The other day I was listening to our local jazz station, and the Paul Desmond version of “A Taste of Honey” came on. I have seen the 1962 Tony Richardson movie several times — ground breaking in the day for its themes of homosexuality and unwed motherhood — but was only familiar with the Morgana King and Herb Alpert versions of the song. The Desmond version, however, immediately brought back the memory of my one and only, very embarrassing, public singing performance.
I’m a terrible singer, but I do have a good ear and can hear the instant a singer goes off-key or misses a beat. I was at a party in Paris circa 1965. The only available alcohol was Scotch and everyone was having a go at it. I had just seen the movie, A Taste of Honey, and was impressed with the story and music. My French date asked me to sing a song in English for him so I tunelessly whispered the lyrics hoping that the party noise would drown me out. Inexplicably, but probably fueled by Scotch, he was impressed with my breathy delivery, and insisted I sing for everyone. My performance was accepted without too much overt criticism, but I can only attribute that to alcohol and French familiarity with the frequently raspy, spoken delivery of that era’s male singers (Aznavour, Brel, Gainsbourg). In retrospect, my good ear confirmed that I was pretty much off-key throughout the song, and I have never repeated the experience.
After listening to the Paul Desmond version, I started aimlessly googling — a certain dive down a rabbit hole — and found to my astonishment that the song has been covered over 200 times by various artists, and has won several Grammies and other awards. Bobby Scott, a pianist, wrote the original music for the Broadway play, and Scott and Ric Marlow wrote the lyrics. In 1961, Billy Dee Williams (Jimmy in the Broadway production) came out with the first vocal version.
In 1958, Shelagh Delaney, a 19 year old English playwright, wrote the play, A Taste of Honey, set in Salford, with wide-ranging themes about class, race, the role of women and sexuality. In its several theatrical incarnations,* the play started out in a London fringe theater but moved to the West End later on. David Merrick turned it into a Broadway play in 1960 with Angela Lansbury, Joan Plowright, Billy Dee Williams (the previously mentioned singer and a prolific actor) and Andrew Ray.
Now on Netflix, the movie (in the days when the credits came on before the start of the film) came out two years later and starred a new actress, Rita Tushingham as 15 year old Jo, the formidable Dora Bryan as Helen, Robert Stephens as Peter, Paul Danqua as Jimmy, and Murray Melvin as Geoffrey.** The movie joined other British New Wave movies like “Look Back in Anger,” The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” and Billy Liar,” in describing the bleak aspect of contemporary working class British life, or “kitchen sink realism.” It is an excellent portrayal of a young, unloved girl constantly on the move with her tough, promiscuous mother, living in poverty and wanting more out of life. The bitter interactions between mother and daughter are as painful as they are accurate, and the sordid living conditions are grim. Jo’s brief affair with a sweet black sailor, Jimmy, results in pregnancy (and the first interracial screen kiss). Although he says he will return, it remains uncertain. Her mother abandons her to go off with a new husband and a big house, and Jo gets a job working in a shoe store. Geoff, a kind, gay man, befriends her and moves into Jo’s new but dilapidated flat, helping in many ways — with her pregnancy, cooking dinners, and beautifying the flat. They become close friends, but her mother returns because of her failed relationship and demands he leave. The movie ends on a low note since you don’t expect much good to come out of the mother’s return, and the dismissal of her friend leaves her with no emotional support or love.
You might find it interesting to play a few of the musical selections, both vocals and instrumentals, which enhanced and defined the moody trajectory of the film. Some are excellent (Lizz Wright) and some are bad (The Beatles), but they show you the wide appeal of the song, its melody and the lyrics. The different presentations run the gamut from syrupy and overblown to restrained and thus more effective.
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*To my surprise, in today’s Guardian (3/11/24), there is an article on a re-do of the play — see link below. Read in The Guardian: https://apple.news/Ak8joVkLVRLu4ADm_fLjN6Q
**Bryan won a Bafta Award for Best Actress. Tushingham won the Cannes Film Festival Award and Golden Globes for Best Actress and Most Promising Newcomer. Melvin won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and was nominated for Bafta’s Most Promising Newcomer. He also had a long personal and theatrical association with Ken Russell. Danqua became a lawyer in Ghana and DC and a consultant with the World Bank. Francis Bacon was a close friend and onetime roommate. The movie won a Bafta for Best British Film.
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NOTE: In light of Cillian Murphy’s win yesterday for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, you may enjoy re-visiting my 10/11/20 post where I review 31 of his past movies.