"Leg of Mutton" - 'Turkey Trot' with José Ferrer & Helen Traubel ("Deep in My Heart")

This rag-time number comes from the 1954 movie 'Deep in My Heart,' a bio-pic of Sigmund Romberg, the famed Broadway operetta composer, played by José Ferrer. Also in the cast was the great Wagnerian soprano Helen Traubel. Here they both let their hair down with a Tin Pan Alley hit from 1913 that helped to establish Romberg's song-writing career.

[@Zva26]

Traubel was one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos ever to have been heard at the Metropolitan Opera, and she sang there in Wagner operas from 1939 to 1953 when Bing canned her for doing nightclub work. She didn't care, went on to her nightclub work, made this movie, and went on to more concerts and recitals, and still more movies. She was on of the "greats' and is definitely remembered as a great and serious classical artist. She had problems with the soprano high C, but she triumphed in Wagner just the same. Her voice was golden.

[@jamesryan6008]

Larry Mitchell : she starred on Broadway in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Pipe Dream.

[@andrewvincenti2664]

What a prick Bing must have been

[@esmeephillips5888]

Great heavens, Helen makes Ferrer almost endearing, with a hint of Mel Brooks, instead of his normal air of staring down at the world from the peak of Parnassus. La Traubel was the Ethel Merman of grand opera. What a pallid snob Rudolf Bing was to let her go.

[@easyaspi1177]

Helen was with it Groovy!

[@MrTrackman100]

Perceptive comment.

[@luishumbertovega3900]

Funny that you associate Ferrer with Mel Brooks, you can find them together in To Be Or Not To Be, 1983 version.

[@terryhammond1253]

Why did Richard Rogers say that Helen Traubel could not act when she appeared in his musical Pipe Dream on Broadway in the 50s? Obviously she is a very competent actress as well as a great Wagnerian singer.

[@franzitaduz]

Helen had it ALL. Thanks for the upload!

[@e.l.2734]

Oh my God, this couldn't have been done better.

[@greatexp59]

Helen Traubel dancing! Great stuff! Jose Ferrer can do more than Cyrano, too!

[@mmjhcb]

What fun! You'll never hear a better voice doing a rag.

[@mariemarchesani1595]

This was New York City Music Hall Christmas show..l saw it there..it was beautiful..Jose and Miss Traubel were great!

[@Sgt9Rock]

The days of great musicals and performers.

[@mariemarchesani1595]

Helen and Jose were great and made the movie. I watch it often..great voice!

[@artistphx]

Friends ask me what the old movies have to offer that so make them attractive to me. This is a perfect example!

[@Arkelk2010]

I admit that I don't watch many movies, but I've never seen Ferrer play a fun scene before. They both looked as if they were enjoying themselves.

[@serapidus]

Thank you SO much for posting this It may sound weird but I LOVE this and have been looking for this for years. It's Hollywood magic the pinnacle of the musical era when you went to the movies to be happy not scared, shocked frightened and depressed like now

[@jimstokes6742]

Quell Domage!

[@junielizmitchell4613]

Omg I love José Ferrer, he was so talented.

[@easyaspi1177]

& a ladies man

[@johnpickford4222]

@junielizmichell4613: But not much of a faithful husband to Rosemary Clooney despite being Catholic and five kids.

[@easyaspi1177]

This is one great tune!

[@charlesrussell5458]

What a great number!!!!!

[@georgestrum3478]

Helen was wonderful. She also did the Broadway show Pipe Dream.

[@jimstokes6742]

PIPE DREAM songs are on YT! The song "Everybody's Got A Home But Me" was a big hit in the 1950s for Eddy Fisher.

[@waynebrasler]

We should note that the film proved a box office hit and the soundtrack on M-G-M Records was a best seller.

[@jimstokes6742]

Good. Well-deserved.

[@PepsiMama2]

Helen Traubel was one of the best performers at the Metropolitan... Rudolf Bing didn't renew her contract because he didn't want Met performers to perform elsewhere and Traubel enjoyed performing on TV and in nightclubs...

[@heru-deshet359]

Thanks for posting a side of Jose Ferrer I didn't know about. I had known of him as a classical actor when I saw Cyrano de Bergerac. I also found out he was Puerto Rican.

[@carlosbarbosa9062]

Heru- deshet he was also the nephew of Monserrate (Monsita) Ferrer an old time composer and pianist in Puerto Rico.

[@hebneh]

I like that this ends with the "popularity montage" in which - in classic Hollywood tradition - we see a quick visual depiction of something (in this case, a song) becoming popular. The rest of the scene is delightful too.

[@esmeephillips5888]

Definite whiff of early Irving Berlin here, though Romberg never kept up with the Maestro's evolution, 'Jazz' (var. 'jass') is here used only in its dance-step connotation, part of a litany of pre-WW1 capers such as the Bunny Hug and Balling the Jack. But Berlin never forgot ragtime, cakewalks etc and how they had made his name. He liked reeling off names of dances this song does, e.g. in 'The Yam' in 'Carefree' (1938).

[@tippypc]

Helen Traubel was just a down-home girl from St. Louis, with an EPIC voice. She is having the TIME OF HER LIFE in this scene. Jose Ferrer, being the consummate actor, learned to play piano for this movie so they did not have to body double his hands while playing the piano.

[@carlosbarbosa9062]

Michael McKinley Jose Ferrer had an aunt that was a known composer and pianist in Puerto Rico, Monserrate Ferrer y Otero.

[@carlosbarbosa9062]

thebiography.us/en/ferrer-otero-monserrate

[@liedersanger1]

I feel sure he knew how to play piano before this movie. He's not even looking at his hands while he plays, and he's really playing! You don't get that good in a month or even a year.

[@doctorpretorious9911]

@@liedersanger1 yes, he was also a pianist even if he was not very well known for this.

[@trov85]

I adore this. Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year.

[@Arkelk2010]

What a fun scene. I may have to watch the rest of the movie.

[@Fyshhooks]

Great movie clip... love it! Thank you...

[@jimstokes6742]

AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing.

[@gwirgalon3758]

And even here, that utter elegance in all she ever did. Thank you very much for the video, never knew! And Jose of course in his element..

[@mkofftiger]

If this scene doesn't cheer you up, you're incurably morose. The rest of the movie (except for the songs) I can live without, but this scene is a splendid thing. Ms. Traubel reminds me of my mother...loads of fun, great voice, lovely to look at. Thanks for posting this.

[@jasonblack4208]

"What do the lyrics mean?" Helen Traubel: yes

[@orlandosantiago1476]

Jose Ferrer perform great movies like (Cyrano de Bergerac & 1952 Moulin rouge Henry De Toulose Lautrec)

[@RobinPratt]

This is just incredible. Thanks!

[@adam28xx]

Glad you like it!

[@jefolson6989]

a "great ol broad" in the best sense. She was fun. Part owner of the St. Louis Browns?

[@mislavhilc]

I tried transcribing it, there may be some mistakes as I couldn't make sense of some of the words: You jazz to the left, then You jazz to the right, then You tickle your toe, You tickle your toe. And then you go in to a bunny hug, Hold her tight as a bug in a rug. And then you step on the tack, Like you're a ballin' the jag, With a grizzly bear in your stance, And if you'd be my honeylamb!? We can yammy yam! The leg of Mutton, Dance! There is a dance they do, Way out in Kalamazoo. It's a pip! Lots of zip! It is a breeze brew, It's so easy you can learn to do it to! You jazz to the left, then You jazz to the right, then You tickle your toe, You tickle your toe. And then you go in to a bunny hug, Hold her tight as a bug in a rug. And then you step on the tack, Like you're a ballin' the jag, With a grizzly bear in your stance, And if you'd be my honeylamb!? We can yammy yam! The leg of Mutton, Dance! [something in german] Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Watch out your step in all a tack, Come do me holy 'cause we ballin' the jag! The leg of Mutton, Oh! Comes out the Mutton, The leg of Mutton, Dance!

[@easyaspi1177]

Missed some words. It is BUNNY HUG, not boney. (Like a baby rabbit,.) & There IS A DANCE THEY DO. (etc) & it's BALLING THE JACK. Step ON A CRACK. Ballin' the JACK. You errors in hearing might be from your unfamiliarly with old dance terms. Or maybe you have a hearing loss.

[@mislavhilc]

@@easyaspi1177 boney was just lapsus, but the rest is as you said my lack of knowledge on dancing terms. Step on the crack sounds of tho, the word they say still sounds like it begins with a t

[@gunnarthorsen]

@@mislavhilc It does begin with a "t", what she sings is "step on a tack". Note that she puts her foot down, then lifts it quickly as if she had stepped on a sharp, pointy tack that hurt her foot. :)

[@mislavhilc]

@@gunnarthorsen I have to be honest, never heard of a word "tack", so that's probably why. Thanks ;)

[@easyaspi1177]

@@mislavhilc It is NOT supposed to make sense, creampuff! HA! You have to see the entire movie to get this scene. The composer has no sense of the English language. So he just makes up rhymes.

[@phil2u48]

Traubel was a great sport when it came to popular music. She enjoyed all types of entertainment, both as spectator and performer. Rudolf Bing barred her from the Metropolitan Opera where she had given several spectacular performances, including Sieglinde. Bing was somewhat of a fraud, though he brought great singers to the Met, and disliked Americans. Traubel had a magnificent voice, though she reportedly had some difficulties in her upper register.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

She also sang Brunnhilde and Isolde, two of the most difficult roles in Wagner opera. She had a large, beautiful voice, and could have sung there many more years if Bing hadn't been such a b*****d.

[@XlikeZero]

She had not high B and C. But Even A and Bb were tremendous. It is high notes too. And they are more often in wagnerian roles

[@jaykauffman4775]

Funny she loses the accent when she sings.

[@DiogenesLantern]

Mel Tillis stops Stuttering. It’s magic.