The Toast of New Orleans *** (1950, Kathryn Grayson, Mario Lanza, David Niven, J Carrol Naish, James Mitchell, Rita Moreno) – Classic Movie Review 11,681

The 1950 MGM musical film The Toast of New Orleans stars Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza, who sings the Oscar-nominated ‘Be My Love’

MGM re-pair the Kathryn Grayson-Mario Lanza team to bigger and better effect than in 1949’s That Midnight Kiss in Norman Taurog’s 1950 Technicolor musical The Toast of New Orleans, set in Louisiana in 1905.

Mario plays a lumpish Louisiana bayou fisherman called Pepe Duvalle, who becomes a New Orleans opera star but has eyes on that other star, soprano Suzette Micheline (Grayson). David Niven seems at a bit of a loss in a rotten part as the opera’s director Jacques Riboudeaux, but young Rita Moreno (as Tina) and old J Carrol Naish (as Nicky Duvalle) are certainly in the right film.

‘Be My Love’ (lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Nicholas Brodszky) was Oscar nominated as Best Original Song and was a hit for Lanza. His recording became the first of his three million-selling singles, earning him enormous fame.

Mario Lanza’s character Pepe as Lt Pinkerton USN in re-creation of the opera Madama Butterfly in the film Toast of New Orleans.

The stars trill bits of opera favourites Madama Butterfly, Carmen, La Traviata and Mignon, Aida, L’Africaine and La Bohème; Lanza also sings ‘Tina-lina’.

It is choreographed by Eugene Loring.

It was shot from late December 1949 to early March 1950. In a costly production ($1,889,000), there were 35 sets to be built and three adjoining sound stages on the MGM lot were combined to house one of the largest indoor sets constructed for a film musical.

The film ends with Lanza and Grayson performing in a production of Madama Butterfly, in which Lanza had made his opera stage debut as Pinkerton in 1948.

MGM paid Lanza $50,000, twice his contract stipulation.

The cast are Kathryn Grayson as Suzette Micheline, Mario Lanza as Pepe Abellard Duvalle, David Niven as Jacques Riboudeaux, J Carrol Naish as Nicky Duvalle, James Mitchell as Pierre, Richard Hageman as Maestro P Trellini, Clinton Sundberg as Oscar, Sig Arno as Mayor, Rita Moreno as Tina, Sig Arno, Romo Vincent, Leon Belasco, Wallis Clark, Henry Corden, George Davis, Marietta Canty, Bess Flowers, Paul Frees, Jack George, Alex Gerry, Robert Emmett Keane, Edoardo Moreno, Nino Pipitone, Nick Thompson, Fred Essler and Guy De Vestel.

It is Hageman’s acting debut and Moreno’s first movie musical.

It was a hit, earning $3,251,000, but leading to a profit of only $22,000.

Mario Lanza (January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in Philadelphia to Italian parents. His mother was Maria Lanza.

Lanza’s August 1947 concert at the Hollywood Bowl brought him to the attention of Louis B Mayer, who signed him to a seven-year film contract with MGM.

Lanza was an inspiration to fellow RCA Victor recording star Elvis Presley, who a year after Lanza’s 1959 death recorded an English translation of ‘O Sole Mio’, popularised by Lanza. ‘It’s Now or Never’ became one of Presley’s all-time best selling songs.

Norman Taurog ended up directing Elvis movies: G.I. Blues (1960), Blue Hawaii (1961), Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), It Happened at the World’s Fair (1962), Tickle Me (1965), Spinout (1966), Double Trouble (1967), Speedway (1968), and Live a Little, Love a Little (1968).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,681

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