Beverly Sills on Merv Griffin singing Sigmund Romberg duet

In case the youtube link breaks, here's a kludgy recording:

Merv Griffin (1925-2007) and Beverly Sills (1929-2007) in conversation & song
Musical excerpt:
'Close as Pages in a Book' (Romberg/Fields)
"Beverly Sills - Made in America"
Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Classics
www.deutschegrammophon.com/dvd

Beverly Sills: In the early days when my lessons were very expensive in what is known in our city as an after hours club

Merv Griffin: Were you known as Bubbles Silverman then?

Sills: No, no, I

Griffin: Here's Bubbles!

Sills: No, siree, as a matter of fact it was the kind of the place where I didn't even have a last name! [laughs]

Sills: No, I was just "Ole Bev". And yes, I became expert at singing "Danny Boy."


[I couldn't find a video of Beverly Sills singing "Danny Boy" but I found Beverly Sills singing with the muppets in "Pigoletto"]






[ and I found a muppet trio singing "Danny Boy" - so six degrees of separation ]






Sills: It was during the time of "South Pacific" heyday, you know. It had just opened and it was a smash hit.


Griffin: We're going to do something for you. Just like being in one of those great East side, dimly lit cafes. And if you want to, you can put some money on the piano.


Sills: My mother didn't know what kind of club it really was. She just thought these are the hardships that young singers have to go through and that's fine.

Griffin: [singing] We'll be close as pages in a book, my love and I

Sills: [singing] So close, we can share a single look, Share every sigh

Griffin: [singing] So close that before I hear your laugh, Your laugh breaks through

Sills: [singing] And when a tear starts to appear, My eyes grow misty too

Sills: My singing teacher, I didn't dare tell her.  And my hour for lessons was 9 [ A.M.] o'clock. And of course the after hours club closed on a slow night at 2 [A.M.] and on a fast night at 3 [ A.M.]. And I used to stagger  into that singing lesson and she'd holler and yell at me because I seemed so comatose.

Sills: [singing]  Never to part


Sills and Griffin: [singing] Your life is my life, And while life beats away in my heart, We'll be close as pages in a book, Never to part


And here's Bing Crosby singing the entire "Close as Pages in a Book" song:





And here's José Ferrer portraying the "Close as Pages in a Book" composer, Sigmund Romberg, singing another one of his compositions "Fat, Fat, Fatima"

Sigmund Romberg's "Fat, Fat, Fatima"

I saw a 1954 bio pic about the composer Sigmund Romberg "Deep in My Heart". Romberg was best known for writing operettas like "The Student Prince" or "New Moon"




altho, poor Romberg is not given primary authorship credits on imdb

Romberg is listed almost at the end of the very end of the page, below costume and makeup departments :-(

In addition to writing more staid, prestigious operettas, Romberg occasionally tried his hand at more light hearted comedy musicals.


"Fat, Fat, Fatima" was a song in 1921 stage musical "Love Birds" with music by Sigmund Romberg
and lyrics by Ballard McDonald:

In the film, Sigmund Romberg was played by José Ferrer, who perhaps is better known for his dramatic roles. The piano player, Ben Judson, was played by Jim Backus of "Gilligan's Island" Thurston Howell III fame:

and in case the link breaks:

The lyrics for the film adaptation seem to differ from the original stageplay's version:

In my harem, avoirdupois In my harem, furnishes joy A lady cannot qualify unless she is fat, Her market rate depends on weight, and speaking of that Chorus 1See my fat fat, fat fat Fatima, she's my favorite wife, My favorite wife You ought to see my fat fat, fat fat Fatima, She's the joy of my life The joy of my life The ladies never come too fat for me She weighs two hundred or maybe it's three That is just a guess, may be more or less, Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, My Fatima's fat and nifty, Oh, my fat fat fat fat Fatima, she's a wonderful gal, More like a pal And when I think about Fatima, My head's in a whirl, About my girl The only time we ever row or ever have a scrap Is when my fat Fatima tries to sit upon my lap, She's just a bit too fat for that love making business, Fat Fatima, My beautiful pearl.

The film version converts Fatima into the Caliph's daughter vs his wife, plus finds a rhyme for "hippopotamus":

See my fat, fat, fat Fatima
She's my favorite child, my favorite child
You ought to see my fat, fat Fatima
She is gentle and mild, and not very wild
Fatima's size is really out-of-bounds
she's a good 200 pounds
This is just a guess, maybe more or less
20, 30, 40, 50 my Fatima's neat and nifty
Oh, my fat, fat Fatima
She is very voluminous, fill-up-a-room-inous
From-top-to-bottom-ous, She's hippopotamus
so gingersnap-able, sit-in-her-lap-able
Fatima's a fabulous girl.

Upon hearing this song, I immediately thought of Sean Hannity's nemesis, Debbie Schlussel, because I'm a horrible, horrible and sophomorically immature person:

@mitchellvii Not to be totally catty 🦁 just a little catty 😼 I suggest #DebbieSchlussel's theme song should be #SigmundRomberg's Fat Fat Fatima pic.twitter.com/775jRPBtaZ

— 🎼AdagioForStrings🎻 (@adagioforstring) May 7, 2017

@U_Quack_Addict @papacass84 @mitchellvii in case you don't like to click on links - a video describing Schlussel's attributes pic.twitter.com/7oilJdLmBj

— 🎼AdagioForStrings🎻 (@adagioforstring) May 7, 2017

It's not "creepy" for people to disagree with you if you conveniently drop a zero and claim your pant size is 4 -- it just means their optic nerves properly connect their eyeballs to their brains, from "Washington Feed" blog :

Since I spent an entire post body shaming chubby people, I'll try to atone for my sins by ending with Denyce Graves singing "Ave Maria"