Kander and Ebb TV Tribute--Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Dinah Shore

[@angelman51266]

Dinah, you were so amazing. That beautiful voice...

[@angelman51266]

Wish life were a little more like Dinah's show! A celebration...

[@angelman51266]

Maybe This Time. Sublime. Liza.

[@stardusth2o]

Chita tore that number UP, my GOD!!!! Wow, that was sublime.

[@harlemhomme]

Chita singing "How Lucky Can You Get" was fabulous!

[@rayyanez3527]

I Quite !! Agree !!!! I Think !!! It's My Favorito!!😍! SINGING !!!!! And Interpretation !! Of A Song ! ..By Miss !!!! ChitaRivera !! That I Have !. Ever Heard ,!.?? She IS Up There !!!! With THE BEST !!!!!👍👍! 😍😍

[@2Brian]

This is marvelous! Thanks for sharing, Alan.

[@garland3688]

I love this song, A Quiet Thing. I’m so happy that my Grandmothers friend played in the band in Flora and got to work with Liza.

[@angelman51266]

CHITA!

[@angelman51266]

Fred Ebb. Wow.

[@smurf902]

My aunt saw Liza in Carnival in a production in Yonkers! Just a year before Flora in 1965. How crazy to see Liza in such a small theater that no longer exists down in Getty Square, jts where a "Rainbow" kids clothing store. How weird but interesting to hear Quiet Thing done in semi-bossa style, a la 1960s.

[@EvenEvenOdd]

What a hoot! Fred Ebb is spectacular, as are the rest of them. Thanks for postint!

[@johnconstantinemarinakiski8128]

What a great moment when Chita Rivera comes in and the way they finish the number! So iconic!

[@johnv7060]

Gwen Ver DUN. Yes, Dinah. But still, thanks so much. A great tribute to two great men.

[@bl6797]

Thank you for this upload!

[@smurf902]

This actually was only 11 days after Liza left her short run temporarily replacing Gwen in Chicago (Aug to September 1975) September 13 and this is September 24. Was broadcast in November though. Yes she went to the trouble to research this. Thank u.

[@summerholliday44]

fkn love this!! thank you it matters!!

[@legrandeanorey3860]

love liza and dinah !!!!!!!

[@70Dallas70]

I have to wonder how Gwen felt about this at the time.... But, How Lucky Can You Get??? Sublime.

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

Dinah was amazing, singing My Coloring Book. And the difference between her singing and Liza's is very telling.

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

And then Chita hits a home run with her song, over-powering Streisand.

[@craigslivka1]

Fred Ebb was like so many of the gay musical theatre queens at the piano bars in Manhattan that I used to love to sing with. Gayly witty with a decent to good set of vocal pipes and know how with a fair measure of talent, not enough to bring the house down, but enough to rabble rouse and have a good time.

[@betsystewart9786]

❤️❤️❤️

[@holliedevine7565]

At 23:05 when they sing lucky lady is the only version I can find of it thank you 😊

[@melclo3641]

Liza with a Z you are FAB

[@latejanaurbana1589]

1:00 the songwriters sing from Chicago. "Mr. Cellophane"

[@latejanaurbana1589]

49:09 Chita Rivera, sings from Funny Lady

[@shanedeleon5376]

Why the stabilization? It's making me seasick!

[@latejanaurbana1589]

September 24, 1975

[@fabianfrankenstein7294]

23:11 Lucky Lady

[@bubbleworship]

Thanks for uploading this rarity in it's entirety! I'd love an expert Liza fan to answer a question I have... What was the deal with Fred singing Liza's material for this episode of Dinah. Did he want to? Did she want him to? I'm 100% certain no TV exec at that time would of suggested a 40-something (flamming!) man open with 'Liza With A Z' with no irony. I understand he and John championed Liza, and I totally appreciate he taught her how to use her hands, etc... but undermining her development and claiming she had no identity, when she was filling out Paris concert halls long before Cabaret or the TV special were filmed seem to undermine her talent. Singing her signature song, albeit that he wrote the lyrics to, but playing it as 'Liza' just seem a bit cringe-worthy. I imagine Dinah's production team wanted a Liza retrospective, and don't understand why Fred was allowed to, um, have so much fun. I want the gossip! Did Fred genuinely want the public to hear he was "the real Liza Minnelli" or was this all just a bad production meeting idea that ended up imploding.

[@aeichler]

+Ralph Daay It was a salute to Kander and Ebb and meant to profile them, so I assume Liza let him sing.

[@bubbleworship]

+Alan Eichler No. Just No. I asked for an expert Liza fan to answer, not someone clutching at straws. This was *not* a salute to Kander and Ebb. This was a show was a "salute, tribute, resume of a star... Liza Minnelli" you can hear Dinah announce that at 2.18 in. "so I assume Liza let him sing" Clutching and more clutching.

[@jmmj8795]

Ralph, if you're still interested, I'll try to answer your question. I'm not an expert, but I'll give it a shot. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. Fred Ebb was a complicated person, moody and mercurial and awkward in social situations. What he really wanted to be was a singer, not a songwriter, and he never really got over it. He loved Liza and John Kander and they loved him and each other. It was an extraordinarily close and productive three-way relationship (both men were gay, but not romantically involved with each other). So when Ebb said he was the real Liza Minnelli, he was expressing several incongruous feelings all mixed up together. He said in a much later interview, not long before he died, that when he wrote practically every song he ever wrote he heard Liza's voice singing it as he wrote it -- even when he was writing it for some other singer. She was his perfect muse, far more profoundly than the overworked term "muse" usually signifies. In a real way, Liza's voice was his own voice, the voice he heard in his head. He would have LOVED to sing his songs as she sang them, to BE her in that sense, and so in saying he was the real Liza Minnelli he was expressing both his enormous love and respect for her and his own frustration that she, not he, was the person who sang his songs perfectly, exactly as they sounded to him when he created them. But he also just loved to sing for an audience, and he would do it any time he had the chance. Those of us listening hear a not very good singer, but (I think) what he heard was Liza's voice coming out of his mouth. I know this is all mixed up, and I'm sure there's a lot more involved than what I've said. Also, Liza Minnelli has NEVER been a diva, never had a huge ego, has ALWAYS been eager for people to teach her and to give them credit for helping her -- more than they actually deserved (can you imagine Madonna or Streisand or even Cher doing that?). She was happy to let Fred Ebb think he had "created" her, because she had no ego to defend while he did -- and he DID do a lot for her, just not everything. So she lost nothing when she gave him full credit for creating her stage persona, and it made him happy to be recognized as having been so important to her. The fact is that Liza Minnelli is the smartest, kindest, hardest working, most genuine human being who EVER worked in show business. LIZA is Liza -- nobody else but God made her what she is, and if she'd never met Fred Ebb she would have become something great anyway -- great, but different.

[@johnv7060]

It's amazing that Fred and John lasted as long as they did. (Bock and Harnick-- the other big theatre songwriting team of that era broke up bitterly, though they made amends later on.) They were so different. John was, and is so content to be the composer of such gorgeous and theatrical music while leaving all the sturm and drang behind him, and, as you say, Fred was incredibly conflicted between being that "on" showbiz personality and performer (which he was on shows like this) and a fussy, mercurial lyricist filled with self doubt (as most lyricists are-- it's a hard job!). But I suppose their differences made them what they were together. I think Fred was more interested in doing the Liza material than John, though both thought she was a terrific performer and promoter of their stuff-- when appropriate. Even Fred had misgivings about her in THE RINK in 1984, with just cause, I think.

[@storybellz]

JM MJ: WOW! You have described Liza beautifully. I've never been very interested in her, but I've always admired that warmth, wit, and charm she has, which puts everyone else practically to shame! So much so, that I can't stand it, sometimes, LOL! I really wish we all were as sweet and charming as she is, but alas... Anyhow, as I said, other than appreciating her for her lovely manner, I've never been too interested in Liza. However, after I became a Joan Jett fan not very long ago, I found out that she cites Liza as her #1 favorite actress, as-well as one of her style inspirations. And that not only made me appreciate Liza more- it made me proud of Joan- because she too, is known for being genuine, kind, and loving. So, for her to admire Liza so much, shows that maybe there is something in Liza that Joan has in herself- and if so, how beautiful that is! Thank you very much for your great comment!

[@raymundoyanez3282]

My God what a flamer!!!!! Fred Ebb;;;! Was🤔 he gay !!?? ;!!LOL

[@jmmj8795]

Dinah Shore was a terrible talk show host, if this episode is typical (this is the only one I've ever seen). She managed to make all four guests uncomfortable, even Liza Minnelli, who isn't easily thrown off kilter -- and even ME, just watching it. She didn't bother finding out how to pronounce Gwen Verdon's name, even though she must have known beforehand that she'd be talking about the Minnelli-Verdon substitution in Chicago (the musical, not the fabulous town). I love all four of these guests, but watching this is agony, and it's only because Shore makes every minute of it more awkward than I'd ever have imagined a talk show could be. I'm amazed she was on the air for as long as she was.

[@glennfromthebronx]

....I've seen some phenomenal shows with DINAH....Rosalind Russell, Debbie Reynolds et.al. but this show does seem "off".