''New Faces'' is a 1954 American film adaptation of the musical revue ''

New Faces of 1952 ''New Faces of 1952'' is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped launch the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alic ...

'' directed by

Harry Horner Harry Horner (July 24, 1910 – December 5, 1994) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American art director who made a successful career in Hollywood as an Oscar-winning art director and as a feature film and television director. Biography Horner was ...

with sketches directed by John Beal. Filmed in

Cinemascope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

and

Eastmancolor Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak. Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was on ...

it was released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

on March 6, 1954. The film is sometimes referred to as ''New Faces of 1952'', from the original Broadway show's title.

Plot summary

The film was essentially a reproduction of the stage revue with a thin plot added. This involved a producer and performer (Ronny Graham) in financial trouble on opening night. A wealthy Texan, whose daughter is in the show, offers to help out on the condition that he finds the show to be of high-enough quality and commercial potential to warrant the investment. Meanwhile, Clary locks a bill collector in a dressing room until the show is finished and he can collect the money. If the Texan performer's father is not impressed with her talent, she will be expected to return to Texas rather than pursuing her show-business career. Her attempts to impress onstage are hampered by the fact that her signature song is repeatedly cut short so that she can introduce the next act. But at the end of the show, the backer is duly impressed and his daughter not only has her talent validated, but announces that she will be marrying the other cast member with whom she's in love.

Background

Ronny Graham, Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, Alice Ghostley, June Carroll, Virginia De Luce, Carol Lawrence, Patricia Hammerlee, Paul Lynde, and Bill Millikin reprised their stage roles. The sketches include Lynde's famous "Trip of the Month" monologue, and a ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a montag ...

'' parody with Graham, Lynde and Ghostley, written by

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...

, who is billed in the credits as "Melvin Brooks." In a March 2012 appearance at the

American Cinematheque The American Cinematheque is an independent, nonprofit cultural organization in Los Angeles, California, United States dedicated exclusively to the public presentation of the moving image in all its forms. The Cinematheque was created in 1981 as ...

, Brooks said the sketch was originally written for another revue, "Curtain Going Up," but that show closed during its tryout in Philadelphia. However, Sillman had seen the show and asked him if he could import the sketch for "New Faces." Brooks readily agreed and thanked him for "saving my Broadway career." He added that Arthur Miller came to a performance and afterwards sent him a note which read, "I am not upset. But I should be."

Cast

;Starring *

Ronny Graham Ronny Graham (August 26, 1919 – July 4, 1999) was an American actor and theater director, composer, lyricist, and writer. Life and career Graham was born Ronald Montcrief Stringer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of five children born ...

as Himself *

Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Ba ...

as Herself *

Robert Clary Robert Clary (born Robert Max Widerman; March 1, 1926 – November 16, 2022) was a French actor mainly active in the United States. He is best known for his role in the television sitcom ''Hogan's Heroes'' as Corporal Louis LeBeau (1965–197 ...

as Himself *

Alice Ghostley Alice Margaret Ghostley (August 14, 1923 – September 21, 2007) was a Tony Award-winning American actress and singer on stage, film and television. She was best known for her roles as bumbling witch Esmeralda (1969–70; 1972) on '' Bewitched' ...

as Herself ;Under-billed cast *

June Carroll June Carroll (1917 – May 16, 2004) was an American lyricist, singer and actress. Born June Sillman in Detroit, Michigan, Carroll appeared in the Broadway musical ''New Faces of 1952'', introducing the now-standard ''Guess Who I Saw Today'', by ...

as Herself *Virginia de Luce as Virginia de Luce Clayborn *

Paul Lynde Paul Edward Lynde (; June 13, 1926January 10, 1982) was an American comedian, actor and game show panelist. A character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his barely closeted homosexuality, Lynde was well ...

as Himself *Bill Mullikin as Himself *Rosemary O'Reilly as Herself *Allen Conroy as Herself *Jimmy Russell as Himself *

George Smiley George Smiley OBE is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is a career intelligence officer with "The Circus", the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a central character in the novels ''Call for the Dead'', ''A Mur ...

as Himself *

Polly Ward Polly Ward (born Byno Poluski; 30 June 1912–23 February 1987) was a British singer and actress. Filmography * ''The Marriage Business'' (1927) * '' Alf's Button'' (1930) * ''Harmony Heaven'' (1930) * '' His Lordship'' (1932) * '' Kentucky Mins ...

as Herself *

Carol Lawrence Carol Lawrence (born Carolina Maria Laraia; September 5, 1932) is an American actress, appearing in musical theatre and on television. She is known for creating the role of Maria on Broadway in the musical ''West Side Story'' (1957), receiving ...

as Herself *Johnny Laverty as Himself *Elizabeth Logue as Herself *Faith Burwell as Herself *Clark Ranger as Himself *

Henry Kulky Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

as Mr. Dee *Charles Watts as Mr. Clayborn

Soundtrack

The song order was changed and expanded and some songs were omitted, or had their lyrics updated. The song "Natty Puts her Hair Up" was omitted; however, an abridged version was used as an instrumental in a dance routine. The song "Don't Fall Asleep" was omitted. The song "Love is a Simple thing" omitted the final verse, that being the Charles Addams character verse, because it was too outdated. Also, an extra verse was added to "Lizzie Borden". Some of the lines in "Monotonous" were replaced and updated, omitting the line "Ike Likes Me", and being replaced with writing the "Dragnet" theme instead.

''Eartha Kitt'' (EP)

Full title ''Eartha Kitt Sings Songs from the Edward L. Alperson CinemaScope Production of Leonard Sillman's "New Faces"'', this was a 45 speed 7"

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

released around 1954 to market on the commercial success of the film's star,

, after the film's release. The extended play was released by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

with the catalog number EPA-557. It was later issued in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1956, and in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

perhaps around 1960.

Track listing

Track list and credits adapted from liner notes of original release. Track lengths are approximate and based on releases of the songs on different versions of ''

That Bad Eartha ''That Bad Eartha'' is a twelve-song reconfiguration of material from American singer Eartha Kitt's first two eight-song, 10-inch albums issued by RCA Victor. It contains all eight songs from the 1953 album RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt. I ...

''.

Release history

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:New Faces 1954 films 1954 musical comedy films American musical comedy films 20th Century Fox films Films based on musicals Films directed by Harry Horner Films scored by Raoul Kraushaar 1950s English-language films 1950s American films