Expresso Bongo (1959)

[Shelley Court]

Hi everyone - first thread!



I recently bought a DVD of Expresso Bongo. I haven't seen it since about 1960. I am convinced there was a duet between Laurence Harvey and Meier Tzelniker. This does not appear on the DVD. Are there different versions of this fim about? Good to be able to see it in the original CinemaScope, though.

[dylan]

The best song in the film, Nausea, sung by Meier Tzelniker is missing from the DVD. It opens with the great line: When I see this little bleeder and compare him with Aida he gives me...nausea!



I think a song sung by Harvey in his betsit is also missing.



The sound and general picture quality on the DVD is bad.



D.

[D Cairns]

I see that the American edition, from Kino, is three minutes longer than the longest UK version. I wonder if it has an extra number?

[Shelley Court]

Actually the US Kino DVD runs 111m - about 10 minutes longer than the UK DVD. Does anyone know if the missing songs are back in. Kino website gives the aspect ratio of the US DVD as 1.85:1. I hope this is an error. The correct ratio is 2.35:1. If Kino has issued an incorrect framing, then it would be a first.

[Able Abel]

The best song in the film, Nausea, sung by Meier Tzelniker is missing from the DVD. It opens with the great line: When I see this little bleeder and compare him with Aida he gives me...nausea!

Totally agree with you. This song was the highlight of the film, and it's shambolic that it hasn't been included on the DVD. I first saw this film on tv some years back, and the scene where Tzelniker sings Nausea was included, when it was aired.



A DVD re-release NEEDS to be on the cards, with the omitted songs included.

[ChristineCB]

I've got the American version and I'll try to watch it and report back.

[julian_craster]

Expresso Bongo (1959)



On BBC4 tonight (Friday 4th Jan 2008)



Length : 1hr 50 mins (so it might include the elusive number NAUSEA, from

the stage show.....)

[Hugo]

Just seen Expresso Bongo on BBC4. Very disappointing, no Nausea number and shown in the wrong ratio.

The first 30 mins were full screen 3x4 which meant much of the action was off-screen and at times there were no actors visible at all. Then after about 30 mins it suddenly slipped into a kind of wide-screen but nothing like the original 1:2.35. Bad show BBC.

[Matthew Hopkins]

Yes, very strange. I thought I was imagining it when the TV stayed at full frame then later allowed (via Freeview anyway) a change of ratio, even though it was obviously not screened in the original ratio. Are the DVD versions shown in OAR?

[cletus awreetus]

Yep, the ratio changed after 30 mins on Sky.

[dylan]

The DVD is the same plus poor sound quality. Wasn't there also a song by Harvey? This version, however, did show more female flesh that the one I saw in the cinema back in 1960.



D.

[julian_craster]

MUST CLOSE SATURDAY RECORDS have announced three new CD releases of Original West End Cast Recordings, now available...... These include EXPRESSO BONGO with Paul Scofield (in the Laurence Harvey role) and Millicent Martin (in the Sylvia Syms role) . Admirers of Expresso Bongo (the 1959 film) can now see just how much of the musical content of the stage show was cut for the film !



Other new releases feature Norman Wisdom (in Where's Charley?) and Dora Bryan and Daniel Massey ( in Living For Pleasure) ...





MP3 sample tracks from these new releases are available [for free listening]

at :

Must Close Saturday Records





CD Number: MCSR 3043

Original London Cast Recordings: EXPRESSO BONGO complete (Paul Scofield,

Millicent Martin, Hy Hazell, with a bonus song not on the original cast

album), plus IRMA LA DOUCE (highlights) (Elizabeth Seal, Keith Michell)



One of the 'real-life' musicals that arrived in London at the end of the

1950s, EXPRESSO BONGO cast a wry look at the lower rungs of the pop-industry

in its seedy Soho setting. Distinguished by its star performance by Paul

Scofield, supported by Millicent Martin and Hy Hazell, the show's success

further established David Heneker and Monty Norman as leading writers for

British musicals. Although heavily sardonic (as in the pastiche of a

terrible pop song, 'The Shrine On The Second Floor') the score also explored

the complexities of love in such stand-out numbers as 'Seriously' and the

lovely 'Time'.



Elizabeth Seal will forever be associated with her outstanding starring role

in the French/British musical IRMA LA DOUCE, and is heard here in the best

of the songs from the original British cast recording.



Tracks:



EXPRESSO BONGO

1. Overture

2. Don't You Sell Me Down The River

3. Expresso Party

4. Nausea

5. Spoil The Child

6. Seriously

7. I Never Had It So Good

8. There's Nothing Wrong With British Youth Today

9. The Shrine On The Second Floor

10. He's Got Something For The Public

11. I Am

12. Nothing Is For Nothing

13. We Bought It

14. Time

15. The Gravy Train

16. Finale

17. The 'Dip' is Dipping.

NOTE: This was perfomed in the 1958 London production by Charles Gray,

playing 'Captain' Cyril Mavors owner of the chic Diplomatique Club, but was

not recorded for the original

LP due to lack of space. [Bonus Track, recorded 2004]





IRMA LA DOUCE

18. Valse Milieu

19. Tres Tres Snob

20. The Bridge of Caulaincourt

21. Our Language Of Love

22. She's Got The Lot

23. Dis-Donc, Dis-Donc

24. The Wreck Of A Mec

25. That's A Crime

26. Le Grisbi Is Le Root Of Le Evil In Man

27. From A Prison Cell

28. Irma-La-Douce



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------



CD Number: MCSR 3044

Original London Cast Recordings:: WHERE'S CHARLEY? (complete) Norman Wisdom,

Pip Hinton, Marion Grimaldi, plus CRYSANTHEMUM (Pat Kirkwood, Hubert Gregg)



Norman Wisdom scored one of his greatest successes as Charley's Aunt

('where the nuts come from') in Frank Loesser's WHERE'S CHARLEY , the

brilliant musical adaptation of Brandon Thomas' old farce. This is a classic

score with such evergreens as 'Lovelier Than Ever' and 'Once In Love With

Amy'. Although originally a Broadway show, the London cast of 1958 was the

first to record all the songs. Ably supported by Pip Hinton, Marion Grimaldi

and a superb orchestra, Wisdom proves himself to be a true star of his time

in this enduring period delight.



Pat Kirkwood and Hubert Gregg are the stars of the ragtime musical

CHRYSANTHEMUM with its tuneful and lively songs firmly rooted in pastiche.

Only one song has had to be missed from the original LP because of time

restrictions.



Tracks:

WHERE'S CHARLEY?

1. Overture

2. Where's Charley?

3. Better Get Out Of Here

4. The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Student Conservatory Band

5. My Darling, My Darling

6. Serenade With Asides

7. Make A Miracle

8. Lovelier Than Ever

9. The Woman In HisRoom

10. Pernambuco

11. Once In Love With Amy

12. The Gossips

13. At The Red Rose Cotillion

14. Finale



CHRYSANTHEMUM

15. Overture / Alexander

16. Watch Your Step

17. Mary Ann

18. Sorry You've Been Troubled

19. Is This Love?

20. Love Is A Game

21. Act One Finale

22. Saturday Night

23. Thanks To The Weather

24. No More Love Songs

25. How Can I Find My Love?

26. Shanghai Lil

27. The Fire Brigade

28. Finale



---------------------------------------------------------------------------





CD Number: MCSR 3045

RICHARD ADDINSELL scores

LIVING FOR PLEASURE (the West End revue, starring Dora Bryan, Daniel

Massey, Janie Marden) (complete recording)

Plus

ALICE IN WONDERLAND / ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (complete studio

recording with Juliet Mills as Alice, David Nixon, Charlie Drake)



This disc devoted to the music of Richard Addinsell begins with the original

London cast recording of the hugely successful 1958 intimate revue LIVING

FOR PLEASURE. Arthur Macrae's witty and sometimes wicked lyrics provide

Addinsell with a perfect platform for his skills as a theatre composer,

including the classic 'tart with a heart of gold' number for its star Dora

Bryan, heard here in a variety of songs and sketches, and expertly crafted

songs for the show's chanteuse, golden-voiced Janie Marden. The cast also

includes Rank starlet Susan Beaumont.



The rare British studio recording of excerpts from Addinsell's score to

accompany Lewis Carroll's timeless classic ALICE stories perfectly

complements our already available Broadway cast recording of 1947 (MCSR

3012) . This enchanting version features Juliet Mills as Alice, David Nixon

and Charlie Drake. There are several songs not heard on the Broadway

recording. Altogether a wonderful find!



Tracks:



LIVING FOR PLEASURE

1. Living For Pleasure

2. Book Ends

3. Alone With A Love Song

4. The Lady

5. Mr Wrong

6. No Ball

7. Dustbin Follies

8. Sloane Street Ladies

9. The Two Miss Browns

10. Shepherding Sheep

11. Lost Without Your Love

12. Friends

13. Love You Good, Love You Right

14. No Better Than I Should Be

15. Finale



ALICE IN WONDERLAND

16. A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky

17. How Doth The Little Crocodile?

18. You Are Old, Father William

19. Speak Roughly To Your Little Boy

20. Will You Walk A Little Faster?

21. Beautiful Soup

22. They Told Me You Had Been To Her / Finale



ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

23. Introductory Music

24. The Walrus And The Carpenter

25. The Lion And The Unicorn

26. I'll Tell Thee Everything I Know

27. To The Looking Glass World / Finale



Website: http://www.must-close-saturday-records.co.uk

[suzepulcheria]

Thank you very much for these audio clips. Great fun!

[Hummies]

Does anyone know if the Collector's Edition DVD contains the missing songs?

[Hugo]

The DVD of Expresso Bongo given away with today's Daily Mail is, surprisingly, in the full 'Scope (2.35:1) aspect ratio but there is a wide black border all around the frame, so a TV with a good zoom is required. It is an excellent quality transfer although it is the 101 minute version with a few numbers missing, including Nausea.

[RogerThornhill]

"Call this music? What a scandal, in his grave is turning Handel"



I have a VHS recording of Expresso Bongo which includes Nausea but it isn't on my DVD copy.

[Freddy]

The opening of Expresso Bongo has shades of similarity to the moving closing credits of West Side Story.

(Would put the opening clip on but it's only the full film of EB which is available on YT so not too sure whether it would cause problems on the forum)

[julian_craster]

The film Expresso Bongo was released before West Side Story, I think

[Freddy]

The film Expresso Bongo was released before West Side Story, I think

You're correct Julian, Bongo was 1959 and West Side Story 1961.

Paul