Re: The Student Prince, the reality vs. the vision.

[Doreen Jackson]

Mario gave us a gift for life, pity his life was cut short so early.

On Monday 20 May 2024 at 13:19:53 UTC+1 Tessa1111 wrote:

"The Student Prince" is an operetta in a prologue and four acts with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly.

According to his interview with Hedda Hopper, published in Photoplay magazine, January 1952, https://vintagepaparazzi.com/is-mario-lanza-hollywoods-biggest-headache  
Mario tells Hedda about what happened to "The Student Prince" from his point of view.
He went into a meeting, just after the release of "The Great Carsuo" and discussed his doing "The Student Prince" as his follow-up film.  Within two weeks after that meeting, he had recorded all the songs, and was promised, when he returned from a concert tour back east...that production would begin.  

(Probably during the recording of the music, Mr. Lanza realized that this production was not going to be the "original" operetta but "Hollywood's" cut down version of it, with additional songs composed by Romberg wannabees.   Some of the lyrics were repeating the first verse twice, and one wonders if Mario was rebelling against the shortened-version as well as the heavy-military, swashbuckling character the movie was to portray.  

Why do I think this?  Because, after the release of the movie June 15, 1954, Mr. Lanza in 1959 rerecorded his version.  

It contained the "original" operetta with all the verses to the songs, that were missing in the film.  

What's more...he was singing it as if it were being staged in an Opera Auditorium...with his powerful voice reaching to the highest balcony/gallery.  

Many have criticized the last album as being "old" sounding or too heavy.  

What I hear, is a possible vision for a Cinerama production, staged and performed live.  

Mr. Lanza, several times, told of his desire to do "La Boheme" with Ezio Pinza, Lucia Albanese and himself, in Cinerama.  

 As I child, I saw all three of the only movies made in Cinerama, in theaters that had been designed to do so.  The center screen was embellished with two side screens, slightly curved, so that the audience was awash in sound and vision.  It was an overwhelming experience.  

There were only three films made in this format:  "This is Cinerama"  "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" and "How the West was Won."  Hollywood attempted to rerelease the film on video tape/DVD but as usual, half the films are missing content.

The thrill of those films has never left me.  One only wishes that Mario's vision might have become a reality, if he'd only been allowed to make the "original" Student Prince by Romberg, with all the music and lyrics he obviously adored and La Boheme as well as many other operas in Cinerama.  But MGM shut down Cinerama, theaters in my area chopped the screens and made two or three auditoriums or completely tore them down.  

One wonders if Hollywood's current financial problems wouldn't be haunting them now, if they'd stayed with high-quality artistic endeavors, rather than the offerings currently being promoted.

Ah well...Mario tried.  It's a blessing he was allowed to sing in his eight films as much as he did.  What a gift to us all.)

[Tessa1111]

It is a miracle that we have as much of Mario's vocal glory via films, concert performances, radio recordings/cds.  

With the attitude that Hollywood promoted and sold,  showing "Opera" with less then admiration, not to be viewed as a form of art,  but simply something to be used for comedic guffaws, the foil of jokes. 

 In watching Mario struggle with those movie stereotypes and being fired because he wanted higher standards produced in films...it is sad that the battle for integrity and beauty didn't occur.  He tried so hard to sing every aria and song on film with as much lush sound as he could possibly produce, regardless of acting lines that may not have been entirely positive.  (Just thinking of "The Toast of New Orleans, he and J. Carroll Nash laughing at a performer during rehearsal.) 

Hollywood was simply there to produce an "entertainment" product, not show Opera or Musicals as they should be shown,  respected art forms.