Bathing Beauty
Encyclopedia
Bathing Beauty is a 1944 musical starring Red Skelton
, Basil Rathbone
and Esther Williams
and directed by George Sidney
.
Although this was not William's screen debut, it was her first Technicolor
musical. The film was initially to be titled "Mr. Co-Ed" with Red Skelton having top billing. However, once MGM executives watched the first cut of the film, they realized that Esther Williams' role should be showcased more, and changed the title to "Bathing Beauty," giving her prominent billing and featuring her bathing-suit clad figure on the posters. The film is also Janis Paige
's film debut.
) prepares to marry Caroline Brooks (Esther Williams
), who has pledged to give up her job as a college swimming instructor once she has wed. Likewise, Steve plans to quit his songwriting career, even though New York producer George Adams (Basil Rathbone
) has already hired him to write new songs for a water ballet show.
When George overhears Steve discussing his "retirement" with Caroline, he vows to prevent the marriage and enlists Maria Dorango (Jacqueline Dalya), an aspiring actress posing as a Latin-American singer, to help him. Moments after a justice of the peace pronounces the redheaded Steve and Caroline man and wife, Maria rushes in, claiming that Steve is her husband and the father of her three redheaded children, which she has paraded in at that moment. Although Steve pleads his innocence, Caroline storms off in a rage and returns to her teaching post at Victoria College in New Jersey
. A determined Steve and his friend, Carlos Ramirez, follow her there, but are denied entrance to the all-female school.
Later, in a New York nightclub, Steve meets drunken lawyer Chester Klazenfrantz (Donald Meek
) and learns that Klazenfrantz has been hired to change the charter of Victoria College, which has never officially designated itself as all-female. Armed with this information, Steve returns to Victoria and insists on applying for admission. Unaware of Caroline's relationship to Steve, Dean Clinton (Nana Bryant
) suggests to the faculty that he be admitted for a two-week probationary period, during which time they would give him 100 demerits, which would qualify him for expulsion before Parents Day.
Once enrolled, Steve tries to speak with Caroline, but she refuses to listen to his explanations and tells him she is seeking an annulment. Later, in music class, stodgy Professor Hendricks (Francis Pierlot
) attempts to discredit Steve, whose presence on campus has created a furor among the co-eds, by ordering him to write his own version of the Scottish ballad Loch Lomond
and teach the next day's class. With help from several talented students, Carlos, the music teaching assistant (Ethel Smith
), and Steve's friend Harry James
and his orchestra, Steve meets Hendricks' challenge and is awarded an "A."
That night, Steve visits Caroline at her house, but is turned out after Willis Evans (Bill Goodwin
), a conservative botany professor who is in love with Caroline, arrives. When Caroline realizes that Steve is hiding in her closet, spying on her, she commands Willis' Great Dane
, Duke, to guard the closet door, while reminding Steve that unless he is in his room in five minutes, he will be expelled for breaking curfew. With only seconds to spare, Steve manages to trick the dog long enough to escape back to his dingy basement room. Steve is then visited by George, who threatens to vilify him in the press unless he finishes his songs. When Steve swears deadly revenge on the person who hired Maria, however, George backs down and offers to help Steve do his homework. Concerned about the approaching Parents Day, Dean Clinton, meanwhile, commands Steve's professors, who have penalized him with only fifty-five demerits, to bear down on him. To that end, Mme. Zarka (Ann Codee
), Steve's ruthlessly strict ballet teacher, forces him to wear a tutu and dance with the co-eds, but Steve once again rises to the occasion.
A now desperate Dean Clinton asks Caroline to go out with Steve and ensure that he arrives back at Victoria after the curfew. Caroline agrees, but during the evening, Steve convinces her of his innocence, and as they drive back to school, the newlyweds make plans to return to California together. Unknown to Caroline and Steve, Maria is on campus, looking to expose George, who has been trying to get rid of her, to Steve. At the same time, a campus sorority descends on Steve's room, hoping to initiate him, and Jean Allenwood (Jean Porter), another co-ed, shows up with news that her parents and Dean Clinton are on their way over to inspect his room. As Steve desperately hides all the women in two closets and keeps Caroline from discovering Maria, George unexpectedly arrives. Although Steve succeeds in hiding George and himself and fooling Dean Clinton and the Allenwoods, Maria soon makes her presence known to Caroline, who once again leaves in a fury. Later, Steve promises to write songs for George's water ballet show on condition he make Caroline the star. George agrees, and after Maria is finally able to tell Caroline the truth, Caroline happily reunites with Steve, who then gives George a thrashing.
The pool sequences were shot on location at the Lakeside Country Club in San Fernando Valley
. The film was shot during January and the grass on the rolling country club lawns was dead and brown. Director George Sidney brought in a paint crew and had the dead grass spray painted green, which lasted the entire week of shooting. However, that ruined the grass, and the studio had to send in crews in the spring to re-seed the lawn.
Williams's date to a the first preview of the film in Pomona was her future husband (and ex-husband) Sergeant Ben Gage
.
(1939) and Ben-Hur
(1925).
(1946), On an Island with You
(1948), Neptune's Daughter
(1949) and Dangerous When Wet
(1953)
and her being surrounded by several other swimmers who form a circle. The overhead shots of these elaborate choreographed sequences became iconic, especially for Williams and choreographer Busby Berkeley
.
The finale water ballet sequence has been parodied several times, most famously in The Great Muppet Caper
(1981), with Miss Piggy
, briefly in the "Be Our Guest" sequence in the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast
(1991) and in The Simpsons
episode "Bart of Darkness
" (1994), with Lisa Simpson
.
, Xavier Cugat
, Ethel Smith
, Helen Forrest
, and Lina Romay.
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
, Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
and Esther Williams
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...
and directed by George Sidney
George Sidney
George Sidney was an American film director and film producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Career:...
.
Although this was not William's screen debut, it was her first Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
musical. The film was initially to be titled "Mr. Co-Ed" with Red Skelton having top billing. However, once MGM executives watched the first cut of the film, they realized that Esther Williams' role should be showcased more, and changed the title to "Bathing Beauty," giving her prominent billing and featuring her bathing-suit clad figure on the posters. The film is also Janis Paige
Janis Paige
Janis Paige is an American film, musical theatre and television actress. Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public from the age of five in local amateur shows...
's film debut.
Plot
In Los Angeles, popular songwriter Steve Elliott (Red SkeltonRed Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
) prepares to marry Caroline Brooks (Esther Williams
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...
), who has pledged to give up her job as a college swimming instructor once she has wed. Likewise, Steve plans to quit his songwriting career, even though New York producer George Adams (Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
) has already hired him to write new songs for a water ballet show.
When George overhears Steve discussing his "retirement" with Caroline, he vows to prevent the marriage and enlists Maria Dorango (Jacqueline Dalya), an aspiring actress posing as a Latin-American singer, to help him. Moments after a justice of the peace pronounces the redheaded Steve and Caroline man and wife, Maria rushes in, claiming that Steve is her husband and the father of her three redheaded children, which she has paraded in at that moment. Although Steve pleads his innocence, Caroline storms off in a rage and returns to her teaching post at Victoria College in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. A determined Steve and his friend, Carlos Ramirez, follow her there, but are denied entrance to the all-female school.
Later, in a New York nightclub, Steve meets drunken lawyer Chester Klazenfrantz (Donald Meek
Donald Meek
Donald Meek was a Scottish-born American character actor. He first worked as a stage actor and later became a film actor, starring in several movies including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Little Miss Broadway, and State Fair. Before becoming an actor, he fought in the Spanish-American War and...
) and learns that Klazenfrantz has been hired to change the charter of Victoria College, which has never officially designated itself as all-female. Armed with this information, Steve returns to Victoria and insists on applying for admission. Unaware of Caroline's relationship to Steve, Dean Clinton (Nana Bryant
Nana Bryant
Nana Bryant was an American film actress. She appeared in over 100 films between 1935 and 1955.She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died in Hollywood, California. Her grave is located at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery....
) suggests to the faculty that he be admitted for a two-week probationary period, during which time they would give him 100 demerits, which would qualify him for expulsion before Parents Day.
Once enrolled, Steve tries to speak with Caroline, but she refuses to listen to his explanations and tells him she is seeking an annulment. Later, in music class, stodgy Professor Hendricks (Francis Pierlot
Francis Pierlot
Francis Pierlot was a stage and film actor with over 90 film credits.His first film credit was in 1914, but he didn't begin appearing in films full time until 1940 at the age of 63...
) attempts to discredit Steve, whose presence on campus has created a furor among the co-eds, by ordering him to write his own version of the Scottish ballad Loch Lomond
The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond
"The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or simply "Loch Lomond" for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song . It was first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland....
and teach the next day's class. With help from several talented students, Carlos, the music teaching assistant (Ethel Smith
Ethel Smith
Ethel Smith may refer to:* Ethel Smith * Ethel Smith -See also:* Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragist Ethel Smith may refer to:* Ethel Smith (organist) (1910-1996)* Ethel Smith (athlete) (1907-1979)-See also:* Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragist Ethel Smith may refer to:* Ethel Smith (organist)...
), and Steve's friend Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
and his orchestra, Steve meets Hendricks' challenge and is awarded an "A."
That night, Steve visits Caroline at her house, but is turned out after Willis Evans (Bill Goodwin
Bill Goodwin
Bill Goodwin was for many years the announcer and regular character of the Burns and Allen radio program, and subsequently The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television from 1950-51...
), a conservative botany professor who is in love with Caroline, arrives. When Caroline realizes that Steve is hiding in her closet, spying on her, she commands Willis' Great Dane
Great Dane
The Great Dane , also known as German Mastiff or Danish Hound , is a breed of domestic dog known for its giant size...
, Duke, to guard the closet door, while reminding Steve that unless he is in his room in five minutes, he will be expelled for breaking curfew. With only seconds to spare, Steve manages to trick the dog long enough to escape back to his dingy basement room. Steve is then visited by George, who threatens to vilify him in the press unless he finishes his songs. When Steve swears deadly revenge on the person who hired Maria, however, George backs down and offers to help Steve do his homework. Concerned about the approaching Parents Day, Dean Clinton, meanwhile, commands Steve's professors, who have penalized him with only fifty-five demerits, to bear down on him. To that end, Mme. Zarka (Ann Codee
Ann Codee
Ann Codee was a Belgian actress with numerous hit films on her résumé.-Biography:Codee married actor Frank Orth around 1911 or so. She and her husband toured American vaudeville in the 1910s and 1920s in a comedy act. The team made its film debut in 1929, appearing in a series of multilingual...
), Steve's ruthlessly strict ballet teacher, forces him to wear a tutu and dance with the co-eds, but Steve once again rises to the occasion.
A now desperate Dean Clinton asks Caroline to go out with Steve and ensure that he arrives back at Victoria after the curfew. Caroline agrees, but during the evening, Steve convinces her of his innocence, and as they drive back to school, the newlyweds make plans to return to California together. Unknown to Caroline and Steve, Maria is on campus, looking to expose George, who has been trying to get rid of her, to Steve. At the same time, a campus sorority descends on Steve's room, hoping to initiate him, and Jean Allenwood (Jean Porter), another co-ed, shows up with news that her parents and Dean Clinton are on their way over to inspect his room. As Steve desperately hides all the women in two closets and keeps Caroline from discovering Maria, George unexpectedly arrives. Although Steve succeeds in hiding George and himself and fooling Dean Clinton and the Allenwoods, Maria soon makes her presence known to Caroline, who once again leaves in a fury. Later, Steve promises to write songs for George's water ballet show on condition he make Caroline the star. George agrees, and after Maria is finally able to tell Caroline the truth, Caroline happily reunites with Steve, who then gives George a thrashing.
Cast
- Red SkeltonRed SkeltonRichard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
as Steve Elliot - Esther WilliamsEsther WilliamsEsther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...
as Caroline Brooks - Basil RathboneBasil RathboneSir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
as George Adams - Bill GoodwinBill GoodwinBill Goodwin was for many years the announcer and regular character of the Burns and Allen radio program, and subsequently The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television from 1950-51...
as Professor Willis Evans - Jean Porter as Jean Allenwood
- Nana BryantNana BryantNana Bryant was an American film actress. She appeared in over 100 films between 1935 and 1955.She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died in Hollywood, California. Her grave is located at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery....
as Dean Clinton - Carlos Ramírez as Himself
- Ethel SmithEthel Smith (organist)Ethel Smith was an organist who played primarily in a pop style on the Hammond organ.Her recording of Tico Tico was her best-known hit. It reached No. 14 on the U.S. pop charts in November 1944 and sold over one million copies worldwide. She also recorded it for the 1944 film, Bathing Beauty...
as Ethel Smith - Music Teacher - Lina Romay as Herself
- Helen ForrestHelen ForrestHelen Forrest was one of the most popular female jazz vocalists during America's Big Band era. She was born Helen Fogel to a Jewish family in Atlantic City, New Jersey on April 12, 1917...
as Herself - Singer with Harry James and His Music Makers - Donald MeekDonald MeekDonald Meek was a Scottish-born American character actor. He first worked as a stage actor and later became a film actor, starring in several movies including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Little Miss Broadway, and State Fair. Before becoming an actor, he fought in the Spanish-American War and...
as Chester Klazenfrantz - Jacqueline Dalya as Maria Dorango
- Francis PierlotFrancis PierlotFrancis Pierlot was a stage and film actor with over 90 film credits.His first film credit was in 1914, but he didn't begin appearing in films full time until 1940 at the age of 63...
as Professor Hendricks - Ann CodeeAnn CodeeAnn Codee was a Belgian actress with numerous hit films on her résumé.-Biography:Codee married actor Frank Orth around 1911 or so. She and her husband toured American vaudeville in the 1910s and 1920s in a comedy act. The team made its film debut in 1929, appearing in a series of multilingual...
as Mme. Zarka - Margaret DumontMargaret DumontMargaret Dumont was an American comedic actress. She is remembered mostly for being the comic foil to Groucho Marx in seven of the Marx Brothers films...
as Mrs. Allenwood - Bunny Waters as Bunny
- Janis PaigeJanis PaigeJanis Paige is an American film, musical theatre and television actress. Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public from the age of five in local amateur shows...
as Janis - Xavier CugatXavier CugatXavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...
as Himself - Leader of Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra - Harry JamesHarry JamesHenry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
as Himself - Leader of Harry James and His Music Makers - Dorothy AdamsDorothy AdamsDorothy Adams was an American character actress. She was married to character actor Byron Foulger from 1921-1970. She was the mother of soap opera actress Rachel Ames...
as Miss Hanney - Faculty Secretary - Jane IsbellJane IsbellJane Isbell was a minor actress, a bit player and extra who appeared in some major films produced during Hollywood's Golden Era in the 1930s-40s....
as Western Union Girl
Production
Skelton was advised to shave his red chest hair for the swimming sequences. He protested and after conferencing with his wife, only cut the hair once the studio paid him $200 in cash and saved all of the curls in a plastic bag.The pool sequences were shot on location at the Lakeside Country Club in San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
. The film was shot during January and the grass on the rolling country club lawns was dead and brown. Director George Sidney brought in a paint crew and had the dead grass spray painted green, which lasted the entire week of shooting. However, that ruined the grass, and the studio had to send in crews in the spring to re-seed the lawn.
Williams's date to a the first preview of the film in Pomona was her future husband (and ex-husband) Sergeant Ben Gage
Ben Gage
Ben Gage was a radio singer and announcer, occasional off-screen film singer dubbing the voice of non-singing actors, and American television actor active from 1959 to 1975....
.
Release
The film premiered at the Astor Theater in New York. For the event, MGM publicity set up a six story-tall billboard of Williams diving into Times Square with a large sign that said "Come on in. The water's fine!"Critial response
Response for the film was "glowing," as Williams wrote in her autobiography. A 1944 review from the New York Times scoffed at the title, but also wrote "Miss Williams' talents as a swimmer—not to mention her other attributes—make any title the studio wants to put on it okay by us. When she eels through the crystal blue water in a rosy-red bathing suit or splashes in limpid magnificence in the gaudy water carnival which John Murray Anderson has brought to pass, she's a bathing beauty for our money, even though dragged in by the heels. In other words, "Bathing Beauty" is a colorful shower of music, comedy and dance. As July pants hotly on June's heels, it is a pleasant refreshment to have at hand."Box office
With the film's wonderful tunes and extravagant water sequences, Bathing Beauty was a smash at the box office. It marked the studio's third highest grossing film to date, next to Gone with the WindGone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
(1939) and Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1925 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1925 silent film directed by Fred Niblo. It was a blockbuster hit for newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the second film based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace...
(1925).
Home media
On July 17, 2007, Turner Entertainment released Bathing Beauty on DVD as part of the Esther Williams Spotlight Collection, Volume 1. The 5 disc set contained digitally remastered versions of several of Williams's films including Easy to WedEasy to Wed
Easy to Wed is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Edward Buzzell. The screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley is an updated adaptation of the screenplay of the 1936 film Libeled Lady by Maurine Dallas Watkins, Howard Emmett Rogers, and George Oppenheimer.-Plot:Financier J.B...
(1946), On an Island with You
On an Island with You
On an Island with You is a 1948 musical romantic comedy film directed by Richard Thorpe. It stars Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalbán, Cyd Charisse and Kathryn Beaumont....
(1948), Neptune's Daughter
Neptune's Daughter (1949 film)
Neptune's Daughter is a 1949 musical romantic comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalbán, Betty Garrett, Keenan Wynn, Xavier Cugat and Mel Blanc...
(1949) and Dangerous When Wet
Dangerous When Wet
Dangerous When Wet is an Technicolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical starring Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas, and Jack Carson, directed by Charles Walters, and featuring an animated swimming sequence starring Williams with the famous cat-and-mouse duo, Tom and Jerry.-Plot summary:Katie Higgins is...
(1953)
Influence
Several moments from the film became famous, such one scene in which swimmers dive past one another into the pool and water stunts involving Williams, including her being received as a queen emerging from the water, her high swan diveDiving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
and her being surrounded by several other swimmers who form a circle. The overhead shots of these elaborate choreographed sequences became iconic, especially for Williams and choreographer Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
.
The finale water ballet sequence has been parodied several times, most famously in The Great Muppet Caper
The Great Muppet Caper
The Great Muppet Caper is a 1981 mystery comedy film directed by Jim Henson. It is the second of a series of live-action musical feature films, starring Jim Henson's Muppets. This film was produced by Henson Associates, ITC Entertainment and Universal Pictures, and premiered on 26 July 1981. The...
(1981), with Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
, briefly in the "Be Our Guest" sequence in the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...
(1991) and in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Bart of Darkness
Bart of Darkness
"Bart of Darkness" is the first episode of The Simpsons sixth season, which originally aired September 4, 1994. It was written by Dan McGrath, and directed by Jim Reardon. In the episode, Bart breaks his leg; his resultant isolation causes him to believe that Ned Flanders has committed murder...
" (1994), with Lisa Simpson
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features many on-screen performances of big band greats of the era: Harry JamesHarry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
, Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...
, Ethel Smith
Ethel Smith
Ethel Smith may refer to:* Ethel Smith * Ethel Smith -See also:* Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragist Ethel Smith may refer to:* Ethel Smith (organist) (1910-1996)* Ethel Smith (athlete) (1907-1979)-See also:* Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragist Ethel Smith may refer to:* Ethel Smith (organist)...
, Helen Forrest
Helen Forrest
Helen Forrest was one of the most popular female jazz vocalists during America's Big Band era. She was born Helen Fogel to a Jewish family in Atlantic City, New Jersey on April 12, 1917...
, and Lina Romay.
- "Magic is the Moonlight (Te quiero, dijiste)" - Carlos RamírezCarlos RamírezCarlos Alberto Ramírez Castillo is a Mexican footballer. He plays for Deportivo Irapuato, wearing #13. He is nicknamed "Tin-Tan" because of an apparent physical likeness to the Mexican actor....
(in Spanish) with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra - "I'll Take the High Note" - played during the opening credits, then Red Skelton, Jean Porter, Janis Paige, Carlos Ramírez and Helen Forrest
- "Bim, Bam, Bum" - Lina Romay with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra
- "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile" - Harry James and His Music Makers with Harry James on trumpet
- "By the Waters of Minnetonka: an Indian Love Song" - Ethel Smith
- "Tico-tico no Fubá" - Ethel Smith
- "Alma llanera" - Lina Romay
- "Hora Staccato" - Harry James, Harry James and His Music Makers
- "I Cried for You" - Helen Forrest, Harry James and His Music Makers
- "Boogie Woogie" - Harry James and His Music Makers
- "The Thrill of a New Romance" - Xavier Cugat Orchestra