Lauren Bacall -- Woman of the Year -- 1981.

[daisymae229]

I couldn't agree more about taping Broadway Musicals for posterity. It is a shame that Broadway is so elitist and feels anyone who cannot afford to travel to New York to see the shows doesn't deserve to see them. Thats to bad, they could make a bundle if they sold shows to a cable or movie network after there run is finished.

[MJames2700]

All movie stars are bitches -- who cares? Bacall was talented on stage -- in film, she was a drag.

[gymnastix]

@MJames2700 Actually, it was in films that Lauren Bacall gave her best performances. She was most ideally presented in the film noir productions of Howard Hawks. Bacall only achieved a stage career after many more years of work in films.

[Mowryinc]

I was in the 1st National Company with Lauren Bacall, Harry Guardino, and Marilyn Cooper. "Betty" (Lauren Bacall) was the nastiest person I have ever worked with in my life. Joe Layton directed and choreographed the production and he was kind and generous to me always.

[MissSovietBones]

@Mowryinc What made her nasty? I saw interviews with her and she did seem like a 'no nonsense' person, but polite and pleasant to talk to none the less.

[saskwatcher]

I saw this in June 1981-my first Broadway show. Well you can't even imagine the euphoria I experienced. Even this 19 year old knew it was a flawed gem but what a night nonetheless. By the way, glimped "Betty" out of character at the beginning of the final scene-she was chtting with co-star Guardino before the set was finally in place.

[actiscenei]

I saw this in Boston before it opened on Broadway. Lauren Bacall was a bitch at the stage door. Some of the numbers were very good though. The ending (post "Grass is Always Greener") was a let down.

[gayzertube]

Every show should be filmed/taped for posterity and aired on a cable channel for stage shows for all to see for eternity. No show should disappear forever anymore.

[johnyzero2000]

I couldn't agree with you more!!! God how many great shows are lost to history? Laurette Taylor's performance in Glass Menagerie was never filmed but I think there is a sound recording somewhere.

[dyssbroadway]

@gayzertube Absolutely!

[johnyzero2000]

@gayzertube I propose the Theater Network a channel that plays nothing but live recorded plays, musicals, ballets, operas and concerts complete with commercials for they need to pay royalties, etc. That would be a channel I would always watch plus they could do a few reality shows set in the NYC theater scene that would be worth watching!

[gymnastix]

@johnyzero2000 I agree, There could even be intermissions (just as with live theater) incorporated into the telecasts of the plays, which is where the commercials would be placed, as well, perhaps, right after the final curtain, before a short chat with each play's stars at an imaginary "stage door."

[gymnastix]

@johnyzero2000 The trick would be to tape such plays in such a manner as to obtain close-ups (as well wide-angle and pull-away shots, where appropriate), without interfering with the flow of the play and breaking the concentration of the actors.

I would also advocate plays be videotaped, rather than filmed, because tape affords a live look and ages better than film, making it appear as though a performance is happening "right now" inside the TV set.

[gymnastix]

@johnyzero2000 Many of TV's earlier theatrical programs and specials (the early 1960s' "Hallmark Hall Of Fame" broadcasts, as well some of "Playhouse 90") were taped, once live television ceased being a standard for such programming.

Before that, live dramas were only saved by means of kinescopes (essentially, pointing a camera at a monitor to film the image), which gave a look across-between filmed and taped, but was less ideal.

[gymnastix]

@gayzertube I agree, Please read my comments regarding how this could be done.

I feel the same way about so much live television that has been lost, and also daytime and daily TV programming up until about 1980, where the then-expensive videotapes were re-used, a common practice of the networks called "wiping."

This is why so many game shows, soaps, and talk shows are gone forever, the most well-known example being "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," pre-1980.

[gymnastix]

@gayzertube When I think of all the great programming that has been lost, I would call it artistically criminal.

But while we cannot do anything about what's already lost, we may do something to save programming from here on out And I agree with you there's no excuse for not preserving Broadway shows today. Of course, it's sad that the greatest era of Broadway is already, largely, lost forever.

[gymnastix]

@gayzertube I mean, wouldn't you really rather be able to watch Ethel Merman in "Gypsy" and Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire" than some third-rate production (with unknown actors) of "CATS" or "RENT?"

[gymnastix]

@gayzertube Actually, there is a resource for watching most Broadway produced post-1970, at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. But, as with The Paley Centers of Broadcasting (in New York and Los Angeles), one may only view these videos on-site, and in the case of the Broadway shows, only with a good justification, such as for research, being a member of the media, etc.

[gymnastix]

@gayzertube What is needed are on-line resources for everyone to access media of Broadway, films, and television. Libraries need to "get with it" and join the 21st Century, with an eye toward the 22nd. Instead, most libraries are still operating some of their resources in a 20th Century manner. .

[gymnastix]

@gayzertube Practically speaking, most people may not travel to the only site that may have certain resources. So the obvious solution is to upload these resources, digitally, online.

If financing is required to do so, then charge users a subscription rate or a la carte, but upload them nevertheless.

[gymnastix]

@gayzertube Someday, I think, cable television, libraries, and the Internet will converge, and we shall be able to access virtually every film, TV show, and Broadway play ever committed to film or videotape right from our own homes.

[gymnastix]

@gayzertube In such a scenario, computer keyboards and TV remote controls will also become one, and there will be no such thing as a separate computer monitor and TV set, just one, huge monitor for everything, perhaps even an entire wall of a room in one's home just for media viewing.

[sfsoma]

Ah, I was 24 living in NYC and it was before AIDS when I saw this -- What a different world it was on Broadway.

[dotsymae]

This was a great experience in live theater...like when I stood and watched George Hearn sing "I am what I am" What a dull world it would be without the arts.

[rrich1126]

I saw this on Broadway on my 16th birthday. I developed a crush on Bacall after reading her book and the tickets were a gift from a beloved aunt. Thanks for bringing back a nice memory!

[jimk0403]

How awesome to find this! I saw this on Broadway and have such great memories of this!

Any chance that the duet "The Grass is Always Greener" with Bacall and the wonderful Marilyn Cooper could be posted here, if you have it?