WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN THE BEST FILM "DOLLY"?

After reading the book "Roadshow", which includes multiple chapters about the making of "Hello, Dolly!", they came to the conclusion that Barbra Streisand was definitely the wrong choice for the part of Dolly. Before "Funny Girl", Ms. Streisand filmed her first three films: "Funny Girl", "Hello, Dolly!" and "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever", receiving $1 million a picture. She was able to do this on the basis of her stage performance that she didn't even win a Tony for. So the question I pose is who would have been the perfect person to play Dolly Levi in the film? Carol Channing was ruled out because she was too "larger than life" for the big screen. Opinions about a better Horace will also be accepted...

Looking at the top 10 box office stars of the time...the two women that made the top 10 around then were Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn.

Watching HELLO, DOLLY! today, I think Streisand works.

For a production as expensive as DOLLY, there was no way 20th Century Fox was going to take a chance on anyone but a bonafide box office star.

Updated On: 6/10/18 at 03:25 PM

Babs was a total disaster in that role. Her best days were the first ten years of her singing career, starting at around age 19-20.

Doris Day, Shirley MacLaine and Elizabeth Taylor were originally considered to play Dolly. Thank goodness they waited until "A Little Night Music" to introduce the dulcet tones of Ms. Taylor's singing voice...

OP - "Before "Funny Girl", Ms. Streisand filmed her first three films: "Funny Girl", "Hello, Dolly!" and "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever", receiving $1 million a picture."

I'm not following your logic here at all. What exactly are you saying? "Funny Girl" was released in 1968 and "On A Clear Day..." in 1970. So, according to you Streisand filmed "On A Clear Day..." around the same time as "Funny Girl" and the studio held its release for two years? Or did you mean "Funny Lady"?

OP - "Opinions about a better Horace will also be accepted.."

Accepted for what? Is there a prize involved?

Btw, I thought Streisand was by far the best choice for Dolly at the time. Not only was she a bankable name but she was able to pull off the character's age difference, sang it beautifully and looked wonderful in all her costumes. And had Channing done the role on film we likely never would've heard "Love Is Only Love" though it would've been fun to hear her croak it.

The story behind her Oscar win does not involve the studio buying her Oscar. Ms. Streisand spoke with the president of the Academy, Charlton Heston, explaining to him that she would never be returning to Broadway and that she was only interested in making films. He questioned her devotion to the business and she assured him that she would never go back to Broadway, became a member of the Academy and voted for herself, hence the tie vote...

ChgoTheatreGuy's story is a story I heard as well. Which makes it even juicier that she won in a tie vote. Nobody doubts that Streisand voted for herself.

I think most people thought it was a bit juicy because almost nobody gets invited to be a voting member of the Academy for their first feature length film (or before it was released) and then be invited with enough time so they can vote for themselves for their first Oscar nomination for their first ever feature film. The whole idea of her pleading to be a member and ensuring that she had every intention of sticking with film and staying in Hollywood was to convince Heston or whomever that a membership would not be wasted on her and that she really will be concentrating on her film career since it's the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And if she won without a tie, nobody would really think anything of it, but since she did tie with Katherine Hepburn, it became pretty clear that she most likely would not have won the Oscar if she wasn't able to vote for herself. Most people who get invited to the Academy for their first nomination don't get to vote until the following year so aren't able to vote in the year and category for which they were nominated and thus receive the invite.

Updated On: 6/10/18 at 05:12 PM

MichelleCraig said: "Looking at the top 10box office stars of the time...the two women that made the top 10 around then were Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn.

Watching HELLO, DOLLY! today, I think Streisand works.

For a production as expensive as DOLLY, there was no way 20th Century Fox was going to take a chance on anyone but a bonafide box office star."



Barbra was the "IT" girl at the time even though too young for the part and a box office $tar! She was perfect...enough said!

The major things that made "Dolly"'s budget go up was mainly the uncooperative weather. It rained quite a bit during filming, according to the book. At one time they couldn't shoot for close to a week that add a couple million dollars to the budget. This question was raised to get opinions from people. I think that personally Judy Garland would have sung the hell out of the score and would have been the perfect match for Matthau, unfortunately her addictions got the best of her, and we all know what happened after that...

After the success of Funny Girl there was great interest at the time in seeing if she could play any other character.

HELLO, DOLLY! had already finished filming by the time FUNNY GIRL was released. Streisand was already cast in both HELLO, DOLLY! and ON A CLEAR DAY before she started filming FUNNY GIRL. She was already mid-filming ON A CLEAR DAY when she won her Oscar for FUNNY GIRL.

If Barbra voted for herself- she has good taste- Hepburn was good in LIWinter- for sure- but Streisand's performance in FG was one for the ages- she was stupendous. The acting, the singing, the Wyler production- the costumes- all of it- it was an Oscar winning performance and she deserved it- if she did vote for herself- I would have too. I never really liked Hepburn- too mannered for me- and Barbra in her first film killed it.

Updated On: 6/10/18 at 07:11 PM

Originally filming on location in Garrison, NY was scheduled for about 4-5 weeks. Once production started on the film, producers realized that June is a rainy month in that part of The Hudson Valley. Director Gene Kelly was able to change the filming schedule to just under 2 weeks.

Filming commenced April 15, 1968 and was concluded 90 days later, one day over schedule. Although 65 percent of the movie was shot outdoors, only one full day was lost to the weather—and that in Garrison, New York, when it rained.

They only lost 1 full day to rain – not an entire week. Gene was able to film everything on location in 11 days. Again, he gets so many facts in the book wrong. Not sure why he would rather believe lies than the truth. Even back then, people believed "fake news."

The main reason why HD cost so much money was due to the show's Broadway producer, David Merrick. There was a stipulation in his contract with 20th Century Fox that the film couldn't be released for several years, and after ticket sales had naturally gone down. That never happened with HD as David cast big stars after Carol left, and the box office was going strong. Filming ended in Sept 1968, and the film sat on a shelf and wasn't released until Dec 1969. 20th Century Fox had to pay even many more millions to David to get the film released.

Updated On: 6/10/18 at 07:25 PM