Kiss Me Kate (1953)

Director:

George Sidney

Writers:

Dorothy Kingsley (screenplay)
Sam Spewack (play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

26 November 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

THE FAMED STAGE HIT...NOW A BIG COLORFUL MUSICAL!

Plot:

Fred and Lilly are a divorced pair of actors who are brought together by Cole Porter who has written a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew...

Plot Keywords:

Opening Night | Kiss | Gambling Debt | William Shakespeare | Gambling

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Kathryn Grayson	...	Lilli Vanessi 'Katharina'
Howard Keel	...	Fred Graham 'Petruchio'
Ann Miller	...	Lois Lane 'Bianca'
Keenan Wynn	...	Lippy
Bobby Van	...	'Gremio'
Tommy Rall	...	Bill Calhoun 'Lucentio'
James Whitmore	...	Slug
Kurt Kasznar	...	'Baptista'
Bob Fosse	...	'Hortensio'
Ron Randell	...	Cole Porter
Willard Parker	...	Tex Callaway
Dave O'Brien	...	Ralph
Claud Allister	...	Paul
Ann Codee	...	Suzanne
Carol Haney	...	Specialty Dancer
Jeanne Coyne	...	Specialty Dancer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Bair	...	Gregory (uncredited)
Michael Dugan	...	Stretcher bearer (uncredited)
Ted Eckelberry	...	Nathaniel (uncredited)
Mitchell Lewis	...	Stage doorman (uncredited)
Hermes Pan	...	Sailor (uncredited)
William Tannen	...	Taxi driver (uncredited)

Directed by
George Sidney

Writing credits
Dorothy Kingsley		(screenplay)
Sam Spewack		(play) (as Samuel Spewack) and
Bella Spewack		(play)
William Shakespeare		(play "The Taming of the Shrew") uncredited

Produced by
Jack Cummings	....	producer

Original Music by
André Previn		(uncredited)
Conrad Salinger		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Charles Rosher		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ralph E. Winters

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons
Urie McCleary

Set Decoration by
Richard Pefferle
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Walter Plunkett

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup designer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
George Rhein	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording supervisor

Special Effects by
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Editorial Department
Alvord Eiseman	....	color consultant

Music Department
Saul Chaplin	....	musical director
Skip Martin	....	orchestrator
André Previn	....	musical director
Conrad Salinger	....	orchestrator
Robert Tucker	....	vocal supervisor
Robert Franklyn	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Wally Heglin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Lemuel Ayers	....	stage producer
Hermes Pan	....	choreographer
Arnold Saint Subber	....	stage producer
Bob Fosse	....	choreographer (uncredited)
Alex Romero	....	assistant choreographer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1963) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1986) (USA) (VHS) (clamshell)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print Technicolor)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (Western Electric Sound System) | Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (video rating) | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #16600)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "Kiss Me Kate" opened at the New Century Theater on December 30, 1948, ran for 1077 performances and won the 1954 Tony Awards for the Best Musical, Book and Score.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At the time he wrote this musical, far from being a healthy man, Cole Porter was a wheelchair-bound cripple who needed constant medical care. His legs had been crushed in a riding accident when the horse fell on him.

Quotes:

Lilli Vanessi: Do you really think *I* could play the shrew?
Fred Graham: You'd make a perfect shrew!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Glamour à Hollywood par George Sidney (2002)

Soundtrack:

Were Thine That Special Face

Wiving It Wealthily In Padua

Though some would now argue for A Chorus Line, I believe that Kiss Me Kate is the greatest of backstage musical stories. That's because when Cole Porter took a collaborator, he took the best, the Poet that keeps 'em ravin', the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon.

When Porter was approached to collaborate with Samuel and Bella Spewack about doing a show based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, he had hit a dry spell creatively. He had not had a decent Broadway hit in several years and according to the George Eells biography of him, was pretty tense throughout the gestation period. He also did not have the best of relations with the Spewacks. It was all forgotten when Kiss Me Kate had the biggest Broadway run of any of his show, 1077 performances and probably yielded more hit songs for him than any other production. It missed getting the Tony Award for Best Musical by another show that opened that season, South Pacific.

Most of that score remained intact for the MGM musical. One additional one from Porter's succeeding Broadway musical, Out of this World was added as a number for Tommy Rall, Bob Fosse, and Bobby Van, From This Moment On. Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson as the leads sing the classic Porter hits, So In Love and Wunderbar with gusto and feeling.

Kiss Me Kate is one of the most difficult of musicals to act because you have to be good enough to act two roles simultaneously. The players have to be able to keep their backstage personas as they are speaking the lines from The Taming of the Shrew and have to do that convincingly also. Which is why I consider Kiss Me Kate one of the greatest of the Arthur Freed musicals.

The backstage story is nothing new. Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson were once married to each other and are still So In Love, but she doesn't realize it. Keel has cast her in this musical adaption he's also directing of The Taming of the Shrew. Their story is worked rather nicely into the opening night of the production. Also the story of flirtatious Ann Miller and Tommy Rall who's incurred a gambling debt to some gangsters also gets worked into opening night. Rall signs Keel's name to an IOU and Keel who thinks fast on his feet uses that bit of deception to his own advantage.

Which brings me to those two lovable torpedoes, Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore, who get into the play and later get to sing one of Cole Porter's best satirical numbers and a personal favorite of mine, Brush Up Your Shakespeare. It's their own ode to their theatrical experience and also advice to the lovelorn that if you want to win the mate of your choice, learn the classics so you can wow them with rhetoric. Wynn and Whitmore are priceless. I also remember years ago Orson Welles was the guest star on a Dean Martin show and Welles and Dino did a pretty hilarious version of this song.

Of course it being a Cole Porter show, the more risqué lines of the lyrics are censored somewhat. Check both the original Broadway cast album and the album MGM did from the film and see what I mean.

I do so love this show and this film. It was originally done in 3-D and ought to be seen that way in a theater if possible.