Marie Matthews 1934-2024

Sad news to report, Marie Matthews, the singing voices of Young Scrooge and the Cratchit daughter in Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, and the last surviving cast member, has passed away after a long illness.  She is most well known for her touching rendition of Bob Merrill's heartfelt lyrics in "Alone in the World" from the classic 1962 animated TV special.

Although this was her most famous role, her singing voice can also be heard in a number of films: Julius Caesar (1953), The Egyptian (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), Counterfeit Traitor (1962) and The Singing Nun (1966).  Later she appeared on screen in the TV movie Weekend Nun (1976) and in the series, Angie (1976). 

During the research phase on my book on the making of the groundbreaking special, Marie proved to be the most difficult cast or crew member to find.  There were numerous Marie Matthews in California and I considered it no small victory when, after numerous dead end letters and calls, I asked the man on the other end of the line if this was the number for the Marie Matthews that had sung in Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.  Yes, it is, replied her husband, Wayne, ending a months long search.

From L to R, Jack Cassidy, Marie Matthews and Joan Gardner

Marie had a fascinating story of how she came to be part of the cast, which is recounted in my book. Although it had been 45 years before, she provided key details about the song recording session which helped to flesh out the events of that momentous day.

Shortly after the book was published in 2009, Roberta and Judy Levitow were in New York at The Paley Center for Media and somehow the fact that their father, Abe Levitow, directed Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol came up which quickly led to a request for a presentation and screening of the classic animated special that December at the Paley.  I was asked to bring a cast or crew member to participate in the event and I approached Marie about joining me.  She readily agreed and ended up performing "Alone in the World" live and on stage for an appreciative audience.

Unbeknownst to me, Marie had never been to New York City.  Adding to the specialness of the trip, we visited St Patrick's Cathedral, where her father had once played the organ.

A few years later, and fifty years after the recording session, in 2012, Marie, her daughter Melinda and I were treated to a tour of the Warner Hollywood lot and the soundstage where she sang "Alone in the World" and "Lord's Bright Blessing," which was the subject of a previous blog post here.

Many times over the years, we would get together for a Christmas lunch at The Smokehouse restaurant in Burbank, which once shared a parking lot with the UPA studio, where Marie auditioned for the part and where the special was actually produced.  It had become a part of my Christmas tradition.

One of the hardest parts about researching and writing a book isn't the actual process, although that's plenty difficult, it's becoming friends with the interview subjects and then having to say goodbye, sometimes just a few years later.  Most everyone who graciously participated in the book has now left us and I'm grateful to have met and spent time with each one of them as well as having been able to tell their stories.  Marie will be missed by her children and grandchildren as well as the millions of viewers who were touched by her singing in Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.  It goes without saying that I will miss her, too.  Thank you for everything, Marie.

The Recording of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, Pt. 2

The studio entrance in the 1940s

In a previous post I discussed the history of the facility where the dialogue sessions for Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol took place, Ryder Sound Services.  In honor of the special’s 50^th anniversary today, we will be visiting the facility where the songs were recorded, the Scoring Stage on the Samuel Goldwyn lot or Stage 7 as it was also known.

The west entrance of Stage 7 today

The Goldwyn lot has been around since 1917, and has been variously known as the Hampton Studios, the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio, the  United Artists Studio and for most of its history, the Samuel Goldwyn Studios.  For a period, Warner Bros. owned the lot, calling it Warner Bros. Hollywood but today, it’s known simply as The Lot.  Some of the features shot there include the silent version of Robin Hood, West Side Story, Some Like It Hot and Porgy and Bess.  TV shows to film there, either on the backlot or on stages include The Fugitive, Dynasty and Sid and Marty Krofft’s, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.  The backlot no longer exists and has been taken over by an electric substation, partially seen in the upper right corner in the photo below.  

View of Stage 7 from the adjacent parking structure

For 45 years, the Goldwyn scoring stage was considered the premiere orchestral recording facility in the motion picture industry.  Lee Orgel had aimed high when he went looking for songwriters for the first animated Christmas special, snagging two of the premiere Broadway songwriters of the time, Jule Styne and Bob Merrill.  He continued in that same vein with his choice of recording venues, using first Ryder Sound for the dialogue sessions and then the scoring stage on the Goldwyn lot for the day-long song recording session.  Walter Scharf later returned to the stage to record the bridging score with a 27 piece orchestra.  (More photos from the song recording session can be seen in my book.)

Jim Backus, Joan Gardner, Jule Styne, Laura Olsher, Royal Dano, Paul Frees and Walter Scharf

The stage had a hardwood floor which was highly prized for the recording of music and, at over 8000 square feet, was large enough to handle a 60+ member orchestra as well as the addition of choral groups if needed.  It was sought after by many composers, and the songs and score for the Christmas special joined an illustrious list of movie scores recorded at the facility—The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape by Elmer Bernstein, Marnie and Torn Curtain by Bernard Herrmann and both The Wizard of Oz and portions of Gone with The Wind.  Frank Sinatra, who shot The Manchurian Candidate and Guys and Dolls on the lot, recorded The Concert Sinatra album on the stage in 1963.  (Sinatra had his own private bungalow on the lot for 35 years, which still stands today.)  Pictured below are 7of the Oscars awarded to the facility for Best Sound.

By 1972, the scoring stage had fallen into disuse and served as studio storage.   In 1974, a fire on the Sigmund sound stage destroyed that stage as well as several others.  While some of the stages were rebuilt, others were not and the decision was made to convert the former scoring stage into a shooting stage, ripping out the hardwood flooring.  Today, the stage is home to one of the largest cycloramas in Hollywood.  A ‘cyc’, as it’s known in industry jargon, is used primarily for special effects shots in order to avoid the joint where the walls meet the floor and provides a sense of infinity with a concave curve joining the horizontal and vertical planes.

I asked the singer for Young Scrooge, Marie Matthews (pictured above), to reminisce at the facility where she recorded her songs 50 years ago.  We were granted permission to visit the lot and sound stage by studio manager, Dusty Barbee and were guided by Security head, Dave Del Prete, who is also the lot’s unofficial historian.  Much has changed on that stage in 50 years and the presence of the huge white cyclorama which spans the entire length and almost the entire width of the room is overwhelming.  In the shot above, Marie is standing just a few feet in front of where Sinatra is pictured below.  

With the aid of photos taken during Sinatra’s recording session for The Concert Sinatra album, Marie was able to remember that the songs were recorded in the center rear corner of the above photo, where most of the musicians are sitting.  However, due to the position of the cyclorama, we were unable to visit that portion of the stage.  She also recalled that Jim Backus, suffering from a bad back, would close the lid of the grand piano between takes and lie down on it for relief.   As photos from the song session attest, the space didn’t seem nearly as large as it does in the photo above but the stage was neither as brightly nor as fully lit as in this shot, making it seem less imposing.  Recording configurations that no longer exist and the use of sound dampening isolation booths around each of the singers would have also further constricted the space.

Jack Cassidy, Marie Matthews and Joan Gardner rehearsing Lord's Bright Blessing

Marie had not been on the lot since she recorded the songs in 1962 and was delighted to revisit the stage and the facilities.  For me, standing in the room where two of Elmer Bernstein’s most iconic scores were recorded was inspiring but being there with Marie Matthews and knowing that the songs and score for Mr. Magoo’s  Christmas Carol made the moment truly special.   Those songs and score made their debut fifty years ago tonight.  Be sure to catch NBC’s airing of the special on Saturday, December 22^nd at 8 PM.  

Darrell Van Citters and Marie Matthews outside Stage 7

Special thanks to Dave Del Prete for taking time out of his busy day to show Marie, her daughter Melinda and me around the stage and lot, Dusty Barbee for allowing us access to the facility and to Heidi Ewart for making the arrangements.