Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There

The theatre of Broadway, particularly the Broadway musical, is thought to be, along with jazz music, a uniquely American art form. Rick McKay's fascinating and evocative documentary BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE, BY THE LEGENDS WHO WERE THERE is not only a must-see for Broadway show buffs, but for anyone with a keen interest in American popular culture--to which Broadway theatre shared center stage with it's mass-media cousins, motion pictures, radio and television for decades. Taken from over 250 hours of filmed interviews and interspersed with rarely seen film footage (some from live performance "home movies") and 1950's kinescopes (from TV's own "golden age"), McKay's film attempts to answer the question: "Was there ever really a Golden Age of Broadway theatre?" If the viewer didn't know it already, the resounding answer is: "You have no idea!"

Arranged in Ken Burns-style chapters that are often poignant and moving (as is Marian Seldes and Charles Durning's tribute to Laurette Taylor), the tone of this film, as provided by the over 100 participants, is also one that doesn't take itself too seriously. With that special light that comes from behind the eyes of stage-trained actors, stars like Carol Burnett and Jerry Orbach, both of whom achieved greater fame in television--though decades apart--recall their salad days. Burnett, arriving in Manhattan, had to soon move from the perilously expensive Algonquin Hotel into a scenario right out of "Stage Door". Others, like Angela Lansbury and Farley Granger, tell how the New York stage gave them literally a second act to their careers, redefining themselves as stage actors with the collapse of the Hollywood studio system (Granger, in fact, buying out his contract to come to New York, virtually broke).

A couple of the funniest anecdotes come from those who were transformed, in true "42nd Street" fashion from chorus girl/understudies to overnight sensations. Shirley MacLaine relates her famous break of going on for the indisposed Carol Haney in PAJAMA GAME with Hal Wallis in the audience. Though one of showbiz's oft-told tales (she utilized it herself in her live stage concerts)there's something special about getting it from the lady herself--and charmingly so. Proving that ambition and preparedness go a long way, Gretchen Wyler, who was the understudy to the no-show who was, in turn, understudying one of the supporting leads in Cole Porter's SILK STOCKINGS when it was out of town, was awarded the part by the time the show opened on Broadway.

The New York theatre district's close-knit situation has always provided a sense of community, perhaps especially to young, struggling and, needless to say, broke actors. This may no longer be true and certainly Hollywood has never had a counterpart, unless you count the kids in "Sunset Blvd" hanging out at the mythic Schwab's Drugstore. But Betty Garrett among several others waxes nostalgic about Walgreen's. The lunch tables there provided a place for many of Broadway's aspiring and unemployed to get together, trade gossip and gather the latest casting buzz. Patricia Morison (still beautiful at nearly 90) remembers getting an early break in the long-forgotten operetta TWO BOUQUETS and hanging out with co-star Alfred Drake in some cheap Broadway eatery and discussing acting. The two, of course, would have a far more celebrated pairing in Cole Porter's KISS ME, KATE. And Robert Goulet, before his big break in Lerner and Loewe's CAMELOT, recalls filching the silverware from one of the Horn & Hardart automats.

BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE is an important documentary for this reason: There exists very little record of the live theatrical performances of many of the legendary stars of Broadway in their signature roles. It is the living and recorded memories of those stars appearing in the film telling not only of their own performing experiences, but giving witness to the artistry of actors that inspired them to excel in their own careers. Uta Hagen's memories of Laurette Taylor in Tennessee Williams' THE GLASS MENAGERIE conjure up what must have been an extraordinary piece of acting. Yet, sadly, Taylor's name is virtually unknown to most Americans because her work was largely unrecorded by any mass medium. On the other hand, Elaine Stritch providing, not surprisingly, some of the most acerbic and delightful bits in McKay's film, speaks in awe of working with Kim Stanley in William Inge's BUS STOP (appearing in a kinescope clip from the play with Albert Salmi). Stanley, though, did appear in such films as "The Goddess" and "The Three Sisters".

Stars like Alfred Drake, Ethel Merman, Mary Martin and John Raitt were part of a phenomenon that no longer exists and is probably no longer even possible in today's show business: they were nationally known and recognized for being stars of the Broadway musical. Not like today, where movie stars or sitcom leads (many whose careers may have started in New York theatre) are often brought in for name recognition value or perceived insurance at the box office. Much of this has to do with the (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh notwithstanding) marginalization of Broadway theatre due to changes in the American music industry, the economics of Broadway, the advent and dominance of rock, the death of the television variety show and the evolution of American pop culture in general. And prior to our video and cable age, when HBO, Bravo, PBS and A&E routinely provide Broadway fare in the shape of taped performances of current productions (revivals of DEATH OF A SALESMAN, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, KISS ME, KATE and SWEENEY TODD), only a lucky few like Marlon Brando, Rex Harrison, Yul Brynner and Barbra Streisand, have had the opportunity to recreate (the latter three in musicals)their most famous Broadway performances for the for the big screen--all of the above collecting Oscars for their efforts. Rick McKay's superb and too brief film tells us not only of an era gone by but also of great performances that live on in the memories and hearts of the astonishing cast of actors who appear in BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE and who were there to experience them.