Petula Clark Music Break

 What does singer/actress Petula Clark have in common with Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn and Cyd Charisse? She got to dance in a movie with Fred Astaire. As she told me on camera one morning on Fox 5's GOOD DAY NEW YORK when I had the great joy of meeting her, "I wasn't very good at it." I replied, "But you did it!" Petula Clark celebrated her 89th birthday this week. Now some of us who purchased her hit 45s of "Downtown," "Don't Sleep in the Subway," and "A Sign of the Times" when we were kids may find that impossible. However, in our baby boomer youth, we didn't know that Petula Clark, like Julie Andrews, had been a child entertainer in Great Britain during World War 2 and started acting in British movies in 1944. By the time she became a top pop star here in the U.S., she was already a veteran performer. I was then and still am a Petula Clark fan.

 My sister and I had a great Saturday afternoon at the movies when we were youngsters seeing Petula Clark and Peter O'Toole in the 1969 musical remake of 1939's GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS. Critics may have been lukewarm to the film, but I loved it. I loved the original song by Leslie Bricusse. I loved Petula Clark taking on the role previously done by Greer Garson. For Clark, as the woman who falls in love with and weds the shy British schoolteacher, the character was changed. In 1969, she was a popular music hall entertainer who liked to party. Ultimately, she finds some of those posh parties rather hollow but she finds happiness and fulfillment in the company of Mr. Chips, as she calls him. Bricusse passed away this year in October. He wrote some fabulous tunes for Pet to sing in the movie. "You and I," sung when Katherine (Clark) is now Mrs. Chipping, went on to become a favorite with jazz vocalists. Here it is, introduced by Petula Clark on the movie soundtrack.

Another original tune I love from the move is one Clark performs as the music hall star. In a clip from GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS, here is the rousing "London Is London."

Petula Clark and Fred Astaire played father and daughter in 1968's FINIAN'S RAINBOW. In this musical fantasy that takes on a social issue, they're two people from Ireland searching for a pot of gold in America. They go down South. There's a leprechaun involved. This was based on a Broadway hit that was pretty radical in 1947 when it opened. It tackled racial prejudice by having a bigoted White senator being turned Black to know how racial inequality feels. But, by the time FINIAN'S RAINBOW was adapted for the big screen by Warner Bros., America had gone through peak triumphs and turbulence of the 1960's Civil Rights Movement. Also it had seen popular movies dealing with racism, dealing with it in a way that won them Academy Awards. Those two hits films were IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) and GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967). Both starred Sidney Poitier and Beah Richards. When FINIAN'S RAINBOW arrived on screens, the material seemed a bit dated. Nevertheless Fred Astaire and Petula Clark had some magical musical moments. 

This is my favorite Petula Clark number. I totally dig the Brazilian jazz flavor given to the lush arrangement. With singer/actor Don Francks, here is "Old Devil Moon" from FINIAN'S RAINBOW.

I hope you enjoyed my Petula Clark music break.