| 1951: First performance of The King And I at St James's Theatre, Broadway, with Yul Brynner as the King and
Gertrude Lawrence as Anna.
1951: First performance of The King And I at St James's Theatre, Broadway, Yul Brynner as the King and
Gertrude Lawrence as Anna.
Noel Coward and
Gertrude Lawrence were child actors at the Williamson Square theatre, while Michael Redgrave, Richard Briers and Rex Harrison all appeared there in early productions.
Among her pedagogical grandchildren and great-grandchildren are
Gertrude Lawrence, Beverly Sills, Kiri Te Kanawwa, and Meryl Streep.
He and his life-long friend
Gertrude Lawrence, above, played the leads of Elyot and Amanda - a divorced couple who meet while on honeymoon with their new partners.
She then joined NBC's "Home" show, serving as the show's food editor and appearing as Kit Kinne, "TV's number one food authority." From 1953-56, she offered tips and demonstrations, hosting episodes with guests such as James Beard, Charles Laughton, and
Gertrude Lawrence.
They have an unmistakable crowning moment in which performers take over the stage and either lay claim to stardom or reassert their star power, as Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur did when they sang "Bosom Buddies" in Mame, and as Yul Brynner and
Gertrude Lawrence did with "Shall We Dance?" in The King and I.
He originally starred in the comedy, alongside
Gertrude Lawrence, and it is now rightly considered one of the great plays of all time.
The piano arrangements by James Burton seem simplistic comparison with the vocal score reductions, and though Fox gave us an efficient Miss Otis Regrets and a valiant
Gertrude Lawrence impression in the wonderful Physician, the biggest disappointment came with the world's greatest song in this genre, Night and Day.
Gertrude Lawrence starred as a depressed fashion-magazine editor in need of psychoanalysis, whose on-the-couch sessions spur ever more elaborate memory sequences until she has a breakthrough (to the tune of the lilting standard "My Ship").
(Alexander Woollcott,
Gertrude Lawrence, Noel Coward.) In the movie, Woolley's "Sheridan Whiteside" just comes off now as evil and childishly, irrationally, mean.
While readers will easily follow the novel without full knowledge of the real-life players, quick research into Fischer's characters -- like Jane Wyman,
Gertrude Lawrence, and Eleanor Parker -- will give readers an enjoyable overview of the era.