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Rem Cabrera's Blog

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The Way We Were
Streisand with Marilyn and Alan Bergman Barbra Streisand didn’t like “The Way We Were” when composer Marvin Hamlisch first played it for her. She thought it was “too simple.” She asked the Hamlisch-Bergmans songwriting team to write another song, and so they did. Barbra preferred the second version. A tape was made of each of the two songs and played during a private screening of the film’s opening credits to determine which version worked better. Barbra got... Continue Reading >>
Posted Friday, September 23 by Rem Cabrera
The Oscar That Got Away
A search of the nominations for Best Original Song reveals the names of some of the greatest songwriters in the history of American music. Among the greatest that never won an Oscar were Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Fred Astaire with George and Ira Gershwin THE GERSHWINSGershwin’s 1937 entry into the Oscars was "They Can't Take That Away From Me," which was sung by Fred Astaire to Ginger Rogers in Shall We Dance. The nomination was a posthumous one, as the 38-year old... Continue Reading >>
Posted Monday, September 12 by Rem Cabrera
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
This blog post is part of a series profiling Academy Award-winning original songs. This fall, the Festival is producing a one-night extravaganza concert featuring all the original songs that have won an Oscar. Read more about the concert. When I announced to an office colleague that "Over the Rainbow" would be the next song for the Academy Award-winning Best Song blog, she cheerfully replied, “Oh! You have to do "Over the Rainbow". You’re gay. You can do a whole lot of things with... Continue Reading >>
Posted Tuesday, August 23 by Rem Cabrera
Secret Love
This blog post is part of a series profiling Academy Award-winning original songs. This fall, the Festival is producing a one-night extravaganza concert featuring all the original songs that have won an Oscar. Read more about the concert. Warner Brothers was a cheap studio in the Forties and Fifties. Ruled back then by Jack Warner, it wasn’t above producing inexpensive copies of others’ successes, particularly when it came to MGM’s lavish musicals. On Moonlight Bay and By the Light... Continue Reading >>
Posted Tuesday, August 16 by Rem C
Moon River
This blog post is part of a series profiling Academy Award-winning original songs. This fall, the Festival is producing a one-night extravaganza concert featuring all the original songs that have won an Oscar. Read more about the concert. Like the camera sweeping over the Austrian countryside at the beginning of The Sound of Music, the opening scene to Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a celebrated blend of image and sound. There’s that lone yellow New York cab coming up lonely-looking... Continue Reading >>
Posted Monday, July 25 by Rem Cabrera

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