Amazing color footage of this performance. I could not find this on RU-vid, so here I am. I do not claim to own this material. I only want to appreciate it.
Got a chance to see Keely in 2010 in CA. She was absolutely genuine. She pitched the first number, "It's Magic". She stopped mid-note to say, "Stop! Stop! What the hell... " Someone right in front of us hollered.... "WE LOVE YOU KEELY"... She said "I love you too and you deserve better." She started over and absolutely killed it!!! The rest of the show was absolutely amazing! I was so happy I was able to see this legend in my lifetime!
That's amazing. I remember the first time I heard recordings of her with Louis Prima, I thought (and still think) how on Earth is this woman not more famous?? She clearly has the humor to keep up with Prima, but she's also got one of clearest voices that jumps nimbly and neatly to every single note. Absolutely astonishing how good she is.
The GREATEST lounge act ever to perform in Las Vegas. Period. This is the act the big stars went to see after their shows were over. They made it look so easy beacuse they were fabulously talented performers backed by Sam Butera and the best musicians in the business. This was an era from the great Las Vegas we will never see again.
My parents would watch them on TV when I was a kid and I thought Keely was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Louis and Keely were doing Sonny and Cher's act long before Sonny and Cher.
yes. and just like sonny, (italian), & cher, (indian). louie prima was italian & keely smith an indian!!!! how's that for a coincidence????? kool kat daddy.
A bit of a correction: they were originals. Sonny and Cher copied them (imitation is the highest form of flattery!), to good effect, but in a very different era, different music.
Their chemistry is absolutely amazing. It's such a beautiful sight to see two lovers singing and swinging and feeling the lyrics that they sing to each other
@@anchababymalkin3222 The writer who said Smith herself confessed having an affair with Frank, who proposed to her while she was married to Louis, but she turned Frank down... I have to question 1) if she really said it; 2) if she was remembering it accurately. Keely, to me, was gorgeous, but certainly not Frank's type. Not everything we look up is true.
@@akrenwinkleShe definitely had an affair with Sinatra, they even told a joke about it at her funeral (which I attended). She and Frank were great friends, but the great love of her life was still her (then) ex-husband. A few close to her would ask about Frank and that he must’ve been a great lover. Her reply? “He’s no Louis Prima!”
@@thierrylangford5199 Keely married a couple of times post-Louis. I find it hard to believe Keely, or anybody, would turn Frank down. Sure he was a creep, but a very rich creep. Do I believe she said it? Yes. Do I believe it? No. I think she was adorable, but there's no getting around it, the last dark woman Frank boinked was Nancy Senior. He preferred Lana Turner, Kim Novak, Grace Kelly, Mia Farrow, Marilyn, Juliet Prowse, Lauren Bacall, Barbara Marx. I just can't imagine them in the sack, and I have a pretty good imagination.
Gosh... I was at the Viva Las Vegas weekender, back in the early 90s... I actually got to dance with Keeley for a song or two, at a Big Six show at The Gold Coast hotel... A really great memory!
This was REAL entertainment. The level of production and synchronicity required to pull something like this off in the early days of color TV is absolutely mind-boggling to think of! Funny thing is that years later, Van Halen covered a bunch of Louis Prima tunes and made them popular with an entirely different generation. I remember playing some Van Halen (maybe it was on the Diver Down album) and having my dad tell me about the original recordings and how he and my mom had seen them live in Georgetown when they were dating.
I have heard that man's voice for years and didn't know who it was. This is fantastic !!! The people who give this a thumbs down are just plain horrible people. just watching this makes you smile and feel good.
They wouldn't know music if it hit them in the face. I was born in 1991 and one of my regrets is not being able to call this music of my day 😅 certain I've lived before though haha
@@DrJudyASmith RU-vid decided a wile ago to quit displaying thumbs down count. Notice you don't see thumbs down counts on _anything._ They were still displayed when the post was first made.
The QUALITY of this video is EVERYWHERE; from Louis and Keely (obviously) to the band/Brass and extras/guitar, drums, etc... to the lighting, to the magnificent COLOR of 1959!! Class exuding from every pore of every person involved w/ this production. I swear, if this was aired in place of a prime time show tomorrow, I believe people would be astounded at how uniquely talented everyone here is. I'm a 60's/70's kid/teenager who grew up w/ The Beatles, etc., but I know heart/soul/talent when I see it... and this is TALENT. Just give me one half hour every night of this and I'd go to bed happy knowing tomorrow will be another show.
@@bishlap This is COLOURIZED as Colour Film Recording was not yet available yet when this was likely recorded... But, Keely SMITH and LOIUS PRIMA's Live shows in places like The Neville in the scenic Catskill's resort country clubs were Legendary! Believe THIS recording is from 1958, when Las Vegas was being first developed... Today, this would be TOTALLY VEGAS!
Not colorized. NBC with the help of AMPEX and NBC’s parent company the Radio Corporation of America pioneered color videotape as early as 1958. See “An Evening with Fred Astaire” and various “Dinah Shore Chevy Show” tapes from this era.
@@jeffreybarkin3177 color film recording was available for decades, when this was recorded. "The Wizard of Oz" & "Gone With the Wind" are 2 of the most notable color movies released in 1939... 20 years before this Louis Prima recording!!
One of the best, I have 5 vinyl's, AFTER they split. Todays Ladies should take note of how it should be done. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wbeMHS6mhhQ.html
@@doughoward6401 I wonder how many people are aware of her "trademark scratching" she did while performing ? I have no idea "what the story is behind that"…..
And yet- there were people back then that thought this act was crude and vulgar, even sinful. But as we're now all saying today, "love is love." Some things do change for the better.
Keely Smith to me was this drop dead gorgeous vocalist who knew what she looked like and played it so understated and disinterested and it drove people nuts. She had stunning vocal chops too, which didn’t hurt. The perfect foil to Louis Prima.
Soectacular! I performed that song in high school. My costume was half and half. I turned one way when i sang Kellies part and the other when i sang Louis part and when they sang together i faced the audience and samg the duet
Just becoming aware of Keely Smith and her work. Her voice is incredible,and she's gorgeous. She always looks great on stage and I think that bob haircut was invented for her. Louis isn't too shabby either.
Just the cutest couple ever! To those who thought she was bored being on stage with him, it was an act. Think of it as the funny man/straight man comedy act.
Keely resented that comparison, though it seemed pretty much inevitable; the pairing of a goofy-looking, excitable Italian with a lousy voice and a beautiful part-American-Indian with a knockout voice.
So cool, what a ball these two are having! The band is fantastic and has her own personality, this is one hell of a fun song, one of my all-time favorites
At the very peak of their powers, Louis and Keely represented great feel-good music which made people laugh and smile. Louis was the missing link between Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan. Wherever the three Louis' is now, Heaven must be having a great time. That's the best tribute of all.
I think I've watched this 100 times in the past few days! Is music production possible without computers? You bet your ass! This is PERSONALITY coupled with musical talent plus high energy plus a love for what they did. Great great stuff!
I was phenomenally lucky enough to see Keely live on Saturday June 1st, 2002, at Bimbo's nightclub in San Francisco. One of the best shows I've ever attended. She sang her heart out for an hour and a half plus and did a bunch of classics from the Louis and Keely days as well as her pop hits. People got up and danced! She must've been around 73 or 74 but she looked fantastic and sounded almost exactly as she did in her 30s. She had an incredibly durable set of pipes! Still beautiful, mellifluous, and that gorgeous, rich vibrato unchanged by time. She was also just so gracious and lovely and fun. Wonderful memories. I have managed to do a few things right through the years, and making the effort that night to deal with SF traffic, SF parking, blah blah blah just to see Keely--SO WORTH IT. Rest in peace, wonderful lady. I hope you and Louis are making beautiful music together again.
Keely and Louie were my favorites and when my husband Bill and I eloped to wintery Las Vegas way back in 1959 we went from the chapel to the hotel Lounge to dance and sing. I was wearing a very cozy, warm fur coat and moving to the beat, I soon found myself in Bill's Arm's outside in the snow. I had fainted in the heat of the music and the events of the day.. I love both of these amazing entertainers . . . and Keely's "I wish you Love" was in my heart when Bill and I parted in 1969. Years later I remarried Warren and he's been with me for 46 years. I still consider Louie and Keely my faves. The song I use to label our relationship is "It's Magic."
The greatest lounge act of all time ... and "lounge act" is a high compliment. How many could keep the attention of an audience in a "delicate" condition :)
That black magic called love... If you don't follow the sense of this devilish rhythm even with just one foot, you are dead. Art, grace, coordination, brilliance ... Such beautiful Keely Smith and Lou Prima´s voices! And how fascinating and fun, at the same time, the performance they always performed! Watching them singing together is like when you enjoy the movie "Singin´ in the Rain": make you smile and bright the sun in your day :-)
I would have loved to see Louis Prima break out in his voice as King Louie from the Jungle Book and start singing: "Ubi do, I want to be like you ou ou, I want to talk like you, walk like you, ou ou ou ou"!!!!! 👍😜😁
You compare this magnificence to the junk that today's pop musicians are putting out. No comparison. Back then, there were REAL talented, legends in music! God bless Louis Prima, Sam Butera, Keely and their whole bunch! :-)
@@JR-jx5ri I'm 81 and I well remember Louis we used to play his music at parties in Auckland NZ Wonderful band, arrangements, pure jazz Love it. I play the guitar and write music even Dixieland music that he cut his teeth on. He was an excellent trumpet player in that style pioneered by Louis A and Bix. Great!!!
@@Berus7777 correct!!!...Aldous H is terrific, thanks!! a bit more intense that Prima 🤣... there are many unknowns also who make creative, awesome music: jazz, folk combos..... i think HCB is talking mainstream pop, of which s/he is right....is boring crap!!!!
Man, the talent and great performers of yesteryear, they had a 'magic' that overall you don't see today. You can tell that Louis Prima and Keely Smith had a great time doing this wonderful 'number'. Fresh as ever. You can't say that about today's pop...not even close.
In college at The University of Georgia way back in 1958 Keely and Louis were the best and today I have so many wonderful memories. Thanks to them both! GFH
Louis had a wonderful quality to his unique voice. He knew how to use that gift. Keely was the 'straight man' to his creative use of vocals. Wonderful couple. The guys were great musicians in their own right, having to play gig after gig. They loved what they did and it shows. Could not ask for a better evening out being entertained by them. In those days, a musician had to be able to read and write music not just interpret by ear. Over the years I've come to realize that 99% percent of the general pop music celebrities can't read a note to save their lives. In the forties, fifties and mid sixties, musicians had to have at least a couple of hundred songs in their repertoire. Now we have rap 'artist' who might've been janitors at best, in the day..........
Absolutely fantastic. Love it. Those were the days and there is nothing, nothing, like them today. That level of real talent is long gone. What a wonderful thing, technology, that it can be used in a positive way like this, to record something of value.
Douglas, thank you for posting this incredible gem of TRUE American singers and singing at their best!! This is straight from their Vegas act, as I recall !
Kookie Keeley and crazy Louis... they were perfection in this song! I've loved this song since I was a child and have never been a fan of 50's music, but this was SPECIAL!
Thank you for the footage of Keely Smith and Louie Prima from 1959 in "living color" on NBC-TV (I'm guessing it's from The Plymouth Show with Steve Allen). Yes, those two made a great pair making great music together. Love to hear them do That Ole Black Magic. From a time we'll never see again.
Before my time, since I was not born until 1968. But "The Jungle Book," got me started on him. Then more recently someone put this video on Facebook, so I discovered her too.
This footage, along with AN EVENING WITH FRED ASTAIRE, just proves NBC was on the ball with that new fangled videotape technology. Could only imagine how those Classic 39 Episodes of The Honeymooners with that great cast had looked if they had the technology first! 🇵🇷🇺🇸😊
First 🥇 class both Louis and Keeley just bounce Off each other two legendary singers sadly missed don't make like they used to Respect from a Teddy Boy 🎶🎼📻🎶🚀
I was about 17, caught a cheap plastic Mardi Gras Rex bead in an Endymion parade he was riding in. I don't have it anymore. But I never forgot it. He died shortly after. RIP Lois Prima. Loved your music then and still do. From Steve Crown ( THE BARON OF BOURBON STREET).
