By Steven Suskin
18 Jun 2006

The musicals of Jerry Herman are currently back on the boards, with Mame at Kennedy Center, Hello, Dolly! at Paper Mill, and Mack & Mabel in the West End. The new DVD Jerry Herman’s Broadway [Image Entertainment] presents just that, in a 1993 concert recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl. Here you have all the songs as performed by a host of Broadway favorites: Carol Channing, Bea Arthur, Liza Minnelli, Michael Feinstein, George Hearn, Davis Gaines, Rita Moreno, Leslie Uggams, Karen Morrow and more. (This performance was a mere 13 years ago, but it somehow seems a very long 13 years.)

The music sounds great, with Don Pippin — the legendary musical director of five Herman shows, plus a few other little items like Oliver! and A Chorus Line — leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic through a spirited two hours. Highlights include especially fine performances of "I Won’t Send Roses" by Feinstein and three Mame songs by Uggams. Jerry is there, too, with "The Best of Times." All in all, it’s a festival for Herman fans.

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John Wayne has countless partisans across the land, although I suppose there aren’t all that many of them amongst theatregoers (of the stage variety, anyway). Why then, you might wonder, do you find The John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection [Warner Home Entertainment] in this column? Because of "Stagecoach," the 1939 film that made Wayne a box-office star. This is a Western, I suppose you have to say, as it takes place — well, on a stagecoach. But it is first and foremost a character study, and a superb one.

I suppose you could say "Stagecoach" is something like "Grand Hotel" on wheels. Each of the nine characters has a story in progress; due to proximity, the stories become intertwined. The characters are engrossing, and the performers — including Clare Trevor, John Carradine, Andy Devine and especially Thomas Mitchell (who won an Oscar in the process) — are finely etched. This is a wonderful film, even if it is a John Wayne western. The press material tells us that Orson Welles admitted to watching "Stagecoach" 40 times before beginning "Citizen Kane." This must have been quite a feat, back in the days before The Late Show, VHS and pay-per-view. If Welles, a man prone to hyperbole, really did watch "Stagecoach" 40 times, I hope he had a lot of popcorn on hand.

The two-disc special edition of "Stagecoach" is accompanied by seven other Wayne-Ford titles. (It is also available individually.) "The Searchers" usually turns up on great film lists; it is 96 on the A.F.I.’s list of 100 great movies. ("Stagecoach" is #63.) This is the one where Wayne goes searching for his young niece, Natalie Wood, who is held captive by a band of Comanches. It has been given far grander treatment than the other titles, with an "ultimate collectors edition" including snapshots, a facsimile of the original press kit, and even a comic book version of the film. Other titles include "The Long Voyage Home," a World War II film adapted from one acts by Eugene O’Neill. Wayne plays Ole Olsen, with a Swedish accent.

Released along with (but sold separately from) "The John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection" comes The John Ford Collection [Warner Home Entertainment]. The box consists of five Ford films which did not feature Wayne. The highlight here is the classic "The Informer," which won Oscars for Ford and star Victor McLaglen. This 1935 film is old and dated, but retains its power and then some. McLaglen is hounded and tortured, and unforgettable. Also in the box is Ford’s prior film with McLaglen, "The Lost Patrol," and "Mary of Scotland," starring Katharine Hepburn and Fredric March.

— Steven Suskin, author of the recently released "Second Act Trouble" [Applause Books], "A Must See! Brilliant Broadway Artwork," "Show Tunes," and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached by e-mail at Ssuskin@aol.com.