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Post by Nalkarj on May 3, 2019 3:28:32 GMT
Another minor point: Remember how Sleuth’s credits have that little note that the songs are “by arrangement with Warner Bros. Publishing”? Well, I just found out that Warner Bros. Publishing is distinct from the Warner Music Group, which carlcarlson1 and I had e-mailed, and is now owned by a company called Alfred Publishing. See here. So I’m going to e-mail them too.
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Post by poelzig on May 3, 2019 7:04:02 GMT
I'm always so excited when I see this thread title but then I notice it doesn't say SOLVED and I'm sad again.
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Post by Nalkarj on May 3, 2019 14:46:30 GMT
This old chestnut came to mind again, and just for fun, I just e-mailed the BFI. As usual, probably nothing, but I’ll let you know when/if they respond. This came to nothing. It was a form e-mail that said to use their library. What are the odds the person who responded didn’t even read the e-mail?
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Post by Nalkarj on May 3, 2019 20:55:00 GMT
And Alfred Music: nuttin’. That’s discouraging, to say the least.
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Post by Doghouse6 on May 4, 2019 19:33:14 GMT
And Alfred Music: nuttin’. That’s discouraging, to say the least. In one way, yeah. But it's encouraging, or interesting at the very least, to know that Mr. Brian Floyd of Alfred Music is aware of the interest and controversy. It's just that he, frankly, don't give a damn. Nor would anyone else at any other corporate entity about digging into long-buried - or microfiched or digitized - payroll records or call sheets in which I remain convinced the definitive answer lies. Not on the company dime, anyway. But with every contact and communication, there lies the possibility of someone, somewhere, harboring a personal interest glomming onto it and doing so for their own curiosity and satisfaction. I have to maintain a sense of optimism about something; I'm pretty pessimistic about everything else these days. Well, everything else but your diligent relentlessness. And it's a bonus that, unlike Marple or Poirot, you're not fictional.
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Post by Nalkarj on May 4, 2019 20:08:07 GMT
In one way, yeah. But it's encouraging, or interesting at the very least, to know that Mr. Brian Floyd of Alfred Music is aware of the interest and controversy. It's just that he, frankly, don't give a damn. Nor would anyone else at any other corporate entity about digging into long-buried - or microfiched or digitized - payroll records or call sheets in which I remain convinced the definitive answer lies. Not on the company dime, anyway. But with every contact and communication, there lies the possibility of someone, somewhere, harboring a personal interest glomming onto it and doing so for their own curiosity and satisfaction. I have to maintain a sense of optimism about something; I'm pretty pessimistic about everything else these days. Well, everything else but your diligent relentlessness. And it's a bonus that, unlike Marple or Poirot, you're not fictional. You’re right, of course, and I wasn’t really expecting anyone to go hunting for it, certainly not (as you say) on the company dime. The last time someone said he’d taken a personal interest was the curator of John Addison’s papers—which was very nice of him, but he didn’t find anything. I know I’ve said this before, but what I keep hoping for, and why I keep resurrecting the mystery, is for someone to hear the vocals and say, “Oh, that’s ol’ so-and-so.” The singer probably did the job and quickly forgot about it—but he had to have done other singing at some point (which is also why I was hoping the Broadway World forum would have a lead, but no such luck). I’m really not sure what the point of all my searching is. If it turns out, as you’ve written (and you’re probably right), to be someone we’ve never heard of, then that’s that, and it may be something of a disappointment after all the searching. But what other answer could there be? Even if it were a well-known singer, it would just be a name to put with some vocals. I think (and this is self-justification, yes) I keep at it because it’s just an itch that we can’t scratch—it’s something that should be clear and it’s not. But what will we achieve if we do solve it? Nothing. Gah.
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Post by Prime etc. on May 5, 2019 22:56:27 GMT
After watching Michael Caine in THE SWARM I think he is the man to get things done. If he wanted to know the singer, by God it would get solved pronto!
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Post by hi224 on May 6, 2019 1:25:25 GMT
I'm trying to save the very long Sleuth thread wherever I can: I don't want it to disappear, but I also doubt I can copy all of the postings there. So, to make it easier on myself and everyone else, I'll copy the most important parts here. ______________________________ I'm sure somebody has posted about this before because it's seemingly such a big mystery (see www.soundtrackcollector.com/forum/displayquestion.php?topicid=7598, en.allexperts.com/q/Classic-Film-2786/Cole-Porter-Sleuth-movie.htm, and www.imdb.com/title/tt0069281/board/thread/10107549), so, if there is another thread about this, it would help me a great deal if someone can post a link to it. The mystery is that just about no one seems to know who sang three Cole Porter songs--"Just One of Those Things," "You Do Something to Me," and "Anything Goes"--in the movie Sleuth (1972). Here's a link to a video of Laurence Olivier's character dancing to them in a scene from the movie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_VVr8ScGOc. One would think that by this time someone would have some idea of who sang them, but the identity of the singer just seems a mystery despite some promising leads over the years, none of which have panned out. Even more curiously, there is no singer identified in the end credits, and the three songs did not appear on the movie's soundtrack. From what I could find, the last time that someone could look into this question was at the website "Soundtrack Collector" on March 5 of this year; the last poster stated that he had found "the exact song" of "Anything Goes" on Amazon Music for $1.29. After checking Amazon Music and looking through/previewing the many different versions of "Anything Goes," I was unable to find the song to which he referred and could not find the version from Sleuth. The poster immediately before him suggested that "You Do Something to Me" was on the soundtrack for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight, but, after checking that, I discovered that that version was sung by Frank Luther for Leo Reisman's orchestra, a candidate considered since the beginning--and not the actual singer from Sleuth. The weird thing about the whole thing is that it seems so mysterious. Why should it be so difficult to find who sang three songs? Why wasn't the singer's name in the credits? Why didn't the soundtrack include the songs? My only guess--and I concede that this is far-fetched--is that it's on purpose. The film is all about tricks, games, mysteries, puzzles, etc., and, unlikely as it sounds, I wonder if director Joseph Mankiewicz and screenwriter Anthony Shaffer made this mysterious singer so hard to find on purpose. That is to say, I wonder if the versions were specially created for the film or put together from other recordings (somehow)--or that it's someone whom we wouldn't suspect of being a singer (someone suggested Michael Caine himself, though I very much doubt it). More likely, of course, no one ever thought that anyone would be trying so hard to find this guy--but that still leaves the above questions unanswered. I apologize for going on so long, but I did want to provide all the background that I could. Thank you all very much--it would be great if someone could finally put this old question to rest! happy to see you are a sleuth fan as well.
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Post by Nalkarj on May 7, 2019 14:45:37 GMT
After watching Michael Caine in THE SWARM I think he is the man to get things done. If he wanted to know the singer, by God it would get solved pronto! After I finally gave in and created (for work, of all things!) a Twitter account that I never use, I PM’d him there. No response, unsurprisingly. I’m sure he doesn’t read those that often, anyway, but he probably doesn’t care—which is understandable, to be honest.
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Post by jervistetch on May 8, 2019 0:10:04 GMT
I like to think that Michael Caine does care, Salzmank. He cares very much. Never give up!!
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 28, 2019 18:38:43 GMT
Drifted away but never forgotten .... and this thread too !
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 11, 2019 4:26:38 GMT
Refreshed for easy access per request by someone who needs to know
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 26, 2019 15:26:01 GMT
Hey, new lead (not that I’m getting my hopes up, at this point): Don Howard. Someone posted the suggestion on SoundtrackCollector. Am at work, so I can’t listen right now, but just thought I’d let you all know...
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 26, 2019 21:22:39 GMT
I just listened. Um... If the Don Howard he means is the Don Howard singing “Oh Happy Day” on YouTube, I don’t think there could be a singer more unlike the Sleuth guy!
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 27, 2019 23:17:01 GMT
I just listened. Um... If the Don Howard he means is the Don Howard singing “Oh Happy Day” on YouTube, I don’t think there could be a singer more unlike the Sleuth guy! Not even Tiny Tim ?
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 28, 2019 10:20:12 GMT
I just listened. Um... If the Don Howard he means is the Don Howard singing “Oh Happy Day” on YouTube, I don’t think there could be a singer more unlike the Sleuth guy! Not even Tiny Tim ? Excruciating on the ears point taken.
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Post by jervistetch on Aug 28, 2019 23:59:01 GMT
Maybe they meant Don Ho.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 29, 2019 1:00:08 GMT
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Post by jervistetch on Aug 29, 2019 2:37:05 GMT
I’m sure that I owned a “Don Ho Sings Cole Porter” album but I seemed to have misplaced it.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 29, 2019 2:50:38 GMT
I’m sure that I owned a “Don Ho Sings Cole Porter” album but I seemed to have misplaced it. Probably not all that bad a thing to have done !
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