BYE BYE BIRDIE: Introduction by Tony-winning composer CHARLES STROUSE (Recorded July 6, 2009)

Summary: BYE BYE BIRDIE: (1963) Heartthrob rocker Conrad Birdie has been drafted! Bad enough news for his shrieking teenybopper fans, but as the singer’s income power-dives from rock star to Army private, it’s the finish for Birdie’s songwriter-wannabe agent Dick Van Dyke. But then, thanks to fiancée and ever-faithful secretary Janet Leigh, Birdie’s slated to give his “One Last Kiss” to lucky fan Kim McAfee (Ann-Margret) on — what else? — The Ed Sullivan Show! Adapted from the 1960 Tony-winning Broadway smash (inspired by Elvis’ cataclysmic 1958 induction), with a Charles Strouse/Lee Adams score that includes eventual standards “Put on a Happy Face” and “A Lot of Living to Do,” plus future Hollywood Squares legend Paul Lynde’s hymn to “Ed Sullivan,” the frenetic “Telephone Hour,” Janet Leigh’s hair-raisingly acrobatic romp with red-fezzed lodge members, Ann-Margret’s pink toreador-pantsed dance number — and her sizzling rendition of a title tune not in the original. Director Sidney, months after editing had ended, commissioned the title track from the original composers for the near-abstract opening and closing sequences, then fronted the $60,000 expense himself, resulting in Ann-Margret’s star-making tour de force. Released in 1963, but set at the end of the 50s, Bye Bye Birdie evokes a now-nostalgic era when show tunes topped the hit parades, variety shows ruled the airwaves, and youth rebellion meant calling your parents by their first names — a year later, Sullivan imported The Beatles. This podcast is a recording of the introduction by Tony-winning composer CHARLES STROUSE, recorded July 6, 2009, at Film Forum.