"Whatever Lola Wants" - Damn Yankees (1967)

[howard385]

Lee Remick was waaaaay hotter than Gwen Verdon.

[sandyhiker]

I have seen this since I was 13 in 1967. I was surprised that this was so cheaply done today since I did not know what they did with the scenery. Now after all these years I realize it was chealp. I did not know who Lee Remick was until I saw her in The omen.

[Phoglight]

This was a low budget TV production and used cardboard cut-outs instead of extras but was very well done. Lee Remick as a vamp was a surprise and she showed she had what it takes to pull it off.

[mergendeiler]

Way to read those cue-card, Jerry! Don't laugh, though: he got the real thing (Gwen Verdon, after she and Fosse separated) in real life.

[azsingersigner]

Wow. I never knew Lee Remmick did this!

[11777766]

Lee Remick started as a Broadway singer in Sondheim's musical "Anyone Can Whistle" with Angela Lansbury, then .filmed Face in the Crowd with Andy Griffith, as a teen-age batton twirler who became his wife. Remick also was a star in the Concert Version of Sondheim's "Follies," returning from Hollywood to sing and dance "Jessie and Lucy," She was the glamorous star that night, sexy in a bright red dress with boas, and still gorgeous!

[Rebeca1una]

iajajajaja chafa

[duckcman]

Hilarious I love this, awesome thanks for sharing

[SeanPhillipMabrey]

Thank you so much for posting this! I'd love to see more numbers from this version, if you have them...

[caitgirl7]

:09 her face looks wierd, kinda like stephanie wier from madtv

[violetta223]

Hey, the production might not be up to much but anything with the gorgeous, talented Lee Remick is worth watching.

She's got a great voice and isn't a bad dancer either!!

[aspaul21]

1. The animation reminds me very much of Terry Gilliam's work for Monty Python.

2. I like that Joe at leasts seems somewhat turned on by Lola in this version. In the Gwen Verdon version, he just looks frightened.

3. Lee Remick was gorgeous. Why did they give her the worst wig imaginable?

[gregorvonkallahann]

1. Yes, it does.

2. It may be that Jerry Lanning was just a better actor than Tab Hunter. Joe SHOULD be turned on by Lola, of course.

3, LOL. It was on a budget. I wish I could re-see this. I'd like to know how matadorbell got a hold of this. I don't think she wears the brunette wig throughout. Wasn't she just going for a Spanish flair here?

[aspaul21]

Good point about the wig. I'm sure it was a very limited budget. I wish they would have just abandoned the idea of Spanish flair so it didn't look like Lola was wearing a Halloween costume.

[gregorvonkallahann]

The get-up Gwen Verdon wears in the film version wasn't exactly the height of subtlety--or even sex appeal. Maybe the whole idea is to make Lola ludicrous. Or as Applegate says, "old fashioned."

[143AC]

I remember watching this on GE Theater on NBC

TV back in the late 1960's.  I enjoyed Miss Remick's performance on this musical

tv special.

[Marikay4]

I'll agree with you that the edits after filming were not anything that she may have been able to control. Thanks for pointing that out!

[gregorvonkallahann]

BTW, when I write that some of the dance moves in the Verdon clips are "weird," I don't mean to suggest they're not imaginative and, well, interesting. But if Lola is meant to be seductive, I'm not sure they "work" in that context. I think if I were Joe, I might be scared off by those "sneaky little devil moves" that are both in the film and the performance clips. But maybe that's just me.

[Marikay4]

I watched the original scenes with Gwen before I found this and wow, it only makes this seem even worse than it is knowing how much Gwen put into the movements and everything(I also saw a clip of the director and her talking about the movement-dance)That helped make this look horrible. I know it is late 60's but does everything have to look like an acid trip? I mean wow, she hides behind the trippy-bad graphic setting... *ponders* I hope Gwen didn't see this:(

[gregorvonkallahann]

I don't think it's fair to say that Lee "hid" behind anything. We have NO idea how completely the dance here may have actually been performed and/or videotaped (or filmed--though it looks like tape here). Certainly she would have had NO control over post-production treatment. Obviously, Lee was not the pro dancer Gwen was. But it MAY have been a better performance than the glimpse we see here might suggest. As for Gwen, when I saw the clip w/Fosse, I thought some of the movements jerky&weird.

[gregorvonkallahann]

Lee doesn't do much dancing, you're right. But it's not clear why. Maybe the trippy graphics were given priority.  It WAS the late 60s after all. Or maybe they figured she couldn't out-do Gwen Verdon. (Who could?) She SINGS well though, and looks lovely. How did you come by this video, I wonder. Never on DVD or VHS as far as I know.

[scotpens]

Although she had dance training, Lee Remick was definitely no Gwen Verdon. Her singing was quite good, though, and she was so damn sexy.

The cartoon backgrounds and cheap pop-art graphics were used because this TV production was done on an EXTREMELY low budget. It did include a song from the original Broadway show, "The Game," which wasn't in the 1958 movie. A few of the lyrics were too risqué for American cinema then.

[dyinglikeflies]

I remember watching this. I was pre-puberty before the show, and Lee Remick has done better, but by the end of the show my voice had deepened.

[brandycallie6743]

Jerry Lanning was in an episode of Dick Van Dyke. He sings a song at the end of the show called "This nearly was mine". Does anyone know if it's really him singing? Please let me know!

[boehnerjohn]

Yes, he has appeared on Broadway in the Original cast of Mame (Patrick) and in the 1976 revival of My Fair Lady (Freddy. The baritone is his.

[landonbryce]

Wow! I hardly notice Remmick not dancing at all! Especially when she literally hides behind the scenery! And then when you think it can't get better-- scary vampire graphics! Jery Lanning is hot.

[irishsingeractor]

wow this is crazy lol. phil silvers looks pretty good as appelgate tho.