Well, dear readers, once upon a time back in a year I like to call 1964, I, BK, went to the Beverly Theater on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills to see a new motion picture entertainment on its opening day. I don’t know why I went, have no idea why a French film in French would have interested me, but something about the title, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, piqued my interest, that and the fact that the movie poster had rain on it and I did love anything rainy back then. In fact, it was mid-December and it may even have BEEN raining when I paid, got my admission ticket, and entered the theater at noon or thereabouts (it was Christmas vacation). I got my buttered popcorn and drink and sat halfway down on the aisle. There were only a few of us there.
The film began and I liked the simple music that began the film right away. Then the camera tilted down as rain began to fall – celeste began playing as a line of people with umbrellas opened came on screen and that image and the music caused me to fall deeply in love after only fifteen seconds – deeply in love with a film I would come to embrace as no other up to that point. I had no idea the entire film was sung – I loved that as soon as it began with the scene in the car repair place. Then with the iconic and gorgeous introductory shot of Miss Catherine Deneuve I fell in love again. As the two lovers sang of their love I was deliriously happy and that music was so incredibly infectious and beautiful it made my head swim. And so it went, each scene, with the lovely décor and colors, each new musical theme, the story – by the time the film came to its end I was an emotional blob. I sat there, entirely smitten with Miss Deneuve, entirely smitten with the music and songs, and entirely smitten with the world that the film’s director had just thrust me into.
I stayed in my seat and watched the film a second time, this time taking note of the composer, Michel Legrand, and the director, Jacques Demy. Legrand I’d heard of before because I had a couple of his Columbia albums that I’d gotten in the ninety-nine cent bin at the A&P market. I had three or four of those, including a beautiful album of foreign film themes. But Legrand as composer I didn’t know at all. The second viewing was as magical as the first. I left the theater at about four-thirty and I’m quite sure it was raining out. I walked two or three blocks east on Wilshire to Chesterfield Records, my favorite record store at that point (and lovingly written about in Kritzer Time, as is this entire incident). I told my friend Critt Davis, who worked there, that I’d just seen the best movie ever. He smiled, walked over to the new release bin before I could even ask, and handed me the newly released soundtrack album. Of course I purchased it immediately, got it home, and played it to death. I became obsessed with the film, and after it ended its run, I followed it all around LA for at least three years, seeing it every time it played (and frequently on a double bill with Sundays and Cybele). One had to do that in those days – no home video, no streaming, no nothing. From that point on, I bought every Legrand soundtrack I could find – old ones on French EPs and LPs, and each new one as they came out. I was never disappointed. In the mid-1970s, when I got the chicken pox and had to drop out of a starring role on a Columbia TV pilot, I was devastated and depressed and the only thing that cheered me up was winning an auction for something I never knew existed – a TWO LP set from France that contained every piece of music from Umbrellas – the 1 LP US soundtrack version was missing a lot of stuff, including that beautiful main title music with the celeste. I proceeded to play that to death and boy was it an elixir.
It would be quite a while, but my next Demy/Legrand love affair was The Young Girls of Rochefort, which I shockingly missed in theaters. But in 1978 I snagged a scope and IB Tech print of the film in 16mm – the English version. It wasn’t Umbrellas, it didn’t have that resonance for me, but I really loved it, even with the dubbing (the songs were all shot twice – once in French and once with the actors mouthing the English lyrics – the dialogue, however, was all spoken in French and just dubbed into English). Then I finally saw the French version and it was completely magical in a whole different way. Again, the Demy world was intoxicating, with its pastel colors, dancing, singing, and once again Miss Deneuve and her equally beautiful sister, Francoise Dorleac, not to mention George Chakiris and Gene Kelly and Danielle Darrieux. Oh, and the brilliant music of Legrand. I became obsessed with that, too. And then all through the 1980s I managed to see all of Demy’s older films, plus each new one as it came out. A few never made it to the US or had very brief runs here, but a couple of years ago a huge DVD box set took care of the few that I’d missed.
Demy’s later films were problematic for any number of reasons, but I still found much to admire in each and every one of them. And Legrand was there for most of them (Une Chambre en Ville had Michel Colombier) and his music was always fresh and beautiful.
Lots of the scores had LP or CD releases, but many didn’t. In the last couple of years Universal France issued a couple of huge Legrand collections, but those contained no complete scores. Of course, Cherbourg and Young Girls each had its own two-CD set. But along the way I’d found the incredibly rare UK LP of the English-language version of Young Girls and I really wanted that on CD. There was also an instrumental version done by Legrand for United Artists Records, and I made CDRs of those.
All this by way of saying that Universal France just released an 11-CD set of Demy and Legrand that finally makes available just about everything and I got my copy yesterday and spent way too many hours listening to a lot of it. I began with Umbrellas, which has a new mix off the recently found three-track tape. It’s really not much different to what we’ve had before because there’s really not much to mix on a three-track tape. It was just as magical hearing it now as it was back in 1964. The music is not really presented chronologically, but that doesn’t really matter. Most of it is comprised of the original tracks, but much of Lola is a rerecording. There is so much amazing music in this set it’s almost unbelievable. The English Young Girls is present (Gene Kelly is dubbed in the French version – here he does his own singing), but it’s very different to the LP version – dialogue, more selections, and it’s just great to have. Lady Oscar is here and beautiful. Parking and A Very Pregnant Man and Peau d’ane and more. Then there’s the instrumental Young Girls and several symphonic suites, plus demos of a lot of the Umbrellas songs. And finally, a disc of other people doing Legrand/Demy – Tony Bennett, Phil Woods, and lots of prime folks and imagine my surprise to find that they even licensed a track from my Michel Legrand album I produced with the Terry Trotter Trio. They thank Robert Townson at Varese, but not the guy who produced it, thought of it, and made it happen. Oh, well. I cannot recommend this set highly enough – and the price is right – under fifty dollars for eleven CDs. I got it from Amazon France.
Well, I seem to have taken up the entire notes with Demy and Legrand. But, I didn’t really do much yesterday. Oh, I got up. Oh, I did a three-mile jog. Oh, I had two tuna sandwiches for my meal o’ the day. Oh, I did some work on the computer, had a lot of telephonic conversations, and answered a lot of e-mails. Oh, I watched a little bit of Gorgo on Blu and Ray (more when I finish). Oh, I ate some fruit, sat in the Jacuzzi, and had four frozen chicken taco things for my snack, all under 1200 calories. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall jog, I have a work session with the musical director, I have liner notes to write, hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, I’ll eat, finish the last of the Hofstetter auditions, narrow the field down to five or six and prepare the next round.
Tomorrow I have lots to accomplish, Saturday I’m dining at cousin Dee Dee and Alan’s, and Sunday is, of course, Easter, so I know not what I’m doing. Next week is the busy Kritzerland week and I’ll also be thinking ahead to the May Kritzerland show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, have a work session, write, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, finish listening to auditions, choose the five or six final candidates, and prepare the next round of final auditions. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite songs and scores of Michel Legrand and what are your favorite Jacques Demy films? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where all my dreams will be accompanied by the music of Michel Legrand.