Word: holliday
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...success of the play really hinges on the character of Billie--a part that was written for Judy Holliday--and sophomore Sarah McClusky carries it off well. She plays the part with an appealing naturalness and a total lack of self-consciousness but at the same time with so much sensitivity that the transition from submissive dumb blonde to independent woman is completely believeable. The voice is obviously imitation Holliday, but it's a good imitation and probably the only voice that would work...
Born Yesterday is a variation on the Pygmalion story of a dumb girl who gets educated and, in this version, turns the tables on her rich, vulgar husband. The play, which dates from the late forties, was little more than a vehicle for the bizarre Judy Holliday, but this old warhorse could possibly be given a new twist in the light of new attitudes of sexism. At the Ex this weekend...
...Girl in My Life. A combination of the worst qualities of This Is Your Life and Queen for a Day, in which host Fred Holliday, oozing sincerity from every pore in his microphone styrofoam, introduces women who tell schlocky stories and are rewarded with a visit from somebody they haven't seen in almost a week. Great. Way to kick...
Later in the film, Billie's lover, Louis McKay (Billy Dee Williams), a suave Harlem numbers-runner promises her that he will always stay with her. And he does: throughout her long concert tours, imprisonment and addiction, he remains loyal. His constancy is ironic when compared to Holliday's actual experiences. Most of his maudlin lines are delivered to a slushy background of Michel LeGrand music. This combination of irony and inappropriateness is believable only because of Williams's acting; he somehow manages to deliver his lines so that his character seems strong. This strength, however, makes Billie by contrast...
...Billie Holliday was not noted for the excellence of her voice but instead for the particular poignancy of her delivery and Lady Sings the Blues is most successful at exposing the roots of her style. "I'm not trying to get to the top. I'm just trying to get to a club downtown." Billie lightly says at the start of her career. But going to a club downtown involved more than a subway ride. She would have to be famous before she could perform in the best New York clubs and making a same for herself required extensive tours...