Porgy and Bess 1959 Stereo - Click for Expanded Version!

Click for expanded version! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWtEeq...

Here are four songs from the 1959 film of George Gershwin's opera, produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by Otto Preminger. I've replaced the audio with tracks from the soundtrack CD.

"Summertime"
Loulie Jean Norman sings for Diahann Carroll

02:38 - "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'"
Robert McFerrin sings for Sidney Poitier

04:07 - "Bess, You Is My Woman Now"
Adele Addison sings for Dorothy Dandridge

08:55 - "Oh, I Can't Sit Down"
Pearl Bailey sings herself

In a Life magazine article, singer Robert McFerrin detailed the working process he and Poitier went through to create their role.

McFerrin stated, "We had to get to know Porgy as a man. It could not be Poitier the actor or McFerrin the singer. It had to be Porgy, a blend of both." First Poitier read the lines, then acted them for McFerrin. Poitier then listened to recordings of McFerrin singing the songs and sang to the recordings while studying his appearance in a mirror.

Although she was a well-known singer, Dorothy Dandridge's singing voice was dubbed because her soprano voice did not match McFerrin's baritone, in the opinion of the filmmakers.

Producer Sameel Goldwyn wanted all of the off-screen singers to be black, but Diahann Carroll's voice was thought not to be right for the film and after scouts failed to find an available African-American whose voice was judged to be satisfactory, Loulie Jean Norman, a French-English white singer, was selected to perform "Summertime."

• Category

  Film & Animation

[0hn0haha]

In this version, for some reason, I hear an Eastern European twang... Almost Russian. Gershwin's parents were Russian, so maybe... Idk.

[boinx1234]

Well, the orchestrator, Andre Previn, was born in Germany...

[sweetangelofpeace]

how were u able to time it so perfectly with the audio from the CD into the movie...that is so beautiful, it worked out great!!!

[boinx1234]

Thanks - fortunately, the CD used the identical tracks so it was just a matter of keeping them in synch.

[Nancy Hickman]

Saw the original with Sidney Poitier back in the day. Wish the Gershwin Family would change their minds and find a good, preserved copy of this original magnificent movie, that wasn't ruined, and put it on DVD

[rcalgirl]

It is uploads like this that make YouTube so great! Thank you boinx1234.

[Jon Nabor]

Amen!!! If the film is unavailable to put on DVD, I don't know how these videos were created, but I, too, am thankful!

[Jasmin A]

Eastern European Jewish influence, I think.

[rinnico85]

I'm speechless...

[boinx1234]

The Gershwin family is not blocking its release. The existing film materials would require close to one million dollars to restore, and no one has the money.

[kthorne4]

That family is hated by musicians the world over

[Radka Řezníčková]

Doporučuji knihu: Heyward DuBose, Porgy.

..."Černej namoutěduši udělá nejlíp, dyž na tomdle světě nekouká nalevo ani napravo," přisedla si mladice. "Tady Porgy je slabej na nohy, ale zato má ňákej rozum". Porgy po chvilce přemýšlení odpověděl: "Rozum není špatnej, ale moc toho neuzdvíhne."...

[sande91075]

I told some young people about this movie and they said huh? A guy defending a woman from a drug dealer. Oh no...that would never happen now.

[augusto bifolco]

bellissima  opera

[AvalonMorley]

That's what's so good (well, 1 of many things) about much of the great music from that era--all the different cultural & ethnic backgrounds melding together in such rich, marvelous ways. I agree @ the Eastern European flavor, & certainly that, together w. African and African-American influences add up to a lot of what we know as jazz.

[Perry Smith]

Really good sync