Friday, May 7, 2010

Mary Martin in "Hello Dolly!"

There's Carol, there's Barbra and of course Pearlie Mae. But Mary Martin was the one who not only opened Hello, Dolly! in London but also toured with the show in Vietnam and Japan during the Vietnam War. This is incredibly rare footage of the curtain call and Martin's specialty encore of the title song at the show's first performance in Vietnam. The audience is made up of thousands soldiers, mostly American troops as well as some from Vietnam, Korea and New Zealand. This was taped for a 1966 television special called "Mary Martin: Hello, Dolly! Round the World," which was a documentary about this touring production, narrated by Martin. Truth be told, I find this incredibly moving. Take a look:

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