Whipped Cream Difficulties

Mitzi Gaynor. NYT (archived). IMDB.

I found this kind of interesting, in light of another obit from not that long ago:

Her most notable television experience, however, may also have been her least triumphant. On Feb. 16, 1964, Ms. Gaynor had top billing on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” She sang “It’s Too Darn Hot” and a medley of blues songs, but she was completely overshadowed by another act on the bill that night: the Beatles, in their second American television appearance. At a cast dinner afterward, she recalled, Paul McCartney asked for her autograph.

Also interesting to me:

While the couple were still honeymooners, George Abbott, the revered Broadway producer and director, asked for a meeting and told Ms. Gaynor that he wanted her to play Lola, the seductive agent of the Devil, in the musical he was planning, “Damn Yankees.” Unfortunately, Mr. Bean had just committed his new wife to a four-picture deal in Hollywood. Gwen Verdon went on to play Lola, winning one of the show’s seven Tony Awards in 1956. Except for a small part in the 1946 musical “Gypsy Lady,” when she was still billed as Mitzi Gerber, Ms. Gaynor never made it to Broadway.

Ever wonder how the history of a particular musical would have been different if the producers had been able to cast their first choice, instead of “settling” for someone who came out of left field and blew everyone away? I do.

(Okay, to be fair, Gwen Verdon didn’t exactly come out of left field. She’d already won a Tony for “Can-Can”.)

NYT obit for Bob Yerkes. Noted here because:

1) This gives me a chance to thank jimmymcnulty for his comments on the previous obit. I agree: I think Mr. Yerkes would have been a great neighbor, and a swell guy to hang with.

(Also, thanks to FotB RoadRich and FotB cm smith for their comments on the late Mr. Armes in the same obit.)

B) I thought this was interesting, and it was sort of played down in the THR obit:

During his circus days, Mr. Yerkes became deeply religious — a turnabout from his childhood.
“I was reared in an unbelieving home,” he said in “Redeeming the Screens,” a 2016 book about religion in the entertainment industry. “As a young adult, I have to confess I read the Bible planning to denounce the truth of it, but I realized that it had to be inspired by God.”
He formed a Bible-reading group for circus performers. He later served on the board of the Christian Film & Television Commission, which bills itself as being “dedicated to redeeming the values of the mass media.”