The King and I (1956)
My Mum was a big fan of musicals.
'South Pacific' was her all-time favourite.
I grew up watching this stuff on TV
as well as being dragged along to numerous cinema re-runs.
'The King and I' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein:
Based on Margaret Landon's novel 'Anna and the King of Siam' (1944)
which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens,
governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s.
King Mongkut (far right) with his heir Chulalongkorn seated next to him
and some of his other children. A wife is seated at left:
Mongkut with Chulalongkorn dressed in naval uniforms:
A non-musical version had already been filmed in 1944:
The original musical premiered on March 29th 1951
at Broadway's St. James Theatre. It ran for nearly three years
making it the fourth-longest-running Broadway musical in history at the time
Yuliy Borisovich Briner was born in Vladivostok on July 11th 1920.
He steals the show with a performance that put him on the map
and earned the Russian-American actor two Tony Awards.
Yul in the original stage production:
For the movie, he was forced to shave off what little hair remained.
He apparently resented that but it went on to be his trade mark.
Brynner's 1943 photo (bit more hair) after emigrating to the United States:
The role was revisited (with Yul starring) as a TV series 'Anna and the King' in 1972.
That was also very popular as I recall.
Was Yul Brynner the inspiration behind The Hood from Thunderbirds?
Optional subtitles in various languages are included.
Whenever I feel afraid I whistle a happy tune
regards
Titus
