Poster: Stuck In The '70's
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Original caption: Those two Kelly brothers. If the man on the right looks familiar, you're right. It's Gene Kelly's brother, Fred, a fine dancer himself and dance director for the TV show Those Two" (NBC, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 7:30-7:45 p.m., EST). Here he is showing cutie Martha Stewart and Pinky Lee a special step for one of their programs. It's five hours a day, five times a week--in addition to other shows for Fred, who finds the schedule even more arduous than the Hollywood and Broadway productions in which he's worked.
Those Two aired from November 1951 until April 1953 on NBC.
This live loosely structured musical situation-comedy series was used to fill the remainder of the half hour in which NBC aired its network news program. Vivian ( Vivian Blaine) was a nightclub singer whose accompanist, Pinky ( Pinky Lee) was madly in love with her. Unfortunately for Pinky, she was in love with another man. The vestigal plot was primarily a backdrop allowing the stars to sing solos and duets. Miss Blaine left the series in May 1952 and was replaced by Martha Stewart ( no that that one.).
Here is Vivian Blaine's Obituary from The New York Times
Vivian Blaine, the First Adelaide In 'Guys and Dolls,' Is Dead at 74
By BY WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: December 14, 1995
Vivian Blaine, who created the role of the ditsy "well-known fiancee" Miss Adelaide in the original production of "Guys and Dolls," died on Saturday at Beth Israel Medical Center North in Manhattan. She was 74.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said Claire Chapman, a friend.
Guys and Dolls," the Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows musical based on stories by Damon Runyon, was the sensation of the 1950 Broadway season, and Ms. Blaine was irresistible as the blond chanteuse at the Hot Box club who was hopelessly engaged to Nathan Detroit (Sam Levene), the operator of the "oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York."
Ms. Blaine sang "A Bushel and a Peck," "Take Back Your Mink" and "Adelaide's Lament," which with its refrain "a person could develop a cold," routinely brought the house down. "Sung in the squeaky, nasal New Yorkese that characterizes Adelaide, the Lament is an unforgettable show stopper," Collier's magazine wrote in 1951. "Night after night, the house listens to Adelaide's complaints in an exhilarated hush."
Ms. Blaine was born in Newark. Originally her last name was Stapleton. While she was still in elementary school, her father, a theatrical agent, booked $1-a-night singing dates for her at nightclubs, company parties and police benefits. At 14 she began singing with the Halsey Miller Orchestra, and after graduating from Southside High School went on the road with little-known bands.
In 1941, when she was singing at the Governor Clinton Hotel in Manhattan, her picture appeared in a newspaper, and a talent scout for 20th Century Fox invited her to take a screen test. Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of the studio, liked what he saw and signed her to a contract.
Initially, Ms. Blaine languished. She was assigned some small parts and, after performing on the U.S.O. circuit, appeared in "Jitterbugs" (1943) with Laurel and Hardy. After storming into Zanuck's office and threatening to quit, she won a lead role in the musical "Greenwich Village" (1944). With an eye to the new Technicolor process, the studio dyed her blond hair red and promoted her as "the cherry blonde."
Her films of the 40's were limited to forgettable musicals like "Something for the Boys" (1944), "Doll Face" (1945), "Three Little Girls in Blue" (1946) and "If I'm Lucky" (1945). She did better as Joan Bennett's rival for George Raft in "Nob Hill" (1945) and as the dance-band singer Emily in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "State Fair" (1945).
Ms. Blaine won the role of Adelaide by chance. Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, the producers of "Guys and Dolls," had turned her down for the part of Sarah Brown, the Mission Doll, telling her that her personality was too strong for the ingenue role. As luck would have it, she ran into the two men several months later on Broadway, at a time when they were having casting problems. A hasty audition was arranged, and Ms. Blaine won the part.
At first it wasn't much, just a few lines of dialogue attached to two songs. At one point, Ms. Blaine considered dropping out of the production in frustration. "That part was virtually written as the play was rehearsed," said Manny Franks, her husband and agent, in a 1952 interview. "Vivian would suggest things she had thought out for Miss Adelaide to do. Before long Miss Adelaide became one of the strongest elements in the show, simply because an actress had put her mind to making something out of nothing."
Ms. Blaine played Adelaide for five years, with a brief interruption to make the movie musical "Skirts Ahoy." She also played the role in the 1955 film version by Metro Goldwyn Mayer, with Frank Sinatra as Nathan Detroit in a cast that also included Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons. She played the role once more in a 1966 revival of the musical.
She appeared on Broadway in "A Hatful of Rain" (1956), replacing Shelley Winters; "Say, Darling" (1958), "Enter Laughing" (1963), "Company" (1971) and, briefly, "Zorba" (1984).
From 1951 to 1952 she appeared on television in "Those Two," a musical situation comedy with Pinky Lee. She also had roles in the films "Public Pigeon No. 1" (1957), "Richard" (1972), "The Dark" (1979)" and "Parasite" (1982).
Ms. Blaine was married three times. The marriages ended in divorce.
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