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:
High Society (1956) – Musical #111

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Charles Walters

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm, Louis Armstrong, John Lund, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, Margalo Gillmore, Lydia Reed, Gordon Richards, Richard Garrick
Louis Armstrong’s band: Edmond Hall, James Young, Arvell Shaw, Billy Kyle, Barrett Deems

Plot:
Days before the wedding of socialite Tracy Lord (Kelly) and George Kittredge (Lund), Tracy’s ex-husband C. K. Dexter-Haven (Crosby) returns back to Newport, Rhode Island, to host a jazz festival. While Tracy is annoyed that her ex-husband is around, matters are complicated further when a reporter Mike Connor (Sinatra) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Holm) arrive from SPY Magazine to cover the wedding.

Trivia:
• Grace Kelly’s final film role.
• A musical remake of the 1940 film, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey.
• Both Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly were considered for the role of Tracy Lord. Taylor ended up being unavailable, so the part went to Kelly, according to notes on the DVD features.
• Howard Keel wanted the role of C.K. Dexter Haven, according to a 1955 article in The Hollywood Reporter.
• This was Cole Porter’s first film since 1949. Porter wrote the song “So What?” for the film, but the song was shelved and instead, the song “Well, Did You Ever?” was used which Porter originally wrote for the 1939 play, “DuBarry Was a Lady.”
• The exterior shot of Uncle Willie’s house is Beechwood Astor Mansion of Newport, Rhode Island.
• Grace Kelly’s singing voice was dubbed by Niki Schenck
• The first film that co-starred Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.
• Edward Bernds and Elwood Ullman were nominated for Best Motion Picture Story. They withdrew the nomination, as they had been nominated mistakenly for a Bowery Boys picture of the same title and not the MGM musical, according to a Turner Classic Movies article.

Highlights:
• Louis Armstrong
• Star-studded cast
• Costumes by Helen Rose

Notable Songs:
• “High Society Calypso” performed by Louis Armstrong
• “Now You Has Jazz” performed by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong

My review:
Over the years, I’ve openly discussed my thoughts and feelings about musical remakes. While some are fine, most aren’t very good. So for years, I thought I didn’t like HIGH SOCIETY (1956), until I revisited it recently for the first time in 15 years. I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed myself.

A musical remake of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940), it is hard to improve on the comedic perfection of Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY is perhaps one of the greatest comedic films of all-time. Hepburn also originated the role in the stage production.

However, if you watch HIGH SOCIETY as its own film, it is a good time, vibrant in Technicolor and the Helen Rose costumes are a vision.

In the film, it’s days before the wedding of socialite Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly) to George Kittredge (John Lund). Tracy’s ex-husband C. K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby) returns to Newport, Rhode Island, to host a jazz festival, which features performers like Louis Armstrong. While Tracy is annoyed that her ex-husband is around, matters are complicated further when a reporter Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Celeste Holm) arrive from SPY Magazine to cover the wedding. In the moment, Mike and Tracy develop a brief crush, while Dexter also still cares for Tracy.

Independent producer Sol C. Siegel originated the idea of making a musical version of the story
MGM studio head Dore Schary greenlit the project in mid-1955. Initially a story called “Jazz in Newport” was being developed, and filmmakers combined the idea with that a remake of “The Philadelphia Story,” according to notes on the DVD release.

If considering the original film to this musical remake, I do feel many of the actors match the original cast:
– While very different performers, Grace Kelly and Katharine Hepburn both have the regal air of New England sophistication
– John Howard to John Lund in the remake is honestly spot on.
– Lydia Reed was definitely cast because she slightly resembles Virginia Weidler
– While having a totally different feel, Louis Calhern has the same rascal energy that Roland Young has

HIGH SOCIETY is a special movie, because it’s Grace Kelly’s final film role. It also gives us a different kind of role. After playing sophisticated, “ice queens,” it’s fun to see Kelly in a lighthearted, comedic role — and she’s great at comedy! If only she had been cast in more comedic films.

“HIGH SOCIETY as the final Grace Kelly film is fascinating to think about, because it’s arguably the lightest movie and role in her too short career,” said Emily Nesbitt, owner of the X account, @FlowersForGrace. “It’s a shame, because she really is lovely in it; charming and funny and so, so romantic. Maybe in another life, Grace’s career took a Doris Day style turn with rom-coms as well as the dramas she made her mark in.”

Production for this film went began quickly, because Kelly was preparing to leave Hollywood to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, according to the DVD trivia notes.

The other highlight in the film is Louis Armstrong, who plays himself. He sets us up at the beginning of the film, singing the backstory with “High Society Calypso.” I love the lyric “the silly chick is going to marry a square.” Armstrong then closes us out at the end of the film. Armstrong’s songs in the film are the best in the movie. Director Charles Walters regretted not having a fully developed story for Armstrong, who was originally supposed to play cupid between Crosby and Kelly, according to Walters’s biographer.

The rest of the star-studded cast is also great, though I personally struggle trying to equate Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra to Cary Grant and James Stewart. However, Crosby brings his own “let’s go to a clambake” energy to this film, and acts well with Grace Kelly, as they had previously worked together in THE COUNTRY GIRL. This was the first time Crosby and Sinatra co-starred in a film, and it’s unique to have the two crooners together.

Louis Calhern is also lots of fun as the rascal relative, Uncle Willy.

Choreographer turned director, Charles Walters, directed the film and Crosby sang his praise.

“It was a pleasure to be in the picture,” Crosby is quoted by Walter’s biographer. “Chuck’s a very fine director with great taste and sophistication. It was just a breeze, really.”

Walters’s was equally complimentary of Crosby, calling him “the most darling man I ever worked with. The nicest man. Calling him professional is almost wrong, his demeanor was so simplistic. He was so honest; he’d say ‘Whatever you want, Chuck.’”

The film is also a vision in Technicolor and those stunning Helen Rose gowns — the same designer who designed Kelly’s wedding gown.

When I said I didn’t think I liked this movie, it’s not the movie I don’t like … it’s 85% of the music (basically, the songs not performed by Louis Armstrong). I hate to disrespect one of the best songwriters that ever lived, but this isn’t Cole Porter’s best work in my opinion. I generally love Cole Porter music, but in 1956, it feels a bit stale and old-fashioned. I think I’d feel differently if some of these were performed in 1936.

Despite my lukewarm feelings about the music, I overall really enjoyed this revisit. A rare musical remake that’s a good time. It did leave me wondering what Kelly’s career could have been like had she been cast in more comedies.

“Grace left Hollywood on her terms, regardless of what the gossip rags want people to think, and her last movie gets to symbolize that,” Nesbitt said.