Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which was based on Ferenc Molnar's Liliom. The movie stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King. The film was made in Cinemascope 55, and in color by DeLuxe. Henry King may refer to: Henry King (poet), (1592-1669), English poet, Bishop of Chichester Henry Churchill King, (1858–1934) theologian and educator; served on King-Crane Commission Henry King, (1855-1923) Australian studio and landscape photographer Henry T. King was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials Herny King (congressman... Albert Gordon MacRae (born 12 March 1921 in East Orange, New Jersey, – died 24 January 1986 in Lincoln, Nebraska) was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in musical films of the 1950s. ... Shirley Jones, in a still from the opening credits of The Partridge Family Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning singer and actress, perhaps best known for her role as Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children, in the television series The Partridge Family... The name Cameron Mitchell belongs to: The film actor Cameron Mitchell, who appeared in both highly acclaimed movies (the 1951 adaptation of Death of a Salesman) and critically panned movies (Space Mutiny, Frankenstein Island). ... Barbara Ruick (born: December 23, 1930 died: March 3, 1974) was an American actress. ... Claramae Turner (1920-) is an American opera singer. ... Robert Rounseville (1914-1974) was an American tenor, who appeared in opera, operetta, and Broadway musicals. ... Gene Lockhart (1891 - 1957) was a Canadian character actor, singer and popular composer. ... Jacques dAmboise (born July 28, 1934) is a well-known U.S. ballet dancer and choreographer. ... For more on his work with his two partners, see Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein. ... There have been several historical figures named William Reynolds. ... Rodgers (left) and Hammerstein (right), with Irving Berlin (middle) and Helen Tamiris, watching auditions at the St. ... Carousel is a 1945 stage musical by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) that was adapted from Ferenc Molnars play Liliom. ... Ferenc Molnár (b. ... Liliom is a 1909 play by Ferenc Molnár, famous as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. ... Albert Gordon MacRae (born 12 March 1921 in East Orange, New Jersey, – died 24 January 1986 in Lincoln, Nebraska) was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in musical films of the 1950s. ... Shirley Jones, in a still from the opening credits of The Partridge Family Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning singer and actress, perhaps best known for her role as Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children, in the television series The Partridge Family... Henry King may refer to: Henry King (poet), (1592-1669), English poet, Bishop of Chichester Henry Churchill King, (1858–1934) theologian and educator; served on King-Crane Commission Henry King, (1855-1923) Australian studio and landscape photographer Henry T. King was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials Herny King (congressman... The CinemaScope 55 title screen that followed the Fox logo A frame of the negative of Carousel. CinemaScope 55 was a large-format version of CinemaScope introduced in 1955, which used a negative size of 55. ...

Plot

The story revolves around Billy Bigelow, a rough-talking, macho carousel barker, and Julie Jordan, a young, innocent mill worker. They fall in love, but both are fired from their jobs for different reasons - Billy because he paid too much attention to Julie, and Julie because she stayed out past her curfew. The two marry and go to live at the seaside house of her cousin Nettie, but Billy becomes bitter because he is unable to find work, leading to spousal abuse, and Mrs. Mullin, the jealous carousel owner who is infatuated with him, will not re-hire him unless he leaves his wife. When Julie becomes pregnant, Billy, worried about not being able to provide for his child, secretly agrees to join his no-good pal Jigger Craigin in a robbery. During a clambake that night, the two sneak away. The robbery is unsuccessful and Jigger escapes, but Billy is accidentally killed. In the other world (apparently the back door of Heaven), he is told that he can return to Earth for one day to make amends. Fifteen years pass, and Billy returns to Earth to find his daughter Louise emotionally scarred because she is constantly taunted over the fact that her father committed a robbery. Billy, not telling her who he is, appears to her, tries to cheer her up, and gives her a star that he stole from Heaven. Louise refuses it, frightened, and Billy, in desperation, slaps her hand. As he becomes invisible, Louise informs Julie of what happened, saying that she did not feel a slap, but a kiss. Julie senses that Billy has come back for a reason. He is allowed to go to Louise's high school graduation, and there he silently gives both her and Julie the confidence they need and the knowledge that, in spite of everything, he loved Julie.

The film followed the stage version faithfully, except for four major changes :

• In the film, Billy dies by accident, rather than by suicide as in the show — when he falls on his own knife while trying to escape arrest.
• Some of the "recitative" singing in the "bench scene" is turned into spoken dialogue.
• The "recitative" singing that leads directly into the song June Is Bustin' Out All Over is eliminated.
• The film begins with Billy already dead, and the story of Billy's life on Earth is made into a flashback that takes up three-quarters of the film, as Billy tells his story to the Starkeeper in order to receive permission to return to Earth for one day.

(This last change was made to safeguard against the movie audience's being surprised at the death of Billy, and to prevent their leaving directly after it happens lest they think the story ended at that point.)

A small, less important change was the switching of the song "When The Children Are Asleep" to a later moment in order to take full advantage of the Maine locale. In the film, it is sung in a new scene by Carrie and Mr. Snow in their boat as the couple, together with Julie and Billy, sail to the island for the clambake. (This would logically place the song between Acts I and II of the stage version.) In the stage version, the song is unheard by any of the other characters, but the film places it so that Julie and Billy are there to listen to the song.

Response to the film

The world premiere of the film, in New York City, was attended by Washington diplomats as well as film stars. Among those in the audience were Averell Harriman and Edmund Muskie. Muskie was from Maine, where a large part of the movie was filmed.^[1] The film was largely critically acclaimed, but was a box office flop. Its soundtrack album, however, sold well, and the film's exposure on television, VHS, and DVD, has won a larger audience for it. It was the only Rodgers and Hammerstein film not nominated for any Academy Awards. However, some of the technical staff of Carousel also worked that year on the film version of The King and I, for which they did receive Academy Awards. William Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891 – July 26, 1986) was a Governor of New York. ... Edmund Muskie (March 28, 1914 – March 26, 1996) was an American Democratic politician from Maine. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... The King and I is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, with a script based on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. ...

Soundtrack album

The film's soundtrack album was issued on LP in 1956 by Capitol Records, but only in mono. However, because the soundtrack had been recorded in then state-of-the-art stereo, it was possible for Capitol to release a stereo version of the album in 1958. That version was made somewhat shorter than the mono by lopping off half of the complete Carousel Waltz (an instrumental piece) as heard on the album. (This was necessary because of a difference that existed then between mono and stereo grooves.) A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music from a particular feature film. ... Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label, owned by EMI. // The Capitol Records company was founded by the songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, with the financial help of movie producer Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs, (1910-1971) (owner of Music City, at the... This article is about the spacecraft and the mission. ...

Three editions of the soundtrack album were issued on compact disc, all in stereo. The first, issued in 1986 by Capitol, was an exact duplicate of the 1958 stereo LP. The rights then went to Angel Records, which issued a second edition of the album, this time featuring the complete Carousel Waltz . This album was superseded in 2001 by Angel's "expanded edition" of the soundtrack, which, for the first time, featured practically all of the songs and music recorded for the film, including the dance music, resulting in a playing time of 70 minutes, as opposed to the original 45 minute-LP. A Compact Disc or CD is an optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio. ... The Recording Angel as it appeared on early Gramophone discs. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Deleted songs

Two songs recorded for the film, You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan (sung by Barbara Ruick and Shirley Jones) and Blow High, Blow Low (sung by Cameron Mitchell and a male chorus) were eventually left out of the movie because the producers wanted to keep the length at 128 minutes. They have, however, been included in all editions of the soundtrack album.

The soundtrack album also featured (as noted above) the complete version of the Carousel Waltz which is heard at the beginning of the original show. Because of its nearly eight-minute length, only an abridged version of the waltz was actually heard in the film, and most stage productions of Carousel tend to shorten the piece as well, because of time considerations.

1967 Television movie

Carousel was made into a videotaped television special and broadcast on May 7, 1967 on ABC-TV. The movie starred Robert Goulet as Billy, Mary Grover as Julie, Marlyn Mason as Carrie and Pernell Roberts as Jigger. Edward Villella was the choreographer. Robert Gerard Goulet (b. ... Pernell Roberts (born 18 May 1928 in Waycross, Georgia, USA) is an American actor. ... Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936, Bayside, New York) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer, frequently cited as Americas most celebrated male dancer. ...

References

1. ^ New York Times review, February 17, 1956

External links

• Carousel 1956 film at the Internet Movie Database
• Carousel 1967 television movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Carousel info page on StageAgent.com - Carousel plot summary & character descriptions
• Flyrope.com page
• R&H Theatricals