I feel like my life has been an uninterrupted study of film facts and yet…I am constantly surprised, as I sit in various nostalgia screenings, to discover performers I have never even heard a whisper about previously. I am also continually uncovering facets of careers that I thought I had known, backwards and forwards.
As one of the great European movie divas of the ‘50s & ‘60s, Sophia Loren, dutifully, committed some kittenish vocalizing to a number of vinyl recordings. Evidence of these minimal offerings have shown up on such compilations as the Pin-Up Girls series and Rhino Records’ cult-worthy Va-Va-Voom in the mid-80s.
A recent dusty knee LP bargain hunt, at Reckless Records in Chicago, unveiled a previously unknown treasure, though. To promote The Millionairess, their 1960 feature film, Loren and Peter Sellers recorded a cute, off the cuff album together. Among the cutesy duets and novelty numbers, Loren actually made like a professional cabaret chanteuse and committed a couple real live numbers to wax. One of these was Rodgers and Hart’s To Keep My Love Alive, perhaps the most literary murderous ballad ever committed to theatrical life via the use of pen and paper.*
Loren’s simple yet funny reading of the song actually brings out the humorous plot points with a precision that more classical takes on the material have sometimes failed to uncover.
Of course upon further reflection, the fact that Loren, whose career has included literary achievements along with a string of big budget action films in the ‘70s, is so eclectically motivated should surprise absolutely no one.
*The song was written as a character study of the villainous Morgan Le Fay for A Connecticut Yankee, a Broadway musical.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Big Gay Horror Fan 