It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Cole Porter’s Aladdin (1958) – Musical #761

Studio:
CBS

Director:
Ralph Nelson

Starring:
Sal Mineo, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Dennis King, Basil Rathbone, Howard Morris, Una Merkel, Cyril Ritchard, George Hall, Geoffrey Holder, Alec Clarke, Akim Tamiroff

Plot:
The story of Aladdin (Mineo), who finds a lamp with a Genie (Holder). As Aladdin tries to keep the lamp away from a sorcerer (Ritchard), he falls in love with Princess Ming Chou (Alberghetti), daughter of the Emperor (Rathbone).

Trivia:
• This story and score were specifically written for television.
• Cole Porter’s last score, and it was his only television project, according to Cole Porter’s biographer.
• Aired in color on Feb. 21, 1958, on “The DuPont Show of the Month” in telecolor.
• Humorist S. J. Perelman adapted the story of “Arabian Nights” of Aladdin into a romantic comedy.
• Sal Mineo and Geoffrey Holder became lifelong friends after meeting on the set of this TV movie, according to Mineo’s biographer.
• Following the television production, the Cole Porter musical was performed on stage at the London Coliseum on Dec. 17, 1959, directed by Bobby Howell and starring Bob Monkhouse, Doretta Morrow, Ian Wallace, and Ronald Shiner. The stage production included several expanded Cole Porter songs.
• The television production was never released on DVD or VHS, and preserved at the Paley Media Center.

Highlights:
• Sal Mineo singing

Notable Songs:
• “I Adore You” performed by Sal Mineo and Anna Maria Alberghetti

My review:
As I frequently discuss here, classic films are often hard to come by or lost all together. Even harder to find are made for television films from any era, but especially from those early days of TV.

This week’s Musical Monday would be impossible to watch if some kind soul hadn’t uploaded it online several years back. On Feb. 21, 1958, the “The DuPont Show of the Month” presented “Aladdin,” starring Sal Mineo in the lead, coming two years off his breakthrough role in “Rebel Without a Cause” (1956).

Humorist S. J. Perelman adapted Aladdin’s story in “Arabian Nights” into a musical comedy, and it was set to music by Cole Porter. This was the last music Porter wrote.

“This is a sure way to destroy what reputation I have left,” Porter said.

With music by Cole Porter and a cast touting Sal Mineo, Basil Rathbone, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Geoffrey Holder and Cyril Ritchard, I started this made-for-TV musical special with high hopes and knowing it would be a good time. Aladdin is an interesting curio because it’s notable for being Cole Porter’s last music and lyrics, but unfortunately, as soon as it started … I realized this TV special was not my cup of tea.

It kicks off with the song “Come to the Supermarket in Old Peking” (later made popular by Barbra Streisand) performed by Cyril Ritchard, which to me vaguely sounded like “Anything Goes.” And then and there with Ritchard’s winks and looks at the camera I thought, “I just don’t know about this.” Of the nine songs in this, I really only enjoyed one.

This made-for-TV movie provided a rare bad performance from Basil Rathbone, who plays the emperor, and unfortunately doesn’t speak with his usual beautiful speaking voice. Instead, he speaks with a clipped voice that is meant to sound like an Chinese accent. Also unfortunately, the male leads are all performing in yellow face.

One bright spot, however, is sweet Sal Mineo as Aladdin. While Mineo is not traditionally known as a singer and his voice may not be polished, I thought he did a great job. Mineo took this role, because he felt it would take his career in a different direction, according to his biographer. I thought Mineo and Anna Maria Alberghetti’s duet singing “I Adore You” was beautiful, and the best song in the TV special. I thought Mineo did a good job with the material he was given.

It’s always a highlight to see Anna Maria Alberghetti in anything, so I was happy to see her here, but also felt she was under-utilized. It was also a great surprise to see Geoffrey Holder as the Genie, and he’s wonderful as always, but I would have like to see more of him as well. Una Merkel is in this as well, and I always love her, but this felt like strange casting.

When this television special was announced on Nov. 22, 1957, in the New York Times, it touted a cost of half a million dollars and touted “an elaborate spectacle.”

Around this time, several fairy tale TV specials were airing. “The Pied-Piper of Hamlin” (1957) starring Van Johnson was touted as the first special. Others included “Pinocchio” (1957) starring Mickey Rooney and “Hansel and Gretel” (1958) starring Red Buttons, Rise Stevens and Rudy Vallee. “Aladdin” can be grouped with these fairy tale TV screenings. Because some of these are hard to access, at the time of this review (Dec. 9, 2023) I’ve only viewed “The Pied-Piper of Hamlin” and “Aladdin.” Unfortunately, I had a much better time with the “Pied Piper” which held the charm that somehow lacked here for me.

My disappointment in this was shared by critics of the day. While the Los Angeles Times said the special was charming, the New York Times said:
“Sal Mineo was fine as Aladdin indeed, once he devoted his vocal cords to dialogue instead of singing, at which he is, frankly, hopeless though sincere.”

I honestly think the Dupont ads that were included in this online upload may have been more enjoyable for me! I had high hopes because I do love Cole Porter and Sal Mineo, but unfortunately, the charm was lost on me with this one and I didn’t enjoy most of the songs.

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