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Mario Lanza 1958


RichardB

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My mum is a big Mario Lanza fan.

She has been since she saw him in the film "The Student Prince" when it first came out in 1954.

I don't think your mother saw Mario Lanza in The Student Prince, she saw Edmund Purdom with Mario's voice.

They say he was too fat to make the film !!

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This is Mario outside the City Hall with my brother [ who was very young at the time ] peering through the taxi window.

Also at the side of the chap with the glasses.

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I don't think your mother saw Mario Lanza in The Student Prince, she saw Edmund Purdom with Mario's voice.

They say he was too fat to make the film !!

Possibly true.

A bit like my dad didn't see Jolson in the Jolson story (he saw Larry Parkes), but he did hear Jolson sing, - and sing again in the follow up film "Jolson sings again"

It is certainly the Lanza music that my mum was into, but I think it was the songs from "Student Prince" that got her into it.

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This is Mario outside the City Hall with my brother [ who was very young at the time ] peering through the taxi window.

Also at the side of the chap with the glasses.

You can't be a male, Italian named opera singer without being fat and overweight can you? :huh:

Look at Luciano Pavarotti! lol

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You can't be a male, Italian named opera singer without being fat and overweight can you? :huh:

Look at Luciano Pavarotti! lol

I'm afraid it seems to go with the job. Just 22 months after these photos were taken, Mario was dead from a heart attack. (Oct, 1959).

Thankfully, his wonderful voice survives to this day though.

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Possibly true.

A bit like my dad didn't see Jolson in the Jolson story (he saw Larry Parkes), but he did hear Jolson sing, - and sing again in the follow up film "Jolson sings again"

It is certainly the Lanza music that my mum was into, but I think it was the songs from "Student Prince" that got her into it.

Jolson did play himself in one of these films, I'd have to watch them through again to know which one it was.

He insisted on having one small shot and he was filmed long shot doing his song and dance routine on the stage runway.

A bit like Hitchcock who was always had a distant appearance in his own films.

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I'm afraid it seems to go with the job. Just 22 months after these photos were taken, Mario was dead from a heart attack. (Oct, 1959).

Thankfully, his wonderful voice survives to this day though.

I thought that most operatic singers were fat (female ones as well, - the show isn't over until the fat lady sings!) because of the way they breathe while singing and the extra lung capacity they have for holding and sustaining notes of operatic pitch. The overweight operatic singers were after all, excellent singers.

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Jolson did play himself in one of these films, I'd have to watch them through again to know which one it was.

He insisted on having one small shot and he was filmed long shot doing his song and dance routine on the stage runway.

A bit like Hitchcock who was always had a distant appearance in his own films.

There is an interesting scene in "Jolson sings again" which brings the Jolson story up to date and actually covers the making of the first film, "The Jolson story".

In this scene Jolson is introduced to the man who is going to play him in the the first film, Larry Parkes.

So, with a bit of camera trickery, Larry Parkes playing Jolson is introduced to Larry Parkes playing himself.

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It is certainly the Lanza music that my mum was into, but I think it was the songs from "Student Prince" that got her into it.

Hmmm...

Or perhaps the film she saw was "The Great Caruso"

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