Singer in "Sleuth" (1972) [PROBABLY FOREVER AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY]
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salzmank — 9 years ago(May 09, 2016 02:22 PM)
Good point.
The only other possibility I could see is my ridiculous theory that someone sang it exclusively for the moviepurposely imitating the late 20s/early 30s style of someone like Frank Luther. That would explain a lot of the problems we have finding itbut it seems like an awful lot of trouble for something so relatively minimal and doesn't seem very likely. I'm hoping that we can look more into the whole question; the subject was broached in 2006 at Soundtrack Collector, and nobody has been able to find it from then to now. -
WillEd — 9 years ago(May 09, 2016 03:50 PM)
You got songs from 1929, 1934 (Anything Goes) and 1935. I haven't heard AG, but I assume it has the same orchestra and same singer. This makes me think the songs were done for the movie.
You didn't have albums in those days. -
salzmank — 9 years ago(May 09, 2016 04:27 PM)
Right. It is strange, though, if that's true, why they didn't put the name of the singer in the credits. I mean, even if the songs were created especially for the movie, someone had to sing them! It is nice to know that the evidence points to their being done for the movie, though.
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WillEd — 9 years ago(May 10, 2016 09:37 AM)
He is singing in that now defunct Mid Atlantic American accent where the r's are dropped on certain words. That was the accent that was easiest for British singers to copy when they wanted to sound American. It's no guarantee the singer is British. But on Anything Goes it is very obvious that's what he's doing. American singers of the era like Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, and Cliff Edwards didn't use it. But Rudy Valle and Fred Astaire (slightly) did.
Last thing
Something was bothering me about the "You do Something to Me" from SLEUTH. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was off. It's this: On old records you get a long musical intro before the singer gets in it. Then they sing the whole song with no musical interruption, then you get the music of the song again. The fact the SLEUTH songs have short intros doesn't matter because they could be edited. But on that song, the only one where you hear the entire song, there's a music break before the final verse. That's unusual for that era. The Frank Luther version is sung all the way through with no breaks. -
salzmank — 9 years ago(June 17, 2016 04:56 PM)
I am very thankful to WillEd for all of his research in trying to figure out who sang the three Cole Porter songs in the movie
Sleuth
(1972). When he posted for the last time, he thought that someone sang the songs especially for the films, due in part to the fact that the singer has the Mid-Atlantic accent that many British and some American singers used in the '30s and that the "You Do Something to Me" from
Sleuth
has a musical break, whereas many versions from the era did not. I would have to say he's probably correctif people have been trying for years to find this singer, and no one has, then it's less likely he's actually a '30s singer. That still raises the question of "Who sang it?" of course, but, if someone sang the songs just for the movie, it may be one of those unanswerable questions, unfortunately. A sincere thank you again, WillEd. Also, if anyone else has done any research or is interested again in this question, or has any other thoughts, please respond! I agree with WillEd, but, hey, nothing is positive in this business!
Anyone out there with any more answers? -
salzmank — 9 years ago(June 18, 2016 11:56 AM)
Interestingly enough, I just foundwell, if not a lead, then at least something. A poster called "koyunbaba73" posted something a year ago that I happened by sheer chance to find on YouTube:
"Okay, so for those of you who were interested in learning who sings on these recordings, I haven't been able to find out for sure, however the voice reminded me quite a bit of the singer on Paper Moon. His name is (was?) Joe Cassidy. Like I said, I haven't been able to confirm this 100%, but it is a lead. If anyone can find out Whether it is in fact Joe Casssidy [sic], I would sure appreciate it if you could tell me. He did have a great voice."
I Googled Mr. Cassidy but was unable to find any information, even about his singing in
Paper Moon
. It's been a while since I've seen
Paper Moon
, so I can't say if the singer there sounded like the one in
Sleuth
to me. Anyway, is this another clueor another red herring? Amusing how the quest for the singer reaches the levels of a game or a mysteryit'd make Andrew Wyke proud.
Thoughts?
P.S. Here's the link to
Sleuth
on Youtube where "koyunbaba73" wrote his comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNqXPV_bwL0 -
WillEd — 9 years ago(June 18, 2016 01:42 PM)
Here is Joe Cassidy. Not even close.
And notice it is done the way I said, no musical beak before the third verse, which became the norm sometime in the forties.
I'm pretty sure you have to be looking for a singer who did it for the movie. They wanted someone to sing three Cole Porter songs in a row and they would have had a hard time finding someone who did that from that era with the same orchestra with the first song from 1929 and the other two from the mid thirties. And they wouldn't have wanted the long musical interludes from that era. They had to get the visuals from the movie to fit the pacing of the song.
Cassidy is also hitting his R's hard. He does have a peculiar pronunciation for "laughter." He says "lofter." That's a British way of pronouncing it, but he still hits the "R" at the end. -
WillEd — 9 years ago(June 18, 2016 02:20 PM)
I did find an old record sung the forties way. But the singer, Johnny Marvin, is clearly not the SLEUTH singer.
Oops! The link didn't catch. But what does it matter? This guy definitely does not have a mid Atlantic accent. I linked it so you could hear the way the song was done with short intros and the break before the third verse is repeated. -
WillEd — 9 years ago(June 18, 2016 10:36 PM)
To clarify, the reason this matters it is a 1920's or early thirties record. But it seems kind of rare. He might be playing with a studio orchestra instead of a band and that might have something to do with it.
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gcarras — 9 years ago(February 04, 2017 11:11 AM)
I still hear the mid Atlantic accent anytime famous later character actress Holland Taylor talks, whether it's in Legally Blonde or anything..Elizabeth Banks,espo.in "Hunger Games" as ":Effie" uses that mid-Atalantic accent..MusicProf78 on YouTube as someone said, has a lot of answers..the long intro is something that I'm most familiar with..
PROFILE PIC:Courtney Thorne-Smith. -
WillEd — 9 years ago(June 19, 2016 12:48 AM)
Bing Crosby recording of Stardust in 1931 and 1939 has short music intros before he starts singing. Louie Armstrong the same year has the long intro. Crosby in 1931 sings it through and vamps a little at the end, but doesn't repeat the third verse. The 1939 version is done the standard way. The 1939 was put on record, but came directly from his radio show. Radio might have helped standardize the way songs were done. You don't want to wait a long time for the singer to sing listening to a radio show. Also, the attitude might have been that the real star was the band and not the singer. Most of these singers, unlike Cosby, were not big names. Cosby's voice got a lot lower by 1939.
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salzmank — 9 years ago(September 04, 2016 08:48 AM)
Just checking in again
Nothing new, I suppose? I mean, even if someone sang the Porter songs specially for the movie, which is the conclusion WillEd and I ended up reaching, it was still
someone
,
some
singer. Just making sure there's still no progress made on this front. Everyone agree with me that this is quite a mystery for something so relatively minute and unimportant? Funny how these things work out.
salzmank -
salzmank — 9 years ago(September 04, 2016 10:38 AM)
I can't take credit for it, though. I watched the movie years ago (after reading the playstill have yet to see the play performed), liked it a lot, and (in the back of my mind) thought the songs were well sung. One day, I saw a link to the YouTube video with Oliver dancing to the songs, and that's where all the comments (e.g., "Who was the singer?") were. Then I started Googling it, and I saw just how long people have been looking for the guy. Some commentators said that the questioner could post the question to IMDb "I Need to Know" forum, but I couldn't find any one who had done soand I took the initiative (and thereby fell down this particular rabbit hole). But those commentators long ago realized that the singer wasn't credited. Someone could always put this on a list of famous unsolved mysteries
Hey, at least I didn't ask about a movie with William Shatner in which a plane crashed in a desert and everyone on it was a ghost
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Helena727 — 9 years ago(September 04, 2016 01:41 PM)
Why not write to Prof78, the yt poster who uploaded the Frank Luther/Leo Reisman track for which WillEd provided a link? Prof78 seems to know a lot of music from that era and might be able to ID the singer in your
Sleuth
CP tracks.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClXaWRq-cycKeWo1kDQigzw
If Prof78 doesn't know, perhaps ask a few others on yt who have extensive collections of music from that era. Good luck.
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people."