Glamorous, dynamic, and an international sex symbol, Pat Kirkwood was for two decades the undisputed queen of British stage and screen musicals, with a voice rivalling that of Broadway’s Ethel Merman. Cole Porter, Noël Coward and Leonard Bernstein chose her to play the leading roles in their musicals, and her performances in 15 pantomimes caused a leading critic to hail her as ‘the greatest Principal Boy of the 20th century’.
When she died on Christmas Day 2007, the world-wide media coverage focussed on two things: her fabulous legs, once described by Kenneth Tynan as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’, and her rumoured relationship with Prince Philip, a source of feverish speculation by royal biographers and gossip columnists for 60 years.
This historic double CD, released by AVID Entertainment to mark the first anniversary of her death, spans 56 years of her glittering career, from her first film at the age of 17, to her last stage appearance in 1994. It features no fewer than 29 performances that have never previously been released on CD. These include a duet with her Hollywood co-star, Van Johnson, recordings she made in the United States, which were never issued in Britain, rare soundtrack footage from her 1950s screen musicals, and five songs in live performance in 1993.
Along the way are superlative interpretations of all-time great standards by Cole Porter, Noël Coward, Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.
This superb compilation not only encapsulates the magic of Pat Kirkwood, and of one of the great show business talents, but also the history of the musical in the 20th century.
CD1
1. Just One of Those Things
2. Save a Little Sunshine (with Dave Willis)
3. Dinah
4. Nobody’s Sweetheart
5. My Heart Belongs to Daddy
6. Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Love
7. The Only One Who’s Difficult Is You
8. Heaven Will Be Heavenly
9. You’ve Done Something to My Heart
10. Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!
11. Where or When
12. This Can’t Be Love
13. In the Mood
14. My Kind of Music
15. The Victory Roll
16. South American Way
17. Listen to Me
18. All the Time (with Van Johnson)
19. Love on a Greyhound Bus
20. Isn’t It Wonderful?
21. Introduction and Violins in the Night (Chorus)
22. Make Mine Allegro
23. I’ll Think It Over (with Vic Oliver)
24. So Little Time
25. Hold It Joe (with Chorus)
26. Wild West End (Chorus)
27. Intro: Nothing can Last for Ever (Orchestra)
28. I’d Never, Never Know
29. Why does Love Get in the Way?
30. In a Boat on a Lake with My Darling (with Graham Payn)
31. Sail Away (coda) (Graham Payn)
32. My Kind of Man
33. This Could be True (with Graham Payn)
34. Josephine
35. My Kind of Man (reprise)
36. Chase Me Charlie
CD2
1. The Boy in the Gallery
2. Ohio (with Shani Wallis)
3. One Hundred Easy Ways
4. Swing! (with chorus)
5. The Wrong Note Rag (with Shani Wallis & chorus)
6. I’d Pick Piccadilly
7. Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (with chorus)
8. Stars in My Eyes
9. The Man that Wakes the Man that Blows Reveille
10. After the Ball
11. The Army of Today’s All Right (with chorus)
12. Jolly Good Luck to the Girl who Loves a Soldier (with chorus)
13. Is This Love? (with Hubert Gregg)
14. Love Is a Game (with Hubert Gregg)
15. Saturday Night (with chorus)
16. No More Love Songs
17. Shanghai Lil (with chorus)
18. On a Wonderful Day Like Today*
19. What a Wonderful World*
20. Guess Who I Saw Today?*
21. (a) If Love Were All*
(b) I’m a Dreamer, Aren’t We All?*
22. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
23. As Time Goes By
24. It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow*
25. To Keep My Love Alive*
26. London Pride*
27. People*
28. After the Ball (reprise)
29. Farewell Speech of Vesta Tilley
30. You’re the Top
*Previously unissued
