Kathryn Grayson 1922-2010
Soprano star of MGM’s golden age Kathryn Grayson died yesterday. The leading lady of Anchors Aweigh, Show Boat and Kiss Me Kate was 88. In the 1947 film It Happened in Brooklyn, Grayson interpolated “Où va la jeune indoue?”
Rest in Peace
What duets she and Howard Keel must be singing.
Very nicely put, Alto.
The following I posted on opera-l, which I repost here.
Sigh. Kathryn Grayson’s death is a real sign – for me – of time’s inexorable
passing. A very personal milestone.
I first saw Grayson in the mid seventies, when I was about 11 or 12. There
were several local stations – channel 7, the 4:00 movie; Rita Bell hosting
movies in the morning; Bill Kennedy at the Movies on channel 50. Often,
these were shown in 2 parts. My first taste of opera happened when I was a
child: a Disneyland record featuring Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. I liked
the “pretty singing.” I heard “pretty singing” next in movies, notably by
Jeanette MacDonald and Kathryn Grayson. My first movie of MacDonald’s was
SAN FRANCISCO; I heard Violetta’s first act scena through her.
My first Grayson movie was ANDY HARDY’S PRIVATE SECRETARY. It was not
till years later, when I was really into opera seriously that I recognized the
music she sang in that movie: Strauss’s FRUELINGSTIMMEN – with I believe, a
top G sharp or an A; and – at a graduation ceremony, believe it or not – a
portion of Lucia’s Mad Scene – the part with flute cadenza of course. Later I
saw SHOWBOAT on late nite TV, SO THIS IS LOVE – THE GRACE MOORE
STORY, KISS ME KATE, THE VAGABOND KING (horrible), THE DESERT SONG,
and eventually, all of her movies – the lesser known ones later on TCM. One
REALLY strange curiosity was TWO SISTERS FROM BOSTON in which she sang
with, of all people, Lauritz Melchior.
As a kid I adored her. I thought her drop-dead beautiful, next door to
Elizabeth Taylor – especially from about 1950 on, she had this very volutuous,
doll-like look about her. Her high range dazzled me at the time, and she
never failed to throw in a high note.
It wasn’t until I got into opera seriously, that I began to recognize the actual
names of all the arias she (and Macdonald) sang – when I first heard a
particular tune, I would always immediately access in my mind where and
when I had learned it previously by Grayson and MacDonald. When I heard my
first BOHEME recording with Freni and Gedda, I remember my delight when I
remembered “Mi chiamano Mimi” from “SO THIS IS LOVE.”
However, what I liked as a kid, regretfully turned out to be the opposite as an
adult. After I got my standards of good singing set, Grayson’s singing began
to sound all wrong. Aspirated, clumsy coloratura, poor language skills, just
plain bad phrasing, and pedestrian musicianship all became made aware to
me. Andre Previn, who worked with Grayson, reported their doing The Bell
Song on a movie; she had to redo sections multiple dozens of times and then
the takes all had to be pieced and spliced together. Moreover, Grayson really
couldn’t act. When she was younger, she was cute; but later, she had a
habit of batting her eyes and doing weird things with her mouth, being terribly
arch and movie-star affected at times. The tone now sounds to me kind of
gurgly. I do love her “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” though the style is all
wrong.
However, she left one very good piece of work: her Lilli in KISS ME KATE.
Though not quite believable as a Grand Dame of the Theater, she nonetheless
gave a performance full of fire and verve, and she showed quite a bit of edge
and temperament. Her rendition of “I Hate Men,” though done in a strange
sounding growly tone, is surprisingly biting and filled with dripping sarcasm: if
only she had been encouraged to be this edgy and bitchily sophisticated more
often.
Then; there is a hilarious dream parody of CARMEN in the box office bomb with
Van Johnson, GROUNDS FOR MARRIAGE, in which she delightfully showed some
comic flair.
I retain an affection for “SO THIS IS LOVE,” even though its being about Grace
Moore is laughable. Specifically, her singing of “Mi chiamani Mimi” is quite
genuinely moving, and, most importantly, stylistically more right than anything
in opera I ever heard her do – though you can hear the fake reverberance
to “concert-hall-ize” her voice. Still, it’s an affecting moment.
But; my lasting affection is for the hours of enjoyment I had as a kid – and for
giving me a very strong foundation of learning for what later became one of
my life’s most enduring passions. Ms. Grayson did however retain her legions
of fans to this day.
I guess, too, there’s a part of me that misses that kid who just enjoyed things
unconditionally because I thought it was “pretty”; sometimes, knowing too
much can lead to smugness and fastidious disdain. Thinking of this factor…I
will fight, from here on, from turning into a sour, shitty old fart.
Waiting for TCM to do their day-long tribute to Grayson.
In which case I will remember the words to the song:
Backward, turn backward, thy time in thy flight. Make me a child again, just
for tonight.
Thank you, Kathryn Grayson, for your honest work.
Thank you Neil – that is a lovely and loving tribute and is the experience of the lady myself and I’m sure reading the other post a few others share with you.
I add my thanks.
You have failed to mention her co starring role with Frank Sinatra in MGM’s Kissing Bandit? Luckily I missed that one, as a kid. Still sounds a ‘rather hilarious’ passion-less proposition.
One of my earliest operatic memories is seeing her play Grace Moore in “So This is Love” on tv. My favorite scene is when she performs “Je Veux Vivre” for Mary Garden (played by Darrin Stevens’ mom!)
Pretty, pretty, pretty. Whowever described Grayson’s face as heart-shaped was right on the money. Ava Gardner famously said that Grayson’s position as one of Mayer’s favorites was due to having the biggest tits on the MGM lot.
I adore Kiss Me, Kate, and while I prefer Irene Dunne’s Showboat, I enjoy the Keel/Grayson version. Her movies gave me a lot of pleasure.
Seems a lot of us have the same experience of Kathryn Grayson – she was part of my initiation into “proper music” up until around the time I had my first wank and June Bronhill took over to be followed by Joan, Callas et al.
She visited Australia in the early eighties- a peachy, plump little lady with white skin and ruby red lips (I don’t think she had ever taken the makeup off from the films) – but sadly, she didn’t bring her voice with her.
The last paragraph I totally agree with. I remember her doing ‘Climb every mountain’ on some TV show with her accompanist. She was certainly not the ‘MGM Kathryn’ that once was, even using those dubious vocal support standards. It was to promote her appearances at some club. Her ‘Climb’ was so hair-raisingly vocally precipitious even the tone deaf should have been able to recognise ‘this public embarassment’. Any illusions, gained from her films went out the door, instantly destroyed. To then see the TV compere exclaim “Now run along and book tickets for her live appearances”, one could only think ‘Quick, anyone- even if you have stupidly booked – cancel straight away!’
I am not being mean, I am just calling a spade a spade.And is not that, what parterre is all about?
She made a recording of ‘La Ci Darem La Mano’ with Sinatra, too…
And people go on defending others for tearing down the performers that committed such travesties. I can still hear parts of that ‘what was a Donna Giovanni version’ in my head right now!
So sadly missed by me.
Here’s a remembrance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlHa3ffjk90&feature=related
RIP.
Just like Deanna, she influenced young women to opera, just like Lanza did for baby tenors. Always thought she was kinda “screechy” though.