AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Muriel Smith

Artist:Muriel Smith
Song:Happy Talk
Album:South Pacific: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack





Most folks should be familiar with the 1958 film version for the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific. As I have said in the past, the dubbing of vocals in film musicals is very common. But it can still be a bone of contention for fans. And the controversy over the dubbing in South Pacific still rages today. South Pacific was a huge hit when it first arrived on Broadway in 1949 and there were other stage productions as well. So when the time came to produce the film, Richard Rodgers was in charge of the music. The film Starred Mitzi Gaynor, Rossano Brazzi, Ray Walston, John Kerr and Juanita Hall. Gaynor and Walston did their own singing. Brazzi was dubbed by Giorgio Tozzi and Kerr was dubbed by Bill Lee. What annoyed fans at the time and still annoys them today is that Juanita Hall's voice was dubbed by Muriel Smith. That's because Juanita won a Tony award for her performance in the original Broadway production. So why was her voice dubbed in the film? Muriel Smith played Bloody Mary in the London production and reportedly Richard Rodgers always preferred her vocals. When asked about this choice, director Joshua Logan said that Rodgers was the music expert and deferred to him. Fans are still upset about this. There's a video on Youtube that dubs Juanita's vocals into the film scene. The studios didn't think it was a big deal because they dubbed vocals all the time. Juanita Hall was mainly a choral singer in New York when she was asked to do South Pacific. She also appeared in The Flower Drum Song. Muriel Smith made her Broadway debut as Carmen Jones in 1943 and dubbed singing voices in Hollywood movies. That's her voice coming out of Zsa Zsa Gabor's mouth in the 1950 film Moulin Rouge. Of course the film South Pacific was a huge hit and you can get the soundtrack on CD. I'm just surprised the controversy still rages about dubbing singing voices in films. Here's Juanita Hall with the voice of Muriel Smith performing Happy Talk in the film South Pacific.