Rounding out the summer with a bit more of Ann Blyth's roles on stage in summer theatre, here's her portrayal of Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music, which played at Milwaukee's Melody Top tent in 1972.
From a review in the Milwaukee Sentinel by Jay Joslin:
"Miss Blyth, her voice as lovely and true as ever, gives the role
of Maria von Trapp a wonderful gamin turn that provides great strength and
sympathy. She’s superb."
Thanks to Dan Pagel of the Memories of Melody Top website, for bring those days back to us.
For more on Ann Blyth's career on stage and screen, television and radio, have a look at my book on Ann's career --Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.
For a bit of a departure, here's an episode of Burke's Law from 1964 now on YouTube. From my book Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:
"She made two appearances on the whimsical detective series Burke’s Law starring Gene Barry. Both are fun and utterly goofy sides of sweet little Ann Blyth that should make any future critic dispense with typecasting her in their reviews.
In the “Who Killed Andy Zygmunt?” episode broadcast March 13, 1964, which satirizes the world of modern art and pokes fun at avant garde artists—one such artist has been murdered—Ann plays another beatnik style artist whose specialty is spray painting her live models with different colors and having them roll around on a canvas spread on the floor. She is a suspect in the murder, and replies to the investigator, “Hey, man, can’t you see I’m busy working here?...you wouldn’t have buzzed Toulouse-Lautrec when he was fast sketching the lovely Jane Avril?” She grins at the detective, “Your perceptivity just knocks me out, soldier.”
We learn she is a junkie, hooked on previously prescribed painkillers. To keep herself supplied, she forges doctors’ signatures on prescription cards. The victim knew this and was blackmailing her. However, Ann is not the only suspect, and collection of similar kooks includes Aldo Ray as a dog groomer, Macdonald Carey, Jack Weston, and Tab Hunter all as free-spirited weirdoes who could have murdered the dead man. Gene Barry, star of the show, will tell us who did it after the last commercial."
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For more on Ann Blyth's career on stage and screen, television and radio, have a look at my book on Ann's career --Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.
Jane Withers passed away at 95 years old on August 7th. Though she did not star with Ann Blyth, the two were devoted friends. Jane appeared on an episode of This is Your Life in 1959 that paid tribute to Ann, and Ann appeared on an A&E episode of Biography that paid tribute to Jane Withers in 2003, that was probably one of Ann's last television appearances. Jane was also one of Ann's bridesmaids.
From my Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:
Jane Withers recalled in author Daniel Bubbeo’sThe Women of Warner Brothers:
“There was a regular group of us, Ann (Blyth),
Diana Lynn and Joan, who would get together and go to the movies…since I had a
convertible, I would drive everyone. We’d get some fast food and take it
with us to the theater. We’d usually call the manager ahead of time to
let him know we were coming. The balconies would be closed off for other
people, and when we would get there, they’d open it up for us and we could eat
by ourselves. It was just a lot of fun.”
Jane, on that episode of the This is Your Life tribute to Ann Blyth, "between
clinches and tearful kisses, she recounted picnics and shopping with her pal,
“She’s the kind
of friend every girl dreams of having.”
