Show Boat - Ava Gardner 's own voice - Can't Help Lovin' That Man
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- Here's Ava's own vocal track for this great song - she was dubbed by Annette Warren in the released film. Can someone tell me why?? (Ms. Warren has confirmed that Ava filmed to her own vocal track and that Annette went in later and recorded her track while watching Ava's performance.)
From "Ava: My Story"
"Now, I can sing. I do not expect to be taken for Maria Callas, Ella Fitzgerald, or Lena Home, but I can carry a tune well enough for the likes of Artie Shaw to feel safe offering to put me in front of his orchestra. But since Julie's two songs, "Bill" and "Can't Help Loving That Man," are so beloved by everyone, I decided to work as hard as I could to fit the bill. I even found this marvelous teacher, who'd worked with both Lena and Dorothy Dandridge, and we slaved away for several weeks and produced a test record of those two songs.
Then, rather nervously, I took my life into my hands and gave the record to Arthur Freed himself, God Almighty of musical productions. I don't think the son of a bitch ever even listened to it He just put it on a shelf and delivered the usual studio ultimatum: "Now, listen, Ava, you can't sing and you're among professional singers." So that settled that one.
Or did it? Because the singer they'd chosen to dub my singing had a high, rather tiny voice, totally inappropriate when it was paired with my own speaking voice. The studio spent thousands and thousands of dollars and used the full MGM orchestra trying to get this poor girl right. I mean, there was nothing wrong with her in the first place, except for the obvious fact that she wasn't me.
Finally, they got Annette Warren, this gal who used to do a lot of my singing off-screen, and they substituted her voice for mine. So my Southern twang suddenly stops talking and her soprano starts singing - hell, what a mess.
When it came to the album version of the movie, things got even worse. Being a great fan of Lena's, I had copied her phrasing, note for note, on my test record. So they took my record imitating Lena and put earphones on her so she could sing the songs copying me copying her.
But Metro soon found out that they couldn't legally release the album with my name and image, as they called it, without my voice being part of the package. So then I used earphones to try to record my voice over her voice, which had been recorded over my voice imitating her. I did it note for note, they wiped Lena's voice off the album, and the record was a success. That's the way they worked in those days. And I still get goddamn royalties on the thing!"
From Hugh Fordin's book "The World Of Entertainment!":
Ava had made up her mind to sing her two numbers herself: no dubbing. Roger Edens decided to audition voice doubles: Marni Nixon, Anita Ellis, Carole Richards and Annette Warren. He found Warren's singing voice best suited as a match for Gardner's speaking voice.
When it came to the prerecordings Gardner still insisted on singing the songs herself. As a precaution a set of tracks was also made by Warren. After a couple of weeks of screening the two scenes for a number of in- and outsiders, Annette Warren was called back to rerecord the songs, now to Gardner's lip-synch. What ensued until after the production had closed was a kind of a parlor game. Warren's tracks were in; Warren's tracks were out. Gardner's tracks were in, and then they were out; and so on and so forth, depending on the comment of whoever had seen the sequences last.
When Simone asked and Jesse Kaye discussed the forthcoming soundtrack album he felt that for reasons of exploitation and sale Ava Gardner's name on the cover would be an added plus. Show Boat cost $2,295,429 and grossed in excess of $8,650,000. .
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The funny thing is: Annette Warren's dubbed singing seems a bit outdated nowadays while Ava's original singing is quite timeless.
She wasn't the orginal...check it out.
Definitely agree, RoLorenz.
Agreed :)
@@roseharris6941 The original is Helen Morgan over 20 years earlier. Reference is to Ava's original track, before dubbing.
Check out Annette's on RUclips - you can scarcely tell the difference in their voices.
With Ava's voice, the character of Julie is complete and adds credibility to Magnolia's infatuation with her. It was insane not to use this original track. She looked and sounded perfect.
MGM should have let Ava sing in her own voice. She sings with her soul.
In my opinion, I think Ava's voice is better than probably 90% of today's singers.
She's good, but Frederica von Stade is simply awesome! She belts this song out in a brisk, up tempo version with a snappy orchestra, here in RUclips. It gets your blood surging and makes you want to get out of your chair and dance to it! :)
Alan Weaver Yes, & not an auto-tune in sight either.
I agree
You just like the genre of music.
Definitely, but that is very different when talking about singers back then, and no changes are made all of a sudden: the prevalence we suffer today had a small beginning in the past, and it had many different phases.
She sang this so well, and with so much feeling, it brings tears to your eyes. Why they didn't use this version is beyond me.
Ask Louie B Mayer about it
she actually did sing " Bill" though
You mean beyond your ears. She would be totally ok today, but in 1950 ears were more demanding for every sort of singing. She may be good for entertaining and casual listening, but not good enough if you want to go "beyond". Just compare her singing, and I'm not even talking about the lousy tempo they used for that film, to Helen Morgan's or that of Lena Horne: she just did not have a developed voice, and a plain voice is good enough for plain ears. Today people are more appreciative of "feeling" than vocal and musical quality, in opera like in country.
@@haranoe Nonsense. Gardner sang this song exquisitely, even for 1950s sensibilities. Absolutely nothing wrong with her vocals.
@@dmnemaine I did not say wrong, I said not good enough. I was likewise not talking about sensibilities, I was talking prejudices of the decision makers, prejudices based on a real difference: you say that difference does not matter, but back then it was decided it did matter.
@@haranoe They were prejudiced against Ava Gardner herself, not her singing style. They simply assumed "She's not a singer", so they dubbed her.
Ava's low notes are so much sexier and full of warmth and femininity! I love her! She is so real....
What a beautiful woman Ava was. Nothing wrong with her voice.
She is stunning in that green. This is just mesmerizingly slow. Serious vocals here.
just imagine she was lucky Mickey Rooney's first wife at the age of 20.
Looking at her older appearance here, by today's standards, she would have been in serious trouble like Mary Kay Letourneau being with a little boy like Mickey...even though he was of age. He looked 12-16 years of age when they were together.
TheRetroWoman80 ......
You're very observant.... Mickey Rooney played part's with MGM just like Michael J Fox who also looked very young for his age...
Thanks, Jason. Yes, Michael J. was hot and still is:-) Family Ties was one of my favorite shows as a kid.
Mickey was over 2 years older.
Ava was just an absolutely gorgeous woman! She said in an interview many years after her career ended, that she was brought up in a poor family, money wise, but rich in love. She was devoted to her parents, siblings, nephews and nieces.
Ava wasn't raised in a poor family..that was movie studio publicity..the same thing with their saying that Ava's real name was Lucy Johnson
It’s shame she wasted her love on Sinatra! Big cheat!
@@AzhidaReminiec9999 This actually came from Ava’s own mouth on a interview she did while living in London.
Her father was a sharecropper, lost his farm and then Molly her mother began taking in boarders to help.
Her older sister Beatrice "Bappie" was her protector, and accompanied her when she first went to Hollywood, and outlived her by many years.
I'm her cousin.
God, why they dubbed her??? What an angel voice, so right, in tune ...perfect. I didn't know she could sing like this!
They dubbed Harry Belafonte too at some point! 🙄
Ava's beauty is truly mesmerizing, and to think, those who saw her in the flesh say film and photos did not fully capture the extent of her beauty.
Not hard to see why Frank went crazy over this broad 😎
I don’t see it, now Josephine Jobert, she gorgeous
Ava was so beautiful in Showboat, no idea why MGM dubbed her, I loved the way she sang here
+KaydeyRai the only thing I can think of is that they wanted a more powerful 'classic' soprano--but the trade off of lost intimacy with the lyrics wasn't worth it.
MGM in those days strived for perfection. They would dub great singers if they felt their vocals weren’t what they wanted. One example would be Angela Lansbury in The Harvey Girls. She was dubbed in that, but we all know Lansbury was an accomplished singer actress who won multiple Tonys on the Broadway stage for her work in musicals. This is another example. It’s hard for us to wrap our heads around the fact that people at MGM didn’t think Ava’s vocals were good enough. In today’s world, her vocals and emotional delivery are outstanding! I’d love to see them edit her vocals back into the film.
Never was she more beautifully photographed than she was here. Look at those close ups! Her skin and make up are flawless.
riversidefan2 and that waistline!! So small, my how things changed -
She grew up in a local city. Rumor has it she was African-American,
@@tbastrikes7847 you mean mixed? because she's clearly not black.
Elise Jackson “biracial” or “multiracial” is another way to say it because “mixed”should only be used when describing dog breeds
Ava didn't have a range but she surely sang with the right emotions of the song. A truely geniuine performance
You don't need a huge range for this song. And that's okay!
True, considering I have Julie London's intimate version of this standard. But have you heard Ella Fitzgerald's or Barbra Streisand's versions of this standard? They belted during the middle (Barbra's) and at the end of the song (Ella's). Wonder how the composer Jerome Kern would have liked it to be sung?
Louis Phillipe Who knows? It's impossible to say. I bet he would have appreciated the fact that he wrote such a versatile song. Belting is great! But personally I wish more broadway actresses, directors, and composers recognized that it isn't /always/ the most effective way to communicate an emotion.
I have to agree with your last statement there Siri. After all, most of the definitive versions of these standards from Broadway were the versions recorded by jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday or Julie London rather than by the quasi-operatic versions or originals by folks like Judy Garland or Lena Horne
Siri Hammond halleluiah Siri, well said.......I am so tired of singers belting out everything...no nuance... no feeling for the lyrics and sentiment of the song....Ava sings this with feeling and in character and it works...it is a thoughtful introspective song, Its as though she is thinking and talking to herself .She doesn't need to "shout it from the highest hills "
Wow. She's gorgeous even by today's standards.
She's gorgeous period.Todays standards are far below Ava's (and Lena's) era.
what do you mean by that?
That was her curse.
@@sylviacarlson3561 That she does not represent standards of a bygone era that people would laugh at today, you know, like fat Venuses and all that, but that her features are closer to today's standards, and Ava Gardner's looks could be more marketable today than, say, those of her contemporary Virginia Mayo.
She is natural. The women these day don't count. They are mainly plastic
So this woman literally put me in a trance watching this performance. What did they think was so bad about her voice that they thought to dub her singing? I found her mesmerizing singing this!♥️
"literally"
@@jamesmcinnis208 My Mexican dinner literally made my mouth explode. Luckily, after multiple bone and skin grafts, and dental surgery, I recovered.
@@akrenwinkle Glad to hear you're OK. Stay away from those nitroglycerin tacos!
@@jamesmcinnis208 Oh, I'm dead! Literally dead! 🤣🤣🤣
It makes no whatsoever they didn't use Ava's voice. She sang the song beautifully! Moviemakers are their own worst enemies 😅
People saying Ava's version is beautiful and evocative should remember that she listened to her good friend Lena Horne's (who was robbed of the part because of her race) version over and over to prepare, picking up some of her phrasing and tone. Partial credit should go to Lena for training Ava to sing this song in a part she herself had desperately wanted. Their friendship was truly unbreakable!
+3goodtimes
Love both those gals. True hearts. And yup, Ava could sing. Both heart felt good people who were used and tossed.
namaste and care,
mhikl
+3goodtimes Lena was very bitter over losing this part--I don't think she ever got over it--she learned to accept and move on. Its nice that she rose above the situation and coached Ava (thank you for sharing). Nice that they were friends. All the makeup developed by Max FActor for Lena's skin tone was, I think, still in use by black americans.
Thanks for the information. I didn't know Lena. Just checked her videos and she was awesome. No matter how beautiful Ava is, Lena seemed perfect for the role. Ava's character had black blood. I remember watching that and thinking how ridiculous was to cast a so white actress to role-play someone with black blood.
Ava was mixed race too.
Lena Horne's voice was nothing like Ava's, but Ava admired Lena (as I did on many songs but not all). Ava sang a very nice rendition of the song here, her own feelings in it, very nice. It never pays to try to be like someone else in public, the public usually knows and isn't fooled!
She's timeless, My dad named me after her, his favorite actress!
Wow- what an honor!
A bad girl with class! What a goddess! My heroine...
Wow! I didn’t know Ava Gardner could sing so well! And this is coming from someone with a trained ear. Her intonation is dead center and her phrasing is smooth and musical and I love the gentle yet smoky and sultry quality of her timbre. Bravo!
Absolutely beautiful voice with all of the depth that this song deserves, the studio heads were ignorant. How wonderful that this is here for us to enjoy, wow
Best looking actress ever!!!!!!
Yes she was. Jxxx
Perfection
Argh! Why did they dub her? She's great as is!
No lie her face was magnificient nowadays plenty of women would do anything to have such lips and her eyes ...
And cheekbones
This is the most gorgeous woman that ever walked on earth! I´d marry her! Oh those lips...
Tiago Mourão
Lol
YIKES !! She is a true beauty- after so many years of being gone one does forget just what the fuss was about, now looking at the clip, I understand why she caused men's hearts to swoon, WOW beautiful and she can sing with such feeling -
She was the best. So Beautiful and talented. They should have used her voice ! What a shame !!
Her voice was fantastic! Whoever made the decision not to use her voice, made a big mistake. Her is very authentic.
What a beautiful voice!! Omg, she's lovely in a timeless way.
Beautiful voice Beautiful woman. Thank you for all your talent. RIP
She was a wild one. Loved her drink and her bull-fighter lovers.
One of my favorite musical movies! Ava Gardner, what a beautiful woman! She certainly sang the song well enough for me that her version could have stayed in the movie!
Isn't this just wonderful. I watched the movie and thought her voice was dubbed. Shows what I know. This is delightful. Thank goodness we have RUclips.
+Anthea Close Her voice was dubbed in the movie.
Unfortunately!
She really had a lovely soft voice, -- on tune too! Even if it was dubbed for this show. She certainly wasn't known for her singing but I didn't realize she was that good although she is lip syncing above, but that's how they did it for film! Beautiful woman, gorgeous figure, no wonder Frank Sinatra was smitten with her! She could certainly sing a LOT better than some of those female singers today! I sang that song years ago, I think her rendition was better than mine! I didn't sing it quite that slowly, 1951 was Ava's first year married to Frank. He liked her voice (of course) and wanted her to take singing lessons, but she wouldn't, according to a bio I read!
Wow. I always assumed she must have been bad. But she's absolutely fine and appropriate. Definitely good enough to leave in the movie.
Absolutely mesmerizing. No wonder it's called the Golden Age of Hollywood.
A dream…
Beauty like her don’t exist anymore!❤🌹
She was one of the most beautiful actresses. Her voice matched her beauty. Hollywood was crazy not to use her voice. She was also a wonderful actress. A complete package in my estimation.
Ava is not with us anymore ,it's been 26 years I enjoy hearing her singing . R..I.P hope to see u someday
I have absolutely no clue...this was gorgeous!
Certainement la plus belle actrice de toute l'histoire du cinéma!
Ava is so beautiful, no wonder Frank Sinatra fell for her. And she can sing too!
They left her voice on the sound track records of Show Boat as a consolation to her. She said she got residuals from the record company for the rest of her life.
No she didn't
Mickey Rooney got there first
Lovely. Thanks for posting. For me she was never more desirable than playing the slightly over ripe widow in Night of the Iguana … luscious and available and real.
So much more expressive than the voice used in the movie... and her pronunciation of "shine" is just delicious.
Shane de Leon Esse filme é lindo! Abraços para você, amigo!
What a beautiful voice!
she is a lovely girl and a great singer
What a beautiful lady!!!!!
What a beauty
There is something about someone's own voice that you just cannot get by dubbing. It's so natural, because every voice is different and fits it's owner just so. Whenever someone is dubbed it's so obvious that the voice does not belong to that person. If the actor can sing, let them keep their voice! Again, it's so much more natural looking as well as sounding. They dubbed so much in these old movie musicals and it makes me so mad. I can understand if for a Hollywood movie they want Hollywood actors but the actors are not strong singers and must be dubbed, but they've dubbed people who played the same roles on Broadway! Juanita Hall in South Pacific, for example. And in this case Ava Gardner's voice is truly gorgeous, so why dub her? It makes me so mad, and I can't even imagine how the actors must feel. Being cast in a singing role, singing your heart out, and then basically being told that you're not good enough. If they weren't good enough why cast them? They never even told Audrey Hepburn that she was going to be dubbed in My Fair Lady. She didn't find out until she went to see it!
Rant over.
I just got on this blog because I was watching Show boat and did not connect the voice with Ava... I came on to see if it was dubbed...and behold! I was right. I was pleasantly surprised at her rendition.
I agree, they should of let the actors sing their own songs instead of dubbing them, it feels more real when you hear the actual actor's voices, and if they couldn't accept that, why couldn't they get say Marni Nixon or the other "Ghost singers" in the roles instead if they did all the singing instead of the actual actors playing the characters who lip-synced to only sing? I never understood that. (It must of been really awkward for the actors to lip-sync to someone else dubbing them for songs, and upsetting too, which I don't blame them, and isn't fair honestly.
The most beautiful . She and Monroe. Remarcable. Love Ava. So independent.
those were the days when the studio heads were more powerful than god , and it shows here just how wrong they could be . sadly they pigeon-hole everyone and only very rarely let them out of it .sadly , this sis a perfect example of how they could screw things up. lovely voice and awesome beauty .
Love her voice (and everything else about her).
Beautiful voice and Ava at her most stunning!
wow she is just breathtaking and what a sweet voice!
oh wow ... stunning beauty she was
Ava's voice is fantastic! She was talented and beautiful. Loved her and wouldn't miss watching any movie or series featuring Ava in any role.
An extra ordinary beauty and on top of that a beautiful voice. It cant get better than that. Gold bless her soul.
My favorite actress. She had it all.
I have loved Ava since I first saw her, I am now aged 77, if that ain't love, what is?
This is Ava Garner's own voice? I never knew she could sing. She sounds lovely.
Setting and beautiful Ava’s voice just Great.
wow......what a great voice from this beautiful lady!!!
Wow just Breath taking
What a woman. What a time. Pure natural beauty. No ugly tattoos and silicone.
She has a lovely singing voice!
I own a copy of this film where it’s Ava singing her songs and I absolutely love it. I could listen to her sing all day, everyday... God I wish Hollywood would have been more supportive of her singing voice so I had more songs to listen to. The craze of those days was “song birds” and Ava was definitely not one of those, she was unique and beautiful and soulful and I absolutely adore it.
You have the Laser disc? That's the only released version with her voice.
Stunning-absolutely stunning! Ava’s presence is luminous and her rendition of the song is mag- netic! Bravo!
As if they decided to dub over this! What were they thinking?! This is literal PERFECTION ♥️♥️♥️
What a beautiful voice and a beautiful lady
So beautiful! So much feeling, and so sultry. It's a shame that they didn't use Ava's voice in the movie. I read that she worked really hard on this, and was heartbroken when they went with a more professional singer. Her vocals show so much more vulnerability in my opinion.
So beautiful.
Most beautiful woman Ever!!!!
Breathtakingly beautiful and sang better than most of the women of her era or today. She was stunning!
study that face. i! am convinced that she was the most beautiful of them all in the history of celluloid cinema of the 20th century! Ava Gardner, those look s should have been preserved in alcohol !!
Actually it was alcohol over long time that lessened their preservation.
+JudgeJulieLi good response! Had to laugh!
+Fareed Malik Detractors would say liz taylor is far more a beauty,because of translucent violet eyes.or others shall state ava's fellow contemporaries,lana turner and gene tierney as being a little more glamorous looking,.then hedy lamarr....never mind.
Joseph Calderon Violet eyes? Yes and I am the Maharajah of Cooch Bihar! Are you naive enough to believe all what Studio publicity used to dish out. Grow up !!!
she so beautiful and singing well
This woman was incredibly georgeous! Sinatra did not deserve her.
Physically beautiful yes, of course, but the emotion and sensuality she emits is the real beauty here. The MGM dolt, who decided to use dubbing, should have been slapped up side the head.
NC’s finest!!! Sing it lava!!!! ♥️🎁
The definitive performance !
WOW,now that is one beautiful woman!!!! No wonder she was my dad's favorite!!!!
such a wonderful song
When Barbra Streisand recorded this song in her Broadway album, she said that Ava Gardner’s rendition was the one she loved the most, and she based her own singing on this version.
Ava Gardner's voice was perfectly suited for this song and her sensual and heart felt emotions while singing this tells the story perfectly. Bravo to Ava for taking us on this beautiful musical journey.
these kind of movies are never to be done again. classic. wonderful. I love the old musicals.
meravigliosa
I'm sorry; what were the MGM execs smoking when they looked at this and said, "yeah, not good enough"? I'd like to know so that I can avoid it. And thank you for including Ava's description of the whole mess. I definitely hear a little bit of Lena Horne in her vowels especially.
Ava was a great friend of Lena and listened her always
Why is it that modern music outshines these gems?! I'm young, and I love these songs so much! Everyone thinks i'm crazy for it lol
To the contrary - you have discernment! I am 83 and grew up with these beautiful, talented actresses in the late 40's and 50's. Every time I see these movies, or clips, I thank God that I lived during this wonderful time and witnessed with my eyes, ears, and heart these wonderful artists. They may not have been perfect, but in my memory they will be young, beautiful and talented for ever!! ::::sigh
You're not crazy. You're a young person who has great taste in music. Back then they created beautiful melodies which have stood the test of time. Today they play instruments that make a lot of noise, and the people that mouth the lyrics sound like a bunch of sick feral cats looking for their next meal🐀. IMO, of course.
And... their "music" fades in a week. No one will ever remember them 50 years from now and their feeble attempt to be famous.
But this gorgeous music will last forever.🎼🎵🎶🎹
One of the most beautiful songs ever.
Lovely. Thank you got posting this. Her voice should never have been dubbed.
Oh!, to be the man, that she can't help lovin. they just don't make films like this anymore. truly sublime, and so emotional and moving.
Oh, what a beautyfull Woman and a good Actress and singing can she also! Ohooh yeah!
Why didn’t they have her sing in the movie? She has a perfect voice for this.
Had they used her voice, she would have received a well-deserved Oscar.
I had the very great pleasure of meeting Ava Gardner when she moved to London, on two occasions. Just a wonderful lady. Natural and easy to meet. Two days that I will never forget. Sad to say she passed away not long after that.
God bless Ava.
R I P
Can u tell us more about it?
I just heard a 1952 Lux Radio Theatre version of Show Boat w/ most of the cast (Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, William Warfield, Marge And Gower Champion). Lux Radio Theatre was broadcast live, Monday nights on CBS. Ava did her own singing on that broadcast, and did a great job. Her being dubbed in the film is one of life's mysteries. The Lux show was performed in front of an audience at what is now the Ricardo Montalban Theatre on Vine Street in Hollywood. MGM must have felt confident enough of Ava's abilities if they allowed her to sing live on one of the nation's top radio programs.
Beautiful. I doubt they would have dubbed her today. It is so easy to add a little width and depth to a voice now. Then, though she might have had it naturally, the mic might have not been the best for her lower tones. You can hear them when she speaks. If you compare the two voices, that is the basic difference. So glad her original vocals are still available to us. Nice...Thanks!
Control. She was already so famous and almost able to control her own career. Imagine if she could also sing. The men that ran showbusiness didn't like their actresses to be too independent. And if they were, heaven help them. Look what Ava Gardner eventually did when she got sick of it.
Courtney Matthews She could have been a powerhouse (not that she isn't) but valued her integrity too much.
And Frank couldn't take it that she was better than even ol' blue eyes!
Pour moi, Ava Gardner était la plus belle femme de tous les temps. Je l'adore !.
Gorgeous singing... why did they substitute her? GORGEOUS!! and Ava keeps doing Diminuendi in every note... gorgeous
She was a heck of a woman.. Read 4 Bio's about her. Preferred to be with the crew, drink and tell jokes. Sinatra gave her a Pembroke welsh corgi when they where married. She always had a Corgi.. When she pass, Gregory Peck took the dog.
(I have two Corgi's...Great dogs).. There are so many stories, she kind and generous and hardly ever went to bed by herself. Her maid for years, Ava NEVER call her that, she alwas my friend and from St. Louis, (my home)..this lady also wrote at book. Her relationships where stormy, etc - George C. Scott........ Both kicked out of the Savory Hotel in London... So many, she lived a full life........
Thanx for the joy of ava facts.
A really great interpretation.