Kiss

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NORMA JEAN
On a Sunday afternoon in June of 1995, Musical Theatre Lovers United presented a Cabaret Tribute to Marilyn Monroe at The Plush Room of The York Hotel in San Francisco. Bonnie Weiss (founder of MTLU) produced the show and I was director and talent coordinator. For weeks I had been researching and gathering music. Mostly with the wonderful help of Bob Grimes. If there were songs that weren`t published, I had them transcribed from recordings. I picked the songs for the singers and mailed each of them the sheetmusic and audio tapes of their songs. We didn`t meet until the morning of the show. Some of us actually met that day. We rehearsed in the morning and did the show in the afternoon. We were lucky enough to have the great Arthur Khu as musical director and accompanist and everything went off with only one hitch. One of the soloists came down with the flu, so I had to go on in her place.That`s so 42nd St., ain`t it ? One of Holly`s numbers was a duet with John Stenger, Let`s Make Love and the other was Marilyn`s song from the 1953 film, Niagara. The song was written by Lionel Newman and Haven Gillespie and the title is Kiss.
In the story, Kiss is Rose`s favorite song. Rose is married to George (Joseph Cotten), but Rose is in love with Ted (Richard Allan). Bored with Georgie and the falls, Rose takes a 78 of her favorite song to a small gathering outside her cabin and asks a boy to please play it. As the record plays, Rose sits on the steps and begins to sing along. Just when everything is dreamy, out comes George. He takes the record off the turntable and breaks it in pieces. Rose (Marilyn) never gets to sing all of Kiss. Marilyn did record the song, but it wasn`t released until years after her death.
I always liked Kiss and had the 45 by Dean Martin, so I new it well enough to sub for our missing singer. Kiss is the first video.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• NORMA JEAN
• Marilyn Monroe
• Niagara
• George Moffatt
• Arthur Khu
• tribute

[fsC130J]

why u block me then keep coming to my book signing on fridays I dont get it I mean get a pizza or something, maybe some ice cream I just dont get it, try harder on mondays because I leaving for the marines on tuesday, sometimes even skiing

[GeorgeMoffatt]

@fsC130J Who are you? The last time I went to a book signing was Betty Garrett`s on Telegraph avenue in Berkeley. I believe you think I am someone else. Enjoy the Marines.

[bajawoman1]

Hey George can I book you in La Paz at Art House you and Rumi could be a good show