Check your local PBS station listings for "Rosemary Clooney: The Girl Singer" which features Rosemary performing these songs on her television series from the 1950s.


The Rosemary Clooney Show:
Songs from the Classic Television Series

PBS Special:
Rosemary Clooney:
Girl Singer

CD Track Listing

Reviews

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This previously-unreleased collection of gems—recorded and originally broadcast on Rosemary Clooney’s classic 1950s television series, The Rosemary Clooney Show—spotlights everyone’s favorite “girl singer” in engaging and enduring performances of a bountiful bevy of timeless songs. Featuring beautifully crafted arrangements by inimitable Nelson Riddle, the swinging Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and guest appearances by The Hi-Lo's, Rosemary is heard in top form, in the ideal settings. As heard on the PBS television special Girl Singer (which begins airring in March on local PBS stations), Concord Records is proud to present these vintage Rosemary Clooney performances, for the first time on CD. Release Date 3/23/04

 

THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU
photos of Rosemary from around the time
these performances were recorded

 


Click Here for an Episode Guide to Rosemary's Television Series

Track Listing:

Tenderly
Botch-A-Me
Mambo Italiano
Moonlight In Vermont
My Blue Heaven
How About You
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
There Will Never Be Another You
Lullaby Of Broadway
I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
A Foggy Day
You Make Me Feel So Young

Chicago, That Toddlin' Town
Dream (with the Hi-Lo's)
Just You, Just Me
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
Too Marvelous For Words
This Ole House
They Can't Take That Away From Me
Taking A Chance On Love
Blues In The Night
Come On-A My House
Hey There
Up A Lazy River
I'll Be Seeing You
Haven't Got A Worry

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Vintage Rosie on PBS
By Rick Bird, Cincinnati Post staff reporter, March 5, 2004

As a television show it now looks a bit archaic and corny. As a collection of musical performances, it is stunning and timeless.

The estate of Rosemary Clooney is giving fans a true musical treasure with a new PBS documentary, "Rosemary Clooney: Girl Singer." It is full of vintage musical performances all from "The Rosemary Clooney Show," a prime-time syndicated TV show that aired in 1956-'57.

In between the songs there are heartfelt and, at times, tearful remembrances of Rosemary from all five of her children, plus brother Nick and nephew George.

"We wanted to have a proper memorial on tape. This is the beginning of it," said Allen Sviridoff, Clooney's longtime manager and executive producer of the documentary.

The show airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on Kentucky Educational Television (KET, Channel 54) and March 11 at 8 p.m. on CET (Channel 48; repeating 10 p.m. March 12).

The Thursday CET airing will be part of a fund drive with Nick Clooney hosting live.

Those looking for an objective, comprehensive biography of Rosemary Clooney won't find it in this hour-long piece. Instead, viewers get a personal memorial and musical showcase of the Maysville, Ky., native who died in 2002. Her family shares their most private memories of Rosemary, as if viewers were seeing a family photo album open up.

But, mostly, Rosemary does the talking; or in this case, the singing. This is all about the music as viewers see in their entirety, 18 songs she performed on the old TV show. It is the first time since the programs originally aired that extensive clips from them have been seen.

The 32 episodes she made were not exactly lost, but they had been collecting dust in MCA vaults. Sviridoff said, even 10 years before her death, Rosemary had talked about doing something with the music from the TV show. But corporate machinations over releasing the material got too complicated. After Clooney's death, Sviridoff immediately seized on the old TV shows as the centerpiece for a Rosemary biography.

What viewers get is a 30-year-old Rosemary Clooney at the top of her vocal game with exquisite arrangements done for the TV show by Nelson Riddle and performed by his orchestra.

"She was absolutely riding high as the Madonna of the '50s," Sviridoff said about the timing of the TV show. "This is '56, where she had a multi-platinum record with 'Hey There.' She had just made 'White Christmas.' She was recording constantly. She had a radio and television show and she was pregnant with her second child and married happily to Jose Ferrer. This is a woman having a great life."

The sound quality from the old clips is stunning, because it was one of the first TV shows ever recorded on 35 mm film. Each week Clooney and Nelson Riddle would hit the recording studio to lay down the songs for the show. Then Clooney would lip-sync them for the cameras. And that's another talent Rosemary had.

"She blew the editor's mind," Sviridoff said and chuckled. "When he was working on this (documentary) he called me and said, 'She's not lip-syncing. I cannot find a mistake in here. Her mouth is perfectly in time.' The amazing part is, today you watch the monitor, you sing, then you go fix parts. But this was all shot on 35 mm film, so there were no monitors. And maybe just a couple takes."

In the piece, the family talks about Rosemary's renowned personable style, her ability to make a song her own. Nick quotes Frank Sinatra as saying, "Rosemary could hit a note smack dab in the middle of it."

Her almost mystical ability to connect with audiences comes through in the TV performances even as the admittedly hokey production of the time finds Rosemary on a sparse set singing "Hey There" as she makes a floral arrangement. Even in the impersonal TV medium you get a sense she is singing just to you.

The songs are classic Rosemary, including plenty of Gershwin and Cole Porter. Her family tells great stories about how she hated "Come on-a My House," as they set up her performance of her breakthrough hit.

In the piece, George Clooney comments that he wishes his friends could have seen his aunt perform when it was just her and an audience, such as at her famed performances at Rockefeller Center's Rainbow and Stars room. "When she got up in front of people, with just her and a microphone, something magical happened," he said about her amazing ease and natural repartee with an audience.

There are such performances preserved on tape and fans will likely see them in similar future documentaries.

"The whole intent is to do a follow-up," Sviridoff said. "There is a whole lot more to say, but we wanted to start the audience with what really got her started and what she was doing at the height of her career."

Rosemary Clooney: Girl Singer
PBS SPECIAL

During a career that spanned six decades, she mesmerized audiences with her warmth, depth of feeling, honesty and unsurpassed craft. It was that artistry, expressed through her distinctively deep, rich and smooth voice that earned Rosemary Clooney her recognition as one of America's premiere pop and jazz singers. Rosemary Clooney: Girl Singer presents full-song vintage performances from Clooney's 1950s TV work, seamlessly blended with new interview segments with her family and friends.

Her repertoire—written by the likes of Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Johnny Mercer, and George and Ira Gershwin—is timeless. And so is the way she sang the songs. She instinctively wove a tale, bringing the experience of her life to every line, making every lyric clear and meaningful.

She had a roller-coaster of a career (and a life), but Clooney triumphantly overcame great personal troubles to re-emerge in the 1970s as an artist who could not be ignored. In honor of everything she accomplished, from the hits in the early 50s to her remarkable performances and records during the past quarter-century, she was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. Although she passed away later that year, her comeback was complete; Clooney had more than reclaimed her place in the pop pantheon as one of the all-time great “girl singers”—she had become a living, breathing, singing legend.

Rosemary Clooney: Girl Singer showcases the greatest moments from “The Rosemary Clooney Show,” which aired during the 1956-57 television season. Most of these shows have not been seen since their original broadcast. In 39 episodes filmed in 35mm black and white, Rosemary Clooney sang her hits, as well as standards from the Great American Songbook. Musical director for the show was the incomparable Nelson Riddle, and the Hi-Lo's (the jazzy vocal group) were also regulars on the series.

These classic musical performances are connected by interviews with members of Clooney's family, including her children (Miguel, Gabri, Rafi, Maria and Monsita); her brother, Nick; actor (and nephew) George Clooney; and family friend and fan Michael Feinstein.

Song Selection Includes:

MY BLUE HEAVEN (from show w/ Tennesee Ernie Ford)
LULLABY OF BROADWAY (from show w/ Dorothy Shay)
I GOT IT BAD AND THAT AIN'T GOOD (from show w/ Marguerite Piazza)
MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT (from show w/ Carol Channing)
CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME (from show w/ Bobby Troupe)
BLUES IN THE NIGHT (from show unknown w/ Hi-Los)
YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO YOUNG (from show w/ Tony Curtis)
COME ON A MY HOUSE (from show w/ Jose Ferrer)
MAMBO ITALIANO (from show w/ Jose Ferrer)
THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU (from show unknown - Rosemary pregnant)
HEY THERE (from show w/ Tony Curtis)
I'VE GOT MY LOVE TO KEEP ME WARM (from show w/ Mel Torme)
TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE (from show w/ Tony Curtis)
LOVE AND MARRIAGE -duet with Jose Ferrer (from show w/ Jose Ferrer)
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS (from show w/ Mona Freeman & Pete Hanley)
I'LL BE SEEING YOU (from show w/ Charles Coburn & Renee Godfrey)
COME RAIN OR COME SHINE (from show unknown)

 

Following is a small list of those stations broadcasting
 "Rosemary Clooney: Girl Singer"

SEARCH FOR YOUR LOCAL PBS STATIONS HERE

ALABAMA
APTV - Saturday, March 13, 2004 at 5:30PM (Premium Gifts Available: $120.00 DVD: Rosemary Clooney:Girl Singer; $100.00 VHS: Rosemary Clooney:Girl Singer; $75.00 CD: Rosemary Clooney-The Last Concert; $100.00 CD: The Rosemary Clooney Show

CALIFORNIA
KQED (N.CA) - Thursday, March 18, 7:30pm
KPBS (San Diego) - Friday, March 19, 8:00pm

FLORIDA
WEDU (Tampa) - Friday, March 12, 8:30 p.m.

INDIANA
WTIU - Thursday March 11, 8pm

KENTUCKY
KET (Channel 54) - Sunday March 7, 8 p.m. (premium gifts)

MARYLAND
MPT22 - Sunday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday, March 10, 3:30 p.m.

NEW JERSEY
NJN - Saturday, March 13, 6:30pm

NEW YORK
WNET - Tuesday, March 16, 9:30pm

OHIO
CET (Channel 48 Cincinnati) - Thursday March 11, 8 p.m. and Friday March 12, 10 p.m. (The Thursday CET airing will be part of a fund drive with Nick Clooney hosting live.) (Premium Gifts: $75.00 Rosemary Clooney: The Last Concert CD; $100.00 Rosemary Clooney: Girl Singer videocassette; $100.00 Rosemary Clooney: Songs from the Classic TV Series CD; $120.00 Rosemary Clooney: Girl Singer DVD)

PENNSYLVANIA
WHYY - Wednesday, March 24, 8pm
WQED - Tuesday, March 16, 8:00pm

TEXAS
KUHT - Thursday, March 18, 10 p.m., and Saturday, March 20, 5:30 p.m.

VIRGINIA
WVPT (Channel 51) - Monday, March 08, 7:30pm
WBRA - Saturday, March 27. 8p.m.

 

 

Order Your Copy from Cincinnati's CET PBS Station

If your PBS Station isn't broadcasting the special and you'd like to obtain a copy of the DVD or VHS of the special, consider making a donation to the Cincinnati PBS station CET and receive a copy of the program as a premium gift when you donate $120 - $100.

The DVD and VHS include the clips of "Chicago" that didn't air on PBS as well as an extra 60 minutes of interviews on the DVD and 30 minutes on the VHS.

Complete the donation/plede form, and indicate that you'd like "Rosemary Clooney: Girl Singer" as your gift. 

Or call Kim Danker, Membership Manager at (513)381-4033 and make your pledge over the phone.

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE ROSEMARY CLOONEY PALLADIUM HOMEPAGE

(Playing in the background is "Tenderly" from Concord's latest Rosemary release
"The Rosemary Clooney Show: Songs from the Classic Television Series")

 

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THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU