Dream Casting

Buster Keaton as the Tin Man. When the silver paint proved toxic to Buddy Ebsen, why did MGM cast the affectless Jack Haley? Buster was already on the MGM payroll, still physically deft, could sing and dance and was a far better physical actor than anyone else on the lot. And while Frank Morgan did a good job as the Wizard, I think Jimmy Savo, the elfin star stage comedian with a voice that ranged from a shy whisper to an operatic boom (and who could do magic tricks and was a world-class juggler) would have been an inspired choice. Failing that, why didn't Ed Wynn have the sense to accept the role when it was offered?

Before the musical version with Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei Lee and Jane Russell as Dorothy Shaw, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was made as a non-musical comedy. Joan Blondell would have been perfect as Lorelie,and Glenda Farrell, equally perfect as Dorothy. During their careers Blondell and Farrell were co-starred numerous times in imitations of Anita Loos' gold digging but charming characters; unfortunately the Warner's scripts were inferior to Loos'.

It doesn't detract from David Niven's or Cantinflas' performance in Mike Todd's film to note that there were two great physical comedians still around in 1956 and still capable of working in top form that could have paced Around the World better and enlivened it with some physical action sequences: Harold Lloyd as Fogg and Buster Keaton as Passepartout. Todd's film was largely a series of half-reel and one-reel shorts edited into a feature-length movie. But keep the ingeniously cast cameo roles that were the redeeming feature of Mike Todd's film.

I yield to no one in my admiration for Julie Andrews, but I prefer the author's (P.L.Travers) character of Mary Poppins: older, intimidating and a more bizarre personage---in short, a natural role for Beatrice Lillie, who over four decades earned her title as "The Funniest Woman in the World." Those who have seen has seen "Thoroughly Modern Millie" will recall Bea Lillie as the comically evil hotel house-mother, intent on capturing Dorothy (Mary Tyler Moore). Ms Lillie was so busy for 50 years (1914-1964) as a major star of both Broadway and London's West End that she seldom had time to make films (only seven features). but she would have brought a spoon-full of castor oil to the sugary confection that Disney concocted. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins, was not pleased with the two-dimensional and of crayon colored valentine that Disney made. Has Disney heeded those who urged the casting of Beatrice Lillie, "the English Rose with thorns," she would have added a more arresting Poppins. Because of Jack Warner's opportunistic casting of Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady" movie,Julie Andrews was deprived of the role she had created and excelled in on stage in the UK and USA. Thus people were happy to see her rewarded with the title role of Mary Poppins. Yet revising the author's intent into a chirpy, sweet-natured 'pal' to children to fit the young Ms Andrews deprived Bea Lillie of a role she was born to play. Stanley Holloway (Eliza's cockney father in My Fair Lady) would have been perfect as Lillie's co-star in the role of Bert. Again, Dick van Dyke is Julie Andrews' equal as a performer. and suited to the character of Disneyfied Bert on film. But for fans of the book, the admittedly well-made movie was too cutesy.

Tallulah Bankhead should have been signed to recreate her starring Broadway role in The Little Foxes. During the early days of pre-tape television, many Broadway shows were revived for the little screen. Some were preserved on kinescope, others are forgotten--one such play was Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes and the great blessing was that Tallulah Bankhead recreated her role as Regina Hubbard Giddens. For those who witnessed this TV recreation of the Broadway play starring Tallulah Bankhead as well as the slightly altered screenplay starring Bette Davis, the verdict was that no one could better Bankhead in the role. It was as though Davis had dressed up in her mother's clothes and tried to offer a different (and chilly) characterization, but ended up with a petulant version of Tallulah's creation. Davis won the Oscar for her interpretation, and likely deserved it. But for those of us who saw Tallulah's, the Bankhead TV version of the early 1950s is the definitive one. Screen director William Wyler wanted the role of Regina Giddens for his favorite (at the time) female actor, and there was no question that Davis was a far bigger box office draw than Bankhead.