0:00:17 > 0:00:21Lavish, spectacular, bursting with emotion -
0:00:21 > 0:00:25the musical has been a feature of cinema ever since Al Jolson uttered
0:00:25 > 0:00:29the immortal words, "You ain't heard nothing yet."
0:00:29 > 0:00:33Throughout Hollywood's golden age and the decades that followed,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37cinemas were alive with the sound of musicals.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42At their best, they showcased the extraordinary talents of some truly
0:00:42 > 0:00:45great stars, who we'll hear from in this programme.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49Gene Kelly, Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53and the man we'll start with... Fred Astaire.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56The verdict on his first screen test was,
0:00:56 > 0:01:02"Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little."
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Well, here's a bit of his dancing
0:01:05 > 0:01:08being discussed on Parkinson in 1976.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12A lot of these numbers that you danced
0:01:12 > 0:01:14for these people who wrote them,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17you were dressed up in what became your sort of trademark,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20the top hat, the white tie and tails.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Two questions. How much is that really you?
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Well, I don't like wearing a full dress suit. I hate it.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Well, I had so much of it that people thought I was born in it.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35- I began to think I was, too. - AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:01:35 > 0:01:38But it was necessary for the thing we were doing at that point.
0:01:38 > 0:01:46I actually haven't worn it anywhere in a film for quite a long time.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50I had to wear it to a couple of shindigs I went to recently,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53but I just don't like it.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55It's stiff and...you know.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59- It made you dance very well. - I've got a word for that.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Well, we've got a clip here. Let's have a look at it.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Probably it was the last time that you appeared on screen in that rig
0:02:05 > 0:02:08- and that was in Blue Skies. - Well, that isn't a full suit.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11- The one you're talking about, it's a tail...- Let's have a look.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14MUSIC: Puttin' On The Ritz by Irving Berlin
0:03:55 > 0:04:00AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:04:00 > 0:04:02APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH
0:04:10 > 0:04:15- You enjoy watching that?- Well, it interests me to see it again.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18I haven't seen it lately and, I mean,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21I know it's there because I've always remembered it.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23It was very complicated to get it, all that stuff,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25the screens, the separate screens.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28I did one thing alone and then they had...
0:04:30 > 0:04:33..changed the set so that the one line would go this way
0:04:33 > 0:04:36and that was another shot and then the other line would go that way.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39- In other words, there was a multiple amount of...- Of you on screen.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Yeah, of split screens put all together.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44It's a very complicated process.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47It wasn't all ready to look finished until about three months
0:04:47 > 0:04:49after it was made and I was very anxious to know
0:04:49 > 0:04:51how they could ever get it timed together so well...
0:04:51 > 0:04:54It was a wonderful department of special effects...
0:04:54 > 0:04:56could get that all synced properly,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58that's what I worried about mostly.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00You knock hell out of your canes, don't you?
0:05:00 > 0:05:02Oh, I've broken a lot of them.
0:05:02 > 0:05:03LAUGHTER
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Sometimes on purpose - I got mad or something,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09because I wasn't getting something I was trying to get, and then...
0:05:10 > 0:05:13I'll tell you another slight technical thing
0:05:13 > 0:05:16that always puzzled me whenever I see that sequence, and that's -
0:05:16 > 0:05:19how do you get that cane off the floor to shoot into your hand?
0:05:19 > 0:05:20Is that trick photography?
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Well, it's not trick photography, it's a mechanical thing,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28there was a little hole in the ground, on the stage,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30it had a little...thing that shot up,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33and when the cane was there, it went...
0:05:33 > 0:05:35like that, and came up on...
0:05:35 > 0:05:37- LAUGHTER - ..on rhythm.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40This other hand out there had to press the button just right,
0:05:40 > 0:05:41and we had to have a musician to do it,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44because the timing had to be just a fraction ahead of that beat,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46cos if you'd hit it on the beat,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48it would have been a little late in throwing things out,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50so he had to go, "Da da da da dum,"
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and start laying it up in my hand, you see?
0:05:52 > 0:05:55- Extraordinary.- Things like that take a lot of time and...- Yeah.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57And you pray all the time that they're going to work!
0:06:01 > 0:06:02Fred Astaire's only rival
0:06:02 > 0:06:05to the title of cinema's greatest male dancer
0:06:05 > 0:06:07wasn't a rival at all -
0:06:07 > 0:06:10in fact, he and Gene Kelly were close friends.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15Kelly once described Astaire as the Cary Grant of dancers,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19whereas he was more the Marlon Brando.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22A director as well as an actor and dancer,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24he changed the musicals forever.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29What would you say was your own major contribution to the musical?
0:06:29 > 0:06:30It would seem to me
0:06:30 > 0:06:33that you were the man that brought muscle and sweat
0:06:33 > 0:06:36and athleticism into dancing.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41Well, that might be true, but I feel that my biggest contribution
0:06:41 > 0:06:43was changing the costume.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Whereas the male dancer in movies was always representative
0:06:47 > 0:06:52of the upper classes, er, I certainly couldn't be,
0:06:52 > 0:06:58because of not only the way I danced, the way I wear clothes -
0:06:58 > 0:07:04if I put on, er, evening dress, white tie and tails,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07I look like a truck driver, you see, or The Iceman Cometh,
0:07:07 > 0:07:09and I think the outfit,
0:07:09 > 0:07:14changing into a sweatshirt and blue jeans and moccasins,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16and I think that might've...
0:07:16 > 0:07:20visually changing the look of the male dancer,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23might have been my greatest contribution.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25I don't know.
0:07:25 > 0:07:26I remember in...
0:07:26 > 0:07:29I suppose On The Town is the one I remember most vividly,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32and it seemed to me for the first time in a musical,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35the song and dance came spontaneously out of the action...
0:07:35 > 0:07:38- Yeah, well, that's...- That was a contribution you made, surely?
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Yes, we did it on location, we did On The Town on location,
0:07:41 > 0:07:46and we did it as real people coming down real streets
0:07:46 > 0:07:50in New York City, and the sailor suits...
0:07:50 > 0:07:52show your body, you know,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55just the same as a ballet dancer wearing tights.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57You can see how he dances.
0:07:57 > 0:07:58# New York, New York
0:07:58 > 0:07:59# New York, New York
0:07:59 > 0:08:01# New York, New York
0:08:01 > 0:08:04# It's a wonderful town! #
0:08:04 > 0:08:06- LAUGHS:- Hey, fellas, what's the big rush?
0:08:06 > 0:08:09- We only got 24 hours.- Yeah! - Yeah, we never been here before.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Ah, what could happen to you in one day?
0:08:11 > 0:08:13What do you think you're going to do?
0:08:13 > 0:08:15HE HOWLS
0:08:15 > 0:08:16# New York, New York
0:08:16 > 0:08:17# A wonderful town
0:08:17 > 0:08:19# The Bronx is up but the Battery's down
0:08:19 > 0:08:21# The people ride in a hole in the ground
0:08:21 > 0:08:22# New York, New York
0:08:22 > 0:08:26# It's a wonderful town! #
0:08:41 > 0:08:43But didn't the studio think with On The Town
0:08:43 > 0:08:45that they had a disaster on their hands?
0:08:45 > 0:08:47They thought that going to New York
0:08:47 > 0:08:50was the most ridiculous thing in the world, yes.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52- They wanted to do it all in the back lot?- Oh, sure.- Yeah.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Oh, sure. "Why not?" they said. Yes.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57- Cheaper.- Yes. - HE CHUCKLES
0:08:57 > 0:09:00- And quicker, yes.- But it was your idea to take it to New York.- Yes.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05- Yes.- Why?- Because I knew it would work - I somehow knew it would work.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Maybe if I'd been older and wiser,
0:09:07 > 0:09:12I would have said, "Well, I shouldn't take that kind of a risk,"
0:09:12 > 0:09:15but I felt it was time to do it,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18and I had planned out ways to hide the camera
0:09:18 > 0:09:21so that we didn't need a police force around us
0:09:21 > 0:09:23to pull people back,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26we could shoot very quickly, and we did.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34# We've sailed the seas and we've been the world over
0:09:34 > 0:09:36# Made the Mandalay
0:09:36 > 0:09:37# We've seen the Sphinx
0:09:37 > 0:09:39# And we've seen the Cliffs of Dover
0:09:39 > 0:09:40# And we can safely say
0:09:40 > 0:09:42# The most fabulous sight is New York in the light of the day
0:09:42 > 0:09:44# Our only day
0:09:44 > 0:09:45# Now York, New York
0:09:45 > 0:09:46# It's a wonderful town
0:09:46 > 0:09:48# The Bronx is up and the Battery's down
0:09:48 > 0:09:50# The people ride in a hole in the ground
0:09:50 > 0:09:52# Now York, New York
0:09:52 > 0:09:55# It's a wonderful town! #
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Well, let's talk about the musical which, I suppose,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00it's got to be among almost everybody's
0:10:00 > 0:10:03top two or three musicals, and that's Singin' In The Rain.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05How much of that was scripted?
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Because I can't imagine a script that says, "And at this point
0:10:08 > 0:10:11"Gene goes dancing up and down through puddles," because...
0:10:11 > 0:10:13No, no script -
0:10:13 > 0:10:17usually the scripts that were written about musicals
0:10:17 > 0:10:21would say, "And here Kelly, or substitute Astaire,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24"does a dance, and it stops the show,"
0:10:24 > 0:10:26you see, usually they say something like that.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30It's up to the choreographer to supply a great deal.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32# Doodle-ooh-doo
0:10:32 > 0:10:34# Doo-dee doodle-ooh-doo-dee-ooh
0:10:34 > 0:10:35# Doodle-ooh-doo
0:10:35 > 0:10:38# Doo-dee doodle-ooh-doo-dee-ooh
0:10:38 > 0:10:40# Doodle-ooh-doo
0:10:40 > 0:10:43# Doo-dee doodle-ooh-doo-dee-ooh
0:10:50 > 0:10:53# I'm singin' in the rain
0:10:53 > 0:10:56# Just singin' in the rain
0:10:56 > 0:11:00# What a glorious feeling
0:11:00 > 0:11:03# I'm happy again
0:11:03 > 0:11:06# I'm laughing at clouds
0:11:06 > 0:11:10# So dark up above
0:11:10 > 0:11:12# The sun's in my heart
0:11:12 > 0:11:15# And I'm ready for love... #
0:11:16 > 0:11:19The Singin' In The Rain number per se was done
0:11:19 > 0:11:21because it's a charming song,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24and the producer, who happened to write it, Arthur Freed,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27said "Well, what are you going to do with this now?"
0:11:27 > 0:11:29You know, we'd done it a couple of times before.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31I said, "Well, it's going to be raining,
0:11:31 > 0:11:32"and I'm going to be singing."
0:11:32 > 0:11:35And it was one of the easiest numbers
0:11:35 > 0:11:38I've ever had to put together.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41It's fantastic, because it's the one everyone remembers.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Well, it's...
0:11:43 > 0:11:44It's a joyous number.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47I think people like to see joy on the screen.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11The man who produced Singin' In The Rain
0:12:11 > 0:12:15and wrote the title song was Arthur Freed.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Freed ran the musicals unit at MGM Studios,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and amongst his many successes were enduring classics
0:12:22 > 0:12:25like The Wizard Of Oz, Meet Me In St Louis,
0:12:25 > 0:12:26Easter Parade,
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Show Boat and An American In Paris,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Silk Stockings and Gigi.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35Despite his incredible track record,
0:12:35 > 0:12:40he famously raised eyebrows over one composition,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44as Singin' In the Rain co-director Stanley Donen explains here.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48We said, "Well, would you like to write a song?"
0:12:48 > 0:12:51He said, "Sure, we'd like to write a new song.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53"What kind of song would you like?"
0:12:53 > 0:12:57And we said, "Well, a song like Be A Clown," the Cole Porter song.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00# Be a clown, be a clown
0:13:00 > 0:13:03# All the world loves a clown
0:13:03 > 0:13:06# Be a crazy buffoon
0:13:06 > 0:13:10# And the 'demoiselles will all swoon
0:13:10 > 0:13:13# Be a crack jackanapes
0:13:13 > 0:13:15# And they'll imitate you like apes
0:13:15 > 0:13:19# Why be a great composer with your rent in arrears?
0:13:19 > 0:13:21# Why be a major poet and you'll owe it for years?
0:13:21 > 0:13:24# When crowds'll pay to giggle if you wiggle your ears
0:13:24 > 0:13:27# Be a clown, be a clown be a clown. #
0:13:27 > 0:13:29And they went away and wrote a song
0:13:29 > 0:13:33which was incredibly like Be A Clown.
0:13:33 > 0:13:34# Make 'em laugh
0:13:35 > 0:13:37# Make 'em laugh
0:13:37 > 0:13:39# Don't you know everyone wants to laugh?
0:13:39 > 0:13:40# Laugh, laugh!
0:13:40 > 0:13:43# My dad said be an actor, my son
0:13:43 > 0:13:46# But be a comical one
0:13:46 > 0:13:48# They'll be standin' in lines
0:13:48 > 0:13:51# For those old honky-tonk monkeyshines
0:13:51 > 0:13:55# Or you could study Shakespeare and be quite elite
0:13:55 > 0:13:58# Or you could charm the critics and have nothin' to eat
0:13:58 > 0:14:01# Just slip on a banana peel the world's at your feet.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04# Make 'em laugh make 'em laugh, make 'em laugh. #
0:14:06 > 0:14:11None of us had the nerve to say, "Arthur, this song is too close,
0:14:11 > 0:14:13"you can't do that," so we used it.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Arthur brought Irving Berlin down on the stage
0:14:16 > 0:14:19when we were shooting Make 'Em Laugh,
0:14:19 > 0:14:24and obviously Irving Berlin knew Be A Clown, the Cole Porter song,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and as the song went on, his head got lower and lower and lower,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30and after about eight bars,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33he said to Arthur Freed, "Who wrote that song?"
0:14:33 > 0:14:36accusingly, and Arthur said, "That's enough, Irving,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38"we don't need to hear any more, let's go somewhere else."
0:14:38 > 0:14:43he said, "The guys and I got together and wrote a song, come on, Irving."
0:14:43 > 0:14:47And that was the easing out without admitting
0:14:47 > 0:14:50that he had somewhat borrowed some of it.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56In many ways, the world of musicals was a small one,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59dominated by a very talented group.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Stanley Donen co-directed Singin' In The Rain with Gene Kelly,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and Kelly would later marry Donen's ex-wife.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Kelly starred in An American In Paris
0:15:08 > 0:15:12which was directed by Judy Garland's husband Vincente Minnelli
0:15:12 > 0:15:17and written by Alan Jay Lerner, who also wrote My Fair Lady and Gigi.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21And Lerner discusses both those films here,
0:15:21 > 0:15:26after this marvellous morsel of Maurice Chevalier.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29# How lovely to sit here in the shade
0:15:29 > 0:15:32# With none of the woes of man and maid
0:15:32 > 0:15:37# I'm glad I'm not young anymore
0:15:39 > 0:15:42# The rivals that don't exist at all
0:15:42 > 0:15:46# The feeling you're only two feet tall
0:15:46 > 0:15:50# I'm glad that I'm not young any more
0:15:51 > 0:15:54# No more confusion
0:15:54 > 0:15:58# No morning-after surprise
0:15:58 > 0:16:01# No self-delusion
0:16:01 > 0:16:06# That's when you're telling those lies
0:16:06 > 0:16:08# She isn't wise
0:16:08 > 0:16:12# And even if love comes through the door
0:16:12 > 0:16:15# The kind that goes on forever more
0:16:15 > 0:16:20# Forever more is shorter than before
0:16:22 > 0:16:30# Oh, I'm so glad that I'm not young
0:16:30 > 0:16:33# Any more. #
0:16:35 > 0:16:37APPLAUSE
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Was that one of your favourite ones?
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Well, it was actually almost his idea.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Because when I first met him I asked him how it felt to
0:16:47 > 0:16:51be 70 or 71 years old, which is what he was when he made the film.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57He said considering the alternative, it wasn't too bad.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02But I remember when we went into the recording studio to make that song,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05he said to me, "Would you mind terribly...
0:17:05 > 0:17:08"Come with me and sit outside and tell me if it's all right."
0:17:09 > 0:17:13So I sat outside in the control room and he recorded the song.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16And then he came back to see me afterwards and he said,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19"How was it?" I said, "Maurice, it was perfect."
0:17:19 > 0:17:23He said, "But how was the accent?" I said, "I understood every word."
0:17:23 > 0:17:25He said, "No, no, no. Was there enough?"
0:17:26 > 0:17:32So he was very shrewd. He knew exactly how to be French.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33That's right.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36Of course, he was one of the legendary figures of...
0:17:36 > 0:17:38And one of your great heroes, too.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40When I was a child I grew up listening to
0:17:40 > 0:17:43"every little breeze seemed to whisper Louise"
0:17:43 > 0:17:45and all those songs.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48With, of course, a reputation for meanness that few have surpassed.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51It isn't that he was mean but he was frugal.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57He was, as we say in the States, close with a dollar.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00And when he first went out to Hollywood
0:18:00 > 0:18:04he was making something like 20,000 a week.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07There was a parking lot outside Paramount where you could
0:18:07 > 0:18:09park your car for ten cents.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14Four blocks away you could park it for five cents.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16And that's where he parked.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Really? On 20,000 a week?
0:18:18 > 0:18:23Yes, I'm sure he died at a ripe old age with every penny he ever had.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24LAUGHTER
0:18:25 > 0:18:29What's your favourite lyric of the ones that you've written?
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Actually it's from that film, the song Gigi.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37- You like that one.- Both Fritz and I are... We judge things
0:18:37 > 0:18:41differently, I suppose. Whether something is popular or not.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45It just so happens that that one was.
0:18:45 > 0:18:46We always judged it from,
0:18:46 > 0:18:51- "Did we accomplish what we set out to do?" you know.- Yes.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54And that song seemed to us to be the most successful
0:18:54 > 0:18:56from that point of view.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Was it a difficult one to get together, the words and the music?
0:18:59 > 0:19:01It...
0:19:01 > 0:19:06It was created under rather bizarre circumstances.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Not very romantically, I might add.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13We were working in Paris and Fritz was in the living room playing.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16And I was in the john, the bathroom.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20And suddenly I heard this beautiful melody.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22HE VOCALISES
0:19:22 > 0:19:24And I came running into the room forgetting,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28if I might say, that my trousers were around my ankles.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32And I took a header as I went into the living room
0:19:32 > 0:19:36and Fritz saw me fall down and assumed that having
0:19:36 > 0:19:38fallen down I would get up because he didn't do anything about it.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40He said, "Do you like that?"
0:19:40 > 0:19:42I said, "Yes, it's beautiful," from down there on the floor.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46- And it was Gigi. - That's that lovely love song.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Of course, My Fair Lady, when you talk about that you
0:19:48 > 0:19:51talk about an extraordinary phenomena, don't you?
0:19:51 > 0:19:54It's possibly been the most successful musical ever written,
0:19:54 > 0:19:55- hasn't it?- I believe it has.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Has anybody ever estimated how much money that musical has
0:19:58 > 0:20:00made from the moment that you wrote it?
0:20:00 > 0:20:06Well, it has been estimated roughly, as of a few years ago...
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Considering they estimated from the point of view of all
0:20:11 > 0:20:16the grosses of all the theatres and all the recordings that have
0:20:16 > 0:20:22been made and it came to something like £500 million.
0:20:22 > 0:20:23- £500 million?- Yes.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27- Strewth.- It didn't go to me, but...
0:20:27 > 0:20:28LAUGHTER
0:20:28 > 0:20:30It went to that Arab that...
0:20:32 > 0:20:34They've got it all, I assure you.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40That's extraordinary. What made you want to do that?
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Obviously, it wasn't a wild guess on your behalf.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49A man named Gabriel Pascal who owned the rights,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53a rather legendary figure who acquired the rights from Shaw.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56As a matter of fact I asked him how...
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Cos he was an unknown producer.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00How he ever got those rights
0:21:00 > 0:21:03and he said that he went out to Shaw's house.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09And he knocked on the door and he had a very thick Hungarian accent.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12And the maid came to the door and said, "Who is it?"
0:21:12 > 0:21:15He said, "I am Gabriel Pascal."
0:21:15 > 0:21:19She said, "Who sent you?" And he said, "Tell him fate sent me."
0:21:19 > 0:21:24So Shaw was on the steps and heard that and came to the door
0:21:24 > 0:21:26and said, "Who are you and what do you want?"
0:21:26 > 0:21:27He said, "I'm a producer
0:21:27 > 0:21:30"and I wish to bring your great works to the screen."
0:21:30 > 0:21:33And Shaw said, "How much money do you have?"
0:21:33 > 0:21:36And Pascal looked in his pocket and said 12 shillings.
0:21:36 > 0:21:37And Shaw said,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40"Come in, you're the first honest movie producer I ever met."
0:21:40 > 0:21:41LAUGHTER
0:21:41 > 0:21:45That's how he got the rights and then he came to Fritz
0:21:45 > 0:21:49- and me about doing it as a musical many years later.- Yes.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54What about... You've written an awful lot of very, very memorable stuff,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56- not for singers but for actors, haven't you?- Yes.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01I think specifically of Rex Harrison and Richard Burton.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Larry Harvey, too, he played in Camelot in London.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06Do you prefer writing for actors?
0:22:06 > 0:22:10I discovered that I did, because I was forced to write for Rex.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14When I say forced, I don't mean it was a hardship
0:22:14 > 0:22:21but the idea of doing Shaw, of doing Higgins as a baritone
0:22:21 > 0:22:24where suddenly you would hear this marvellous dialogue
0:22:24 > 0:22:26and a moment later you would hear the voice coming out
0:22:26 > 0:22:29and you would say, "Where's that voice coming from?"
0:22:29 > 0:22:34There obviously had to be some relationship to what he sang,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37to his normal voice production.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43And so we evolved sort of speech singing for Rex
0:22:43 > 0:22:47and the minute we started doing it I felt very much at home doing it.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51And then continued doing it
0:22:51 > 0:22:54because it seemed like my most natural form of expression.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59But is it because also actors treat the words better than a singer does?
0:22:59 > 0:23:02- I mean, with more reverence? - They phrase them.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07An actor... I've heard you in musicals. An actor phrases, you see,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11much more to the spoken word than he does to the musical line.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!
0:23:20 > 0:23:22# I've grown accustomed to her face
0:23:25 > 0:23:27# She almost makes the day begin
0:23:29 > 0:23:32# I've grown accustomed to the tune that she whistles night and noon
0:23:32 > 0:23:34# Her smiles, her frowns
0:23:34 > 0:23:37# Her ups, her downs are second nature to me now
0:23:39 > 0:23:41# Like breathing out, breathing in
0:23:42 > 0:23:46# I was serenely independent and content before we met
0:23:46 > 0:23:48# Surely I could always be that way again
0:23:51 > 0:23:55# And yet I've grown accustomed to her looks
0:23:55 > 0:23:57# Accustomed to her voice
0:23:58 > 0:24:01# Accustomed to her face. #
0:24:04 > 0:24:08And here is the great Rex Harrison, also discussing
0:24:08 > 0:24:13the genesis of his performance in the fabulous My Fair Lady.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17I had never sung in my life but they didn't want a singing Higgins.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20They wanted somebody to be able to handle the numbers
0:24:20 > 0:24:22and I didn't know whether I could.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24What about this music question?
0:24:24 > 0:24:29Finally they got me to stand round a piano with them
0:24:29 > 0:24:31and sing Gilbert and Sullivan.
0:24:32 > 0:24:38And I just did... We were all singing Gilbert and Sullivan.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41- The oddest audition you ever had, in a way?- Yes.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44I became less and less embarrassed because they were singing too.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48They were also listening to me and they decided I had about three notes,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50three possible notes.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53Which is the best qualification for doing a musical.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Well, for which they could write the numbers round.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57I mean...
0:24:57 > 0:24:58HE VOCALISES
0:24:58 > 0:25:02I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face is a very simple melodic line.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06And not hard to use or not use.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Anyway, I finally said I would do it.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15And they left saying they would start writing new numbers for me
0:25:15 > 0:25:17now they knew I was going to do it.
0:25:17 > 0:25:24I went to Wigmore Street to study singing, Bel Canto singing...
0:25:24 > 0:25:26All the sort of operatic bit?
0:25:26 > 0:25:29All the operatic bit. I realised within two or three days
0:25:29 > 0:25:30that it was absolutely...
0:25:30 > 0:25:33It would take me ten years and then I wouldn't be a singer.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39So I got hold of Alan and Fritz in America and said, "I don't know,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43"I don't think I can do it, I don't know what to do about this
0:25:43 > 0:25:45"because I not going to be able to sing the numbers."
0:25:46 > 0:25:50So they said, "Why don't you ring a man called Bill Lowe,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52"he's a conductor at the Coliseum."
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- The pit orchestra? - The pit orchestra.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57"He might be able to...
0:25:57 > 0:26:01"He's heard all the methods over the years of musical comedy people,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03"why don't you talk to him?"
0:26:04 > 0:26:08So I rang up Bill Lowe and he came round to see me.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13I had a piano, I was staying in a hotel at the time, the Connaught.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15He had a piano moved in
0:26:15 > 0:26:18and he started to fiddle on the piano with it.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23And I started with him to learn the technique of speaking on pitch,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26which is... You can only do
0:26:26 > 0:26:30if you've got an in-built sense of rhythm...
0:26:31 > 0:26:34..because otherwise you couldn't do it.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Finally, I got to the stage where I used the notes I could use,
0:26:37 > 0:26:42I wanted to use, and I simply spoke the rest of it.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46There was a mythology that somebody couldn't take
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- something from the stage to the screen?- Absolutely.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53Because a lot of purely stage actors are too big in front of a camera.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55They project too much.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00There were a lot of people after the part, obviously.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04And it was a great plum part to be picked.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09A lot of people wanted me to go and show my face in Hollywood,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13but I didn't, I sat on top of my hill in Portofino and thought,
0:27:13 > 0:27:17- "If they want me, they can come to me."- And they did.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19Finally. They went to other people first.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24They did come to me finally, yes. And so I went out there and did it.
0:27:24 > 0:27:30Now, Julie Andrews, who has become a great screen star subsequently,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34who had the triumph with you on the stage,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37was not chosen and Audrey Hepburn was instead.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43I think the reason for that was very largely
0:27:43 > 0:27:46because Julie had not made her big success
0:27:46 > 0:27:49at the time of the casting of the film.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Plus the fact that they had me who they considered to be
0:27:53 > 0:27:59a doubtful box office entity because I was then more stage than screen.
0:27:59 > 0:28:00So they felt...
0:28:00 > 0:28:02It really is, very largely,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05a question of securing their investment.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08They went to one of the then million-dollar girls.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10That's a girl who can get a million dollars per picture.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12Yes, a million dollars for a picture
0:28:12 > 0:28:15and they consider draws a lot of money into the box office.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Which indeed they do, like Taylor. And Hepburn.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22# The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain
0:28:22 > 0:28:25# By George, she's got it By George, she's got it
0:28:25 > 0:28:28# Now once again, where does it rain?
0:28:28 > 0:28:30# On the plain, on the plain
0:28:30 > 0:28:34# And where's that soggy plain?
0:28:34 > 0:28:38# In Spain, in Spain
0:28:38 > 0:28:42# The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain... #
0:28:42 > 0:28:43Bravo!
0:28:43 > 0:28:47# The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain... #
0:28:52 > 0:28:56Julie Andrews may have been passed over for the film of My Fair Lady,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00but it meant that she was available for Mary Poppins.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05That won her an Oscar and led to her being cast in what was then
0:29:05 > 0:29:10the highest grossing film of all time, The Sound Of Music.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Let's talk about a spectacular success that you had.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16A film that has grossed more money,
0:29:16 > 0:29:19The Sound Of Music, than any other movie, hasn't it?
0:29:19 > 0:29:21Certainly more than any other musical.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25Maybe, since its rerelease,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28it probably is number one in grossing.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30It's close to, like, Godfather, I think.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32There was an odd story about that, though, wasn't there?
0:29:32 > 0:29:35That the studio had no faith in it when it first came out.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37I don't know about that.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41I know that we were all very aware that it could be over-saccharin,
0:29:41 > 0:29:45and sweet and we had to be very careful about it.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48With religion and nuns and children and mountains
0:29:48 > 0:29:51and all that sweetness going on, it was too much.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53So we all tried to play it down
0:29:53 > 0:29:57and make it very real, as much as we could. But I don't think...
0:29:58 > 0:30:01There was a considerable lot of money spent on the film
0:30:01 > 0:30:03and hours put into it,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06I don't think they thought it wasn't too important. I do know that...
0:30:06 > 0:30:09I don't suppose anybody had any idea how successful it was going to be.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14Let's have a look at the sequence that I suppose everybody remembers.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16We showed part of it before you came on.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18That magnificent opening sequence.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20That huge shot over the mountains there
0:30:20 > 0:30:24- and the camera comes on to you. Beautiful moment.- It was very cold.
0:30:43 > 0:30:50# The hills are alive with the sound of music
0:30:50 > 0:30:58# With songs they have sung for a thousand years
0:30:58 > 0:31:01# The hills fill my heart
0:31:01 > 0:31:06# With the sound of music
0:31:06 > 0:31:12# My heart wants to sing every song it hears... #
0:31:12 > 0:31:14APPLAUSE
0:31:20 > 0:31:24That's a smashing shot, that over the top of the hill helicopter shot.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28Yes, it was an amazing shot to be in the middle of
0:31:28 > 0:31:31because it was a helicopter that was coming up sideways,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34the cameraman was hanging out of the side of this helicopter
0:31:34 > 0:31:37and how they ever do that, I don't know because there is no door or anything,
0:31:37 > 0:31:39it's just the camera down at you like this.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42But it was a jet helicopter and every time...
0:31:42 > 0:31:44We would do many, many takes before they were satisfied.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48And so the helicopter would come towards me, get closer and closer,
0:31:48 > 0:31:51looked like it was sidestepping towards me,
0:31:51 > 0:31:53then it would make a circle and go back and come through
0:31:53 > 0:31:57the trees again and I had to rush to the end of the field and start all over again.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59But every time it made the circle to go back,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02it would knock me flat from the downdraught of the jets.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05And so I would do my lovely bit and then it would go bam!
0:32:05 > 0:32:06I'd pick myself up
0:32:06 > 0:32:09and I got so angry because it just kept knocking me down.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12- Did you swear?- Yes.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19Despite the phenomenal success of The Sound Of Music,
0:32:19 > 0:32:24the 1960s saw the popularity of the traditional movie musical
0:32:24 > 0:32:25starting to fade.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28The films of the Beatles and Elvis
0:32:28 > 0:32:31were outperforming movie adaptations of Broadway hits.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33Of course, there were exceptions.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36Amongst them, Barbra Streisand,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39here talking about her movie debut Funny Girl.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44What would you say was the most memorable thing about it?
0:32:44 > 0:32:46Oh, God, that's terrible. Um...
0:32:51 > 0:32:56I think it's a very difficult film to, er...
0:32:59 > 0:33:00..to describe.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05Because, intellectually, and from a paid critic's point of view,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09perhaps it is sort of old-fashioned,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13corny or something. But life is corny.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20But on the other hand, it's a very entertaining picture, I feel.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24People get involved with it. The audience... It's an audience picture.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27The audience seems to like it and, um...
0:33:30 > 0:33:31So as a critic, you know,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34I wouldn't want to have to be a critic seeing it.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36It's a silly thing,
0:33:36 > 0:33:41and yet the audience thinks that if you sing some songs in a movie,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43then you are a singer.
0:33:43 > 0:33:49I do maybe, I don't even know how many, 50 scenes in Funny Girl
0:33:49 > 0:33:53and they are all just talking, which is called acting.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56Which is called being.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59And then I sing ten songs.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01So would you say I was more of an actress or a singer?
0:34:01 > 0:34:04I would say I was more of an actress.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07I mean, singing is only an extension of acting.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12So to me...I've never done a musical,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16but I've only done stories with songs.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19There is a number in the film in which you roller-skate.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22- It wasn't in the play, as I remember.- Did you see the film?
0:34:22 > 0:34:25- Yes.- Where did you see it? - In New York, couple of days ago.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28You do some rather impressive roller-skating.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Could you skate before the film?
0:34:30 > 0:34:32Just as much as you see me skate.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34I mean, I had to fake that I was awkward.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40Actually, all these girls were skating for like six weeks
0:34:40 > 0:34:41and they all took these flops.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45I'm not a very good skater but I was only one who never fell.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48It was like a joke - make me fall.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52I'm not a very good skater,
0:34:52 > 0:34:55but I did have to work at looking that awkward
0:34:55 > 0:35:02because I skate better than what I was supposed to.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05But I used to go skating every Saturday in Brooklyn,
0:35:05 > 0:35:10in the Empire Roller-skate Drome or something like that.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15The Empire Roller Drome. It was fun to do. Roller-skate.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20And I remember thinking, because I had to borrow the skates,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22you had to pay like a quarter and you get skates,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25my big dream was to buy my own skates.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27And these girls had these tin boxes that,
0:35:27 > 0:35:31I remember, divided in half like there were four colours in the box
0:35:31 > 0:35:34and this, to me, was like the end, with white skates.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Because when you rent them, you get these dirty old skates.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40I never did get my own skates!
0:35:40 > 0:35:45# I'd rather be blue thinking of you
0:35:45 > 0:35:49# I'd rather be blue over you
0:35:49 > 0:35:57# Than be happy with somebody else
0:35:58 > 0:36:01# Will I be good? Will I be bad?
0:36:01 > 0:36:04# Don't be a fool, you fool
0:36:06 > 0:36:08# My little flat, I'm turning that
0:36:08 > 0:36:11# Into a Sunday school
0:36:13 > 0:36:16# While you're away, I'm here to say
0:36:16 > 0:36:18# There'll be no ice man there
0:36:20 > 0:36:23# Singing the blues I'm gonna use
0:36:23 > 0:36:26# Nothing but Frigidaire
0:36:26 > 0:36:30# I'd rather be blue, thinking of you
0:36:30 > 0:36:35# I'd rather be blue over you
0:36:35 > 0:36:44# Than be happy with somebody else
0:36:44 > 0:36:47# Blue over you
0:36:47 > 0:36:52# I'd rather be blue over you
0:36:52 > 0:36:55# Than be hap-hap-hap-happy
0:36:55 > 0:37:02# With somebody else. #
0:37:05 > 0:37:08APPLAUSE
0:37:09 > 0:37:12That performance won Barbra Streisand
0:37:12 > 0:37:16a Best Actress Oscar for 1969.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21Four years later, another musical star was picking up the same award -
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Liza Minnelli for Cabaret.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27The role of Sally Bowles made her a huge star,
0:37:27 > 0:37:29but the idea that it took her
0:37:29 > 0:37:31out of the shadow of her mother Judy Garland
0:37:31 > 0:37:34was something she had little time for.
0:37:35 > 0:37:36- Liza.- Yes, sir.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39There was something like 60 photographers
0:37:39 > 0:37:41and 50 journalists here today
0:37:41 > 0:37:42and you got star treatment.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Do you like that? Do you enjoy that?
0:37:47 > 0:37:50- It makes you feel like when you were little...- Hm.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53..and you pretended to be a princess.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56There's something lovely about it.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00There's also something temporary about it.
0:38:00 > 0:38:01You know, in other words,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04I know I can whip on the fox, whip on the eyelashes,
0:38:04 > 0:38:06whip over to the Dorchester, do that,
0:38:06 > 0:38:08and go home and put my jeans on again, you know.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Because I think that if you get to rely on that kind of treatment,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13or if you depend on it,
0:38:13 > 0:38:17you'll ultimately be...disappointed,
0:38:17 > 0:38:18and a bit heart-sick.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21What about the pressure? I mean, one of the things,
0:38:21 > 0:38:22you have loss of privacy,
0:38:22 > 0:38:24people asking all sorts of personal questions.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27Do you just think, "Well, that goes with the game?"
0:38:28 > 0:38:31I think...you know, it doesn't affect me
0:38:31 > 0:38:33as much as it might somebody else,
0:38:33 > 0:38:38because I've never known...privacy.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40I mean...when I was born,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43somebody took a picture and put in the paper, you know.
0:38:43 > 0:38:44It was one of those things.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46So I really don't have any area of comparison,
0:38:46 > 0:38:48so it doesn't bother me that much.
0:38:48 > 0:38:49Yeah. Because...
0:38:49 > 0:38:55And I do find that I have a great deal of privacy by just not,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58um...pretending to be somebody else.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00Now, the film Cabaret in this country, anyway,
0:39:00 > 0:39:04has established you very much as a person in your own right,
0:39:04 > 0:39:06as opposed to "Judy Garland's daughter".
0:39:08 > 0:39:11- Do you think that's important, in that way?- Yes...
0:39:12 > 0:39:18Yes, but, see, I...I never mind. I'm very proud of my mom, you know.
0:39:18 > 0:39:19And being...
0:39:19 > 0:39:22People, it sounds so ominous when somebody says,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25"People used to call you Judy Garland's..."
0:39:25 > 0:39:27It sounds like, "The son of Dracula..."
0:39:27 > 0:39:29What are they talking about?
0:39:29 > 0:39:30My mother was a genius -
0:39:30 > 0:39:36the only thing that ever gets me upset or annoyed, or even uptight,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40is when I'm put in the position of defending her,
0:39:40 > 0:39:42because I feel she needs no defence.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44Sure.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46For many, Judy Garland
0:39:46 > 0:39:50ranks alongside Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire
0:39:50 > 0:39:56as one of musicals' greatest stars - open, vulnerable,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59and ultimately tragic.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02From The Wizard Of Oz to A Star Is Born and beyond,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06the world watched her grow, flourish and then fade
0:40:06 > 0:40:12as she struggled with depression, addiction and weight issues.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Again? That's right, turn.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25When we finished Summer Stock, Judy went away...
0:40:26 > 0:40:27..to lose some weight,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31and we realised we didn't really have a finish to the picture,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34she hadn't really done her big last number.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38And in the two weeks she was away, she lost, like, 20 pounds
0:40:38 > 0:40:42and looked absolutely great so an awful lot of people thought,
0:40:42 > 0:40:43when we did Get Happy,
0:40:43 > 0:40:46we'd taken a number out of an older picture,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49something that hadn't been used in another picture.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53But it wasn't, it was only two weeks later we did Get Happy.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56# Forget your troubles Come on, get happy
0:40:56 > 0:40:58# You better chase all your cares away
0:40:58 > 0:41:01# Shout Hallelujah Come on, get happy
0:41:01 > 0:41:04# Get ready for the judgment day
0:41:04 > 0:41:06# The sun is shinin' Come on, get happy
0:41:06 > 0:41:09# The Lord is waitin' to take your hand
0:41:09 > 0:41:12# Shout Hallelujah Come on, get happy
0:41:12 > 0:41:15# We're going to the promised land
0:41:15 > 0:41:20# We're headin' cross the river to wash your sins away in the tide
0:41:20 > 0:41:25# It's all so peaceful on the other side
0:41:25 > 0:41:28# Forget your troubles Come on, get happy
0:41:28 > 0:41:31# You better chase all your cares away
0:41:31 > 0:41:33# Shout Hallelujah Come on, get happy
0:41:33 > 0:41:36# Get ready for the judgment day
0:41:36 > 0:41:40# Forget your troubles Come on, get happy
0:41:40 > 0:41:43# Chase your cares away
0:41:43 > 0:41:45# Hallelu, get happy
0:41:45 > 0:41:46# Before the judgment day... #
0:41:48 > 0:41:52This interview with BBC News comes from 1963
0:41:52 > 0:41:55as Judy arrived in London to make the film
0:41:55 > 0:41:58I Could Go On Singing with Dirk Bogarde.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02I believe you had a bit of a job landing, didn't you?
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Well, the fog closed in around the airport,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08it wasn't anyone's fault.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11We wound up in Manchester
0:42:11 > 0:42:13and I've been there before - it's a nice town.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16At last, I'm back in London, that's important.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Now, I Could Go On Singing is your first British film, isn't it?
0:42:20 > 0:42:22- Yes, it is.- How are you enjoying working in this country?
0:42:22 > 0:42:26I enjoy it very much, very much. I like making films here.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29I like working here, I like living here.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31Dirk Bogarde is a very personal friend of yours,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34- as well as your co-star in the film, isn't he?- Yes, yes.
0:42:34 > 0:42:35This must have been a great help to you.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37Yes, that was one of the things
0:42:37 > 0:42:39that I was so disappointed about last night,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42when we couldn't land, because I knew that he was,
0:42:42 > 0:42:47er...at the airport to greet me and I was...
0:42:49 > 0:42:54You know, he doesn't...come out very often to do that.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56He's a tough guy, as a matter of fact.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00And the fact that he would wait up that long to greet me,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04and that we couldn't touch ground, made me sad.
0:43:07 > 0:43:12I Could Go On Singing would end up being her final film
0:43:12 > 0:43:14and it was in London in 1967
0:43:14 > 0:43:19that Judy would finally lose her battle with drugs and alcohol.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21She was just 47.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25I didn't think that Judy was an impressive
0:43:25 > 0:43:27or a good dramatic actress.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31I thought she was a unique and marvellous comedienne
0:43:31 > 0:43:36with a great emotional depth and power
0:43:36 > 0:43:40and she had a quality that perhaps could be compared
0:43:40 > 0:43:42to that of Chaplin at his best -
0:43:42 > 0:43:45that is to say, a funny little person,
0:43:45 > 0:43:50gay, happy, playing against either a personal background
0:43:50 > 0:43:55or a family background of sadness and tragedy.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58And if you place that little comic figure,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02playing against a sad context, it's most moving,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06and Judy could be marvellously moving
0:44:06 > 0:44:08when she was in such a situation.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12If musicals are about anything,
0:44:12 > 0:44:15they are about big emotions and moments of magic.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19Judy Garland delivered emotion,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23Astaire and Kelly and their various partners brought the magic.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27They were stars whose light we'll never see again
0:44:27 > 0:44:28and it was thanks to them
0:44:28 > 0:44:32that Hollywood's golden age shone the way it did.