New Faces 1954

New Faces was a musical revue with songs and comedy skits tied together by a quirky plot. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped jump start the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Eartha Kitt, Carol Lawrence, performer/writer Mel Brooks (as Melvin Brooks), and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. The film was basically a reproduction of the stage revue with a thin plot added. The plot involved a producer and performer (Ronny Graham) in financial trouble and is trying to stave off an angry creditor long enough to open his show. A wealthy Texan offers to help out, on the condition that his daughter be in the show.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Eartha Kitt
• Ronny Graham
• Robert Clary
• Alice Ghostley
• Mel Brooks
• Paul Lynde
• vaudeville
• comedy
• sketch comedy
• musical
• skit
• Broadway
• 1954
• movie
• DVD
• VCI

[rstring2004]

Actually, the name of the show (of which the 1954 movie is a truncated record) was "New Faces of 1952". There's a YouTube clip of a 1961 b&w TV production of the show that better approaches the original production values. The clip is titled "New Faces of '52 Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostly (RARE)" and features Lynde, Ghostly, and songwriter-performer June Carroll (sister of the show's producer, Leonard Sillman, wife of "The Hustler" screenwriter Sidney Carroll, and mother of the composer Steve Reich).

[grrallnamesaregone]

This looks like a restored print, thank goodness! The print floating around for years was awful. The original cast recording of this show is one of my faves of all time.