This rare footage sent to me by a client to digitize introduces Met opera star Robert Weede (Tony Esposito), Jo Sullivan (Rosabella), Shorty Long (Herman) & Susan Johnson (Cleo) the major stars of the original production of Frank Loesser's new Broadway musical - The Most Happy Fella - to Ed Sullivan's huge TV audience & those in the NYC studio. Only Art Lund (Joey) does not appear - unfortunately.

Performed here are just 2 of the more than 50 songs in this ~3 hour Broadway (nearly operatic) masterpiece that followed Guys and Dolls to the Broadway stage. Weede & Sullivan sing "Happy to Make your Acquaintance" and Long & Johnson perform "Big D" (little A, Double L, A-S) - a HUGE hit even today. Long's tenor voice still echos in my ears from his show stopping "Standin On The Corner, Watchin All The Girls Go By."

A personal note: I saw this original show in Philadelphia as it made its way to Broadway. I was 11 and never forgot it as I mentioned above with Long's unforgettable performance and voice. The entire cast recording is still available from Sony on CD (or MP3). The show was largely or nearly entirely sung, so thankfully this first for Broadway gives today's audiences Loesser's favorite show unabridged.

Jo Sullivan (nee Loesser) was to later marry the composer. I have not set eyes on Shorty Long - whose voice is the perfect Herman -since 1956. What a delight. His "Standin on the Corner," "I Made A Fist" and "Big D" are unbeatable.

Because of that Philadelphia memory and serendipity, I had occasion to capture on VHS the PBS revival cast in 1980 starring Georgio Tozzi & Sharon Daniels. Twenty years later I digitized it into a 2-DVD set and since then have sold it online to affectionados of the show all over the world.

I befriended Tozzi in Bloomington, IN where he was a retired professor of voice at the famous Jacobs School of Music at IU. I gave him the DVDs and solicited some MET & MHF stories and memories.

He told me why he did not want the Broadway show released to the public. He admitted he had to over-dub his singing role due to the Detroit theater's mold and dust which affected his voice.

But, twenty-nine years later he was delighted to be able to see it again and encouraged me to keep the MHF flame alive of this Broadway masterpiece.

I have seen every major revival - including the 2009 revival dedicated to Tozzi on the IU campus just 2 years prior to his death - and can say that only this production compares to the original in 1956 : Weede / Tozzi (both established Met stars); Sullivan / Daniels; Johnson / Flaningam; Long / Warning; Lund / Muenz.

The dancing, singing, acting, staging, pit orchestra, costumes all compare very favorably.

The 2-DVD set is available only by emailing jimberg513@gmail.com

Discussions of 2-DVD set : see IMDB.

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