THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE (1967)* * *

With Fred MacMurray, Tommy Steele, Greer Garson, Lesley Ann Warren, John Davidson. Directed by Norman Tokar. (Disney cassette, stereo [Beta AFM, VHS], 144 min. $69.95)

The last live-action feature to be produced by Walt Disney before his death followed the studio’s prior smash hit, Mary Poppins, but arrived when large-scale musicals were fading in popularity. The Happiest Millionaire didn’t perform as well at the box office as was hoped. In an attempt to broaden its appeal, the Disney studio shortened the feature from 159 minutes to 144, then trimmed it down even more, to 113 minutes. The longer versions, which were the only ones in stereo, were then "lost" for 17 years.

Following a lengthy search through studio vaults by several Diary employees (conducted on their days off), the stereo versions have been found. The studio chose the 144-minute version for cassette release as this was the one in stereo that was generally seen. (The 159-minute version was only screened once, for a charity premiere.) In mastering it for tape, the studio omitted the original entrance and intermission music, but the remainder of the move is intact.

Set in the days just before World War I, a young Irish butler (Steele) arrives for his first day of serving Mr. and Mrs. J. Drexel Biddle (MacMurray arid Garson). The home is far from what he expects, with items such as tanks of alligators, but the new servant quickly settles into the mayhem.

It’s hard to tell what’s more appealing, the energetic performance by former British singing sensation Steele, or the other musical numbers. The songs were penned by Richard and Robert Sherman, who wrote the Academy Award-winning numbers in Mary Poppins and numerous other popular Disney tunes over the years.

The tape is a pleasure to watch, for the sound elements were remastered to ensure a good transfer. As there’s only one print in existence, it’s a lucky thing it’s relatively scratch-free, but the studio took no chances and reconditioned it before the transfer. Both the audio art video levels are quite acceptable arid clear throughout, and the colors have not faded from their original Technicolor glory.

Fans of Mr. Disney will be pleased to add his final non-animated effort to their collections.

by Bill Cotter

The "60s are well known as the time of the "British Invasion", with The Beatles and numerous other rock groups heading here to receptions usually featuring thousands of cheering fans. What isn’t as well remembered is that all of these performers were preceded by someone who is considered England’s first rock and roll star, Tommy Steele.

Born as Tommy Hicks in the Bermondsey suburb of London, he left these humble beginnings behind for a career in the Merchant Marine. It was during a leave in London that he was spotted singing in a coffee bar in Soho, and in true Hollywood fashion, became an instant success. His first big hit was the unlikely tune Rock With the Caveman", which he co-wrote, followed by others such as "Elevator Rock", "Little White Bull", "Flash, Bang, Wallop!" and a host of others.

At the height of his success, Steele baffled his fans and undoubtedly upset his agent by suddenly canceling all of his engagements. After a brief hiatus, Steele re-entered the entertainment world in a series of musical roles, gaining international notices for his starring performance in the London and Broadway versions of "Half a Sixpence". It was during that time that he came to the attention of Walt Disney, who cast him in his first American film, "The Happiest Millionaire".

Steele later filmed Finian’s Rainbow, which co-starred Fred Astaire and Petula Clark, then returned home to England. Much like his earlier abandonment of rock and roll, he turned his back on films, returning again to the world of live theater. His performances, whether in his celebrated one-man show "An Evening with Tommy Steele", or in full-scale musicals, are almost always sell-out events. His brief time in America is far from forgotten, for several recent performances I attended had audiences composed of a great number of Americans.

Along the way he’s also found the time to become a noted sculptor and artist, with works on display in several galleries, and the author of two best-selling books. The first, "Quincy’s Choice", is the story of a broken toy searching for Santa Claus at Christmas, while the second, "The Final Run", deals with a much more serious matter. It’s a novel that deals with one of England’s darkest times, the defeat and escape at Dunkirk, and speculates on why Hitler didn’t continue the attack across the English Channel.

In 1984, I had the pleasure to meet with Tommy Steele in his dressing room at the London Palladium, where he’s starring in the first live presentation of the classic musical "Singin" in the Rain" . While waiting for him, I noted he had numerous pictures of his family, but only one of any other celebrity. Not too surprisingly, it was of Gene Kelly, star of the film version of the play. Tommy and I spoke about his early days in the business, his reactions to appearing in Walt Disney’s last live-action film, and his current hit play.

Cotter: First, I just wanted to let you know some recent news about "The Happiest Millionaire". It’s had quite a bit of interest in the States recently. The Disney Channel aired the full stereo version, including the "It Won’t Be Long ‘Til Christmas" number cut from the original release.

Steele: Grand!

Cotter: I have the press kit for the film, but I never know how much of those to believe, in case some of it’s pure fabrication. For the record, how were you approached for the role of John Lawless?

Steele: I was on Broadway doing "Half a Sixpence" in 1965, and the Disney office in New York sent me the script and asked if I’d like to play the part of the butler. I said I didn’t want to play it. I didn’t feel that the butler had much to do with the story. It was going to be my first Hollywood movie, and I didn’t feel it was the kind of a role I wanted to play. Although, all my life I wanted to work for Disney. I mean, and even to this day, the Disney studios are what I consider to be the kind of studios for me, a family studio.

Cotter: It does have a certain appeal. I was there for six years myself.

Steele: Exactly. Although I didn’t know the Disney setup in Burbank or Disney himself, the dream of working for Disney was always fine, but not in that particular part.

Cotter: Was it set as a musical at the time they gave it to you to read?

Steele: Yes, the songs and everything were all there.

Cotter: I asked that because the original concept for the film was without the musical elements.

Steele: Right, it was originally done as a play. Well, this fellow comes to see me about two weeks later and says Mr. Disney is very perturbed that you don’t like his script and would like to talk to you about it. Would you be free for lunch on Sunday? I said "Yes, fine, I’d love to. I’d love to meet Disney." He said "O.K. then, we’ll send the limousine for you at nine o’clock.^" I went home that night and said to my wife Nine o" clock? Bit early for lunch isn’t it? Nine o’clock in the morning to go for lunch?" She thought Maybe he wants to talk about the film before we sit down to eat." My wife was invited too, arid sure enough, about nine o’clock outside the Plaza Hotel, the limousine came. We got in and drove off, and were driving for about an hour, starting to wonder where he lives. And the driver takes us in to Kennedy Airport! We got on an airplane! I didn’t realize we were going to Los Angeles.

Cotter: And no luggage, right?

Steele: No, we didn’t know it. but we were going only for the day! I said Of course, he’s in California, and picked nine o’clock because of the time difference. And sure enough, about 6 hours later, I was in California, met the great man and had lunch. And there was AJ Caruthers.. the writer, and the Sherman brothers, and they all wanted to know what I didn’t like about the script, which they thought was solid gold. We had some lunch and Walt said to me "All right, he says, "tell us where we’ve gone wrong." So I thought "Is he being facetious or is this for real?" And so I started to say something. Before I start, I must say that I’m giving you my opinion of this script from the butler’s point of view. I can only tell you why I don’t like it as being the butler. I can’t tell you about the rest of it, which is fine, but what I want to do may not be what you want to do." And so I proceeded to say what I thought Lawless was to me, and should be in my opinion, and they took just about every idea I had, and put a couple of songs in there that weren’t there originally. I gave them the opening number.

Cotter: "Fortuosity"?

Steele: Right, and then I agreed to do the movie.

Cotter: There’s a copy of Walt’s personal script at the Studio, and he has written on it in big red letters "Get more for the butler to do". What sort of other things besides "Fortuosity" do you recall that you suggested for the film?

Steele: Well, "Fortuosity" was the main thing that I suggested, the thought that I should have an entrance. In the original, I just appeared at the door and said "I’ve come to answer this ad". Actually, yes, there was also the big fight at the end, and that number at the tavern.

Cotter: "Let’s Have a Drink On It’?

Steele: Right, that was another idea that was put it.

Cotter: How did you like working with the alligators?

Steele: Oh, you see, that was another .. You see, I always say now that I was conned. And then again, I wasn’t. I kept saying to the director, Norman Tokar, "About this alligator scene, just exactly how are you going to do it? Then one day Norman said "Have you got a minute? You’ve been asking me about the alligators." I said "Yeah, how are you going to do it?" So he took me along to this prop room and there was this mechanical alligator. It actually ran by remote control and all my fears were gone, and I thought "Lovely’. It walked up and down, it walked backwards. And so, a few weeks went by and sure enough, I’ve got nothing more to do on the movie except the alligator scenes. Now, with respect to the other actors, none of them had to touch an alligator - only me. But it was one of my big moments in the movie, so there was no way I wasn’t going to do it. Comes the day, they’ve got the cameras ready, we walk through the scenes, then "Bring on the mechanical alligator’. It comes on, walks to the middle of the floor, turns over, and blows up! So Norman Tokar says "Thank God we’ve got Plan B." I asked "What’s Plan B?" And they’ve got the live ones. I said "Oh, I knew it! I bloody knew I was going to end up with live alligators!" So they bring this alligator in, and I thought to myself, there’s only one way to do it, I mustn’t worry about it, I’ve just got to get myself in there with it and work with the alligator. I talked to the director and Walt and they decided to use about 3 or 4 cameras so that whatever I managed to do with the alligator was covered in medium shots, close ups, long shots - we couldn’t do a master, you had to just do what you could. We had the playback standing by on a very short fuse, so that as soon as the alligator started to move, I could go into the number. And sure enough, by pure luck, everything I did with the alligator worked, and we did it in a day.

MOM: The trainer gave an interview around the film’s premiere and said that you were the only actor he knew that didn’t seem fazed by it. Someone else made a joke that they left it to the end in case the alligator bit you.

Steele: That’s right! I said "I’ve heard of walking away with a scene, but walking away with the scene?" Then came the last bit, where I get dragged off, and I said to Norman "We’ve still got a half hour left of the shoot, and I’ve got a great ending if you want to do it." Norman said "What’s that?", and I said Why don’t I go in the pool with the alligator, and the two of us come up together? I’ll only do it if you promise me it’ll look live, because if it doesn’t look alive, it’s not worth doing."

Cotter: Did you use the mechanical one?

Steele: Oh, no, the live one. I said "You’ve got to be sure it looks live." He said "It’ll look live, all right", and we came up out of the tank together.

Cotter: Right, that’s right where it goes to the intermission. I remember seeing the film when it first came out, and then in later years the short version, where that number was still intact, although a lot of other numbers like "I’ll Always Be Irish" were cut down.

Steele: It was marvelous. And Walt came to see me the next day, and he said "That’s one of the greatest sequences I’ve ever seen", which coming from him was great.

Cotter: Evidently he had high regards for the film. I’ve met and talked to AJ Caruthers and the Sherman brothers, and they love to talk about that film and Walt’s overall reaction to it. It was a shame that he didn’t make it to the premiere.

Steele: Yeah, his last words to me was as I left the commissary on the way to get the airplane. I was with a couple of Paramount officials who had come to take me to do "Half a Sixpence". Just as I was leaving he said "Hey’". His table was always by the door. "Hey", he said, and I waltzed up, and we had already said our good-byes at the table, but he had this sort of P.S. I walked over with the two Paramount men and he said to them "Do what he tells you. I did."

Cotter: You can’t get much higher accolades than that.

Steele: No, no.

Cotter: I know that you’re busy, but I wanted to talk to you about more than just "The Happiest Millionaire". Sort of an overall "Where’s Tommy Steele, and what’s he doing today?" I just want to run a few things by you and see if they were press fabrications or the truth.

Steele: Sure.

Cotter: I noticed that although you were born in a suburb of London, at least two of your movie roles had you cast as an Irishman.

Steele: That’s right. All the movies made in America, I was Irish. "Finian’s Rainbow" was the second.

Cotter: I thought it was an interesting coincidence. When you were growing up, did you have any schooling in music?

Steele: None.

Cotter: I have to admit, I’ve seen "The Tommy Steele Story", but how much of that movie is factual?

Steele: It’s correct, the whole thing.

Cotter: Did it feel strange to play yourself?

Steele: Oh, no, I was 19. Anything someone told me to do, I did. It wasn’t strange, it was one big ball, it still is. It’s a great business.

Cotter: It still shows in the States on television. What was the movie "Tommy the Toreador"?

Steele: That was made in 1959, which was made in Seville, Spain. It’s a lovely little film. It was shown a few months ago. From that film came one of the finest songs I wrote, called "Little White Bull". This became a traditional number of mine, which to this day is still very, very important when people talk about my career. It was, I don’t know, it was the nearest thing I could get to being in a Disney picture, actually.

Cotter: Up to that point.

Steele: Right, I was always wanting to do that type of movie. In fact, when Walt Disney died, my aspirations as to making films died with him, because I knew, and he knew, that I would come back to the Studio, and I’d make lots of films with him.

Cotter: One of the trade papers, Variety or Reporter, talking about "Happiest Millionaire" being rediscovered, said it was unfortunate that your career blossomed at a time that the grand Hollywood musicals were ebbing out, and I guess they said you were lucky to be in some of the last big ones, and were a name that would not be forgotten. I guess you did "Finian’ s Rainbow" as the last one at that time.

Steele: In the States.

Cotter: What did you do immediately after that?

Steele: "Where’s Jack?", which was a sort of light-hearted black comedy about Jack Shephard, a famous English highwayman. It was then, on that film, that I spoke with an actor named Alan Badel, he’s a fine, fine British actor. He’s been in a lot of movies but is a stage actor. As I remember it, we were doing night shooting, and by this time I’d done two years of making movies, and I was sick of it, and I said "I’ve got a notion I’m just going to go back to the stage". He said "Well, stop talking about it, do it. You’re a stage performer, you’ve got to get back to the stage. Don’t stay away too long." I went into an Italian comedy immediately after, then came back to the stage, where I’ve been ever since.

Cotter: That was one of my questions. You’re an amazingly versatile performer, with movie credits, television, concerts, plays. Is the theater your true love then?

Steele: Yes. I must say that I enjoy the theater. I do enjoy dealing with films. I do love doing documentaries and quick, hour specials, because I find that the concentrated time and effort is over a period of weeks or days, but never more that 2 or 4 weeks. Having only been in musical films, there’s always the 16 and 18 week schedules, not counting rehearsals, and I found that to be around shooting 2 minutes a day over a period of months was very trying for me. I’m not like that.

Cotter: No, I’ve always wondered how people are able to do that. I’ve been in the industry for 8 years and I always shake my head at the amount of inactivity.

Steele: Yes, but there’s no fast way of doing it. The only thing you can do is take hand-held cameras and go out into the streets and shoot documentaries. Now I enjoy that, pure and simple, because it’s over in a couple of days. You’ve either got it or you haven’t. You can go do a couple of retakes if you want to.

Cotter: As far as these documentaries go, unfortunately, we don’t get the BBC in the States. I know you did "In Search of Charlie Chaplin". Are you performing in these, writing, directing?

Steele: Oh, yes, writing and performing in all of them.

Cotter: How often do you do them?

Steele: I’ve done two, two in the same year. One was called "Tommy Steele and Things", which was an hour of prose and verse I’ve written, with me going through London in a day in my life when I was a boy, and we retraced that day. From that, I did the Chaplin one and then I stopped, because that’s my career. I only do what I want to do, the way I want to do it. I don’t do series or "It’s time to do another show, let’s do one". I don’t do that. I write them first. Then after I did those, I did four specials for television over a period of 4 years, all of which went to the Montreaux festival, so they were all done first class.

Cotter: I’ve noticed you’ve turned heavily towards writing with "Quincy" and "The Final Run". How did you decide to do two such obviously diverse books? I know you did a show called "Quincy’s Quest"...

Steele: Right, this is the book of the show.

Cotter: Your war novel is quite a diverse change. What prompted you to take that approach?

Steele: Well, I had a story to tell. I only do things because I want to, never because I have to, and I had this story, so I told it. I’ve still got the publishers asking me for the next one, but I can’t work like that.

Cotter: Do you have any plans to have it published in the States?

Steele: I think it is published there. Some publishing company got permission to publish it there. (Chuckle). I should imagine it got released and died, probably.

Cotter: I haven’t seen it there.

Steele: Well, maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know what happened to that, but it was a best seller here and I’m surprised that it hasn’t been sold as a film. Not that it’s a Disney film! I’m just surprised, because it’s written like a film.

Cotter: (Laughter) When I get back to the studio I’ll have to mention it.

Steele: (Laughter) Fine, fine! I’m sure all the major studios must have read it.

Cotter: I’d like to take just a few more moments and ask about "Singin’ in the Rain". Where did the concept for the stage version originate?

Steele: From me.

Cotter: From you? That’s interesting. I noticed in the press releases that you had performed with Gene Kelly when he was on one of your television shows -

Steele: No, I was on his.

Cotter: Oops! I gather from the picture behind me of you and Mr. Kelly that you must be admirers of each other.

Steele: Yes, we know each other well.

Cotter: How long ago did you start work on the project?

Steele: I started to want to do it about 16 years ago. I was of the firm opinion that it was a distinct possibility. Then, about 4 years ago, I was in Harold Fielding’s office. He’s the fellow that owns the show, and there were some Americans there, the Rosenfelds. They wanted to know if I wanted anything to do with a show called "Barnum".

Cotter: Oh, Jim Dale’s show.

Steele: Right. They asked me if I’d play Barnum here, at the Palladium. I was already in a one-man show at the time in the Prince of Wales theater.

Cotter: "An Evening with Tommy Steele"?

Steele: Yes, that’s it. I said, no, I couldn’t do it, for I always wait at least three years before I ever come back into the West End (London’s theater district) again. I stay away once I’ve had a success, so I said "No, I can’t play Barnum. But if you ever get ‘Singin’ in the Rain’"... and walked away. About 6 months later, I’m back in Harold Fielding’s office and he asked if I had a few minutes. I said yes, and he said "Guess what I’ve got here?" It was "Singin’ in the Rain". Those people had gone away in earnest and gotten the rights. I couldn’t believe it.

Cotter: What happened next?

Steele: Well, Harold asked who I wanted to write it and I said "ME! Let me have a crack at it". I did the adaptation and sent it to MGM and they accepted it. Harold then said "Well, we’ve got the script and we’ve got the score. Why don’t you direct it?"

Cotter: Was this your first directing assignment?

Steele: No, no, I’ve done it a number of times before. It was helpful, of course, that I’ve worked here and know the stage. So, I spent about six months working on the sets and, that’s it!

Cotter: It must have been quite a feeling of a risky undertaking, taking a major Hollywood film and -

Steele: No, we’ve done it before. "Hans Anderson".

Cotter: That’s right. I still imagine it must have been with a certain amount of trepidation.

Steele: No. First thing is, you don’t try to erase thoughts of the other version. To me, it’s the finest, greatest musical that’s ever, ever been filmed. The score, the story, the characterizations are untouchable. They are perfection. I said "If we’re going to do "Singin’ in the Rain", we’re going to do the best stage version we possibly can, but keeping the promise that the film version gives to the audience at large. For example, if you go to see "Singin’ in the Rain" there are certain promises you believe are going to be kept. You believe that there’s going to be rain, that we’re going to come over the sofa. You believe that Lina Lamont really does talk like that. I said those promises have to be kept. The tap dances have to be of the finest quality. They’re exactly the same as in the movie. I said "We’ll have two things in our favor that the film didn’t have, to make up for not having Gene Kelly and all the others." That is, we’re live, which you can’t subtract from, and we can make it so spectacular that the audience will gasp. That’s how I designed the story and sets together, so there will literally be moments the audience will say "I don’t believe what I’ve just seen!"

Cotter: I’ve seen the show and can attest as to how well you’ve succeeded. I saw it first last year and again this week, and it’s interesting to see the little touches you’ve added.

Steele: Thank you. I do think there are some spectacular effects. The moment the train comes on, it gets a good reaction every time (a full-size steam locomotive rolls onstage). But that was Hollywood. If you had been filming that sequence, that train would have been like that, that big, and that camera crew would have to be there, and that Indian would have to do that trick.

Cotter: Do you have any plans to take the show on tour?

Steele: I’m going to be here for at least another year or two. I’ll stay with it until next year (1985), and what happens then, who knows?

Cotter: I was .just wandering if there was any chance that your fans in the States would be able to see you soon.

Steele: They’ve asked me to go to America with it, and I may direct it there, but I don’t think I’ll play in it.

At this point, Tommy had to leave to continue casting a replacement for one of the show’s roles, but he invited me to see the show once again and call if any other questions arose. I later spoke to him by phone and he obliged with several additional comments.

Cotter: Did you injure yourself during the filming of "The Happiest Millionaire"?

Steele: No, I arrive with a broken leg. I broke it in a football (soccer) match in England the day before I flew off to California.

Cotter: Were you able to get around on it OK?

Steele: Yes, I had it set in London.

Cotter: I wanted to ask what was "Light Up the Sky"?

Steele: That was a movie I made in 1960 in black-and-white about the Second World War. It was a serious role.

Cotter: I noticed you were in the Merchant Marine. I was wondering what sort of a ship that was?

Steele: I started on the "Civia" on the Cunard Line and I ended on the "Mauritania", but I spent two years in America on a ship called "The Queen of Bermuda".

Cotter: Were you an entertainer on the ships?

Steele: No, I was a gymnasium instructor.

Cotter: Have you had any reaction from Gene Kelly on your version of "Singin’ in the Rain"?

Steele: Oh yes, he loved it.

Cotter: Did you have any input from him before the production was mounted?

Steele: No, no, I didn’t tell him. But, he taught me to tap.

Cotter: He taught you the dances?

Steele: No, he taught me how to tap dance before "Singin’ in the Rain". In 1966, I had a month-long lesson with him.

Cotter: You can’t do much better than that. One final question. What was your reaction to working with Fred Astaire?

Steele: A lovely, lovely man. A real gentleman and a great pro.

Cotter: If I remember right, "Finian’s Rainbow" was his last musical role.

Steele: Yes it was, but he was magical. He’s like Gene - they’re both giants.

Cotter: "Finian’s Rainbow" has been released on video in the States and is enjoying a resurgence in popularity.

Steele: Well, that’s certainly nice!

Cotter: I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the show again last night. Your sneeze during "Be a Clown" certainly surprised everyone’

Steele: (Laughter) Including me!

Cotter: Roy Castle had one of the quickest "come backs" I’ve heard in years. (Tommy Sneezed just as the number started and co-star Castle was beginning the line of "If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to make them laugh". Instead, he changed it to "... it’s to sneeze so no one notices.")

Steele: (laughter) Yeah, he’s quick, isn’t he?

Cotter: Well , I better end. Thanks very much for your time.

Steele: You’re quite welcome, and thanks for bearing with me yesterday.

Cotter: My pleasure - I enjoyed it whole-heartedly.