#cyril ritchard

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Carol Channing and Tallulah Bankhead were both born on January 31—Channing in 1921 in Seattle, Bankhead in 1903 in Huntsville, Alabama. Cyril Ritchard decided to give both actresses a slightly premature birthday party at midnight on January 29, 1959.

Photo: Marty Lederhandler for the AP

[ellie88-blog-blog]

Have You Ever Heart the Story of the FIRST White Christmas?

Renowned for their stop-animation classics, Rankin/Bass released "The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow" in 1975. The story narrates a blind shepherd boy who aspires for a white Christmas, and his friendship with a girl named Louisa.

By the end of 1974, Rankin/Bass 17 TV specials in the span of 10 years; 7 of which were geared toward Christmas. Many of these specials becoming stop motion animated classics. Instead of resting on the reruns of beloved classics like “Frosty the Snow Man” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass release “The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow,”…

[byneddiedingo]

Cyril Ritchard and Anny Ondra in Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock, 1929) Cast: Anny Ondra, Joan Barry (voice), John Longden, Donald Calthrop, Cyril Ritchard, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton, Hannah Jones, Harvey Braban. Screenplay: Alfred Hitchcock, Benn W. Levy, based on a play by Charles Bennett. Cinematography: Jack E. Cox. Film editing: Emile de Ruelle. Music: Jimmy Campbell, Reginald Connelly. Anny Ondra has the distinction of having appeared in both Alfred Hitchcock's final silent film, The Manxman (1929), and his first talkie, Blackmail. Unfortunately, it was the arrival of sound that put an end to her nascent career in English-language films. Blackmail was begun as a silent movie, but not long after filming started Hitchcock got what he wanted: permission to turn it into a talkie. Which presented a problem for Ondra, who was born in a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire that is now Poland and grew up in Prague, where she was a successful stage actress, but had been unable to lose her accent. In the infancy of film sound, a satisfactory technique of dubbing another actor's voice had yet to be developed, so actress Joan Barry was hired to speak Alice White's lines off-camera as Ondra silently mouthed the words. (After Blackmail, Ondra returned to the continent and was a major star in Czech and German films; she married boxer Max Schmeling in 1933.) The tricky problem of synching Barry's voice with Ondra's performance only spurred Hitchcock to other innovative uses of sound, for example the scene in which Alice White, stunned by having stabbed her assailant to death, hears a neighbor chattering about the murder and repeating the word "knife," which becomes increasingly louder until Alice breaks down in hysterics. Hitchcock also pioneers a gag he will use again: Alice opens her mouth to scream, but in a quick cut the scream comes from the landlady who has discovered the victim's body. The cut anticipates the one in The 39 Steps (1935) in which a woman's scream becomes the shrill whistle of a locomotive. Sound was still such a novelty that a silent version of Blackmail was made for theaters still not equipped for it. And even in the sound version the first six minutes of the film, which take place in the streets where the London police "flying squad" makes an arrest, are silent except for the background music, even though we see cops talking to each other and there are plenty of opportunities for ambient sound. Some scenes also have that curious slackness of pace of early talkies, as if the directors were uncertain about how quickly audiences could assimilate spoken dialogue. But it's far more "Hitchcockian" than most of his late silent films in that he's working effectively with thriller material, including a chase through the British Museum that anticipates his later exploitation of such landmarks as the Statue of Liberty in Saboteur (1942) and Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest (1959). It also contains the longest of Hitchcock's familiar cameo appearances, as a passenger on the Underground being tormented by a small boy.

[ulrichgebert]

Wo wir gerade so schön im Unfug-Modus waren, eröffneten wir gleich noch das Weihnachtsfilmprogramm mit Jule Stynes und Bob Merrils revisionistischer, weihnachtlicher Neuausdeutung der Rotkäppchen-Geschichte. Bietet immerhin gleich wieder eine der bedeutendsten Sally-Bowles-Darstellerinnen meines Lebens (vergl. hier und hier).

[inktober-of-a-fan-girl]

Day 5: Cyril Ritchard

This is the one in 1954 but also 1960. This version is very popular…don't get why.

More notes & links in Keep Reading.

Peter Pan (1954), directed by Jerome Robbins, is an authorized musical stage adaptation with music by Mark "Moose" Charlap and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. Taking the opposite path of the 1950 adaptation, it was originally to have only a few incidental songs but evolved into a full Broadway musical with some new songs from composer Jule Styne and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. This version became widely known as a vehicle for Mary Martin, who appeared in three television productions of this version and won a Best Musical Actress Tony Award for her performance as well as an Emmy when it was aired on television. Cyril Ritchard won a Tony as Captain Hook in the Broadway production opposite Martin and reprised the role in the first television production opposite her, and it is the role for which he has remained best known. Revivals featured television actress Sandy Duncan and gymnast Cathy Rigby as Peter. A 2014 TV version was broadcast by NBC as Peter Pan Live!

The red highlight will come up later.

Here is a video of one of the songs with Hook singing. Cringy…

That's from the 1960s.

So this version of Hook lost his mustache..damn it. He still has his hair though. He also has the hook on his right hand.

And here is a link to Spotify for you folks…

[algusunderdunk]

Just saw Cyril Ritchard as The Honorable Morlock in an episode of The Snoop Sisters. I have never in my life wanted a spin-off more than for this insane sassy Satan-worshippibg huckster who lives in a Willy Wonka workshop and speaks in angry rhyming couplets.

I want more Morlock.

[twistedtummies2]

Top 10 Portrayals of Smee

A while back, I did a list of my favorite portrayals of Captain Hook, the villain of J.M. Barrie’s classic story “Peter Pan.” I also, more recently, made a list of my favorite versions of the titular hero of the tale. Now, I want to shine some light on one of the more prominent side figures of the tale: Captain Hook’s right-hand man (or, depending on interpretation, perhaps his left-hand man), the pirate simply known as Smee. Mr. Smee is, arguably, one of the first great “henchmen” figures in English literature. Many great villains have accomplices and associates who aid them in their journeys, but the idea of a side character who works particularly close to the main villain, gives them someone to work through as an outlet of sorts, and often provides some comedic levity to scenes with their presence? As far as I can determine, this was a relatively new phenomenon in literature when “Peter Pan” was created. Smee is the original bumbling goon: he is loyal to Hook (at least for the most part), and he can be just as nasty as the other pirates when he chooses to be, but he’s generally considered something of a dimwitted softy, both in and out of universe. He’s the primary source of comic relief in the story, and lends a human, humorous edge to Hook and his pirates who, at least in the book, are a rather deplorable bunch. As a result, he’s one of the most recognizable and frequently focused-upon characters in many adaptations, yet he’s also one that seems somewhat unsung: only a select few versions of Smee have really “made it big” and become characters everyone recognizes or knows an actor for playing. I think it’s time to change that, and give the many loyal followers of the nefarious Captain Hook their rightful dues. After all the times they’ve had to rescue him from the Crocodile, they deserve it! So, without further ado, here are My Top 10 Portrayals of Smee!

10. Christopher Gauthier, from Once Upon a Time.

9. Tony Sympson, from the 1976 TV Musical.

8. Jim Gaffigan, from Peter Pan & Wendy.

7. Ed Gilbert, from Peter Pan and the Pirates.

6. The Version from Peter and the Starcatchers. (No illustration available. Again, I’m referring to the books, not the stage play based on the first story.)

5. Michael Nostrand, from the Styne-Charlap Musical. (The most famous stage musical version of the story. Much like Paul Schoeffler as Hook and Cathy Rigby as Peter, Nostrand has been playing this part off and on for decades now.)

4. Richard Briers, from the 2003 Film.

3. Joe E. Marks, from the 1950 Musical AND the Styne-Charlap Musical. (Marks first played the role opposite Boris Karloff as Hook in a 1950 musical treatment. He reprised the role in the completely different Styne-Charlap musical and originated the part there, opposite Cyril Ritchard as Hook.)

2. The Disney Version. (Originally voiced by Bill Thompson.)

1. Bob Hoskins, from Hook AND SyFy’s Neverland. (Especially the former.)

[emailsfromanactor]

The Cast of Hamlet (1964) in Musicals: Part 2

Like Richard Burton, John Cullum (Laertes) started his Broadway musical career in Camelot. He played Sir Dinadan, understudied King Arthur and Mordred, and eventually took over Mordred full-time. Unlike Burton, Cullum kept doing musicals. A lot of musicals. Let's look at some of them!

Cullum's next Broadway show after Hamlet was On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. This is a selection of scenes and songs from the show, narrated by Cyril Ritchard. Barbara Harris gets most of the material here, but watch it all anyway, she's delightful.

After joining the original production of 1776 as a replacement Edward Rutledge, Cullum got to do the role in the film and sing "Molasses to Rum," a tour de force about slavery and Northern hypocrisy.

The shows that Cullum opened in as a star tended to be modest hits at best. Shenandoah was probably his biggest personal success. It ran long enough that he left and came back! He won a Tony! He reprised his role in a revival! Which ran for a little over a month including previews. Ah well. I don't know Shenandoah that well. The plot seems... politically iffy? The lead's whole thing is that he doesn't want to pick a side in the Civil War. But Cullum sounds great!

He won another Tony for On the Twentieth Century! Here he sings "I've Got It All" with the great Judy Kaye. (TW for a rape mention, here are the lyrics if you want to read before watching.) They're out of costume, so you get to see his very '70s outfit. For what he looked like in costume, here's their Tony performance!

And then he didn't originate a role in a musical until Urinetown in 2001. I'm pretty sure this is where I first heard him.

Also he played a dog in The Grinch.

And Audra McDonald's dad in the revival of 110 in the Shade!

In 2010, Cullum was in The Scottsboro Boys as the Interlocutor, who forces the titular characters to reenact their story in the form of a minstrel show. It's a very good, very heavy musical.

Cullum was most recently on Broadway as a replacement in Waitress in 2017-18, but who knows, maybe he'll be back! He did a solo show in 2021 and a movie in 2022. Anyone out there writing roles for 94-year-olds?

[not-wholly-unheroic]

The Many Faces of Captain James Hook

With the release of the first promotional images of Jude Law’s Captain Hook for Disney’s upcoming Peter Pan and Wendy, there’s been a lot of complaints about both the costuming choices made and the fact that Law’s Hook bears little physical resemblance to the captain’s more “traditional” look and seems to be older than most versions with his graying locks. Some have even gone so far as to call Law’s Hook “ugly”—which I find rather unfair and even laughable. (If you find Jude Law in any role ugly, your male beauty standards are ridiculously high and I hate to think how hideous you must think most average people are.) Further, it’s a bit shallow to reduce a character completely to his physical attractiveness—especially a character as complex and complicated as Captain James Hook. Barrie’s Hook was described as being handsome, yes, but the popular vision of Hook as being an inherently “sexy” character is a fairly modern phenomenon in the story’s history—probably largely due to Jason Isaacs’ performance in the 2003 Peter Pan and, more recently, Colin O’Donoghue’s “Killian Jones” (who isn’t even technically James Hook) for Once Upon a Time. But the character has existed for close to 120 years, and in that time, he has borne many faces—some instantly recognizable as our favorite captain; others less so. He has worn a variety of colors and clothing styles, had nearly every shade of hair, and possessed varying degrees of facial hair. In fact, you may be surprised to find that the iconic waxed mustache, red coat, and ostrich plumed hat likely didn’t become mainstream until around the time Disney put out their version of the film. (That’s not to say other, previous Hooks didn’t ever have these characteristics. Only that Disney was probably the catalyst that solidified the look into the mind of the fandom.) For those who may not be as familiar with the history of the Hooks, let’s take a quick look at some of the lesser known versions of the character…some of whose influences can still be seen in Law’s Hook.

Here we see the costume design for Captain Hook by William Nicholson for the first production of Peter Pan, Duke of York's Theatre, 1904. You’ll notice the concept art doesn’t feature the bright red coat or any pluming on the tricorn hat.

You can see how this costume idea might have translated onto an actor in this image of one of the earliest actors to play Hook on stage, Robb Harwood.

Notice, he has no facial hair at all and although he looks like a gentleman, he’s far less “frilly” than the standard Hook is today.

The iconic mustache is also conspicuously absent in the silent film’s Hook, played by actor Ernest Torrence. He also still has the tricorn hat without any plumage. Note that Barrie was still alive at the time of the silent film when it came out in 1924, and some of his suggestions made it into the film.

Another early Hook, played by famed horror actor Boris Karloff for the 1950 Bernstein musical looks downright terrifying.

He has the mustache and the hair going on but I don’t know if I’d call him exactly “handsome” here.

Then we get to the 1960s. This seems to be about the time that we get the bicorn hat that Law’s Hook wears in the promotional photo. It shows up both in some scenes with Cyril Ritchard’s version of the character (notably, Ritchard was in his 60s when the film version was recorded, and his Hook has gray hair)—though he also has the red plumed hat we associate with most modern Hooks—and in Vincent Price’s stage Hook (sadly, not recorded to my knowledge).

Of course, we also get Disney’s version of Hook in 1953, and after that, we start to see more of the “iconic” Hook look that we’re used to with a few exceptions, such as Fox’s Hook from the 1990 series Peter Pan and the Pirates, who has white hair, no facial hair, and a dark navy blue/black outfit.

Despite looking more like an angry Quaker Oatmeal man than the usual Captain Hook, this guy gets a lot of love from the fandom because Tim Curry’s voice acting knocks it out of the park and personality wise, his Hook is both refined and threatening.

We also have to remember that even Hoffman’s 1991 version of the captain is likely much older than (and not quite as good looking as) he comes off as when he’s fully made up. Recall the scene near the end when he loses his wig:

And Rhys Ifans’ “prequel” Hook in SyFy’s Neverland (2011) hardly looks like a Hook at all when we first meet him.

Even after his transformation into the pirate we’re more familiar with, he still has the “wrong” hair color and no mustache.

Yet he manages to get the right “feel” for Hook, which makes up for everything else, epitomizing the messed up father figure in Peter’s life, inspiring both our sympathy and revulsion.

My point in saying all of this is not to explicitly praise Law’s Hook or make any kind of judgement—for that, we’ll have to see the film itself—but to simply remind folks that Hook has worn many faces over the years, and ultimately, what he looks like matters less than the actor and director’s grasp of who he is as a person. Hook, as a fan favorite, has some incredibly large boots to fill and whether or not Law will live up to those expectations remains to be seen. But let’s give the guy (and his character) a chance to speak for himself before we go judging too much. Some of the greatest Hooks haven’t always looked like what we’d expect him to.

[themattress]

Favorite Villains of Classic English Literature

Professor Moriarty - This villain is pure, beautiful simplicity: he's an alternate version of the hero with the morality removed. Both Holmes and Moriarty are quirky loners with genius IQs that thrive on challenging their intellects via loaning it out to others in some form of service. But Holmes has a conscience, a sense of right and wrong, which is why his service is that of a consulting detective, whereas Moriarty is a total sociopath whose service is that of a consulting criminal, meaning that he has an invisible hand in almost every crime that's carried out in London. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gives an absolutely perfect description of him and how he operates as a villain: "He is the Napoleon of crime. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled, a man to be removed--the word is passed to the Professor, the matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught. In that case money is found for his bail or his defense. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught--never so much as suspected."

Favorite adaptations: Professor Moriarty (Ernest Torrence) in Sherlock Holmes (Fox, 1932), Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (Universal, 1943), Professor Moriarty (Eric Porter) in Sherlock Holmes (Granada, 1984), Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price) in The Great Mouse Detective (Disney, 1986), Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) in Sherlock (BBC, 2010), Jamie Moriarty (Natalie Dormer) in Elementary (CBS, 2012), and William "Liam" James Moriarty (Soma Saito) in Moriarty the Patriot (Shueisha, 2016).

Captain Hook - If Professor Moriarty is a great complex presentation of a simple character, then Captain Hook is the opposite: a complex character who is presented simply. A ruthless pirate captain with a limb replaced by the object he derives his name from is the easiest thing in the world to understand, but there's much more to old James beneath that surface: a well-educated English gentleman depressed with the notion that he's squandered his life away but too far gone in his pride to turn back, constantly striving for "good form" even when his occupation doesn't allow for much of it, and obsessed with getting revenge on Peter Pan partly out of jealousy and partly to distract from the inevitability of the end result of what Pan did to him - namely, an ever-pursuing crocodile that will ultimately mark the end of his life when the clock it swallowed finally stops ticking. If Pan shows the problems with never growing up, then Hook shows the problems with losing your innocence when you grow up. For as over the top of a villainous character as he is, he's also a tragic, even relatable one.

Favorite adaptations: Captain Hook (Ernest Torrence) in Peter Pan (Paramount, 1924), Captain Hook (Hans Conreid) in Peter Pan (Disney, 1953), Captain Hook (Cyril Ritchard) in Peter Pan (Broadway, 1954), Captain Hook (Tim Curry) in Peter Pan and the Pirates (Fox, 1990), Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) in Hook (Amblin, 1991), Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs) in Peter Pan (Universal, 2003), "Jimmy" (Rhys Ifans) in Neverland (Syfy, 2011), Killian Jones (Colin O'Donoghue) in Once Upon a Time (ABC, 2012), Captain Hook (Stan Tucci) in Peter and Wendy (ITV, 2015) and Captain Hook (Jude Law) in Peter and Wendy (Disney, 2023).

And hey, wouldn't you know it! The same actor got the ball rolling in my favorite adaptations of both these characters! Clearly, the two of them were always destined to share this post.

[phantomasc]

The Moose Charlap-Carolyn Leigh musical version of  Peter Pan will tour America next year.

this new tour will feature a revised book by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse, who has been brought on to tackle the musical's depiction of Native Americans.

You might wan to see it. I know how much you like the 1954 Peter Pan.

Thank you for being a PHNOMAL friend, and telling me before I saw it in the news. I trust you to listen.

"Peter Pan" was my first Broadway musical, and is one of my favorite musicals besides "The Phantom of the Opera," "Annie," and "Oliver!" When I was six my family and I went to BlockBuster and got the VHS tape of "Peter Pan" my mom had asked me "Do you know a woman named Mary Martin played Peter Pan?" I had seen the Disney version, so a woman playing Peter was special. I liked Peter because he didn't grow up, and he could fly.  I watched the Mary Martin version with my family. My Brother, Sister, Mom, Dad, and me. I LOVED it more than the Disney version. Though we lived out in rural New Mexico I saw it as often as I could, my Mom would make the special trip to get the VHS tape all the way from town.

My siblings loved it too: we played this version of Peter Pan my sister made waves and costumes for all of us to wear. We built the house for Wendy with this toy building set we had and sang the song (I was Wendy though my favorite character was Peter) “Tender Shepherd” was sung after “Rock-a-Bye baby” at bedtime (it worked well because there are three of us and three Darling children.) Of course, my favorite part was the part where you would clap to save Tinkerbell. and it was always magical to see Tinkerbell come back to life. Being as young as I was I assumed Mary could see me through the camera and I would make eye contact with her and form an emotional bond with the woman whose name was read to me every time before the movie started. I couldn’t read then. Of course “Oh my Mysterious Lady” made me laugh my head off. The rescue of Peter by Tiger Lily and the Indians on scooters was also funny, the look on Cyril Ritchard's face is priceless.

Then of course came "Ugg-A-Wug" I had been born with Cerebral Palsy and thus had to go to speech therapy so I assumed I was misunderstanding the characters and tried to understand them. The limits of my six-year-old vocabulary meant that all of the words meant "help" except "Ugg-Ugg-Wah" which meant "I Promise" Jerome Robbins' choreography is the reason I can get the meaning of the words

I went to speech therapy as a kid with Cerebral Palsy,  and the I Gotta Crow (Reprise)  I think resembles that because I had trouble with the “R” sound! Mary Martin was a #WomanRoleModel as Peter Pan for me at six years old!  This is really the only thing I remember seeing that was positive and affirming of my disabled identity.

Then my seventh birthday came, and I got my own Mary Martin Peter Pan VHS tape by that time the Cathy Rigby version had come out and my Mom heard about it and got it for me for Christmas. I watched it with almost the entire side of my Dad’s family who was there for Christmas. My sister reminded me of Cathy Rigby, with my CP, my sister seemed like she could do anything. and I  watched both versions on a TV that was above my head. I would look up at women doing what I wanted to do, go to Neverland!  To me a small child they were larger than life and in a way still are. I also felt that I was in love with Mary Martin though at six years old with only exposure to straight romances in children's media coming out was impossible without the language. I also connected strongly with the fact Mary Martin and Cathy Rigby both played a boy. To me it was I can be a boy and a girl at the same time, The basic definition of Genderfluid, was shown, taught, and absorbed without the need for the word. "Peter Pan" makes me feel how II want to think in my AFAB-gendered body, which is neutral!

Then my mom decided that we should perform "I Won't Grow Up" in the school talent show because she thought it was cute and funny.  This led to my VHS being taped over because it was always in the VHS player. I cried, of course. My Mom bought me the DVD, which I still have to this day. The VHS getting recorded over turned out to be a good thing. After all, all our VHS tapes got given away because we moved to Alabama.

I CAN'T see another version with CHANGES, because I HATE CHANGE! I KNOW that makes me a COLONIST RACIST! The most HORRIBLE thing is I don't even care that I'm a MONTER who doesn't deserve to LIVE anymore! #PeterPanLive made that clear nine years ago! I'll be alive ten years from now. “Peter Pan” Is tied to me being TransMasc, Mary Matin was my Trans Role-Model, so it’s Autistic Confort Media, so changing it is TERRIFYING.

[preciouslittletoonette]

I know you're a huge Peter Pan fan. Have you ever seen the 1960s TV play starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook? If you have, what did you think?

I've seen clips of it so far and listened to the soundtrack ("I gotta Crow" plays in my head on repeat constantly along with "Wendy") but I haven't seen the whole play. It looks very charmimg from what I did see and I enjoy the songs, I'll have to give it full justice and eventually watch it along with Cathy Rigby's (another play that I've seen in clips but a play I'm excited to see)

[delux2222]

"My background may be common, but I have specialized in elegance."

Happy Birthday, Cyril Ritchard (1897-1977)

[veronica-fake]

Madge More and Cyril Ritchard leaving St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia. September 16, 1935. https://www.instagram.com/p/CfZvD_GOFTn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=