Nelson Eddy & Gale Sherwood - THE DESERT SONG television 1955. Best quality. Digital stereo

Uploaded by request, the complete NBC television production aired on 7th May, 1955.
NELSON EDDY - Pierre/The Red Shadow
GALE SHERWOOD - Margot
Salvatore Baccalone - Ali Ben Ali
Otto Kruger - General Birabeau
John Conte - Paul Fontaine
Viola Essen - Azuri
Early William - Hassi
Orchestra conducted by Charles Sanford
Digital audio and video restoration 2021.
Stereo

[@johnlynch4901]

My God - Nelson's voice is as good here as it was in the 1930's, He really took care of it.

[@fromthesidelines]

"Brought to you by OLDSMOBILE, on behalf of YOUR OLDSMOBILE DEALER- who invites you to see the 1955 'Rocket Engine' Oldsmobile!!!! The going's great- in a 'ROCKET 8'!!!!!!!"

[@estellegold2009]

Nelson looks tired and dejected and older but..........................the voice, charm and youthfulness is still there. Loved forever.

[@michaelstair8658]

I saw this as an eight year old boy soprano who studied operetta and other art songs with J.Viola Hull in Wilkes-Barre Pa. I'll always remember it. I also remember a live interview with Nelson Eddy before the live performance. This was classic live television! Even though Nelson Eddy was in the twilight of his career, he knew how to marshal his vocal resources..... the true sign of a great artist.

[@elizabethdelara6786]

Great dancing and singing group. Nelson and Gale were spectacular.

[@elizabethdelara6786]

thank you,thank you,thank youuuuuuuuuu so much.God bless.

[@salvadorsolis6750]

Am watchng it again, i can't believe that was Neson Eddy dancing with Gale. Never saw hm dance in any of his many movies with Jeanette Mac Donald

[@thephantom1946]

@@salvadorsolis6750 Those two dancers are Rod Alexander and Bambi Lynn.

[@dr.greggrove4413]

Such a thrill to see this live performance in flawless production! Nelson is at his peak. Gail has charm and warmth. The music is stellar and nearly catapults your soul into a universe of harmonic glory!

[@BJPryor]

Eddy's last theatrical movie was Northwest Outpost, released in 1947, when Eddy was 46. In 1953, at age 52, he started a nightclub act that lasted 15 years and was the final chapter in his career, though he took a little time out from his nightclub work to make The Desert Song for television in 1955, and the following year to appear in an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. He collapsed onstage in Miami's SAN SOUCI hotel in 1967 -- a cerebral hemorrage --- and died a few hours later, at the age of 65.

[@suzannederringer1607]

This is wonderful - thank you!!! Nelson Eddy was never young - even in MAYTIME he seemed a bit mature...here he's definitely in his 50s and not quite up to dashboard around the desert on horseback. But he's wonderful anyway.

[@dr.greggrove4413]

Aren't you the little butterball of juicy criticisms of Nelson Eddy! After all, even you shall age, but unlike cheese or wine, possibly not well valued. :)

[@geoffberesford]

ARABIAN NIGHTS IN THEATRELAND! Without a doubt, one of the most stimulating jobs of my working life in professional theatre was during the extensively successful run of The Desert Song at the Palace Theatre in London where I was an enthusiastic stagehand during the 1967 West End season when John Hanson starred with Patricia Michael while fully supported by a large and brilliant cast and a big orchestral sound. A thoroughly fortunate experience for me that since then has remained indelibly imprinted on my memory. As a young man of twenty-two years old, I was lucky enough to have secured myself a regular job as a stagehand in London's West End and in that very same year of 1967, I found myself employed at The Palace where the popular (reputedly "iron-throated") singer John Hanson had established himself with his own touring company in a high-profile long-running production of this 1920s operetta which had been playing to packed houses every night of the week. In those days it seemed, audiences couldn't get enough of the Red Shadow's "desert magic"! Having lived with the show for the best part of six months, the entire score has often resurfaced in my mind ever since. During this time, I also became good friends with a very talented actor/singer named Ray Duparc (also understudy to John Hanson in the show) who played the key role of the Legionnaire Captain Fontaine. ("No threats, Azuri!") John Hanson's voice was an extraordinarily powerful one, and you would soon know it if you happened to be standing at a point in the wings where he was making an exit at the very same moment he was belting out the final notes of, "...mine alone!!!" It really felt as if he might have blown your head off if you hadn't gotten out of the way in time! Incidentally, I was once told by George Hancock who sang the role of Ali Ben Ali that Hanson did things with his voice that the others in the show wouldn't dare do for fear of damaging their own vocal cords. Yes, and in those days singers did NOT wear hidden microphones to project their voices. In both stage direction and musical ability, this long-running production was of a very high standard indeed and the requisite comedy role alongside the delectable presence of Janette Miller as Susan was played by one of the most inherently funny men I have ever seen. It wasn't just what the actor, Tony Hughes, said and did on stage in his role as the reporter Benny, but the manner in which he skilfully performed it. So much so, that I never got tired of watching him deliver his regular routine every night from my privileged position in the wings. No matter how often you saw them performing as well as heard the big musical set-pieces, no part of the show ever failed to hold your attention or keep you enthralled throughout its length. All in all, with its intoxicating music, sumptuous presentation and as an added bonus, a generous cast of gorgeous scantily-clad women warming up in the wings before their performances every night, (“Have them bathed and sent to my tent!”) my employment with "The Desert Song" at The Palace Theatre in London's West End in 1967...and then much later that year at the smaller Cambridge Theatre nearby...was the happiest period of my working life!

[@ballaratboy1]

Thanks for sharing that Geoff.

[@geoffberesford]

@@ballaratboy1 You are welcome!

[@sharonsage2347]

Ioiiii

[@monicahoward6724]

Great find! Thank you.😊

[@danilo22uk]

Thanks for this, great to see Nelson in the role.

[@user-mn7iq6en3w]

Я только что узнала про Джанет Макдоналд и Нельсона Эдди а 2023 году мне когда мне уже 60 с лишним. благодаря телефону и интернету. Это чудо. Мне все нравится что про них. Это воплощение мечты о настоящей любви. Скорее всего такая любовь произросла на почве их духовной склонности к классической музыке . Операм в частности с которыми Эдди видимо познакомил Джанетт и их внешнине данные тоже оказались к стати . В России про них никогда не рассказывали . Только сейчас я увидела ролик Где Магомаев немного говорит о них.

[@salvadorsolis6750]

Am very happy to have stumbled into this version of this movie. I've seen the later version starred by Gordon McRae & Kathryn Grayson & i must say they're equally spectacular; i couldn't favor one over the other..walang itulak kabigin as one would say..they're both very delightful. I however couldn't believe that was Nelson. Eddy if not for the voice, i would say that was his father; i saw practically all his later pictures with Jnnette Mac Donald & he looked much younger but the voice was the same. Gale Shirwood (i'm no aware of any other picture she ever made.) She's no Kathryn Greyson but she surely can hold e candle to her. Kathryn has a wider vocal range though specially in hat song Romance. All in all, i had a most enjoyable & very delightful time watching it & i will surely watch it again. Thanki you for making it available to us oldies who delight so much in watching these movies of the bygone days. They surely bring back a lot of memories of many of our our dear dead days some of which are now beyond recall.

[@1923hl]

Just a couple of quick comments on Nelson's looks. He was 54 when this was originally aired, so I think his appearance is consistent with a typical male in their mid 50s. Obviously, at this point, he would never have been cast as the romantic lead in a film version, but if he had been, the expertise of Hollywood camera lighting and makeup would have shaved years off his actual age (one of the charms of early television was how worries of this nature were swept aside). Also, remember he was in his mid 30s when he first became a film star, so he was already a decade older than the characters he was playing. Actually, both he and Jeanette began their professional careers in the early 1920s, long before Hollywood came into the picture.

[@smitajky]

I have been looking for something like this for decades. Having seen the stage show when I was young, I had bought the movie and was totally disappointed. The entire meaning of the show had been bastardised. I found other versions. Same story. They had discarded the entire plot and trivialised the music. It wasn't the fault of the individual performers it was the fault of whoever envisaged the film. All I wanted was the real performance. Even a less than perfect performance of the real thing would be so much better than a soulless aimless movie. The music of Romberg demands it. The script requires it. Why do people imagine that they can "improve" something without understanding it?

[@amywilson3593]

gerry wilson like the gordon macrae version but glad to see mr eddy did one too

[@hermangaddy4361]

It's said that movies are the vehicle for directors, TV for Producers, and stage/recordings for the artist. This NBC production, is quite the production, but Nelson Eddy seems haggard here, when just a year later in the 1956, the Desert Song album release his heart connects with his throat and his effortless singing brings Red Shadow into vivid, beautiful life. Also, if the overture promises One Flower, and Let love come, shouldn't we hear them fully developed? Here Ali just manages his dramatic low note, and the One Flower reprise including the high C we've waited the whole show to hear is a complete no show, no call! Sound and fury signifying... It's Desert Song; if the Desert doesn't get it's shot, it's audible.

[@hrbooksmusic7878]

Great and promising post - I‘ll save that one as a personal highlight for a quiet weekend! Looking forward to it already... 🤩🤩🤩 THANKS for sharing! 🙏🍀

[@Twentythousandlps]

Nelson Eddy was then 54, while Gale Sherwood was half his age. She was his performing partner until his death in 1967. Her voice is actually superior to that of Jeanette MacDonald, though her personality is not as vibrant. He still sounded quite good at this date, even if he looked his age. It is interesting to see the great Metropolitan buffo Salvatore Baccaloni as well.

[@estellegold2009]

Gale was no Jeannette but she could hold her own - I still love Nelson and Jeanette.

[@rnhealer6044]

Gale Sherwood had a lovely voice, but Jeanette MacDonald had operatic range and had the better voice. I am a lifelong Jeanette ad Nelson fan.

[@alexvaliansky7707]

@@rnhealer6044Jeanette MacDonald’s soprano was as thin as sewing thread.

[@eileenelliott6292]

Is it true that this telecast was actually in colour? If so, why is this not also in colour?

[@queenmedesa]

It would have been more beautiful in colour

[@laobanK]

Yes, the original live broadcast was in color, but it was the practice of the day to record (for posterity) certain productions in kinescope, which was the only practical way to preserve live television broadcasts prior to the development of quadruplex videotape (1956). This recording was done directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor, and was available only in black and white. Though we mourn the loss of the color product, isn't it marvelous that these magnificent artists have been recorded for our enjoyment decades later?

[@BerenikiRegina]

Why are the women wearing Dior New Look-style dresses in a musical set in 1925?

[@leilal8053]

NE was my mother's BIG passion. I grew up watching all the NE/Jeanette MacDonald movies. I never knew he made this version of The Desert Song. I grew up watching the movie with Gordon McCray and Katherine Grayson with is Stull one of my Two favorite musicals, and 3 favorite movies.....Period. I have 2 say that although personally I prefer NE to GM, and never cared 4 KG, they were screen-magic together just like NE and JM were.. Despite it being NE, this movie doesn't hold a candle to the GM/KG one Even the songs are mismatched. They shouldn't have made it. He was simply too OLD-looking. He looks, moves and even talks ad though he was in his late 60's at least......his face is dissipated like that of an alcoholic. ...it's crumbling, one profile especially. All the makeup 💄 in the world can't change that. I'm trying to remember if he had a ♥ condition because it looks like he might have from his general appearance and movements. I do agree that his fabulous VOICE is still a joy to listen to in this movie, but a radio version of the movie at this point would have been better.

[@user-mn7iq6en3w]

Как жаль но такова драма жизни.

[@equine2020]

Use his native name El Kalbar

[@Eleina1951]

This is my 1st time I've watched this version. That doesn't sound like Nelson's voice. I always associate his singing as deep baritone as in Maytime. It's okay here this. If it is him singing?....

[@sananton2821]

He brightened as he aged.

[@queenmedesa]

This is beautiful, but those dresses aren't from the 1920's ! Not to mention the "Spanish " dancers

[@suzannederringer1607]

No, they're '50s dresses and hair...quite lovely, the sreiped dress on Margot. This is a TV production. I'm sure there wasn't a Budget for a lavish period production.

[@queenmedesa]

@@suzannederringer1607 or they didn't care about historical accuracy