The Desert Song (Max Liebman Presents)
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| "The Desert Song" | |
|---|---|
| Max Liebman Presents episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 15 |
| Directed by | Max Liebman |
| Written by | William Friedberg Neil Simon Will Glickman |
| Based on | The Desert Song |
| Featured music | Sigmund Romberg |
| Original air date | May 7, 1955 |
| Running time | 76 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"The Desert Song" is an American live telecast spectacular of the 1926 operetta The Desert Song, which was based on a true event - an uprising of the Riff tribes against French colonial rule in Morocco in 1925. The music for the operetta was composed by Sigmund Romberg. The book and the lyrics were written by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab. Writers for the television adaptation were William Friedberg, Will Glickman and Neil Simon. First telecast live in the United States on May 7, 1955, the conductor for the production was Charles Sanford - while the choreographer for all of the dances and musical segments was Rod Alexander. The television version, which is slightly different from the operetta, as well as very different from the 1943 and 1953 film versions, was made two years after the The Desert Song film version with Gordon MacRae and Kathryn Grayson. The television version features the only surviving footage of Nelson Eddy in a complete live musical and marked his last operetta role - which is perhaps the reason why, prior to the opening credits, there is a sound test with the orchestra and Nelson Eddy - as well as Nelson Eddy in two short talk segments.
Max Liebman Presents was an acclaimed United States series of spectaculars - presenting full musicals, plays or revues in live telecasts on NBC (from 1954 to 1956). The Desert Song was the fifteenth live broadcast of the series.
Plot
[edit]It is 1925 and the French are trying to turn Morocco into a modern colony. However, they are balked from doing so by a native Riff rebellion, led by the mysterious Red Shadow (a Frenchman, who tells Hassi, his second-in-command, that the men should be proud of themselves - and who shows his playful boyish side by roughhousing some unappreciative Riffs).
At the French Foreign Legion outpost, 50,000 francs is offered as a reward for information leading to the capture of the Red Shadow, by order of the commanding officer, General Birabeau - who is unaware that his unassuming son, Pierre, is the daring and fearless rebel leader. To hide his secret identity as the Red Shadow, Pierre pretends to be a timid mild-mannered man, whose excuse for not helping in the search for the Red Shadow is that he has very sensitive skin and cannot stay in the sun for very long. When General Birabeau returns from the desert, Pierre tries to convince his father to make a truce with the Riffs, but the general disagrees, saying the Riffs needed discipline.
Captain Paul Fontaine arrives with his fiancée, the beautiful Margot Bonvalet, and she is made welcome by everyone. The adventurous Margot dreams of an oasis, an Arab camp, riding beneath a desert moon and romance - and Pierre falls in love with her. Paul comments that Margot has left the comforts of Paris behind to marry him and live the soldiers' way of life. When the captain mentions, later, to Pierre and Margot, that he had General Birabeau's permission to marry Margot on the Sunday, Pierre is despondent, but makes light of the situation - and Margot, who is unsure of her feelings towards Paul, tries to get the marriage postponed. However, Paul insists that their wedding would take place in the outpost on the Sunday - and Margot looks helplessly at Pierre. That night, Margot is advised to go indoors, because the Red Shadow has been sighted, but she stays outside, where she is unexpectedly joined by the rebel leader, who tries to persuade her to accompany him to the desert. Margot resists and is kidnapped by the Red Shadow, who takes her to the fortress of Ali Ben Ali, the caliph - where, later, the Red Shadow declares his love for her. Hassi and Ali Ben Ali are upset that the Red Shadow has captured a French woman, saying that the French would take revenge against them. Ali Ben Ali offers the Red Shadow twenty girls if he releases her - with Ali Ben Ali and Hassi then trying to interest the Westerner in the Eastern way of love (with a harem of women), but the Red Shadow remains adamant that he only wants the one woman.
After receiving information from the dancing girl Azuri, about where to find the Red Shadow and Margot, General Birabeau arrives at the fortress, saying that he is there for the girl. Ali Ben Ali tells him that Margot was not his prisoner, but that of the Red Shadow. General Birabeau then asks Ali Ben Ali, as caliph, to order the Red Shadow to release her, but Ali Ben Ali tells him that the Red Shadow won't take orders from anybody and that the general would have to defeat the Red Shadow in a one-on-one armed combat - warning General Birabeau that the Red Shadow is an expert swordsman who has never been defeated. When the Red Shadow comes face to face with the general, he surprises everyone by refusing to fight - thereby losing the respect of the Riffs. Hassi tries to get him to fight, saying that the men would have no choice but to send him into the desert to die, but the Red Shadow turns his head away and General Birabeau calls him a coward. The Red Shadow tells the general to take Margot. Dejected - and banished for his supposed cowardice - the Red Shadow then leaves Ali Ben Ali's fortress for the desert - and the Riffs say that they will pray for him.
Back at the French outpost, General Birabeau is acclaimed for his courage. Delighted with the accolades, the general says that the Red Shadow would be put in front of a French firing squad. When the general gives the reward money to Azuri, for her help in locating the Red Shadow, he tells her that the Red Shadow would be dead in the morning. Azuri, who is surprised at this, reveals to General Birabeau the true identity of the Red Shadow - and the distraught general is horrified that he has given orders for his own son to be killed. Then soldiers, led by Captain Fontaine, return from the desert, with Paul saying that the Red Shadow would give no more trouble because he is dead. When asked if he had killed the Red Shadow, Paul comments that he did not - that the Red Shadow had been killed by the last man you would ever suspect. When Pierre arrives, carrying the Red Shadow's clothing and sword, he is given a hero's welcome - and a smiling General Birabeau shakes Pierre's hand, saying that he understood him now.
Margot, who has fallen in love with the Red Shadow, is grief-stricken by the news of his death. Then Pierre reveals to her that he is actually the Red Shadow and an overjoyed Margot melts into his arms - and all ends happily.
Cast members
[edit]- Pierre Birabeau / the Red Shadow, leader of the Riffs — Nelson Eddy
- Margot Bonvalet — Gale Sherwood
- General Birabeau — Otto Kruger
- Captain Paul Fontaine — John Conte
- Hassi (the Red Shadow's lieutenant) — Earl William
- Ali Ben Ali (the Caliph) — Salvatore Baccaloni
- Azuri — Viola Essen
- Dancers — Bambi Linn & Rod Alexander
- Castagnette Dancer — Felisa Conde
Songs
[edit]- Overture (music only)
- "Ho! Bold Men of Morocco" — Ensemble
- "The Riff Song" — Red Shadow, Ensemble
- "Why Did We Marry Soldiers?" — Ensemble
- "French Military Marching Song" — Ensemble
- "O! Pretty Maid of France, Margot" — Paul, Margot, Ensemble
- "Romance" — Margot, Ensemble
- "Then You Will Know" — Pierre, Margot
- "Soft as a Pigeon Lights Upon the Sand" — Hassi, Ensemble
- "Romance" (reprise) — Margot
- "The Desert Song" — Red Shadow, Margot
- "My Little Castagnette" — Ensemble
- "Let Love Go" — Ali Ben Ali
- "One Flower In Your Garden" — Hassi
- "One Alone" — Red Shadow
- "The Sabre Song" — Margot
- "One Alone" (reprise) — Red Shadow
- "French Military Marching Song" (reprise) — Paul, ensemble
- "The Desert Song" (reprise) — Pierre, Margot
- "One Alone" (reprise) — sung by the entire company during the closing credits
Dances
[edit]- A brief Arab dance — dancer's name is unknown
- An Arab dance — Viola Essen, ensemble
- Desert Song ballet — Bambi Linn and Rod Alexander (as the Red Shadow and Margot)
- Spanish castagnette dance — Felisa Conde, ensemble
- An Arab dance — Viola Essen, ensemble
Trivia
[edit]The rebel leader is called the Red Shadow because of his red-colored clothing.
While the operetta was broadcast live in color, it is now only available in black and white, due to this being the only way to preserve the live telecast for television.
References
[edit]External links
[edit]- The Desert Song - Max Liebman Presents, at trakt.tv
- "The Desert Song". dandugan.com. Archived from the original on March 20, 2006.
- The Desert Song at IMDb
- The Desert Song at VAI Music - Video Artists International, at Pinterest
- Soundtrack recording of the operetta (includes an interview about the operetta with Gale Sherwood), at Apple Music
- A listing of tracks on the soundtrack recording of the operetta, Stanford University Library