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"

#NameThatTune w/ #GingerRogers

Merv Griffin played a mini version of "Name that Tune" with his guest, Ginger Rogers.

Oddly enough, Griffin only chose one song that Ginger recorded for film.

The first song was "They Can't Take That Away From Me" from the Gershwin score to "Shall We Dance":

but it was a song that Fred Astaire sang to Ginger's character:






The second song was "But Not For Me" from the Broadway show "Girl Crazy", in which Ginger played the lead on stage

Rogers is depicted second from left in a rather unflattering Hirschfeld cartoon of the cast:

A clip from the documentary "Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm"

Ginger Rogers wrote in her memoirs that her castmates accidentally used her real name on stage in the middle of a performance. Since the audience thought it was funny, they kept it as a bit. She contended this was the reason MGM changed the name of the character she played from Molly Gray in the stage production

 to Ginger Gray in the film:

Rogers' character was depicted on screen by Judy Garland.







The third song was "The Continental" from Cole Porter's "Gay Divorcee"

I only remembered the dance finale in which Ginger didn't sing:








but she did sing the lyrics to the song earlier in the film:





The final song was another selection from "Girl Crazy," "Embraceable You"

Again, sung by Judy Garland for the film adaptation:





Ginger recorded a slow dance jazzy disco version in 1978: