There were some particularly strong singers in the BBC Proms concert at the Royal Albert back in 2011 I take pleasure in remembering, on this gray Monday two days before The Inauguration. On va voir. “Serenade” from The Student Prince was one of my mother’s favorite numbers, she just thrilled to it, especially when Mario Lanza was singing. “Can’t Help Singing” was in my Deanna Durbin Songbook when I was a teenager. “The Man That Got Away” was sung at my friend’s funeral—the friend who left me all his Andre Previn records—by his grieving lover. And then there’s “Secret Love”.
John you cad, we all witnessed this nifty bit of scene-building. But I already knew anyway, that’s where your true love lies now and forever.
- “Can’t Help Singing” from Can’t Help Singing (Universal, 1944) Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein / Sarah Fox, vocalist
- “The Man That Got Away” from A Star Is Born (Warner Bros, 1954) Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin / Caroline O’Connor, vocalist
- “Serenade” from The Student Prince (MGM, 1954) Sigmund Romberg, Dorothy Donnelly / Charles Castronovo, vocalist
- “Secret Love” from Calamity Jane (Warner Bros, 1953) Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster / Clare Teal, vocalist
COMPLETE downloadable audio of the BBC Proms 2011 concert John Wilson and The John Wilson Orchestra “Hooray for Hollywood” here / complete video on YT here.
- “The Story So Far, with Conductor John Wilson”
- “The Story So Far; Or, Conductor John Wilson—His Limits”
"I'll Be Dead Before You Break My Heart" 