November 1, 1962 –
The musical film (based on the Broadway musical), Gypsy, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and starring Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, and Karl Malden, opened in the US on this date.
Before the decision was made to dub most of her vocals, Rosalind Russell attempted to do her own singing. The results are an extra feature on the soundtrack CD. After Ethel Merman died, a tape of the Russell recordings was found in a box in Merman’s closet. Merman, furious that she had not been cast in the film, evidently kept a copy of the Russell vocals as a strange, somewhat vengeful consolation prize.
