Sunday, July 10, 2011

BROADWAY & THE MOMENT OF MAGNETISM 1953



Charles Boyer - Mary Martin 

The Moment of Magnetism

When it happens, is an intensely personal feat – flooding the theatre or camera’s subjective eye with the presence of experts at their work. In an empty photographer’s studio the two principals met, without props, without atmospherics, (except for the heroine’s Mainbocher dress) to run through a dozen lines from their new play Kind Sir, Situation:  the diplomat informs the lady he has taken an apartment on the floor below in her hotel. And there it is – Boyer at his old seductive magic, which years ago brought a dazzled Bazaar editor to write about “the telephone turned off and the world well lost….” There it is, the catchy, honest vitality of Mary Martin, shining out unerringly in her first non-singing role.  There it is, the magnetic lure behind the seven-twenty top and the matinee mail orders: the ticket scalpers delight, the taxi-drivers despair, the intangible that coaxes smart money, year after year, into that fabulous old calculated risk, the Theatre.


Julie Harris
Radiates a rare theatre quality that makes her one of Broadway’s “new old pros.”



Lilly Christine, The Cat Girl

Is the big draw at Basin Street – a bit of old New Orleans newly transferred to Broadway – exhibiting furious vitality and spectacular control over spectacular equipment that never fails to fracture the onlookers.

Margot Fonteyn
Is today’s top classic ballerina illuminating every role with her great personal allure and exquisite discipline.

Rocky Marciano 
The world heavyweight champion, without a plausible challenger in sight. In the arena he is a machine that only knows how to win – doggedly, without remorse.


The Magnets
Richard Avedon 
Harper’s Bazaar November 1953






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