Hope you’re all doing well. I’m not sure if this is the right place for this post, but I think it works best.
For several months now I’ve been embroiled in a search for the identity of the singer who sings three Cole Porter songs (“Just One of Those Things,” “You Do Something to Me,” and “Anything Goes&rdquo in the movie Sleuth (1972). Here’s a link to a clip of Laurence Olivier’s character dancing to the tunes. I’ve become this involved in the mystery because it has been going around the Internet for at least fifteen or twenty years (there was a post on the old IMDb Boards asking for it from right before the millennium), yet still no one has ever been able to figure out the singer’s identity. It’s a real head-scratcher.
Anyway, I’m asking here because several Internet sleuths (pun intended, of course) have told me that it’s probably a studio reproduction of a ’30s singer. A music professor with whom I e-mailed back and forth informed me that there are a number of features in the recording that hint at the songs’ being recorded in the ’70s, when the movie was made. Needless to say, there’s no information on IMDb or anywhere around the Internet about this—nor, of course, in the movie’s credits. (The single music credit reads, “Words and music by Cole Porter,” with an asterisk to “by arrangement with Warner Bros. Publishing.” I’ve reached out to Warner Bros. several times and received no reply.)
It’s entirely possible that the Sleuth production team worked with someone from the theatre, either Broadway or the West End (it was filmed in the U.K. with English actors), especially as it was based on a Tony-winning play. (The scene is not in the play.)
Does anyone here recognize the voice or know a possible candidate for the singer? I know it’s a minuscule thing, but it would be a great relief to everyone who has searched for the singer over the years, especially those of us searching now on IMDb v2.0!
Nearly everyone associated with the production—the composer, the arranger, the director, producer, et al.—is deceased, unfortunately. The one crew member still living whom I was able to contact had no idea, and the only other person is Michael Caine. I’ve not been able to contact him, of course, but even if I did I doubt he’d know.
What’s curious to me is that no one knows the singer’s voice. Even if he were a studio singer, he would have had to sing somewhere else, no?
This may be the slowest solution. But you can search "Just one of those things" on discogs, filter by decades. The movie is from 1976, and from the YouTube clip, the recording sounds very old, I would guess it's before the 60s. There are 4 results on discogs for the 30s, 38 for the 40s, 644 for the 50s, of which many are duplicates. The actual number should be way smaller than 600. Then starting from the oldest, search the artist and the song title on YouTube, compare the sound. Good luck!
They sound very old, yes, but every expert to whom I’ve spoken assures me that they’re convincing studio fakes (I can pull up all the reasons from an old e-mail, but I remember one of them being that the sound is too good for a ’30s recording. The style, including a snare drum, is also off). Someone else tried discogs before I started looking into the mystery, to no avail. Thanks for helping, though! :)
There used to be quite a few people who specialized in Noel Coward-style renditions of Cole Porter classics- Peter Skellern springs to mind as the kind of person who used to do this.
The egg-heads at theatreboard may well remember- I think a West End or cabaret artist is most likely.
PalJoey said: "I've always thought it was the 1930s British sing Al Bowlly, from Mozambique. No?"
Glad to know I'm not the only one familiar with Al Bowlly. I have much of his music on my MP3 player and listen to him often when I'm out exercising. If he isn't the singer in question, then I don't know who else it might be. Sadly, Mr. Bowlly was killed in the 1941 London Blitz.
Oh, definitely put me down as another Bowlly fan. :) And the voice is very close to Bowlly, but for the reasons I wrote above (5/14/18), I don’t think the Sleuth songs are from an authentic ‘30s recording. At the beginning of the search, I e-mailed to a music professor who told me that the recording doesn’t sound to him like ’30s—the sound quality is too good, for lack of a better term.
Which is, I suppose, why I asked here—someone suggested it may be a Broadway or West End singer, like the guys from the wonderful Porter tribute Cole.
Here is ten years of a forum dating back to 2006 asking the same question. Perhaps you participated? The general consensus seems to be: dunno. One suggestion is that Michael Caine was the singer.
Cat Guy said: "Here is ten years of a forum dating back to 2006 asking the same question. Perhaps you participated? The general consensus seems to be: dunno. One suggestion is that Michael Caine was the singer.
Last night I watched the recent film "Goodbye Christopher Robin". It is the story behind the writing of the "Winnie the Pooh" books by A. E. Milne. This recording was featured, and immediately I recognized the singer to be Al Bowlly. I'm happy to know that Mr. Bowlly is still remembered all these many years after his passing.
wow these are fine vocals and certainly were “styled” after al bowllys voice and arrangements from the thirties. the recordings do sound more contemporary. my bet is a local studio guy doing an al bowlly impersonation
There used to be quite a few people who specialized in Noel Coward-style renditions of Cole Porter classics- Peter Skellern springs to mind as the kind of person who used to do this.
The egg-heads at theatreboard may well remember- I think a West End or cabaret artist is most likely.
"
devonian.t, I asked there right after responding to you here, but unfortunately no one there has responded (and I did try bumping it as well). Thanks for the lead, though!
joined:5/13/18
joined:
5/13/18
Posted: 5/13/18 at 10:50pm