Directed by My Old Boss, Rouben Mamoulian: Love Me Tonight (Paramount, 1932) Just for My Beloved Conductor John Wilson

That snooty critic fart Andrew Sarris once mock-praised my old boss Rouben Mamoulian for his early cinema innovations that never quite caught on. Hah! When’s the last time you were so proud of your old boss’s work you wanted to make sure the world never forgot it? So—here’s the most audacious musical film sequence ever directed, which magically links up the movie’s two singing stars Maurice Chevalier and Jeannette MacDonald:

“Isn’t It Romantic?”
from Love Me Tonight
Rouben Mamoulian, director
Nat Finston, music director-arranger
Songs by Rodgers & Hart

Above the lovebirds: Ella Fitzgerald sings this Richard Rodgers+Lorenz Hart perennial, which was scaled down from its operetta length for inclusion in The Great American Songbook.

And if you’re still in doubt about Mamoulian’s genius, check out this opening scene which I uploaded especially for my bonny John Wilson for the beat:

“City Wakes”
from Love Me Tonight
Rouben Mamoulian, director
Nat Finston, music director-arranger

If I had seen Love Me Tonight before I went to work for The Old Man I would’ve been more patient with him. But I was only 23.

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The entire film Love Me Tonight is available on my YT channel here

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• “The Story So Far, with Conductor John Wilson”
• “The Story So Far; Or, Conductor John Wilson—His Limits”

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• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 1
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 2
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 3
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 4

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John Wilson and The John Wilson Orchestra at the BBC Proms, the Royal Albert Hall, 26 August 2013: The Complete Concert of Hollywood Rhapsody Including “Casablanca”

Disappointing to hear that John won’t be doing Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at Wilton’s Music Hall in London this month. So, to cheer everybody up, here’s the full 2-hour program of my John and The John Wilson Orchestra at the Proms, 2013. That’s Jane Monheit, John, and Matt Ford below.

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Catch the entire Hollywood Rhapsody at the BBC 2013 Proms here

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And what the hell, here are ALL the other, complete JOHN WILSON AT THE BBC PROMS available on my blog:

• BBC Proms 2007 John Wilson and the BBC Symphony Orchestra “British Film Music” downloadable audio of Walton’s Battle In the Air @1:20 here / complete video on YT here
• BBC Proms 2010 John Wilson and The John Wilson Orchestra “A Tribute to Rodgers & Hammerstein” COMPLETE downloadable audio of show here / complete video on YT here
• BBC A Swingin’ Christmas 2010 With The John Wilson Orchestra COMPLETE downloadable audio of show here / complete video on YT here
• BBC Proms 2011 John Wilson and The John Wilson Orchestra “Hooray for Hollywood” COMPLETE downloadable audio of show here / complete video on YT here
• BBC Proms 2012 John Wilson and The John Wilson Orchestra “On Broadway” COMPLETE downloadable audio of show here / complete video on YT here
• BBC Proms 2014 John Wilson and The John Wilson Orchestra “Kiss Me Kate” COMPLETE downloadable audio and link to complete video on YT at my blog posting here
• BBC Proms 2017 John Wilson and The John Wilson Orchestra a semi-staged Oklahoma! COMPLETE downloadable audio of show here / complete video on YT here

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The full program of 2013 (with remarks as they come to me):

• 20th Century Fox Fanfare (from the studio, 1933) / Alfred Newman
• Street Scene (from the 1931 film; Sam Goldwyn/United Artists) / Alfred Newman
• “Confetti” (from Forever, Darling; MGM, 1956) / Bronislaw Kaper Just wish that this really delightful period piece weren’t associated with the stupidest cinematic use of James Mason (a fine English actor and fellow cat-loving chum of my old boss, Mamoulian) ever concocted and omigod—is this one of the pieces you reconstructed, John? Pleeease tell me the next time you and I run into each other
• Laura (suite; from the 1944 film; 20th Century Fox, 1944) / David Raksin Compare to John’s concert in Glasgow in 2011.
• Psycho: A Narrative for String Orchestra (from the 1960 film; Paramount) / Bernard Herrmann
• Salammbo’s Aria (from Citizen Kane; RKO, 1941) / Bernard Herrmann (with Russian soprano Venera Gimadieva)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (YT / audio download here) (from the 1938 film; Warner Bros) / Erich Korngold
• 25-MINUTE INTERVAL In which my beloved John, at 41 years back in 2013, pours out his hopes and dreams.
• The Big Country (from the 1958 film; United Artists) / Jerome Moross
• Casablanca (suite from the film; Warner Bros, 1942) / Max Steiner, Schneckenburger, Wilhelm, de Lisle, Herman Hupfeld
• SONG MEDLEY (YT):
  – “An Affair to Remember” (from the 1957 film; 20th Century Fox) / Harry Warren, Leo McCarey (the film’s director), Harold Damson
  – “Something’s Gotta Give” (from Daddy Long Legs; 20th Century Fox, 1955) / Johnny Mercer
  – “Young at Heart” (from the 1955 film; Warner Bros) / Johnny Richards, Carolyn Leigh
  – “It’s Magic” (from Romance On the High Seas; Warner Bros, 1948) / Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn
  – “The Tender Trap” (from the 1955 film; MGM) / Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn
  – “My Foolish Heart” (from the 1949 film; Samuel Goldwyn/RKO) / Ned Washington, Victor Young
  – “Three Coins in the Fountain” (from the 1954 film; 20th Century Fox) / Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn
  – “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” (from the 1955 film; 20th Century Fox) / Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster
  – “That’s Amore” (from The Caddy; Paramount, 1953) / Harry Warren, Jack Brooks
  – “Que Sera, Sera” (from The Man Who Knew Too Much; Paramount, 1956  / Jay Livingston, Ray Evans
  – “All the Way” (from The Joker is Wild, 1957; Paramount) / Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn
• A Place In the Sun (suite from the 1951 film; Paramount) / Franz Waxman
• Tom and Jerry (YT) (from the MGM cartoons; 1940-58) / Scott Bradley
• Ben-Hur (suite from the film; MGM, 1959) / Miklós Rózsa

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• “The Story So Far, with Conductor John Wilson”
• “The Story So Far; Or, Conductor John Wilson—His Limits”

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• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 1
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 2
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 3
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 4

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• Follow me on DEVIANTART for my erotic stories and pictures (free)
• Follow me on MEDIUM to read my memoirs and cultural pieces (free)
• Follow me on MASTODON for real conversations and deeper connections (free)
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Directed by My Old Boss, Rouben Mamoulian: Applause, Starring Helen Morgan (Paramount, 1929)

Legendary torch singer Helen Morgan (she was the original mulatto Julie in Jerome Kern‘s Showboat) was only 28 when she played the washed-up headliner mother of a chorus girl in this early, early talkie (1929!) which benefits from an excellent sound recording. Filmed over at the Astoria Studio in Queens. Note Mamoulian’s penchant for symbolism: Morgan’s poster like the Holy Madonna hovering over her daughter and daughter’s sweetheart; the rolled-up curtain on the bannister posing as Death. When I saw this shot it hit me then what an artist The Old Man actually was.

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The entire film Applause is available on my YT channel here

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• “The Story So Far, with Conductor John Wilson”
• “The Story So Far; Or, Conductor John Wilson—His Limits”
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 1
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 2
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 3
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 4

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• Follow me on DEVIANTART for my erotic stories and pictures (free)
• Follow me on MEDIUM to read my memoirs and cultural pieces (free)
• Follow me on MASTODON for real conversations and deeper connections (free)
• Follow me on YOUTUBE to watch my pick of classic Hollywood movies (free)

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Directed by My Old Boss, Rouben Mamoulian: Marlene Dietrich Sings “Happy Birthday, Johnny” from The Song of Songs (Paramount, 1933) Just for My Bonny John Wilson, Conductor

25 May, 2019. This afternoon someone in Glyndebourne will be cutting my beloved John Wilson’s cake into tiny little slices, and so I wish them all well at the gathering.

La Dietrich inspires a handsome young English orchestra conductor to artistic heights with her transfiguring and deeply sexual love in this erotically frank Pre-Code movie from Paramount. If only you understood dirty German, my bonny…

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The entire film THE SONG OF SONGS directed by Rouben Mamoulian is available on my YT channel here

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• “The Story So Far, with Conductor John Wilson”
• “The Story So Far; Or, Conductor John Wilson—His Limits”

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• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 1
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 2
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 3
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 4

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• Follow me on DEVIANTART for my erotic stories and pictures (free)
• Follow me on MEDIUM to read my memoirs and cultural pieces (free)
• Follow me on MASTODON for real conversations and deeper connections (free)
• Follow me on YOUTUBE to watch my pick of classic Hollywood movies (free)

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Directed by My Old Boss, Rouben Mamoulian: Greta Garbo and Elizabeth Young in Queen Christina (Paramount, 1933) Share a Birthday Kiss Just for My Dear Roanne

5 August 2018. See you soon, my angel.

• “The Story So Far, with Conductor John Wilson”
• “The Story So Far; Or, Conductor John Wilson—His Limits”

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• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 1
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 2
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 3
• Cantara Christopher Gives Her Beloved Conductor John Wilson Crib Notes on Todd Field’s Screen Masterpiece, Tár: Love, Teshuvah and Filipinos Will Save Western Music, Part 4

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• Follow me on DEVIANTART for my erotic stories and pictures (free)
• Follow me on MEDIUM to read my memoirs and cultural pieces (free)
• Follow me on MASTODON for real conversations and deeper connections (free)
• Follow me on YOUTUBE to watch my pick of classic Hollywood movies (free)

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