Eldergays, tell me more about Perry Como

He reappeared here in England in 1971 with this song.

A lot of people rolled their eyes at it - "that old square!" they said. But now I think it's rather good.

^^ Big hit in the USA as well, apparently.

R1 yeah I read that was a hit in the states.

He was always respected and highly regarded

Pretty much forgotten today except maybe around Christmas time. But he was the highest paid TV star in the 1950s and early 60s.

His Italian heritage was always a big part of his image.

Aged remarkably well. Here he is with Doris Day at 60 years old still handsome as ever:

DL fave Joey Heatherton became a household name with "The Perry Como Show." Bea Arthur played her mother.

The epitome of bland, boring and inoffensive.

He had a true, quality voice, like Andy Williams and Dean Martin. Better than Sinatra, not as good as Sammy Davis Jr. Maybe his work was schmaltzy, but the man could sing.

His Blue Room in Words and Music is gorgeous. A beautiful Rodgers and Hart song which sadly is forgotten. Also at the end of the film he sings a wonderful With a Song In My Heart but unfortunately they stupidly cut out a large part of it to give us a montage of scenes we've already seen.

Very very handsome. Too bad he turned into a somnambulist singing a lot of schlock. But he made a fortune from it.

Didn’t Sinatra lose two Grammys to him for the song above?

Was he able to sing without a microphone?

It seems he was a murmurer rather than a belter; the strident Doris Day was holding herself back in their duet at R4.

was he like Al Martino?

Does everyone need to be a belter? R10

Snap. For some reason I just started listening to his music. I’m 40, so it’s not like he’s of my era. But I only want to listen to things that calm me right now, and his voice is so soothing and lush. He looks cute, too. I like this old jazzy style.

check out Chris Montez, R13

DEL ALBUM FOOLIN' AROUND - 1967

you'll love this

He was a crooner and very good at what he did. It's a ludicrous American notion that the only way to sing is to scream, yell, belt, run up and down the scale singing a dozen notes instead of two and rant like a crazed preacher.

"He makes everything sound like Christmas.”

Still alive!

he'd be 107 if he was still alive.

Perry Cuomo is the brother they don;t talk about.

Used to live on Long Island until the 70's and like all Long Islanders of a certain age, he migrated to Florida.

The singing barber from Canonsburg, PA. His biggest hits often were novelty songs, but he could all kinds of material. Apparently as nice and even keeled as he seemed on screen.

His show was a massive hit and he won 5 Emmys for it

In the 1960s when I was a kid I remember my Grandmother wondering if he was on tranquilizers. There was a rumor about that because of his laid back style.

[quote]Better than Sinatra...

J'adore Perry but he was never in Sinatra's league.

Como's voice was small but warm and cozy.

Sinatra could belt and chose better material.

Only a moron thinks belting = only way of singing

He grew up speaking Italian at home. I love when he sings in Italian (which Sinatra and Dean Martin could not do credibly)

With Catarina Valente:

(and man was he handsome)

Italian? No wonder he aged well.

Handsome? He looks like Tony Danza.

My favorite of his songs--his calmness actually adds a lot to the song:

I'm Italian but I sure as hell am not aging like him.

[quote] he'd be 107 if he was still alive.

And he'd also be clawing at the inside of his coffin!

Very popular, handsome, always pleasant , never any personal controversy or drama. and liked by all, it seems. A good voice. Nothing wrong with any of that.

R28 Tony Danza can only wish to be so suave.

My uncle called him Hairy Homo.

R30 because you actually have very little Italian ancestry.

I just wished he turned up the commitment to the needs of a song a few notches. He just misses being a great popular singer which he could have been. He needed a Kay Thompson or Nelson Riddle to goose him.

He was a VERY popular singer though lol

This was another 70s hit for Perry. I like it.

R36 True. He could have been much more of a singer, he certainly had the goods.

R38 His phrasing is masterful there.

R12, R15 I agree with you. I'm just conscious that most current commercial singers have no projection at all (let alone diction).

Why didn't he make movies?

He couldn't have been any worse than Rossano Brazzi.

As noted he was in Words and Music in which Lorenz Hart kills himself because Betty Garrett turns him down. Meanwhile he's been fucking Ava Gardner for years.

OP is an elder gay pretending to be younger, so people can talk about his favorite singer Perry Como. We KNOW you are an old bag you queen. You are not fooling ANYONE.

I think my mother bought all of his albums. The man on the album covers piqued my interest when I was about five years old.

I want to play my Perry Como record!

He had a film career but supposedly told Harry Cohn the head of the studio to go fuck himself.

Cohn was the head of Columbia and that ended Como’s movie career, He went into TV and did great.

As to his film career, I believe Perry was signed to a long term contract by MGM in the late 1940s. They hadn't had a true leading man singer since Nelson Eddy and were hoping to eventually pair him with Judy Garland, June Allyson and others. But after the filming of Words and Music, in which he only sings a couple of numbers and is billed as himself as it's a "bio" of Lorenz Hart, he said something unforgiveable to LB Mayer and they mutually and angrily tore up the contract with no regrets.

I don't think Perry actually was ever interested in acting and the new medium of television was perfect for allowing him to be his own laid-back self in the laid-back Eisenhower Era. He was famous for being a family man and scandal free. Apparently very beloved and respected in his time.

I'm old enough (70) to remember his TV show but I was never very interested and far preferred The Garry Moore Show, another variety hour, which was shot in NY and often featured fresh and young Broadway talent and lots more comedy. But I do find myself looking at these old clips and appreciating Perry more now than I did as a child. My grandmother was crazy about him and she was not even Italian.

My mom loved his Christmas specials. There's one where he duets with Karen Carpenter, and their voices blend together beautifully.

Hmmm. r46, r47 and I all seemed to be posting at once. I thought it was Mayer he had the squabble with but I'll stand corrected if proven wrong.

Maybe it was Mayer, I read the anecdote about Como telling off a studio head ages ago. Thought it was the hated Cohn but that doesn’t seem to be right.

Famous for cardigans.

Dirk Bogarde loved cardigans too.

(I've been indoctrinated to think they're effeminate)

I don’t go out with girls anymore, I just love Perry Como. I stay at home and play with myself, WHOOPS! I’m a homo!

Sinatra too said something unforgiveable about Mayer which fucked up his MGM career while Mayer was still the head. Mayer fell off a horse and hurt his ankle. Sinatra said, 'I thought he fell off of Ginny Simms.'

He was a Crosby imitator (like everyone else), and admitted it.

Lena Horne HATED Crosby almost as much as she hated Sinatra. But Lena LOVED Perry Como.

My grandfather grew up in Canonsburg and his best friend was one of Perry's older brothers, Domenic. He was like an uncle to my mom when she was growing up in California. He was around a lot when I was growing up. I remember he always had white shoes and a white belt on. His whole look was very much like De Niro in the movie Casino. Nothing like you'd ever imagine Perry wearing at all.

Was Perry Como a HOMO?

I love him!

R58 no

Did a little research and found out that the purported squabble was with LB Mayer when Perry was asked to sing Happy Birthday to the producer at a celebration during the final days of shooting Words and Music. Apparently, Perry, who had no patience for movie-making and the machinations of MGM, interpolated the F word into the birthday song. The bad editing of his performance in the film is sometimes attributed to Mayer's revenge, besides the end of Perry's contract.

Before landing briefly at MGM, Perry was at Fox for a few years and made a couple of B musical films there as well as Something for the Boys, which was considered an A picture but was just not very good.

I believe the repulsive Sinatra once stated the best "pipes" were on Vic Damone.

He was easy listening, and that's not always a bad thing.

He falls under “Pop” that is vocal focused and “Easy Listening”

"Was Perry Como a HOMO?

HA HA. Absolutely NOT.

Betty Hutton as the amphetamines kick in. Making for one very uncomfortable Perry Como.

Perry and Crosby

Perry with Anna Maria Louisa Italiano

R42 Hart drank himself to death. Couldn't accept being gay.

Perry Como looked like a SUNNY gay male to me.

I remember him as a kid. There were lots of TV jokes about him dozing off because he was so relaxed.

I remember a story where he was napping right before his live TV show was about to start. They called him and he got up and walked right on stage and started the show.

Now, that's relaxed.

R62, Sinatra also said that about Tony Bennett, Jack Jones...

"Sing for me, Mr. C...sing for me...."

He would amble up to a high stool that was behind a microphone and a music stand, sit down and just sing a few tunes. He always wore a big heavy sweater during this segment. No fireworks, no drama...just singing. Loved it.

Married to his childhood sweetheart for years and years and after she died, he just bided his time before joining her a little while later.

OP, Perry helped discover the Osmond Brothers, sang Moon River, and was in love with some French slut who murdered her skier lover.

Terrific voice. My dad said that he never equaled Sinatra because he wasn’t an emotional mess like Frank so couldn’t equal how Sinatra could draw out depths of lyrics. He said the same of Ella vs Sarah Vaughn—both fantastic but Sarah understood emotions in a way Ella never could.

his duet with karen carpenter is beyond sublime... but i have to say as he sang her songs, and she his, she, karen carpenter, sang his songs better than he did...also karen looked very pretty at the time of this duet....

Huge star in his day, forgotten now.

That happens to many entertainers. They were household names and very famous in their era, but they just didn't translate to later generations and faded from public consciousness.

R77 sucks when that happens.

And then you have some who never go away, even after death, like Elvis

Lena Horne in the 1960s:

"In many ways he is in real life the same relaxed guy he is on the air. But he also has a quiet intensity about his work and a tremendous sure professionalism. He is just naturally a decent fellow...and he treats me like an equal. I feel free and natural when I work with Perry."

I don't get all the comparisons here to Sinatra. Perry's singing was so much more in the style Bing Crosby. They both even enjoyed great successes with those funny novelty songs.

Long after Perry retired and was mostly unknown to younger generations, I can remember Regis Philbin bringing up his name in his morning show monologues as they had apparently become friends. Did they live or vacation on neighboring houseboats, am I remembering that correctly? Anyway, it was nice to hear reports of how well Perry was doing and that he was healthy and happy, at least according to Reeg.

He wasn't gay, as noted above, but my father was not a fan: be called him Perry Homo. My mother and grandmother loved him, though, never more than during the "Sing for me, Mr C" segment.

His was one of the first color shows when NBC began broadcasting in "Living Color" (trust me, it wasn't) in 1956.

The ONLY reasons Como and others didn't continue on as a known personalities is:

Not a movie star like Sinatra

Did not have a perennial hit song like Sinatra (New York New York)

Did not have a nefarious personal life and connections to other celebrities, like Sinatra

Did not continue performing long past their prime and sometimes past dementia like Sinatra

Were not marketed to death after their death like Sinatra (and Elvis)

I don't believe that "didn't translate to later generations" bull. If Sinatra had a dull private life, retired at a reasonable age, never recorded New York New York, and hadn't been marketed for decades as being the "best," he would have faded considerable from public consciousness. But people eat up the publicity. I have even read here how the DL considers Sinatra the best and everyone else as an imitator - not knowing that in the 1940 -1950s, there were dozens of crooners. If any singer was their source of inspiration, it was Bing Crosby, not Sinatra.

R82 True. To a degree.

To be fair, Sinatra's Capital years will always be appreciated and considered important. His work during that time speaks for itself. No need to marketed as being the "best". It simply was.

And later work like "It Was A Very Good Year". The album with Jobim. The huge commercial hits "Strangers In The Night", "Something Stupid", "My Way" will always be heard somewhere.

Bing Crosby certainly changed popular singing forever but I'd say the 1950s/60s singers like Tony Bennet, Jack Jones etc were more immediately influenced by Sinatra.

^No need to be marketed as

Well, I'm an Eldergay and Como was one of my GRANDMOTHER's favorites.

r82 Sinatra was a unique talent. Yes his volatile personal life helped keep him famous, but he had the chops to be remembered long after his own era. I'm not familiar with Perry Como but after looking at his stuff on Youtube he was pretty bland, and novelty songs don't make for longevity in a career.

[quote]My uncle called him Hairy Homo.

He must have been a barrel of laughs.

Interesting how so many of us, including me, have stated Perry was "my grandmother's favorite" and not our mother's.

R83, I can guarantee you that none of that Sinatra music, though good, translates to any but the very few born after 1970.

R86, there was certainly longevity in Perry Como's career. He began his recording career in 1936 and issued his final album in 1987. He had television series and specials from 1948 to 1994. He performed on radio from 1936 to 1955 and returned to a regular series in 1989 until his death in 2001.

Perhaps this quote can make you understand how highly regarded he was in the business:

"Despite his immense popularity, Como is rarely given credit for what, once you stop and think of it, he so clearly is: one of the great singers and one of the great artists of our time.

Perhaps the reason people rarely talk about his formidable attributes as a singer is that he makes so little fuss about them. That celebrated ease of his has been too little understood. Ease in any art is the result of mastery over the details of the craft. You get them together to the point where you can forget about how you do things and concentrate on what you are doing. Como got them together so completely that the muscles don't even show. It seems effortless, but a good deal of effort has gone into making it seem so. Como is known to be meticulous about rehearsal of the material for an album. He tries things out in different keys, gives the song thought, makes suggestions, tries it again, and again, until he is satisfied. The hidden work makes him look like Mr. Casual, and too many people are taken in by it—but happily so."

—Gene Lees, sleeve note, Look To Your Heart

Perry Coma

The great Eugene Levy in SCTV's take on Perry -

Perry Como was Andy Williams without the murderer wife.

[quote]there was certainly longevity in Perry Como's career.

He is totally forgotten today and even my 60-something aunts and uncles think he's prehistoric.

[quote] I can guarantee you that none of that Sinatra music, though good, translates to any but the very few born after 1970.

I know lots of people younger than that (myself included) who like Sinatra.

Your 60-something aunts and uncles were toddlers or weren't even born yet when Perry was the top entertainment figure in TV and national entertainment, r94, so they'd hardly be fair judges concerning his 70+ year career.,

The point is he's totally forgotten today r96.

R95, you also know lots of people younger than yourself who like Frankie Laine.

Nope r98.

WTF is it with you elders that you can't accept that certain entertainers from your youth are no longer relevant or known to the general population? Time moves on.

[quote]The point is he's totally forgotten today

As are so many beloved entertainers from the 20th century. So what is your point? Time marches on. The fact that their names are now unfamiliar to most is not, at least in many cases, a reflection on their talent or on how successful their careers were.

[quote]He is totally forgotten today

And so what?

[quote]That celebrated ease of his has been too little understood.

Watch this clip of Perry and Lena.

Besides both being beautiful, watch what utter pros they are. Listen to how they find meaning in every word.

They make it all about the lyrics...not about how wonderful they are.

Perry Como had exquisite phrasing. Made the lyrics conversational. Spontaneous.

What these two do here is a lost art.

Como was like the Mr. Rogers of the TV variety show and I say that as a compliment.

r92, see r17, and try to keep up.

When i was growing up in the 1970s, Perry Como still frequently did Christmas specials every year (as did Andy Williams, who pretty much inherited Como's career in the late 60s). Like many of the posters here, it was my grandmother who loved Como the most rather than my mother--he was more popular with the Greatest Generation in the 50s because his voice was so relaxing, while my mom (who was graduated from h.s. in 1954) preferred early rock (Elvis, Buddy Holly) or folk music.

[quote]It seems he was a murmurer rather than a belter; the strident Doris Day was holding herself back in their duet at [R4].

No he wasn't a murmerer, he made records of Temptation, Without A Song, and Somebody Up There Likes Me that showed off his strong voice. If you listen to this until the end you'll understand.

"Without a Song"

"WTF is it with you elders that you can't accept that certain entertainers from your youth are no longer relevant"

R99, dear, this is about how Sinatra is no longer relevant to people today except for the very old and several people here and there under 65 - and you. Oh yes, and the lots of people you know who appreciate his music. As far as the classics of male vocalists, Sinatra counts, so does Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole. Perry Como and Bing Crosby less so today. But WHO under 65-70 listens to any of these male vocalists now? Not many.

R106

God you are fucking stupid and out of touch.

"Strangers In The Night" (Remastered 2008) posted on YouTube 2 years ago: 6,717,930 views

"The Girl From Ipanema" - Frank Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim | Concert Collection

Nearly 30 MILLION views

Frank Sinatra "Killing Me Softly"

105,987,474 views

The Frank Sinatra Estate keeps issuing video and audio recordings to keep Sinatra in the public eye and ear. Other singers don't have organizations to promote them.

R109 The Sinatra estate can issue as many videos and recordings as they want but if there is no interest, there are no views.

And if there are no releases, there are no views.

Pierino Ronald Como

May 18, 1912-May 12, 2001

[quote]And if there are no releases, there are no views.

Releases??

The majority of Sinatra material on YouTube is not official. It's people posting old stuff from albums and collections they have. They are not new releases or remastered stuff.

And they get millions and millions of views. That audio of Sinatra with over 100 million views was not posted by the Sinatra estate.

Sinatra had hits, timeless hits that are still very relevant. This is why he still is relevant.

Some artists will always be relevant because their work translates with different generations. Young people know Frank Sinatra. The name never dies because certain songs never do.

r106 if you weren't 105 years old and a shut-in and actually knew people and were out and about in the world, you would know that Sinatra is still listened to by people of a variety of ages.

Perry was cute, I definitely would've hit that ass.

You can't be forgotten by people who've never heard of you.

Perry Como had a career and enjoyed enormous popularity for over 50 years, not like disposable entertainers today who are lucky to have 10 years in the spotlight.

The Sinatra pusher on this thread is like those Streisand devotees who invade threads about other artists insisting she's the greatest, most popular, most beautiful celebrity who ever lived because of her sales, and on going sales after 75 years in show business. This is a thread about Perry Como, not Sinatra. And note Youtube views are not the same as having Sinatra music on your playlist.

I'd turn him over and get busy, R116!

[quote]Perry Como had a career and enjoyed enormous popularity for over 50 years,

And he's still forgotten. Bing Crosby is another one. HUGE star in his era but except for White Christmas nobody knows him.

Lily Langtree, Lillian Russell and Theda Bara were also once huge stars. Not to mention Al Jolson, Clara Bow, Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope and Sophie Tucker.

Time marches on.

Nobody under 70 still listens to Frank Sinatra anymore? Gee, that must be why he's no longer relevant in American culture! 🙄

For the idiot at R118:

Take it up with the dope at R106.

I am simply responding to him and his bullshit about how Sinatra is somehow no longer relevant.

RELAX, R123. We've heard you. Now get out.

R121 Stars like Lily Langtree, Lillian Russell, Theda Bara , Al Jolson, Clara Bow, Eddie Cantor, and Sophie Tucker were massively popular but they had short careers during a time that already seemed prehistoric by the mid 50s.

And certainly others like Bob Hope...a topical comedian... have lost all relevancy.

But post WW2 singers are in a different category. Sinatra will always have fans. The Beatles broke up over 50 (!) years ago but their music will continue to have an audience. Etc.

And YouTube has changed things. It has brought a new audience to plenty of performers that were forgotten.

I don't give a rat's ass who is popular today. Who fucking cares? Since when is popularity an indicator of quality? Just enjoy what you enjoy and forget about the rest.

I'm a classic movie fan. The films and performers we remember today are based on which TV stations owned the rights to certain studios' output at what time, what fell into the public domain, whose archives were destroyed by fire, and so on. The same goes for music. I love Sinatra, but he's remembered these days as much for who he fucked and who he fucked over as for his singing.

Interesting that Horne did not like Sinatra. I saw him at Carnegie shortly after her show opened on Broadway and became a huge hit. He gave a shout out to her saying that the critics were finding out what everyone knew for years. If he knew how much she disliked him I doubt that Sinatra would have said that.

I wish he had done Clear Day with Streisand. That would have been a tremendous pairing. Lane and Lerner could have come up with a couple of duets. But I guess two egos both the size of Mt Rushmore would have never worked on a set. And who would have gotten top billing?

So that's why With a Song In My Heart is bowdlerized at the end of Words and Music. Mayer hated him. It never made sense to me before. It's too bad the complete track doesn't exist and was tossed. It's not even a favorite song of mine but what you hear is meltingly beautiful.

"Since when is popularity an indicator of quality?"

R126, you must be new here. 90% of DLers are unable to differentiate between popularity and quality.

R127, The dislike between Sinatra and Lena, and it was mutual, goes back to Ava Gardner. No matter what they said about each other in public, it was a steady feud from the early1950s on. I'll let someone give the details ;)

Eugene Levy as Perry Como.

[quote]Eugene Levy as Perry Como.

For the third time in this thread.

R125, why do you say all those people had short careers? Jolson became a star in1911 and remained one until his death in 1950 at 64. Cantor became a star in 1917 and was working well into the 1950s and there was a movie of his life in 1953.

Here's one: Rudy Vallee.

I randomly found him on Youtube one day and he was hugely famous back in the day.

Sinatra is an icon because of how his career spanned decades . When he started, he was the boy singer with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra, at a time when big bands ruled. Then he became the idol of the bobbysoxers with his crooning ballads. Then he became a movie star, in films like "On The Town", where he held his own dancing alongside Gene Kelly. His career then took a nosedive, but he came back winning an Oscar for "From Here To Eternity". He stayed relevant in the Sixties with hit records like "My Way", "Strangers In The Night" and "New York, New York", as well as a huge hit duet with daughter Nancy, "Something Stupid". Also had some decent dramatic roles then with "Von Ryans Express", "The Detective" and "The Manchurian Candidate". A very long and varied career.

Why the bio, R134? Do you think we don't that?

ALL of the stars mentioned in this thread careers spanned decades, btw.

Even Sophie Tucker enjoyed huge popularity from the 1910s through the 1950s.

I don't think Madonna can look back on a career that has truly spanned decades.

But her career has spanned decades.

Sophie Tucker's fame lasted because of Bette Midler.

Hell, even Bette Midler isn't as well-known as she used to be.

Mister Jones? Mister Jones! Ohhhhh... Mister Jones!

Oh, Mr. Jones, Frankie and Perry just aren't in it! YOU'RE my favorite swooner - dreamboat - loverboy! May I have your autograph? Please, can I huh, can I? Oh, thank YOUUUUUUUUU Mr. Jones!

My bad, R131. But I did first do a search of “SCTV” &, inexplicably, got no hits.

I love listening to crooners like Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Andy Williams. Just superb vocals, pitch, interpretation, and clarity in their vocals.

I think Sinatra probably has the best material overall because I think he was the most successful at adapting to new trends. But I enjoy all of them.

[quote]Here's one: Rudy Vallee. I randomly found him on Youtube one day and he was hugely famous back in the day.

Rudy Vallee was one of the first "crooners" and became famous in the '20s and early '30s, but he, too, had a long career. He co-starred in the original Broadway production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" in 1961 and re-created his role in the 1967 movie version.

Then he and Morse went touring in it in the 70s. Wish it had come somewhere near NY.

Richard Rogers wanted Perry Como to be the first pop singer to record "Some Enchanted Evening" . Many popular singers have recorded and performed "Some Enchanted Evening" in 1949, but Perry Como's version was the only one to hit #1.

Ezio Pinza (recorded April 18, 1949, Original Broadway cast recording of South Pacific). His single version reached No. 7 in the Billboard charts in 1949. Perry Como (1949). His single reached No. 1 in 1949 Frank Sinatra (1949), (1963, including a duet with Rosemary Clooney), (1967). The 1949 version reached the No. 6 position in the Billboard charts. Bing Crosby (1949), recorded March 10, 1949 and reached No. 3 in the Billboard charts during a 20-week stay. Jo Stafford - Autumn in New York (1950). Her single version reached No. 4 in the Billboard charts in 1949.

[quote] Here's one: Rudy Vallee. I randomly found him on Youtube one day and he was hugely famous back in the day.

One of the 2 or 3 most popular singers of his day--he also composed (for his alma mater) the "University of Maine Drinking Song," which was one of the most popular tunes of its day.

He was also a very good light comic actor, and he is charmingly funny in "The Palm Beach Story."

Rudy Vallee never seemed to have a problem playing the silly fuddy-duddy Other Man to leading ladies in the1940s films he made after his enormous popularity as a crooning heartthrob in the 1920s. He clearly had a sense of humor about himself. I think the first time I ever saw him was playing himself (again as a pompous ass) in the wonderful Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour about how Lucy met Ricky (with DL faves Cesar Romero and Ann Sothern).

Think about this: 50 years ago was 1971. There are still plenty of stars from 1971 that are performing today. And most of the top songs of the year still sound contemporary. You can watch an episode of Mary Tyler Moore and it pretty much seems like today. The same with many films. For the most part they don't seem quaint or from some long ago era.

But now go back 50 years from 1971 to the year 1921. There is absolutely nothing from 1921 that people from 1971 were watching or hearing.

[quote] You can watch an episode of Mary Tyler Moore and it pretty much seems like today.

You might think that, but I doubt an 18-year-old would.

Hmmmm.....just how old are you, r147?

I teach theater in a very good grad program and I'm constantly shocked when I reference various golden age stars like Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Katharine Hepburn, for example, and watch them scrambling to google the names on their iphones. Even some of the most iconic names like Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor are just merely names and a fleeting image. They really have no idea why those people are famous.

Except, of course, for some of the gayling theatre queens.

His best was Don McLean's "And I Love You So"

Sorry if this was posted before

[quote] Richard Rogers wanted Perry Como to be the first pop singer to record "Some Enchanted Evening" .

Oh, dear.

Fuck off r151.

"I think Sinatra probably has the best material overall"

R141, they all did covers, they all sang the same material.

Perry, Allyn Ann McLerie and Ensemble sing "Mountain Greenery" from Words and Music, 1948. In typical MGM fashion, Perry is better looking and a better singer than Sterling Holloway (best knows as the voice of Winnie the Pooh) who introduced the song in Garrick's Gaieties of 1926.

Not to derail. Someone up thread posted Cuomo singing And I love you So. I find his version boring but this version of Mathis singing it is amazing. Comes off a very hard to find LP that I still have on vinyl, which also has a great version of Killing Me Softly

R153 There were a number of songs that Sinatra introduced. And songs like "Come Fly With Me" and "Strangers in the Night" were written specifically for him.

R149 Has problems with reading comprehension.

R155 Mathis was wonderful, had great voice that he loved to show off. Even when it wasn't necessary.

^ a great voice

Cool, R156. But among many others, Cole Porter did not write I've Got You Under my Skin for anyone, let alone Frankie.

I grew up on Perry Como. He was a class act.

R160 *sigh*

R154 That clip is evidence that pocket sized Perry just didn't have what it took to be a leading man (or even best friend of the leading man) in MGM musicals.

The new medium of TV was perfect for him and showed off his strengths to best advantage.

LOVE Vaughn Monroe. He had the voice, but not the looks.

r154 How do they compare to Rob and Laura Petrie?

You're wrong, r156, Strangers in the Night was written for...

I agree about Perry in the Mountain Greenery clip. He's cute enough and I love his rendition of the song but he's hardly leading man material and execs probably thought tearing up his contract would be no great loss.

The frilly apron certainly doesn't help and makes a pear shape.......uh, pearer. Did Helen Rose have it in for him or something?