Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)

Subject: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 06:20 PM

Broadway Star John Raitt Dies at 88

February 20, 2005; Los Angeles, CA

John Raitt, Broadway legend and star of American Musical theatre for over sixty years, died peacefully Sunday morning February 20th at his Pacific Palisades, California home from complications due to pneumonia, at the age of 88. Best known for his roles in the classic musicals Carousel, Oklahoma! and The Pajama Game, he set the standard for virile, handsome, strong-voiced leading men during the golden age of the Broadway musical.

Born January 29th, 1917 in Santa Ana, California, Raitt first began singing at YMCA camps run by his father. A star athlete in school, he set state records in the javelin, shot put and discus. Although his dream of joining the 1940 US Olympic team was shattered by war, his rich baritone voice led to his first professional singing engagement that same year in the chorus of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera production of HMS Pinafore. A larger role in the company's The Merry Widow followed and won him an MGM contract and bit parts in the films Flight Command, Billy the Kid and Ziegfeld Girl.

Raitt's growing reputation as a performer led to his audition to take over the lead role of Curly in the Broadway production of the musical Oklahoma! in 1944. After hearing his English-language rendition of the "Figaro" aria from The Barber of Seville, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein placed Raitt in the Chicago company of their smash hit while they finished writing their next show, in which he would star.

The crowd that stormed the Majestic Theatre for the premiere of Carousel on April 19, 1945 was the first Broadway audience John Raitt ever faced. Making musical theatre history by creating his most famous stage role, the ill-fated carnival barker Billy Bigelow, Raitt introduced such classics as "If I Loved You" and the eight-minute aria "Soliloquy", which was written especially for him. His performance was voted the best of the year by an actor in a musical by the New York Drama Critics and Donaldson Awards committees, establishing Raitt as one of the most notable stars of Broadway's golden age. Carousel remained the favorite musical of its composer and its leading man.

After Carousel Raitt starred in three more musicals, Magdalena, Three Wishes for Jamie, and Carnival in Flanders, before hitting another musical jackpot with 1954's The Pajama Game. Working with George Abbott, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse and Harold Prince, Raitt once again introduced a song that became a classic, the ballad "Hey There". He played the role of Sid Sorokin over l,000 times on Broadway before going on to star in the film version with Doris Day, released in 1957.

For the next four decades Raitt thrived starring in national tours of these and other classic musicals including The Music Man, Camelot, Man of La Mancha, Kismet, Destry Rides Again, On A Clear Day, Zorba, and Shenandoah. He spent twenty-five consecutive years headlining in summer stock and proudly claimed that he performed for audiences - and played golf- in every state in the union. He gave concerts in the nation's top venues, including Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl, and recorded albums for Decca, Capitol, Warner Brothers, RCA, Columbia and Angel.

Raitt returned to New York for an acclaimed Lincoln Center revival of Carousel in 1965, and Broadway runs in the musical A Joyful Noise, which was Michael Bennett's choreographic debut, and the revue A Musical Jubilee. In 1975 he headed the cast of an original bicentennial musical Sing, America, Sing at the Kennedy Center.

John Raitt was also a familiar face to TV viewers during the heyday of live television. He starred in The Buick Circus Hour (1952/53) and his own 1958-59 summer variety series The Chevy Show with Janet Blair and Edie Adams. He made multiple guest appearances on many major programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show, Bell Telephone Hour and the Academy Awards. The historic NBC live special of Annie Get Your Gun starring Raitt and Mary Martin in l957, proved to be a classic of the period. His later appearances included such diverse programs as the sitcom Third Rock from the Sun, PBS' Great Performances and Sesame Street, Late Night with David Letterman, and the 2003 Tony Awards.

As Broadway's elder statesman, Raitt showed no signs of slowing down. On his 75th birthday he received his 'star' on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received an Ovation Award in Hollywood for services to the Los Angeles theater scene. A year later he was inducted into New York's Theater Hall of Fame, and celebrated the 50th anniversary of Oklahoma! by singing the show's title song on the stage of the St. James Theater in New York (the theater in which Oklahoma! first opened in 1943) prior to a performance of a very different kind of musical -- The Who's Tommy. He also made a cameo appearance as Wiley Post in the musical The Will Rogers Follies at Broadway's Palace Theatre. In 1996 he received a Grammy nomination for his CD John Raitt-Broadway Legend and the following year, at age 80, made his West End debut in a benefit concert at the Prince of Wales Theatre. In 2004 he was featured in the documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age and the TV special Broadway: The American Musical.

With his first wife and accompanist/pianist, Marjorie Haydock, Raitt collaborated on concerts and recitals and raised three children. Kathleen Landry, his second wife, joined him in producing many successful tours in the Seventies. In 1981 Raitt was reunited with and married his college sweetheart, Rosemary Kraemer. They have both received honorary doctorates from Pepperdine University in Malibu, home of the Raitt Recital Hall. Devoted to the development and mentoring of young talent for the musical theatre, Raitt often held master classes and sponsored student performances at both the recital hall and the John Raitt Theatre in Hollywood, where his legacy will continue.

He also had the pleasure of touring and performing in concerts, on television and record with his daughter Bonnie, the multi-Grammy award winning singer who, in her father's words, "keeps the name flyin." Together they were inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and had dual scholarships instated at the Flora Thornton School of Music at USC in 2003. In addition to Pepperdine, Raitt holds doctoral degrees in music from his alma mater, the University of Redlands, and The Boston Conservatory of Music.
In addition to his wife, Rosemary and daughter Bonnie, Raitt is survived by his sons Steven and David, his wife Kelly, stepdaughters Sally Lokey and her husband Rick Kenworthy, Dee Mahieu and her husband Gary Johnson as well as six grandchildren, Ruby and husband Shaun Evans, Bay, Miles, Arlo, and Ely Raitt and Shiloh Fernandez.
John Raitt was an incredible performer, humanitarian, teacher, husband and father and he will be treasured in the hearts of his family and fans forever.
Broadway theatres will pay tribute to Raitt by dimming their lights Tuesday at 8pm. Funeral services will be private; plans for a memorial are pending. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The John Raitt and Rosemary Raitt Scholarship In Musical Theater at the School of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: Big Mick
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 06:28 PM

If for no other reason, and there were plenty of others per the above article, than the fact that Bonnie sprang from him, the world will never be able to thank him enough.

God be good to him,

Mick

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 07:45 PM

I think that Rait can be remembered for himself and not for his offspring.   A commanding presence on the musical stage.


Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: mooman
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 07:51 PM

A great man. May he R.I.P.

And his daughter is brilliant too..I quite agree with Mick.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 07:53 PM

Mary Katherine, are you MK McSpadden????

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 08:53 PM

No, I'm Mary Katherine Aldin. There are probably quite a few of us Mary Katherines out there :-)

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: Big Mick
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 10:17 PM

Hey Bill, did you read my post??? I indicated there were a ton of reasons.

Mick

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 10:24 PM

OOPS===right you are. Sorry. In any case---a loss of a wonderful talent.

Bill H

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP
From: Ferrara
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 10:34 PM

Mary Katherine, thank you for posting this. What a fine obituary. He was one of my idols and his singing brought me much joy, as was the case with Howard Keel who also died quite recently.

I can still see him doing the Soliloquy in the movie of Carousel. Nice to know it was written for him. And I can still see him doing "Poor Jud" in Oklahoma! Great singer and actor.

Sounds as if he led a beautiful and satisfying life. What a pleasure to read about it.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: JJ
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 10:49 AM

Ferrara, the actor you're thinking of in the movie versions of OKLAHOMA! and CAROUSEL is the late Gordon MacRae.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: PoppaGator
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 11:27 AM

Was "Pajama Game" his only movie musical?

Unless I missed something, it's the only one mentioned in the above obit, and as JJ just pointed out, Raitt was not given the opportunity to recreate his two greatest stage roles in the Hollywood versions of "Oklahoma" and "Carousel."

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: Cool Beans
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 01:59 PM

Yes, PoppaGator, it looks like "Pajama Game" was it, except for small parts earlier,according to the Internet Movie Database

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: Ferrara
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 03:11 PM

Okay. Thanks. Gordon McRae. He also starred in the musical "The Desert Song."

This is confusing. I saw The Pajama Game movie, never saw Raitt on Broadwy, but John Raitt's name is very familiar and has strong positive connotations, more than it should be if I only saw him in the Pajama Game.

And my mind persists in telling me that wasn't Gordon MacRae in Carousel, it was John Raitt! Oh well. Mind, you lie.

Maybe he sang on some of my albums of musical comedies. ... ???????

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: PoppaGator
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 04:21 PM

John Raitt would definitely have been featured on any "original Broadway cast" recordings of Oklahoma and Carousel.

Many of us who were not always followers of the musical stage became aware (or more aware) of John Raitt when his daughter Bonnie first emerged in celebrity-hood. That alone would have made his name familiar.

Anyone who read about his most famous roles but who knew the shows only from the movies (and that would be most of us) would naturally assume that the guy we had seen in these roles must have been Bonnie's dad, not that usurper Gordon MacRea.

There is a long tradition of Hollywood rejecting the stage actors and actresses who had created characters on Broadway, replacing them with movie stars with proven box-office appeal. Such choices aften seem ridiculous in hindsight, especially when the Broadway personality becomes mega-famous later on.

One good example is "My Fair Lady" ~ Julie Andrews had created the role of Eliza Doolittle, but Hollywood wouldn't cast her in the movie, hiring Audrey Hepburn instead. Audrey did a good acting job and looked great (of course), but I'm not sure he was able to handle her own singing (?) ~ this may have been one of those instances where the producers called in a specialist like Marnie Nixon to sing off-screen while the lead actress lip-synched.

Julie Andrews could have done the job without help, letting all of us witness the performance that "made" the show a hit to begin with ~ and, of course, she eventually demonstrated that she could, indeed, rise to the status of "movie star."

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: GUEST,larry p
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 06:03 PM

God, I loved John Raitt. Mostly I know him from recordings. I would have died to have half the voice he had. Long after he was past his prime, I saw him in a summer theater production of "South Pacific". He was still magnificent. I feel sorry for anyone who thinks he's only Bonnie Raitt's father. Bonnie is a fine musician. John, however, was close to God.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: Cool Beans
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 07:23 PM

John Raitt wasn't in the original Broadway cast of "Oklahoma," that was Alfred Drake, but John Raitt did "Oklahoma" as a TV special in the 1950s, hence his association with the role.

I think it was indeed Marni Nixon pinch-singing for Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady." Then the same thing was done to Mary Martin who originated the part of Maria in "The Sound of Music" on Broasdway. Julie Andrews got the movie role (and did her own singing).

This is why "That's show biz" is a common expression.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: Gypsy
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 10:04 PM

Rest in peace, Mr. Raitt. You were a fine man, and a gentleman.

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: clueless don
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 09:43 AM

Just to jump on the "me too" bandwagon: I never got to see John Raitt live, but I was deeply impressed by his performance in the movie version of "The Pajama Game", as well as on the original Broadway cast album of the same show. I have a great deal of respect for Bonnie Raitt and have enjoyed her music very much, but when I think of her, the first thought that pops into my mind is "John Raitt's daughter".

Don

Subject: RE: Obit: John Raitt RIP (20 Feb 05, age 88)
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 06:07 PM

Hi Mary Catherine,

Good to hear from you on Mudcat.

The first musical I ever saw was with John Raitt as Curly in Oklahoma at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the forties.

Thanks for posting this.

I had the pleasure of teaching his wife guitar in one of my classes at UCLA extension. It was Bonnie's mother. I ran it by Bonnie when she was trying out guitars at Westwood Music.

Frank