South Pacific - I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair - Mary Martin

Mary Martin performing this great number in the 1952 London production, with Peter Grant and Wilbur Evans.
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[@PRR5406]

Mary Martin was a staple of great theater. Great voice and dancing ability. South Pacific might have been written for her. God rest her.

[@Johannasmirror]

I love Mary Martin.

[@mscommerce]

I hope there's a high definition transfer of this priceless bit of film. Film, of course, outresolves 4K, and often, 8K. They should redo the transfer if there isn't.

[@waynebrasler]

By today's measurements, they did so much with so little. Minimal stage space, minimal sets, minimal mobility in moving scenery and sun. No body mikes and in many venues no mikes. Regarding Nellie's hair and dress, it is accurate. Women in World II serve wore their uniforms, even socially, and had cropped hair to make maintaining it easy and keep it from getting tangled in anything. Martin's projection always amazes me; she had a small voice but knew how to use it.

[@mmjhcb]

She did not have a "small voice."

[@waynebrasler]

Long forgotten, but Mary Martin had an ad tie with Prell Shampoo on radio and in magazines where a woman says joyfully she has just gotten a letter from Mary Martin about what shampoo she uses washing her hair every night without damaging it and of course it is Prell. Mary had a lot of influence in how "South Pacific" turned out, both in how she was paired vocally and musically with Ezio Pinza and a lot of other details. She was a smart cookie as well as a definitive talent, as was Merman.

[@ivelosthewilltolive]

Mary Martin actually washed her hair with shampoo every night on stage for who knows how many years...

[@yelloworangered]

And I've seen magazine ads in which she sells some shampoo brand points out that with all the hair washing that she does onstage, she need a gentle shampoo!

[@waynebrasler]

Mitzi herself felt the finished film seemed at a distance and, watching it today, that's still the feeling for me. She gave the film everything she had but, with her intimate and rich performance, she seemed like a visitor from another film.

[@wkunzelman1]

@seethevolcane She *did* play Peter Pan in a movie that I loved as a kid.

[@123boink]

@powerfulpowerzz It was never shown on TV - it was a private filming to document the show. The WSS story original cast appeared on Ed Sullivan, but that's all I know of.

[@ChrisMum]

Mary Martin is Larry Hagman's mother!!!! J. R. Ewing (from Dallas)....amazing

[@123boink]

txquis Amazing historical footage of a legendary show. Two notes of interest: Before body mikes, they all are projecting their voices so much...nearly shouting at times. Yet Mary Martin is the most like a real person...the leiutenant is so stilted his dialogue seems laughable. view4evah My Mom saw this on Broadway and had the original cast recording on a 78 album! rawdonqueen Thank you for this wonderful piece of Broadway history.

[@123boink]

Beachbummaddi wow, i LOVE this song, and i LOVE broadway and to see this is really cool. it really is amazing how much they have to project their voices, at times you can tell from the dialogue. fountainchain126 i don't get that window shade busines someone explain. Teach417 @fountainchain126 That kind of pull chain used to be used on toilets that had overhead water tanks. That's what Luther starts to say, then says window shades instead, out of a sense of delicacy towards Nellie.

[@123boink]

powerfulpowerzz wow this is amazing, where did this come from? was it broadcast on tv? do you have anything on west side story?

[@davidmehnert6206]

‘You get the picture?’

[@waynebrasler]

Actually, there was more to Mary Martin washing her hair on stage every night. It was an advertising tie-in with Prell Shampoo. Big radio promotion on it where a lady enthusiastically says she's received a letter from Mary Martin after writing her about how she keeps hear hair looking so nice after being washed every night in cold water. The answer, of course, is Prell. Martin was super-smart about contracts, commercial tie-ins and such and she got her way while letting her husband do the dirty work. She was a thorough professional in everything she attempted, always knowing her lines, always being thoroughly rehearsed, always being on time, and always always being gracious with interviewers and with the public. I had a friend who walked up to her after a Broadway show when he saw her on the sidewalk and greeted her and he said she was totally gracious and said, "Please, won't you meet my friends, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine?"

[@123boink]

Do you think she really used Prell? It's so harsh. Is the radio commercial up anywhere?

[@waynebrasler]

I am 74 so I well remember the radio commercial where a lady tells a friend she has received a letter from Mary Martin asking what shampoo she uses. (I was a kid on radio myself so listened to radio every night like someone possessed). She likely did use Prell because it would not have been like her to say she did not publicly and not really do it. What she and Mr. Pinza did with and for this show was and is remarkable.

[@DalokiMauvais]

@@123boink I was just thinking that. I used Prell for years in my teens (the 60s) with no problems, but tried it again later and it was absolutely deadly. Maybe somewhere between then and now they changed the formula. I remember being really surprised at how my hair came out as dry as straw when I went back to Prell.

[@waynebrasler]

I actually saw a Lincoln Center revival way back when, maybe around 1968 or so, with Florence Henderson. She was decidedly professional and so was the production but no magic, alas. This is a show that calls for magic, for sure.

[@eddieplummer7922]

Do you have the song ‘Bloody Mary’??

[@dmnemaine]

One has to wonder what Joshua Logan was thinking.

[@dmnemaine]

And I think that's the major problem with the 1958 film version. Mitzi Gaynor gives a good performance, but the film lacks "magic". The distracting color filters didn't help either.

[@vino140]

The "timing" is dialogue scenes is all OFF. Aw, nuts !

[@vino140]

***** It's all at slow-slow pace.

[@123boink]

Vino But a great record of the pace of theater in 1951.