The Five Pennies
Encyclopedia
The Five Pennies was a semi-biographical 1959 film
starring Danny Kaye
as cornet
player and bandleader Red Nichols
. Other cast members included Barbara Bel Geddes
, Harry Guardino
, Bob Crosby
, Louis Armstrong
, Susan Gordon, and Tuesday Weld
. The film was directed by Melville Shavelson
.
The film received four Oscar nominations: Best Musical Scoring (Leith Stevens
), Best Original Song (Danny Kaye's wife Sylvia Fine
), Best Cinematography (Daniel L. Fapp
), and Best Costumes (Edith Head
).
The real Red Nichols recorded all of Kaye's cornet playing for the film soundtrack. Unfortunately, the other musicians in Red's band were not asked to provide their musical contributions and the sound of his "band" was supplied by session players.
in the 1920s and finds work in a band led by Wil Paradise (Crosby). He meets and marries singer Bobbie Meredith (Bel Geddes), and the two form their own Dixieland
band called "The Five Pennies" (a play on Nichols' name, since a nickel
equals five pennies
). As their popularity peaks, their young daughter Dorothy (Susan Gordon) contracts polio and the family leaves the music business, moving to Los Angeles
. When Dorothy becomes a teen (Tuesday Weld) she learns of her father's music career and persuades him go on a comeback tour. The tour borders on failure until several notable musicians from Nichols' past appear to save the day.
The dubbing was carried out at the renowned company Berliner Synchron GmbH Wenzel Luedecke, which produced the German language versions of almost every Paramount film throughout the 50s and 60s. The dubbing director was Volker J. Becker. The German lyrics were written by Fritz A. Koeniger, who was one of the most skillful writers for dubbing dialogues in Germany ever. Koeniger also provided the German dialogue book for Five Pennies as well as for Kaye's Knock on Wood, The Court Jester
, and White Christmas
. The German song titles are: "Der kleine Penny" ("Five Pennies"), "Wiegenlied in Ragtime" ("Lullaby in Ragtime"), "Gut' Nacht, schlaf sacht" ("Good Night - Sleep Tight"), "Die Musik faehrt Karussell" ("The Music goes round and around"), "Klingeling, klingeling, laeutet's immerzu" ("Jingle Bells").
Sigrid Lagemann, the German dubbing voice for Barbara Bel Geddes, also joins in singing together with Danny Kaye in "Wiegenlied in Ragtime" and sings the final reprise of "Der kleine Penny" on her own. All songs Kaye does together with Louis Armstrong remain in the original English (although Armstrong was around at Berlin that time and did a guest appearance in the 1959 film La Paloma!). The German songs were never released commercially on record and are exclusives of the German movie track.
In early 1960 a German movie magazine published a picture which shows Danny Kaye and his wife Sylvia Fine at the dubbing atelier of Berliner Synchron. There is also a picture of Kaye together with company owner Wenzel Luedecke taken during his recording session. The German track with the phonetical singing
is available on the Region 2 PAL DVD versions released in Germany, Great Britain and France.
Danny Kaye also dubbed his vocals by himself into French in the French version Millionaire de Cinq Sous released in France on March 4, 1960. The French dubbing is also available on European Paramount Region 2 DVD releases.
Features an energetic Charleston and an exaggerated Tango with Lizanne Truex and Danny Kaye, who hammed up the Tango during the rehearsal to such a degree that the director added it to the scene.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
starring Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
as cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
player and bandleader Red Nichols
Red Nichols
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornettist, composer, and jazz bandleader.Over his long career, Nichols recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and critic Steve Leggett describes him as "an expert cornet player, a solid improviser, and apparently a workaholic, since he is...
. Other cast members included Barbara Bel Geddes
Barbara Bel Geddes
Barbara Bel Geddes was an American actress, artist and children's author. She is best known for her role in the television drama series Dallas as matriarch Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Ewing. Bel Geddes also starred in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the role of Maggie...
, Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino was an American actor whose career spanned from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. In 1964, he was cast in a short-lived CBS series entitled The Reporter, a drama about a hard-hitting investigative journalist named Danny Taylor. His principal co-star was Gary Merrill as city...
, Bob Crosby
Bob Crosby
George Robert "Bob" Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group the Bob-Cats.-Family:...
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Susan Gordon, and Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...
. The film was directed by Melville Shavelson
Melville Shavelson
Melville Shavelson was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. He was President of the Writers Guild of America, West from 1969 to 1971, 1979 to 1981, and 1985 to 1987. He came to Hollywood in 1938 as one of comedian Bob Hope's joke writers, a job he held for the next...
.
The film received four Oscar nominations: Best Musical Scoring (Leith Stevens
Leith Stevens
Leith Stevens was an American composer for radio and film scores.Born in Mount Moriah, Missouri, he was a child prodigy who was an accompanist for Madame Schumann-Heink....
), Best Original Song (Danny Kaye's wife Sylvia Fine
Sylvia Fine
Sylvia Fine was an American lyricist, composer, producer and the wife of the comedian Danny Kaye...
), Best Cinematography (Daniel L. Fapp
Daniel L. Fapp
Daniel L. Fapp or Daniel L. Fappani was an American cinematographer, best known as director of photography for West Side Story , for which he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and The Great Escape...
), and Best Costumes (Edith Head
Edith Head
Edith Head was an American costume designer who won eight Academy Awards, more than any other woman.-Early life and career:...
).
The real Red Nichols recorded all of Kaye's cornet playing for the film soundtrack. Unfortunately, the other musicians in Red's band were not asked to provide their musical contributions and the sound of his "band" was supplied by session players.
Plot summary
Red Nichols (Kaye) is a small-town cornet player who moves to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the 1920s and finds work in a band led by Wil Paradise (Crosby). He meets and marries singer Bobbie Meredith (Bel Geddes), and the two form their own Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
band called "The Five Pennies" (a play on Nichols' name, since a nickel
Nickel (United States coin)
The nickel is a five-cent coin, representing a unit of currency equaling five hundredths of one United States dollar. A later-produced Canadian nickel five-cent coin was also called by the same name....
equals five pennies
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
). As their popularity peaks, their young daughter Dorothy (Susan Gordon) contracts polio and the family leaves the music business, moving to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. When Dorothy becomes a teen (Tuesday Weld) she learns of her father's music career and persuades him go on a comeback tour. The tour borders on failure until several notable musicians from Nichols' past appear to save the day.
Foreign language versions
The German 1959 dubbing of the movie named 5 Pennies Machen Musik (literally Five Pennies Make Music; released January 29, 1960 in Germany) carries a very special secret: in this dubbing Danny Kaye himself sings phonetically in German. All of Kaye's dialogue was dubbed by his regular German voice Georg Thomalla. But Danny Kaye personally went to Berlin to re-dub his vocals of some of the movie's songs into German. It's very obvious that he doesn't understand a word of what he sings at all, but nevertheless does very well. His performance is charismatic, highly sympathetic and works surprisingly fine in spite of his strong accent and pronunciation.The dubbing was carried out at the renowned company Berliner Synchron GmbH Wenzel Luedecke, which produced the German language versions of almost every Paramount film throughout the 50s and 60s. The dubbing director was Volker J. Becker. The German lyrics were written by Fritz A. Koeniger, who was one of the most skillful writers for dubbing dialogues in Germany ever. Koeniger also provided the German dialogue book for Five Pennies as well as for Kaye's Knock on Wood, The Court Jester
The Court Jester
The Court Jester is a 1956 musical-comedy film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, and Angela Lansbury. The movie was co-written, co-directed, and co-produced by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama...
, and White Christmas
White Christmas (film)
White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas"...
. The German song titles are: "Der kleine Penny" ("Five Pennies"), "Wiegenlied in Ragtime" ("Lullaby in Ragtime"), "Gut' Nacht, schlaf sacht" ("Good Night - Sleep Tight"), "Die Musik faehrt Karussell" ("The Music goes round and around"), "Klingeling, klingeling, laeutet's immerzu" ("Jingle Bells").
Sigrid Lagemann, the German dubbing voice for Barbara Bel Geddes, also joins in singing together with Danny Kaye in "Wiegenlied in Ragtime" and sings the final reprise of "Der kleine Penny" on her own. All songs Kaye does together with Louis Armstrong remain in the original English (although Armstrong was around at Berlin that time and did a guest appearance in the 1959 film La Paloma!). The German songs were never released commercially on record and are exclusives of the German movie track.
In early 1960 a German movie magazine published a picture which shows Danny Kaye and his wife Sylvia Fine at the dubbing atelier of Berliner Synchron. There is also a picture of Kaye together with company owner Wenzel Luedecke taken during his recording session. The German track with the phonetical singing
Phonetical singing
Phonetical singing is when a singer learns and performs, the lyrics of a song by the words' phonetic sounds without necessarily understanding of the content of the lyrics....
is available on the Region 2 PAL DVD versions released in Germany, Great Britain and France.
Danny Kaye also dubbed his vocals by himself into French in the French version Millionaire de Cinq Sous released in France on March 4, 1960. The French dubbing is also available on European Paramount Region 2 DVD releases.
Trivia
The drummer in the scenes with Louie Armstrong was Vel Tino, Sr.Features an energetic Charleston and an exaggerated Tango with Lizanne Truex and Danny Kaye, who hammed up the Tango during the rehearsal to such a degree that the director added it to the scene.