Dreams Are What Le Cinema Is For: The Matchmaker - 1958

THE MATCHMAKER 1958lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2011/11/the-matchmaker-1958.html

How long has this been going on? That's the Gershwin-inspired that ran through my head when I happened uponthis heretofore-unknown-to-me comedy gem about ten-years-ago. As a self-avowed film buff who's devoted aconsiderable amount of childhood should-be-asleep time to watching old movies on The Late Show and The LateLate Show; how is it that this absolutely delightful little film managed to fly completely under my radar,undetected, all these years?

The Matchmaker is the 1958 screen adaptation of the1955 Broadway play about a meddlesome matrimonialmatchmaker (Shirley Booth) in 1880’s Yonkers, New York, who sets her sights on marrying her employer (PaulFord). If the plot sounds familiar, it’s because the Thornton Wilder (Our Town, Shadow of a Doubt) farcicalcomedy is the source material for the 1964 Broadway musical, Hello, Dolly! and its overstuffed 1968 movieadaptation.

It took all of 60-seconds for me to know that I was going to be wholly captivated by The Matchmaker, which openswith an antique ink engraving of a New York street scene coming to life. To the accompaniment of a jaunty musicalscore by Adolph Deutsch, the film introduces us to the main characters; each taking the opportunity to breakthrough the fourth wall, addressing us directly and letting us know that they know they're all in a movie:

Shirley Booth as Dolly Levi"Oh, hello! Are all of you people married?"

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Anthony Perkins as Cornelius Hackl"Are you alone? He's out getting you popcorn?"

Shirley MacLaine as Irene Molloy(Catching camera lens focused on her legs) "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!

(after a thought) Pretty, aren't they?"

Paul Ford as Horace Vandergelder"Haven't you any better way to spend your money?"

Characters continue to speak to us throughout the rest of the film. Sometimes filling us in on the plot, sometimesoffering commentary, sometimes offering drolly funny asides. The effect is hilarious and instantly winning.

Which is a rather odd conclusion for me to come to given that I have always held for Hello, Dolly! only a grudging

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kind of appreciation. I'm not sure if it's the Jerry Herman score (it strives for the robustness of The Music Man butlands at theatrical cheese); the actresses associated with the role (garish, drag-queen-like caricatures of women); orthat irksome exclamation point in its title (grammatically appropriate, I know, but an exclamation point attached to amusical just seems to bring out the Grinch in me...I'll decide if I'm excited or not, thank you); but Hello, Dolly! hasnever struck me as anything more than an efficient, inoffensive entertainment of the sort perfect for dinner theatersand high-school productions. Not particularly funny or clever, and far too strenuously quaint.

I do admit, however, to harboring a fondness for (and deriving perverse pleasure from) the Barbra Streisand musicalversion, simply due to its vast size. Viewing it is like watching someone blowing up a balloon to ever largerdimensions...you want to see how big it can get before it explodes under its own pressure. I also find Streisand'sschizophrenic performance somewhat fascinating (she’s old/she’s young, she’s sexy/she’s prim, she’s Mae West/she’s Fanny Brice…)...but The Matchmaker is another matter entirely.

Somehow everything that doesn't work in Hello, Dolly! works stupendously in The Matchmaker.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILMChiefly, its scale. The Matchmaker succeeds because the simplicity of its presentation is utterly appropriate to thematerial. The overkill of Hello,Dolly! all but submerges the gentle charm of the plot, which is as simple as a fairy tale.In that miraculous way some comedies have, The Matchmaker lights on just the right tone, just the right balance ofself-awareness and innocence, to make this delicate type of fluff just take wing and soar. When I first saw this film Iwas fairly flabbergasted that in virtually every instance where Hello, Dolly! made me groan, The Matchmaker gets it100% right!

Vandergelder Hay and Feed apprentice Barnaby Tucker (l.) and chief clerkCornelius Hackl (r); near-insufferable characters in the film Hello, Dolly!, are

brought to appealing life by Robert Morse and Tony Perkins in The Matchmaker

With a cast that knows its way around comedy, both physical and verbal, I found myself laughing at long-familiardialog that had never elicited as much as a smile from me before. The difference: they were delivered with skilledtiming and in character. The screenplay surprises time and time again by revealing real heart behind the gags andtraditional mix-ups and misunderstandings of farce.

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The scenes between Paul Ford and Shirley Booth are like comic sparringmatches.

Each manages to make their characters farcically funny, yet touchingly human.

PERFORMANCESI always enjoy films where even actors in bit roles are cast and directed to fit as part of an ensemble. The cast ofThe Matchmaker fits seamlessly and are all rhythmically on the same page. Each plays it comically large, but real...like in those great old comedies of the '30s. I get a kick out of seeing the ridiculously young Shirley MacLaine pairedwith the surprisingly sweet and non-creepy Anthony Perkins. Both are just so likable, you root for their romance thefirst time you see them together.

Love, Turn of the Century Style

Of course, the top honors go to Shirley Booth, an actress whose work, both dramatic and comedic, I greatly admire.I can't speak to Ruth Gordon's Dolly Levi (she originated the role on Broadway and won the Tony Award), but for mymoney, the role belongs to Ms. Booth. Along with being refreshingly age and appearance appropriate for thecharacter (Booth was turning 60 when she made this film), she brings to the role a keen comic timing and inflectionof delivery that imbues Dolly's busybody antics a touch of poignancy along with the humor. How she achieves this isbeyond me, but I find Booth to be one of those actresses who can turn straw to gold. If a line of dialog is funny, shecan make it uproarious; if it's only amusing, she has a way of bringing her voice, mannerisms, and facial expressionsinto play and arriving at something delightfully original and unexpected. She finds the authenticity in even thebroadest comedy. Until I saw The Matchmaker, it never once occurred to me that there could be a human beingbehind that grating buttinsky known as Dolly "Gallagher" Levi. Just check out how Booth handles the bigmonologue Dolly has with her departed husband. I've seen it performed many times before, but Booth is the onlyone to make it genuinely moving.

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Dolly Levi's philosophy of Matchmaking"Life is never quite interesting enough, somehow. You people who come to the

movies know that.So I rearrange things a little."

THE STUFF OF FANTASYThose familiar with Hello, Dolly! will find it fun picking up bits of dialog that became songs, taking note of addedand eliminated characters, and comparing the changes in acting styles. Me, I enjoyed seeing characters reducedto one-dimensionality in the musical revealed to be rather fleshed out in their original form. And when things are atrisk of becoming too sweet or cute, the device of having the actors step out of character to address the audiencealways seems to add a knowing wink indicating that they are aware of playing parts in a dated - but terriblycharming - little confection.

Shirley Booth and Shirley MacLaine appeared as mother and daughter in HotSpell (1958)

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Robert Morse originated the role of Barnaby Tucker on Broadway

Paul Ford was the master of the flustered double-take

THE STUFF OF DREAMSIt's always been my feeling that a comedy that works is that rarest of movie beasts. Everyone's tastes are differentand I can easily imagine how Shirley Booth's grandmotherly appeal and the old-fashioned, light-as-gossamer styleof comedy employed here won't be to everyone's liking. But for those, like me, who find nothing funny in thecontemporary fascination with scatology, rudeness, and the bottomless wellspring of American male oafishness;well, The Matchmaker is a godsend. I may have missed this terrific little film for the many decades it was availableto be seen, but since discovering it, I've more than made up for lost time. It's one of my favorite films. Witty script,clever execution, sharp performances, heart, sentimentality, and a moral to boot!

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The cast of The Matchmaker bids us all farewell

Copyright © Ken Anderson

About Ken Anderson: LA-based writer and lifelong film enthusiast. You can read more of his essays on films of the’60s & ‘70s at Dreams Are What Le Cinema Is For

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