I saw the telecast twice (it was rerun several months after the premier) and it was fantastic. However, beware the LP of the show: it's not from the show but a re-recording. The performances are slightly different and the audience laughter is weak and obviously fake. Get the original TV version! I haven't seen it but I hope the commercials are left in. Most of them were part of the show and there is some good bantering between Carol and George Fenneman. The show ran 1 hour with hardly any breaks----imagine that today! Carol's persona was so different then; her makeup emphasized the size of her mouth and her character was that of an un-ladylike tomboy. It worked well: don't forget this was a time that, on the East coast anyway, many women in public still wore white gloves! Her character mellowed to perfection in her own show.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Red Garters
(1954)
Don't Forget the Soundtrack Album
7 March 2010
Red Garters certainly is a peculiar movie. I liked it as a child (where I didn't understand all of it), and not so much as an adult. It's a novelty, to be sure. The best part of this is not the film but the soundtrack. Anyone liking the movie should have the original album. The songs were released on a 10" Columbia red-label LP. This is the best presentation of the music and it really flatters the movie. Don't know about the re-issues and CDs; they often "improve" the sound by adding or removing re-verb, or altering the mix. Find the 10" LP on e-Bay and get the best. As an example, the song "Dime and a Dollar" in the movie is sung as a throwaway, too fast and offhand. On the record, it's presented much slower, more in the cowboy-song rhythm that does it justice. All the songs on the album are better in this kind of way.
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