High Society
Encyclopedia
High Society is a musical film
starring Bing Crosby
, Grace Kelly
, and Frank Sinatra
, and made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
in VistaVision
and Technicolor
with music and lyrics by Cole Porter
. The movie was directed by Charles Walters
and produced by Sol C. Siegel from a screenplay
by John Patrick, based on the play The Philadelphia Story
by Philip Barry
. The cinematography was by Paul Vogel
, the art direction by Cedric Gibbons
and Hans Peters
and the costume design by Helen Rose
. It was the last film appearance of Grace Kelly
, before she became Princess consort of Monaco.
) was divorced from wealthy Newport, Rhode Island
socialite Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly
), but remains in love with her. She, however, is about to get married to a bland gentleman of good standing, George Kittredge (John Lund
).
Spy magazine, in possession of embarrassing information about Tracy's father, sends a reporter (Frank Sinatra
) and a photographer (Celeste Holm
) to cover the nuptials. Tracy begins an elaborate charade as a private means of revenge, pretending that her Uncle Willy (Louis Calhern
) is her father (Sidney Blackmer
) and vice versa.
The reporter, Mike Connor, falls in love with Tracy. She must choose between three very different men in a course of self-discovery.
, Grace Kelly
, Frank Sinatra
, Celeste Holm
, John Lund
, Louis Calhern
, Sidney Blackmer
, Margalo Gillmore
and Lydia Reed
, along with Louis Armstrong
as himself. As name-checked by Bing Crosby in the song 'Now You Has Jazz', where each musician takes a small solo, Armstrong's band include: Edmond Hall
(clarinet), Trummy Young
(trombone), Billy Kyle
(piano), Arvell Shaw
(bass), and Barrett Deems
(drums).
High Society marked the final film role for Grace Kelly before she became Princess of Monaco
, released three months after her marriage to Prince Rainier III. Sinatra was 40 and Crosby 53 while playing the love interests of Kelly, who was only 26 during the filming. She was actually the second consideration for the part of Tracy Lord; the original choice, Elizabeth Taylor
, was not available.
High Society is the first on-screen pairing of Sinatra and Crosby, two of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s and 1950s. They would work together again in the Sinatra-produced Robin and the 7 Hoods
in 1964. This is the second time that Crosby and Kelly acted together, the first being The Country Girl
, a film for which Kelly won an Academy Award in March 1955
.
The movie is a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940), with Bing Crosby
in the Cary Grant
role, Grace Kelly
replacing Katharine Hepburn
, and Frank Sinatra
performing James Stewart
's part, for which Stewart had won the Academy Award for Best Actor
.
in eight years; it introduced a couple of pop standards, including True Love and You're Sensational. Not only did Sinatra and Crosby collaborate for the first time, but behind the scenes two master orchestrators—Conrad Salinger
and Nelson Riddle
—melded their distinctive arrangements under the baton of Johnny Green
. Armstrong and his band get a couple of standout moments and Kelly makes an impressive singing debut.
High Society
soundtrack:
A soundtrack was released the same year and was a major success in both America and Great Britain. It has been said that one of the main reasons star Frank Sinatra was drawn to the film was a mock-tipsy duet with his boyhood idol Bing Crosby on Well, Did You Evah!, a song added at the last minute when it was noted that the two singers didn't have a duet to perform in the film. The title of the song Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? gained new significance a half-century later as the title of a global game show franchise
. I Love You, Samantha has also become a jazz favorite for improvisations.
in the Crosby part, Katharine Hepburn
in the Grace Kelly role, and James Stewart
in an Oscar
-winning turn as the drunken reporter played in the remake
by Sinatra. Variety noted: "Fortified with a strong Cole Porter score, film is a pleasant romp for cast toppers Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Their impact is almost equally consistent. Although Sinatra has the top pop tune opportunities, the crooner makes his specialties stand up and out on showmanship and delivery, and Kelly impresses as a femme lead." Bosley Crowther
of The New York Times
described it as "flimsy as a gossip-columnist's word," missing "the snap and the crackle that its un-musical predecessor had." According to Time
, in spite of its "Who's Who
cast" the film is "simply not top-drawer"; a "good deal of the screenplay seems as dated today as the idle rich...[Kelly] lacks the gawky animal energy that Katharine Hepburn brought to the 1939 play and the 1941 movie, [Crosby] saunters through the part rather sleepily, without much of the old Bing zing[, and] Sinatra plays the reporter like a dead-end kid with a typewriter."
At the North American box office, High Society was a success. It was one of the 10 highest grossing films of 1956, with a gross of $6.25 million.
:
Writers Guild of America Award
s:
with several Porter songs from other sources added to the score. The Broadway production
opened on April 27, 1998 at the St. James Theatre
, where it ran for 144 performances.Society at the Internet Broadway Database
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
starring Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
, and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
in VistaVision
VistaVision
VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35mm motion picture film format which was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954....
and Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
with music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
. The movie was directed by Charles Walters
Charles Walters
Charles Walters was a Hollywood director and choreographer most noted for his work in MGM musicals and comedies in from the 1940s to the 1960s....
and produced by Sol C. Siegel from a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by John Patrick, based on the play The Philadelphia Story
The Philadelphia Story (play)
The Philadelphia Story is a 1939 American comic play by Philip Barry. It tells the story of a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and an attractive journalist.-Production:...
by Philip Barry
Philip Barry
Philip James Quinn Barry was an American playwright born in Rochester, New York.-Early life:Philip Barry was born on June 18, 1896 in Rochester, New York to James Corbett Barry and Mary Agnes Quinn Barry. James would die from appendicitis a year after Philip's birth, and his father's marble and...
. The cinematography was by Paul Vogel
Paul Vogel
Paul Vogel, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. His credits included The Tell-Tale Heart, Angels in the Outfield, The Tender Trap, High Society, The Time Machine, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, Hold On!, and Return of the Seven.Vogel began his career in the 1920s and, aside from...
, the art direction by Cedric Gibbons
Cedric Gibbons
Austin Cedric Gibbons was an Irish American art director who was one of the most important and influential in the field in the history of American film. He also made a great impact on motion picture theater architecture through the 1930s to 1950s, the period considered the golden-era of theater...
and Hans Peters
Hans Peters (art director)
Hans Peters was an English art director. He was nominated for five Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Peters was nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
and the costume design by Helen Rose
Helen Rose
Helen Rose was an American costume designer and clothing designer who spent the bulk of her career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-Career:...
. It was the last film appearance of Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
, before she became Princess consort of Monaco.
Plot summary
The highly successful jazz musician C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing CrosbyBing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
) was divorced from wealthy Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
socialite Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
), but remains in love with her. She, however, is about to get married to a bland gentleman of good standing, George Kittredge (John Lund
John Lund
John Lund was an American film actor who is probably best remembered for his role in the film A Foreign Affair , directed by Billy Wilder.-Background:...
).
Spy magazine, in possession of embarrassing information about Tracy's father, sends a reporter (Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
) and a photographer (Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...
) to cover the nuptials. Tracy begins an elaborate charade as a private means of revenge, pretending that her Uncle Willy (Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern was an American stage and screen actor.- Early life :Louis Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt on February 19, 1895 in Brooklyn, New York. His family left New York City while he was still a child and moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he grew up...
) is her father (Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Alderman Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately...
) and vice versa.
The reporter, Mike Connor, falls in love with Tracy. She must choose between three very different men in a course of self-discovery.
Casting
The film stars Bing CrosbyBing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...
, John Lund
John Lund
John Lund was an American film actor who is probably best remembered for his role in the film A Foreign Affair , directed by Billy Wilder.-Background:...
, Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern was an American stage and screen actor.- Early life :Louis Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt on February 19, 1895 in Brooklyn, New York. His family left New York City while he was still a child and moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he grew up...
, Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Alderman Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately...
, Margalo Gillmore
Margalo Gillmore
Margaret Lorraine "Margalo" Gillmore was an English American film, stage and television actress....
and Lydia Reed
Lydia Reed
Lydia Reed is an American former child actress best known for her role as Tallahassee "Hassie" McCoy from 1957 to 1963 in 145 episodes of the ABC situation comedy The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan in the title role of Grandpa Amos McCoy...
, along with Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
as himself. As name-checked by Bing Crosby in the song 'Now You Has Jazz', where each musician takes a small solo, Armstrong's band include: Edmond Hall
Edmond Hall
Edmond Hall was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. His father Edward Blainey Hall and mother Caroline Duhe had eight children, Priscilla , Moretta , Viola , Robert , Edmond , Clarence , Edward and Herbert .-Early life:Born in Reserve, Louisiana, about...
(clarinet), Trummy Young
Trummy Young
James "Trummy" Young was a trombonist in the swing era. Although he was never really a star or a bandleader himself, he did have one hit with his version of "Margie," which he played and sang with Jimmie Lunceford's Time-Life Orchestra.-Biography:Growing up in Savannah, GA and Richmond, VA, Young...
(trombone), Billy Kyle
Billy Kyle
William Osborne "Billy" Kyle was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Kyle was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began playing the piano in school and by the early 1930s worked with Lucky Millinder, and later the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. In 1938, he joined John Kirby's band, but was drafted in...
(piano), Arvell Shaw
Arvell Shaw
Arvell Shaw was an American jazz double-bassist, best known for his work with Louis Armstrong....
(bass), and Barrett Deems
Barrett Deems
Barrett Deems was an American swing music jazz drummer born in Springfield, Illinois, probably best known for his work with jazz musicians Jimmy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong , Red Norvo, and Muggsy Spanier.Deems died of pneumonia in Chicago, in September 1998, at the age...
(drums).
High Society marked the final film role for Grace Kelly before she became Princess of Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, released three months after her marriage to Prince Rainier III. Sinatra was 40 and Crosby 53 while playing the love interests of Kelly, who was only 26 during the filming. She was actually the second consideration for the part of Tracy Lord; the original choice, Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, was not available.
High Society is the first on-screen pairing of Sinatra and Crosby, two of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s and 1950s. They would work together again in the Sinatra-produced Robin and the 7 Hoods
Robin and the 7 Hoods
Robin and the 7 Hoods is a 1964 American musical film that transplants the Robin Hood legend to a 1930s Chicago gangster setting. Directed by Gordon Douglas and produced by Frank Sinatra, with a screenplay by David R. Schwartz, the movie stars members of the Rat Pack as well as Bing Crosby, Peter...
in 1964. This is the second time that Crosby and Kelly acted together, the first being The Country Girl
The Country Girl (1954 film)
The Country Girl is a 1954 drama film adapted by George Seaton from a Clifford Odets play of the same name, which tells the story of an alcoholic has-been actor struggling with the one last chance he's been given to resurrect his career. It stars Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and William Holden. Seaton,...
, a film for which Kelly won an Academy Award in March 1955
27th Academy Awards
The 27th Academy Awards honored the best films produced in 1954. The Best Picture winner, On the Waterfront, was produced by Sam Spiegel and directed by Elia Kazan...
.
The movie is a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940), with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
in the Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
role, Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
replacing Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
performing James Stewart
James Stewart
James Stewart was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart may also refer to:-Noblemen:*James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland*James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn James Stewart (1908–1997) was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart...
's part, for which Stewart had won the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
.
- Bing CrosbyBing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
as C.K. Dexter-Haven - Grace KellyGrace KellyGrace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
as Tracy Samantha Lord - Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
as Mike Connor - Celeste HolmCeleste HolmCeleste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...
as Liz Imbrie - John LundJohn LundJohn Lund was an American film actor who is probably best remembered for his role in the film A Foreign Affair , directed by Billy Wilder.-Background:...
as George Kittredge - Louis CalhernLouis CalhernLouis Calhern was an American stage and screen actor.- Early life :Louis Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt on February 19, 1895 in Brooklyn, New York. His family left New York City while he was still a child and moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he grew up...
as Uncle Willie - Sidney BlackmerSidney BlackmerSidney Alderman Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately...
as Seth Lord - Louis ArmstrongLouis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and His Band as Themselves - Margalo GillmoreMargalo GillmoreMargaret Lorraine "Margalo" Gillmore was an English American film, stage and television actress....
as Mrs. Seth Lord - Lydia ReedLydia ReedLydia Reed is an American former child actress best known for her role as Tallahassee "Hassie" McCoy from 1957 to 1963 in 145 episodes of the ABC situation comedy The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan in the title role of Grandpa Amos McCoy...
as Caroline Lord - Gordon Richards as Dexter-Haven's butler
- Richard GarrickRichard GarrickRichard Garrick was a director and actor. He was born Richard Thomas O'Brien in the townland of Portlaw, County Waterford, Ireland. His father, James E. O'Brien, was a master tailor in that town, counting among his clients Lord Waterford as well as other nobility and landed gentry. In 1882, James...
as Lords' Butler
Score and songs
Producer Sol Siegel paid Porter $250,000 for his first original film scoreFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
in eight years; it introduced a couple of pop standards, including True Love and You're Sensational. Not only did Sinatra and Crosby collaborate for the first time, but behind the scenes two master orchestrators—Conrad Salinger
Conrad Salinger
Conrad Salinger was an American arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with orchestrating nine productions on Broadway from 1931 to 1938, and over seventy-five motion pictures from 1931 to 1962...
and Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
—melded their distinctive arrangements under the baton of Johnny Green
Johnny Green
Johnny Green was an American songwriter, composer, musical arranger, and conductor. He was given the nickname "Beulah" by colleague Conrad Salinger. His most famous song was one of his earliest, "Body and Soul"...
. Armstrong and his band get a couple of standout moments and Kelly makes an impressive singing debut.
High Society
High Society (1956 album)
High Society is a 1956 soundtrack album, featuring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Grace Kelly. This was Crosby's fourth LP album, and his first recorded with Capitol Records...
soundtrack:
- "High Society Calypso" (Armstrong & his band)
- "True LoveTrue Love (song)"True Love" is a popular song written by Cole Porter and was published in 1956.The song was introduced by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the musical film High Society. The Crosby–Kelly version, accompanied by Johnny Green's MGM studio orchestra using a romantic arrangement by Conrad Salinger, was...
" (Crosby & Kelly) - "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (song)"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1956 film High Society, where it was introduced by Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm....
" (Sinatra & Holm) - "I Love You, SamanthaI Love You, Samantha"I Love You, Samantha" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1956 film High Society, where it was introduced by Bing Crosby.In the United Kingdom, an instrumental version of the song recorded by the Pete Moore Orchestra has been used as a theme tune by BBC Radio 2 presenter David Jacobs for many...
" (Crosby) - "You're SensationalYou're Sensational"You're Sensational" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1956 film High Society, where it was introduced by Frank Sinatra.-Notable recordings:*Frank Sinatra - High Society *Jack Jones - Dear Heart...
" (Sinatra) - "Well, Did You Evah!Well, Did You Evah!"Well, Did You Evah!" is a song written by Cole Porter for his 1939 musical Du Barry Was a Lady, where it was introduced by Betty Grable and Charles Walters....
" (Crosby & Sinatra) - "Little OneLittle One"Little One" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1956 film High Society, where it was introduced by Bing Crosby....
" (Crosby) - "Now You Has JazzNow You Has Jazz"Now You Has Jazz" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1956 film High Society, where it was introduced by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong.-Notable recordings:*Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong - High Society...
" (Crosby, Armstrong & his band, individually introduced by name) - "Mind if I Make Love to You?Mind if I Make Love to You?"Mind if I Make Love to You?" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1956 film High Society, where it was sung by Frank Sinatra to Grace Kelly....
" (Sinatra)
A soundtrack was released the same year and was a major success in both America and Great Britain. It has been said that one of the main reasons star Frank Sinatra was drawn to the film was a mock-tipsy duet with his boyhood idol Bing Crosby on Well, Did You Evah!, a song added at the last minute when it was noted that the two singers didn't have a duet to perform in the film. The title of the song Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? gained new significance a half-century later as the title of a global game show franchise
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
. I Love You, Samantha has also become a jazz favorite for improvisations.
Critical reception and box office
Opening on July 17, 1956, High Society garnered mixed reviews, often being compared as a lesser offering to The Philadelphia Story, a previous adaptation of the same play starring Cary GrantCary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
in the Crosby part, Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
in the Grace Kelly role, and James Stewart
James Stewart
James Stewart was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart may also refer to:-Noblemen:*James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland*James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn James Stewart (1908–1997) was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart...
in an Oscar
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
-winning turn as the drunken reporter played in the remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
by Sinatra. Variety noted: "Fortified with a strong Cole Porter score, film is a pleasant romp for cast toppers Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Their impact is almost equally consistent. Although Sinatra has the top pop tune opportunities, the crooner makes his specialties stand up and out on showmanship and delivery, and Kelly impresses as a femme lead." Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described it as "flimsy as a gossip-columnist's word," missing "the snap and the crackle that its un-musical predecessor had." According to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, in spite of its "Who's Who
Who's Who
Who's Who is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on a particular group of people...
cast" the film is "simply not top-drawer"; a "good deal of the screenplay seems as dated today as the idle rich...[Kelly] lacks the gawky animal energy that Katharine Hepburn brought to the 1939 play and the 1941 movie, [Crosby] saunters through the part rather sleepily, without much of the old Bing zing[, and] Sinatra plays the reporter like a dead-end kid with a typewriter."
At the North American box office, High Society was a success. It was one of the 10 highest grossing films of 1956, with a gross of $6.25 million.
Award nominations
29th Academy Awards29th Academy Awards
During the 29th Academy Awards, the regular competitive category of Best Foreign Language Film was introduced, instead of only being recognized as a Special Achievement Award or as a Best Picture nominee . The first winner in this new category was Federico Fellini's La strada with Anthony Quinn and...
:
- Nominated: Best Music, Song: True LoveTrue Love (song)"True Love" is a popular song written by Cole Porter and was published in 1956.The song was introduced by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the musical film High Society. The Crosby–Kelly version, accompanied by Johnny Green's MGM studio orchestra using a romantic arrangement by Conrad Salinger, was...
- Nominated: Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture
Writers Guild of America Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
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- Nominated: Best Written American Musical, losing to The King and IThe King and I (1956 film)The King and I is a 1956 musical film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I, based in turn on the book Anna and the King...
1990s Broadway adaptation
More than forty years after the original movie was released, it was adapted for the stage as a Broadway musicalMusical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with several Porter songs from other sources added to the score. The Broadway production
High Society (musical)
High Society is a musical with a book by Arthur Kopit and music and lyrics by Cole Porter.Based on the Philip Barry play The Philadelphia Story and the 1956 musical screen adaptation with Porter's songs, High Society, the plot centers on pretentious Long Island socialite Tracy Lord, who is planning...
opened on April 27, 1998 at the St. James Theatre
St. James Theatre
The St. James Theatre is located at 246 W. 44th St. Broadway, New York City, New York. It was built by Abraham L. Erlanger, theatrical producer and a founding member of the Theatrical Syndicate, on the site of the original Sardi's restaurant. It opened in 1927 as The Erlanger...
, where it ran for 144 performances.Society at the Internet Broadway Database
Internet Broadway Database
The Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....