[sinatraphiles] VS: Re: August 12th 1986 - "Domingo and Friends,"
- From: "cara" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "cara" for DMARC)
- To: <sinatraphiles@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2021 22:21:55 +0200
Hi Ed,
Extract from:
<https://paralleljulieverse.tumblr.com/post/168061277534/julie-andrews-fantasy-lps-20-the-historical>
The Parallel Julieverse — Julie Andrews Fantasy LPs #20 Ol’ Julie Blue Eyes...
(tumblr.com)
Another famed Sinatra colleague with whom Julie worked closely was Nelson
Riddle. The talented music man was Sinatra’s arranger of choice for many years
and is widely credited as “the musical architect of the singer’s amazing
Lazarus-like comeback” in the mid-50s (Levinson, 12). Iin the early 70s, Riddle
worked with Julie as the musical director on her award-winning TV variety
series, The Julie Andrews Hour (1972/73) (Levinson, 242-43).
By all accounts, the two got on famously. Julie affectionately nicknamed the
slightly morose arranger “Eeyore” after the sad-eyed donkey in the A.A. Milne
Pooh stories, while he called her his “angel” (Chase, 84). “We had some great
times,” Julie reflects, “And the arrangements he did for me! …They were so
beautiful” (Levinson, 244). She recalls one pointed Sinatra-related anecdote:
“I once said to him, ‘Nelson, you used to have a lick for Sinatra –– a
particular musical phrase such as in that arrangement of ‘
<https://href.li/?https://youtu.be/hfwWF_YUk20> I Have Dreamed.’ It’s almost a
little trademark of yours, and it’s beautiful.’ And he said, ‘Oh, that’s really
Frank’s –– I don’t know if I can do that,’ and I said, ‘Oh please, will you do
it for one of my arrangements? It would be so lovely.’ And he did….After we
recorded [ <https://href.li/?https://youtu.be/DwZ4jXndpUU> my version of ‘I
Have Dreamed’], he said, ‘Well, I guess it’s yours now.’ That was so lovely of
him –– so adorable. I did love him very much.” (Levinson 244).
With all these multiple connections, it’s an eternal regret Julie never got to
collaborate for real with the Chairman of the Board. Theirs would have been an
unusual musical partnership, to be sure, but it could’ve produced fascinating
results.
Still, Julie and Sinatra did happen to forge an enduring duet of sorts…in
cement! Their hand and footprints sit side-by-side together in the fabled
forecourt of <https://href.li/?https://youtu.be/kB_smNlMQi0> Grauman’s Chinese
Theatre in Hollywood. As Frank himself might croon, “
<https://href.li/?https://youtu.be/K9KKXtHm0I4> How can I ignore the girl next
door, I love her more than I can say…”
Hi Carl,
I have a line recording of an Andrews concert. She tells the
audience how much
Riddle's "I Have Dreamed" chart meant to her. For quite some time, Julie begged
Riddle
to let her use it. Nelson was hesitant because it had been written for "The
Concert Sinatra."
He finally did agree and Andrews sang it beautifully that night in concert.
Ed
<https://paralleljulieverse.tumblr.com/image/168061277534>
Julie Andrews Fantasy LPs #20
Ol’ Julie Blue Eyes
Julie Andrews and Frank Sinatra –– whom Julie once described as “dreamy”
(Windeler, 35) –– were two of the great vocalists of the twentieth century.
Sadly, the historical record reveals they never got to perform together…though
they certainly came close.
Back in 1951, when Julie was just 16, Variety reported that the “juvenile
coloratura soprano” had “landed a contract” to “appear in TV via the Frank
Sinatra program” (”U.S. Grabs,” 2). The contract was part of a group deal that
Julie’s agent Charles Tucker had negotiated for Julie and two of his other
clients –– Terry Thomas and Anne Shelton –– to go and perform Stateside. Thomas
and Shelton both made the trip but, for some reason, Julie –– who was scheduled
to “sail in May” –– didn’t (ibid.).
Fast forward to the mid-60s and Julie and Frank Sinatra were again set to team,
this time on the big screen, in one of the many versions of the long gestating
Irving Berlin tuner,
<http://paralleljulieverse.tumblr.com/post/57709544257/a-trunk-musical-based-on-the-songs-of-irving>
Say It With Music (Hopper, 2-1). Alas, the bottom fell out of the market for
big Hollywood musicals and Say It With Music went unsaid (Welles, 10).
The only time Julie and Sinatra actually got to work, if not together, at
least, on the same stage was in 1986 when they performed in support of
<https://href.li/?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_USA> Operation
California (now Operation USA), the non-profit international aid organization
of which
<https://href.li/?http://www.opusa.org/julie-andrews-and-operation-usa/> Julie
is a founding patron. In August, they appeared in “Domingo and Friends,” a
gala Hollywood benefit for victims of the Mexico City earthquake hosted by
Plácido Domingo, who had suffered personal losses in the disaster. Held at the
huge Universal Amphitheatre in Hollywood, the concert featured the famed
Spanish tenor alongside a trio of “friends”: John Denver, Frank Sinatra and
Julie Andrews. For this occasion, Julie joined Domingo in a symphonic medley of
songs from West Side Story, while Sinatra went solo with a brief set of
standards
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