It is brilliant that tonight, June 29, 2010, TCM is paying tribute to an icon of American Popular Music; one whose canon includes the brilliant "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". Straight out of the ring-a-ding sensibility of the mid-sixties, "HTSIBWRT" is a pitch perfect parody that nobody but Frank Loesser could have captured with such wicked aplomb.
Carefully directed by David Smith, Loesser's music and Bob Fosse choreography transition well from Broadway to the Big Screen. The costumes and set decor reflect the post-modern lines and plastic palette of 1967 as a last ditch defense against the intrusion of anti-establishment Bohemia and counter culture codification.
J. Pierpont Finch, masterfully brought to life by Robert Morse, is shamelessly self-serving without being obnoxious. Morse demonstrates absolute genius in the lead: he sings effortlessly and is a charming hoofer. He gets a major assist from a gorgeous Michelle Lee, as Rosemary, whose clarion voice beautifully conveys some of Leosser's loveliest lyricism.
What I find particularly compelling 43 years after HTSIBWRT premiered is the role that Morse is currently playing on the small screen. As the head of "Mad Men"'s Sterling-Cooper, he has immersed himself in a role that comes from another angle of the sixties corporate culture. I wouldn't be surprised if the creative forces behind AMC's "Mad Men" weren't influenced by Frank Loesser's exceptionally clever "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying".
Carefully directed by David Smith, Loesser's music and Bob Fosse choreography transition well from Broadway to the Big Screen. The costumes and set decor reflect the post-modern lines and plastic palette of 1967 as a last ditch defense against the intrusion of anti-establishment Bohemia and counter culture codification.
J. Pierpont Finch, masterfully brought to life by Robert Morse, is shamelessly self-serving without being obnoxious. Morse demonstrates absolute genius in the lead: he sings effortlessly and is a charming hoofer. He gets a major assist from a gorgeous Michelle Lee, as Rosemary, whose clarion voice beautifully conveys some of Leosser's loveliest lyricism.
What I find particularly compelling 43 years after HTSIBWRT premiered is the role that Morse is currently playing on the small screen. As the head of "Mad Men"'s Sterling-Cooper, he has immersed himself in a role that comes from another angle of the sixties corporate culture. I wouldn't be surprised if the creative forces behind AMC's "Mad Men" weren't influenced by Frank Loesser's exceptionally clever "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying".