Susan Granger’s review of “Smart Blonde” (59E39 Theaters)
My father (S. Sylvan Simon) produced Judy Holliday’s Oscar-winning film “Born Yesterday,” (1950), so I’ve always been intrigued by her unique talent. Unfortunately, Willy Holtzman’s biographical play about this extraordinary actress is too fragmented and episodic.
Judy Holliday originated the role of Billie Dawn onstage, and her competition for the Best Actress Oscar that year included Gloria Swanson in “Sunset Boulevard,” along with Anne Baxter and Bette Davis in “All About Eve.”
But that’s jumping ahead in her story, which somehow parallels that of another young Jewish girl, Fanny Brice, as in “Funny Girl.”
Playwright Willy Holtzman sets his play in 1964 – a year before Judy Holliday (Andrea Burns) succumbed to breast cancer at age 42 – when she was recording an unnamed album (perhaps “Holliday with Mulligan”) with her then-boyfriend, jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan (Mark Lotito). Flashbacks abound.
Born Judith Tuvim in New York City, Judy started in cabaret, forming a troupe, the Reveurs, playing at the Village Vanguard with Betty Comden and Adolph Green, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein on the piano.
Known for her genius IQ, Judy cleverly created a “dumb blonde” persona, deliberately fashioning that chirping voice, “Higher is funnier,” Holliday notes. “I do it for comic effect.”
Along the way, she developed close friendships with notable show business cohorts including Garson Kanin & Ruth Gordon (authors of “Born Yesterday”) and Marilyn Monroe.
Seven years after her “Born Yesterday” triumph, Judy won a Tony for the musical “The Bells Are Ringing,” besting Julie Andrews in “My Fair Lady” and Ethel Merman in “Happy Hunting.”
Judy Holliday was married to musician/recording executive David Oppenheim (Mark Lotito), with whom she had a son, and, apparently, she had a lesbian liaison with her best friend Yetta Cohn (Andrea Bianchi). Perhaps Judy’s most harrowing ‘performance’ was in 1952 before Sen. Joe McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee, where she refused to name names.
That’s a great deal of territory to cover in 90 minutes, particularly since Holtzman punctuates the narrative with 10 musical numbers, including songs co-written by Holliday and Mulligan, like “What’s the Rush” and “It Must Be Christmas.”`
While Andrea Burns is utterly charming, even endearing, in her mimicry, director Peter Flynn struggles with the book’s lack of connective tissue, utilizing Tony Ferrieri’s realistic set and Alan Edward’s lighting.
Apparently, Willy Holtzman is currently developing this memory play into a film.