy was offered the Nat'l tour. Still bizarre, but yeah. How odd they went to her before going to Buckley..."

Queen Latifah has been very open about the fact that she DOES want to do Broadway. She talked about it as recently as 2017. She said she was offered a show that season but the timing didn't work out. Couldn't have been Dolly though since Rudin ran Bette down about that role for years. Queen Latifah doesn't seem like she'd want her first Broadway role to be a replacement.

[David10086]

Posted: 7/5/22 at 11:07pm

BJR said: "Dollypop said: "BJR said: "Who would there be? Goldie Hawn comes to mind but there aren't many other "stars" today who could carry the show. The producers ruled out a revolving door of real housewives and Joy Behar tirned them down."

I feel like there was endless talk on here at the time.

From what I recall, folks mentioned Reba (a rumor for a second, though I doubt with much truth), Queen Latifah (doesnt wanna do Bway), Catherine Zeta Jone, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Faith Prince, Beth Leavel. Chime in folks, I know I'm forgetting many!

Oh, and Joy was offered the Nat'l tour. Still bizarre, but yeah. How odd they went to her before going to Buckley..."

Whoopi Goldberg said on The View that she would love to do the role if they asked her to, but no longer than a few months (they didn’t ask her, apparently ). Dolly Partons name was mentioned more than once a few years ago when her musical “9 to 5” closed. Wonder if Rudin ever asked her? 
 

It’s too bad the show didn’t keep going with different names, like CHICAGO has done. 

[markypoo]

Posted: 7/6/22 at 12:22am

Oh, how I would love to hear Ginger's take on "I Put My Hand In."

Bet it was sublime.

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 7/6/22 at 2:04am

Melissa McCarthy needs a crack at the role 

[DAME]

Posted: 7/6/22 at 3:22am

Dollypop said: "BJR said: "That was lovely. And as we said for months on here, it makes me sad we didn't get a parade of actresses getting a crack at Dolly after Bernadette."



Who would there be? Goldie Hawn comes to mind but there aren't many other "stars" today who could carry the show. The producers ruled out a revolving door of real housewives and Joy Behar tirned them down.

"

I was shocked when Joy Behar said on The View that they had offered her the role.  She was shocked as well.  And if I remember correctly this was before Bernadette but after they had offered it to Queen Latifah.. and she also turned it down.  Latifah mentioned it on the Andy Cohen show.  Perhaps there was just not anyone really interested in doing it?  And please forgive me;  but I thought Bernadette and Betty were both really boring choices.

[DAME]

Posted: 7/6/22 at 3:27am

Ke3 said: "BJR said: "Dollypop said: "BJR said: "Who would there be? Goldie Hawn comes to mind but there aren't many other "stars" today who could carry the show. The producers ruled out a revolving door of real housewives and Joy Behar tirned them down."

I feel like there was endless talk on here at the time.

From what I recall, folks mentioned Reba (a rumor for a second, though I doubt with much truth), Queen Latifah (doesnt wanna do Bway), Catherine Zeta Jone, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Faith Prince, Beth Leavel. Chime in folks, I know I'm forgetting many!

Oh, and Joy was offered the Nat'l tour. Still bizarre, but yeah. How odd they went to her before going to Buckley..."

Queen Latifah has been very open about the fact that she DOES want to do Broadway. She talked about it as recently as 2017. She said she was offered a show that season but the timing didn't work out. Couldn't have been Dolly though since Rudin ran Bette down about that role for years. Queen Latifah doesn't seem like she'd want her first Broadway role to be a replacement."

It was Dolly.  Latifah talked about it on Andy Cohens radio show the very morning she was on his TV show.  There was a whole thread here about that. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/6/22 at 5:17am

markypoo said: "Oh, how I would love to hear Ginger's take on "I Put My Hand In."

Bet it was sublime."

Here you go.  Curious as to why the long pause after she reveals herself on the trolley during “Call On Dolly”?