Male Heartthrobs of the 60s

Long John Baldry for " Let The Heartaches Begin "  ...

I love the topic, and in view of that, I am passing back the baton of Mary Martin vs Matzi Gaynor (my mum preferred Mary Martin, who, lucky devil that she was, saw her on stage).

Now in another film with a well known shaven headed individual the dubber for the actress has an interesting discography, which would shock most who only know the musicals and didn't have the wide ranging interests I've got! Or in other words, I have weird tastes in very highbrow art music!

I thought a guitarist in the Glitter band was cute. Like me, I imagine he's put on a few pounds since then and last a good amount of hair too. Sigh.

Tim

Joycee.  You probably think I was being very mean in not including your suggestion, especially when you were kind enough to inspire the topic.  However sadly Mr Baldry never did it for me, nor the schoolmates who helped with the list.  So there were not enough votes!  Also a little explanation that you weren't credited by name as some blog posts also go to other people in my life, and sometimes to music contacts, which is why names are always left out and you will never see the word cancer.  Comments however are for this site only and are never shown to anyone else, so anything goes there! 

Tim,  I am intrigued.  I think, but I may have this completely wrong, that you are talking about the Mum of another singer I like, namely Andrew Gold?  If so, I am very very curious as to what the discography in question is, please feel free to share! 

There is one problem with the suggestion of the guitarist in the Glitter Band.  Correct me if I am wrong but I don't recall them being around in the 60s?  I was going to do the 70s another day but I'd only have one nomination for that.  I'll give you a clue Tim.  His Step Mum in real life played his Mum in a TV show he appeared in.  A film she was in has a song in it that can be heard at football venues. 

Oh Lord, I am getting hopelessly mired in references!

Yes I veered to the 70s, I was more aware then, plus I was more appreciative of who I was growing into being (in other words, not the supplier of grandchildren to my parents) and I hoped my forays into popular culture might give the odd clue.

As for my singer references, I was referring to Marni Nixon, whose fame rests mainly on her voice being dubbed for Deborah Kerr in "The King and I", for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story" and for Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady". She may be best known (even if only through her voice) mostly for this work, but she also was involved in an amazing project that was happening at the CBS recording studios.

The young Robert Craft rehearsed orchestras for the aging Igor Stravinsky, including recordings released as allegedly conducted by Stravinsky. Somehow or other, Goddard Lieberson (who ran CBS records) was keen on recording as near as possible every note of Stravinsky that he could, but Craft managed to have any unused rehearsal time (and was the rehearsal time overly generous to allow this project to come to fruition I wonder?) to rehearse and record the 31 opus numbers of Anton Webern as well as a couple of bits and bobs. There were two other projects, the music of Alban Beg and Arnold Schoenberg which were also released under the CBS label.

Webern was shot "in self defence" by an American soldier in 1945 - I leave it for you to read about this and draw your own conclusions - and he wrote some of the shortest pieces of music in the most rarified and heightened musical language ever created. Yes, I am a fan. This music is not easy to perform. Craft had at his disposal recording artists who were able to play the music of Webern with relative ease, not least since some of them were émigrés who knew Webern and his music. Then there were artists like Marni Nixon. I have heard many experts in the field performing Webern, but some of her recordings just hit the bull's eye. How I wish I had the LP set. There is something magical about owning those big 12" discs!

In summary, I like a lot of music, my main interest is the 20th century and more especially the post war avant-garde classical scene and everything that stems from there. I like my arts to be hard work and not chocolate box or, in the case of certain composers accurately described by the waspish composer Elizabeth Lutyens (daughter of the architect), English cow pat!

Tim

Hello again Tim!  Yes I guessed you meant Marni Nixon, mother of Andrew Gold.  However all I knew about her was that she dubbed voices in musicals.  Gosh you could teach me stuff for hours.  I am always a willing pupil.  You will see I have now written the blog entry about South Pacific, but I still wish you'd taken up my offer.  If you ever have a spare minute and feel inclined to do so, I would love to read how you would have written it.   Perhaps one day I'll read it in your own wonderful blog or you might like to message it to me?