Julie Andrews as ‘Cinderella’ to appear on PBS, DVD
Once upon a time, not quite 50 years ago, the royalty of Broadway brought a musical version of “Cinderella” to national television.
It was the first – and only – project written for television by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. And it starred Julie Andrews, then 21, in the fanciful tale of a girl and a glass slipper.
“Cinderella” aired on March 31, 1957, on CBS, a live performance that captivated more than 100 million viewers.
Tonight, PBS reprises the simple telling of the childhood classic on its “Great Performances” series. And on Tuesday, it will be released as a DVD with such extras as a 20-minute making-of featurette as well as a gallery of production photos and promotional materials, including paper dolls of Andrews.
The program is a digitally restored, black-and-white version of a kinescope – a filmed version of what was on the TV set as it aired.
“It looks pretty primitive, but that’s part of its charm,” said Ted Chapin, president of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization in New York.
The show’s melodies include “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful,” “In My Own Little Corner” and “Impossible.”
“Those songs were written by people who were on a roll,” Chapin said. “Rodgers and Hammerstein were between ‘The King and I’ and ‘The Sound of Music.’ It has a quality that is far more lasting than anyone thought it would be,” he said.
As host of the rebroadcast, Andrews recalled, “Just before I went on, a very kind soul pointed out to me that more people probably would see me in that single telecast than all the full houses of ‘My Fair Lady’ for 100 years.”
Playing the Fairy Godmother was Edie Adams, whose career began on stage and television in the 1950s, continuing with movie roles (including “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World”). The live aspect of the 1957 broadcast terrified her.
“I was just so worried about everything that could possibly go wrong,” she said in a telephone interview, “and I was so amazed because it worked out beautifully.”
Costume and makeup changes were especially swift and tricky. As Cinderella was transformed from rags to riches, for example, a crew member quickly had to place a crown on her head as the camera panned up from her feet. Special effects were in their infancy, and a single superimposed sparkler marks the magical moment.
CBS and its sponsors, Pepsi-Cola and Shulton, maker of Old Spice, heavily promoted the show. Pepsi printed 5 million “Cinderella” comic books and distributed them with six-packs of soda, said Bert Fink, vice president of public relations of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, in an essay on the making of the program.
A week before the live show, Rodgers and Hammerstein appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” (which was pre-empted for “Cinderella”) and performed one of the songs. That appearance is one of the special features on the DVD (Image Entertainment, $24.99).