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[Amanda]

I am looking for a song sung by Cary Grant. To the best of my knowledge, it is a Christmas tune played over the radio many many years ago. It's half sung and half spoken word, but I can't remember the title. My step dad has a poor quality copy of it on tape. I am looking for a better quality copy of it, or even the title and where it came from. I believe he's singing to a child about going to sleep, almost like a lullaby.

If anyone doesn't think I'm crazy and has any idea what I'm talking about, please e-mail me: amandaandy@comcast.net

[Amanda]

Because of a little more determination on my part, I found the file that I had been looking for, not 5 minutes after posting this original message!! Whoo-hoo!

It's called "Christmas Lullaby" and he only made one record for his daughter, Jennifer, in 1967.

Wow! I downloaded the mp3 and now I can give it to my step-dad so that he may toy with it, and use it on a new Christmas CD.

I'm sure he'll value it!

[Ken Barnes]

Dear Amanda,
Sorry I didn't respond sooner. I've been in New York at a mammoth 3-day conference dedicated to Bing Crosby and American Culture - and then on to Washington DC for other matters.

Just got back. Your story of Cary Grant's record for his daughter is charming. I must admit I didn't know of it but am so glad that you found it.

By the way, while in New York, I just bought the first DVD version of Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" starring Cary and Grace Kelly. Haven't had time to play it yet but it looks interesting.

Ken Barnes

[jack clowes]

I also got a DVD copy of To Catch a Thief last
week and the print is far superior to my VHS
copy (perhaps I was unlucky) - Grace Kelly (and
the Cote d'Azur) looks fantastic.

Sadly there is no commentary but it has a few
more extras than most Hitchcock DVDs including
a short featurette on the Costume Designs of
Edith Head which includes a very brief interview
with Rosemary Clooney.

On the subject of Cary Grant singing, I refer to
Bringing Up Baby once more - his Duet of I Can't
Give You Anything but Love with the equally
wonderful Katharine Hepburn must rank (along
with Judy Holliday's version of the same song in
Born Yesterday) amongst the greatest Musical
Moments in Cinema History.

[Ken Barnes]

Dear Jack,

I agree that "To Catch a Thief" looks superb. You probably noticed that the Rosemary Clooney's contribution to the featurette on Edith Head was extracted from the "White Christmas" DVD.

However, I must disagree that there is a lack of extras on most Hitchcock DVDs. Universal's two boxed sets "The Best of Hitchcock" offer fantastic extras on such classics as
"Vertigo," "Rear Window," "Psycho," "Shadow of a Doudbt" etc. All of which are available singly. Criterion have produced outstanding DVDs of "Notorious," "Rebecca" and,quite recently, "Spellbound." Do check these out,Jack. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Best
Ken

[jack clowes]

I apologise for making a statement without first
knowing the facts. I have not seen any of the
Criterion series but I'm sure they have plenty
of extras. Of the eight Hitchcocks in my DVD
collection only 2 (Rear Window and The Trouble
with Harry) are part of THE HITCHCOCK COLLECTION
Series. My copy of Psycho is not part of that
Series and has nothing and Strangers on a Train
(although it has 2 versions of the film) has no
extras. The same applies to The Lady Vanishes
whereas The 39 Steps, To Catch a Thief and, in
particular, North by Northwest are exceptions to
my ill-considered rule. So, here I am, living
proof that a little knowledge is a dangerous
thing so I apologise.
By the way, the Edith Head Featurette shown on
To Catch a Thief is also one of the good extras
on Roman Holiday which I received yesterday.
Now I'm waiting for next week when I hope to
receive my pre-ordered copy of Holiday Inn and
then I can start to try to persuade you to go
on and follow it up with Blue Skies.
Best regards Jack

[Dominic McHugh]

There is, of course, the slightly disappointing biographical film on the life of Cole Porter, in which Cary Grant plays the lead. He does a little singing, as I remember it, but it's hardly a Crosby effort...

The film is a victim of its time, in terms of that strange trend to make extremely fictitious portrayals of the lives of people like Rodgers and Hart, Jerome Kern, Gershwin, etc etc, yet the songs when performed by others are amongst the best ever written, and it would be good to see this as a DVD release. And Grant isn't tooooo bad as Porter. (Then again, he isn't too good). The artificially coloured version also makes the film more garish, unfortunately.

Dominic

[Ken Barnes]

Hi Dominic,
Just got back from Bing conference in New York- so haven't been around for the last 12 days.

I was interested in your remarks about about Cary Grant as Cole Porter. This was not good casting but, apparently, Cary was Porter's own choice. I guess we'd all like to see ourselves as Cary Grant ( or vice versa ). Incidentally, you may be interested to know that "To Catch a Thief" has just been issued on DVD in the USA.

I totally agree with your comments on Hollywood's strange procedure of featuring fictionalised biographies of famous songwriters. But in the case of "Night And Day" (1945), this was NOT artificially coloured, it was actually shot in excellent 3-strip technicolour. You must have seen a bad print or a poorly copied VHS ( many generations away from the original ).

By the way, speaking of Cole Porter ( and Bing ), you'll be pleased to know that Warners WILL at last be releasing "High Society" next year ( I believe around March).

Cheers
Ken

[Dominic McHugh]

Hi Ken

Thanks for your comments. I didn't think the film was artificially coloured until I read it on the amazon.com website, not a good source of information it seems.

I'm really glad to hear about 'High Society'. It's a definite gap in my collection - and it's not long until your own Holiday Inn is released.

I wish 'Kiss Me, Kate' was also available on DVD - it's often highly criticised, but vocally Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson are perfectly cast.

Dominic