Lisa Kirk
Encyclopedia
Lisa Kirk was an American
actress and singer noted for her comic talents and rich contralto
(her voice was called a husky alto
).
, she enrolled as a law student at the University of Pittsburgh
but abandoned her studies when she was offered a spot in the chorus line at the Versailles nightclub
in Manhattan
.
She made her Broadway debut in Allegro
in 1947,
and the following year gained critical acclaim for her performance as Lois Lane/Bianca in Kiss Me, Kate
. In Mack and Mabel (1974), she played an older actress who becomes a star tap dancer, and was noted by Clive Barnes
to be "particularly fine". Additional Broadway credits include Here's Love
(1963), Me Jack, You Jill (closed during previews in 1976), and a 1984 revival of Noël Coward
's Design for Living
.
Lisa Kirk's only feature film work was done behind-the-scenes, partially dubbing Rosalind Russell
's singing voice in Gypsy
. It was rumored that she had also dubbed Lucille Ball
's singing voice in Mame
, but Ball denied this on The Merv Griffin Show
, saying "[S]he's not dubbing my voice because no one can."
Kirk was active in the early days of television
, appearing in such anthology series as Studio One
, Kraft Television Theatre
, The Colgate Comedy Hour
, and General Electric Theater
. In later years she guested on Bewitched
and The Courtship of Eddie's Father
, as well as variety series like The Ed Sullivan Show
, The Hollywood Palace
, and The Dean Martin Show
.
Kirk frequently appeared at the Persian Room in the Plaza Hotel
. She also appeared at the Rainbow and Stars, New York, nightclub. In a review of her act at Rainbow and Stars in April 1989, the New York Times critic John S. Wilson
opined that Kirk's "long career has given her polish, presence and a solid foundation of songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter and Jerry Herman with which she is associated. She has maintained such a trim structure that she can do justice to a song called Is That Really Her Figure?" And although her voice may not be as full-bodied as it once was, she has a warm, easy projection that gives sensitivity and color to her songs."
In addition to her appearances on original cast albums and compilations of Broadway performances, she recorded a number of solo recordings
, including I Feel A Song Comin' On and Lisa Kirk Sings At The Plaza.
Kirk will likely be best-known for her role in the original Broadway production of Cole Porter
's long-running musical, Kiss Me, Kate
. Bloom and Vlastnik wrote in their copendium entitled Broadway Musicals: the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time that Kirk "hit the jackpot again", introducing "Why Can't You Behave" and "Always True to You (in My Fashion)
". Another popular number was the upbeat "Tom, Dick or Harry
", performed with Harold Lang
as Lucentio, Edwin Clay as Gremio and Charles Wood
as Hortensio (suitors to Kirk's "Bianca"). Lewis Nichols writes: "Having startled the town last season by singing 'The Gentleman is a Dope' as though she meant it, Miss Kirk is captivating ..this year as a fully accredited hoyden with a sense of humor."
(born 1922 – died 1998) from 1949 until her death in 1990. They had no children. Wells co-wrote "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
" with Mel Torme
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress and singer noted for her comic talents and rich contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
(her voice was called a husky alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
).
Career
Born as Elsie Kirk in Brownsville, PennsylvaniaBrownsville, Pennsylvania
Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, officially founded in 1785 located 35 miles south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River...
, she enrolled as a law student at the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
but abandoned her studies when she was offered a spot in the chorus line at the Versailles nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
She made her Broadway debut in Allegro
Allegro (musical)
Allegro is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II , their third collaboration for the stage. Opening on Broadway on October 10, 1947, the musical centers on the life of Joseph Taylor, Jr.—Joe follows in the footsteps of his father as a doctor, but is tempted by fortune and fame at...
in 1947,
and the following year gained critical acclaim for her performance as Lois Lane/Bianca in Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
. In Mack and Mabel (1974), she played an older actress who becomes a star tap dancer, and was noted by Clive Barnes
Clive Barnes
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
to be "particularly fine". Additional Broadway credits include Here's Love
Here's Love
Here's Love is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson.Based on the classic film Miracle on 34th Street, it tells the tale of a skeptical little girl who doubts the existence of Santa Claus. When the real Kris Kringle inadvertently is hired to represent jolly St...
(1963), Me Jack, You Jill (closed during previews in 1976), and a 1984 revival of Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Design for Living
Design for Living
Design for Living is a comedy play written by Noël Coward in 1932. It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Originally written to star Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward, it was premiered on Broadway, partly because its risqué...
.
Lisa Kirk's only feature film work was done behind-the-scenes, partially dubbing Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
's singing voice in Gypsy
Gypsy (1962 film)
Gypsy is a 1962 American musical film produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass is based on the book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable by Arthur Laurents, which was adapted from Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee.Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for...
. It was rumored that she had also dubbed Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
's singing voice in Mame
Mame (film)
Mame is a 1974 musical film based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name, directed by Gene Saks, written by Paul Zindel, and starring Lucille Ball and Beatrice Arthur.Warner Bros...
, but Ball denied this on The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
, saying "[S]he's not dubbing my voice because no one can."
Kirk was active in the early days of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, appearing in such anthology series as Studio One
Studio One (TV series)
Studio One is a long-running American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by the 26-year-old Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC.-Radio:...
, Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J...
, The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show stars many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou...
, and General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...
. In later years she guested on Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
and The Courtship of Eddie's Father
The Courtship of Eddie's Father
The Courtship of Eddie's Father is an American television sitcom based on the 1963 movie of the same name, which was based on the book written by Mark Toby...
, as well as variety series like The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. It began as a mid-season replacement for the short-lived Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months...
, and The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
.
Kirk frequently appeared at the Persian Room in the Plaza Hotel
Plaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel with a height of and length of that occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue extends along the east side of Grand Army Plaza...
. She also appeared at the Rainbow and Stars, New York, nightclub. In a review of her act at Rainbow and Stars in April 1989, the New York Times critic John S. Wilson
John S. Wilson (music critic)
John S. Wilson was an American music critic and jazz radio host. He worked as a music critic for The New York Times for four decades, and was notably that paper's first critic to write regularly on jazz and other genres of popular music.-References:...
opined that Kirk's "long career has given her polish, presence and a solid foundation of songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter and Jerry Herman with which she is associated. She has maintained such a trim structure that she can do justice to a song called Is That Really Her Figure?" And although her voice may not be as full-bodied as it once was, she has a warm, easy projection that gives sensitivity and color to her songs."
In addition to her appearances on original cast albums and compilations of Broadway performances, she recorded a number of solo recordings
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, including I Feel A Song Comin' On and Lisa Kirk Sings At The Plaza.
Kirk will likely be best-known for her role in the original Broadway production of 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...
's long-running musical, Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
. Bloom and Vlastnik wrote in their copendium entitled Broadway Musicals: the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time that Kirk "hit the jackpot again", introducing "Why Can't You Behave" and "Always True to You (in My Fashion)
Always True to You in My Fashion
"Always True to You in My Fashion" is a 1948 show-tune by Cole Porter, written for the musical Kiss Me, Kate. In the lyrics, the singer protests that she is always faithful to her main love in her own way, despite seeing, and accepting gifts from, wealthy older men.It is sung in the later part of...
". Another popular number was the upbeat "Tom, Dick or Harry
Tom, Dick or Harry (song)
Tom, Dick or Harry is a show tune from the Cole Porter musical, Kiss Me, Kate, introduced on Broadway on December 30, 1948 by Lisa Kirk ; Harold Lang ; Edwin Clay ; and Charles Wood...
", performed with Harold Lang
Harold Lang
Harold Lang was an American dancer and actor.-Biography:Lang began his professional career as a ballet dancer, making his professional debut with the San Francisco Ballet in 1938 and then going on to perform with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo two years later and American Ballet Theatre in 1943...
as Lucentio, Edwin Clay as Gremio and Charles Wood
Charles Wood (singer and actor)
Charles Wood was an American singer and actor. After moving to New York City from Redwood City, California, where he grew up, he appeared in five Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early years:...
as Hortensio (suitors to Kirk's "Bianca"). Lewis Nichols writes: "Having startled the town last season by singing 'The Gentleman is a Dope' as though she meant it, Miss Kirk is captivating ..this year as a fully accredited hoyden with a sense of humor."
Marriage
She was married to sketch artist and famed songwriter Robert WellsRobert Wells (songwriter)
Robert Wells was an American songwriter, composer, script writer and television producer. During his early career, he collaborated with singer and songwriter Mel Tormé, writing several hit songs, most notably "The Christmas Song" in 1945...
(born 1922 – died 1998) from 1949 until her death in 1990. They had no children. Wells co-wrote "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
The Christmas Song
"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
" with Mel Torme
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
.