Tonight We Sing

Tonight We Sing
Directed byMitchell Leisen
Written by
Produced byGeorge Jessel
StarringDavid Wayne
Ezio Pinza
Roberta Peters
CinematographyLeon Shamroy
Edited byDorothy Spencer
Music byAlfred Newman
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • January 26, 1953 (1953-01-26)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Tonight We Sing is a 1953 American musical biopic film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring David Wayne, Ezio Pinza, and Roberta Peters. It is based on the life and career of the celebrated impresario Sol Hurok.[1]

The film is based on the 1946 book Impresario, an autobiography written by Sol Hurok with the help of Ruth Goode, who once served as Hurok's press agent.[2] The film credits Hurok as technical advisor.

Plot

Cast

Music

The film features performances of works from classical composers: Chopin, Gounod, Kreisler, Leoncavallo, Mussorgsky, Puccini, Rubinstein, Saint-Saëns, Sarasate, Verdi and Wieniawski. The film includes opera arias, duets and staged scenes from the operas: Boris Goudonov, Faust, Madama Butterfly, and La Traviata. Tamara Toumanova, in her role as Pavlova, performs in three ballet scenes within the film.

The tenor voice of Jan Peerce is heard in the picture as well as the RCA Victor soundtrack release.

Notes

  1. ↑ The classically trained vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Bertha Rosemond (15 at the time TWS was filmed, in 1952),[3] has, beginning approximately 40 years later, become much better known as jazz pianist Bertha Hope, widow of fellow pianist Elmo Hope.[4]
  2. ↑ Barnby's setting of Alfred Lord Tennyson's text.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Tonight We Sing (1953) - Mitchell Leisen - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  2. ↑ Whitman, Alden (March 6, 1974). "Sol Hurok, the Impresario, Dies at 85". New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Levette, Harry (May 16, 1952). "15-Year-Old Girl Singer To Star in Hollywood Film". The Call. p. 9. Retrieved August 9, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. The technicolor musical based on the life of famed impressario, Sol Hurok (who discovered Marion Anderson, marks Miss Rosemond's film bowW. The gifted girl, a piano student at Lorenzo Jordan Cole, alternates playing the piano, viola, violin, cymbals and conducting school band in real life. [...] Clinton Rosemond Sr., is happy making her film debut at 20th Century-Fox lot because he has appeared there in many films including 'Three Littie Girls In Blue,' and 'Colonel Effingham's Raid,' as well as such old time films as 'Santa Fe Trail.' He is best known, however, for the title starring role in 'The Life of Dr. George Washington Carver.' [...] Curiously, Rosemond plays the role of Bertha's father in 'Tonight We 'Sing.' His role is a very natural one, he admits, because all he has to do is to sit, beam proudly while Bertha sings 'Sweet And Low,' and then applaud her.
  4. ↑ Griffen, Anders (May 2022). "Bertha Hope: Hope Springs Eternal". The New York Jazz Record. Retrieved August 9, 2026. "She used to practice with her father and when she was about 12 years old, he had a church concert and asked if she thought she was ready to perform with him. He gave her seven dollars, a lot of money, especially for a kid, and it was the first time she made the connection between music and money. With the growth of the movie studios, her father found acting work and Hope got a part in Tonight We Sing (20th Century Fox, 1953) about Sol Hurok. [...] She did most of her own recording in the ‘90s but much prefers live performance. 'I did that one recording for Riverside with Elmo that became sort of an underground collector’s item [Hope-Full, 1961]. Then I did [almost no] recording until the ‘90s. I’m just a nervous wreck in the studio. I think that’s one of the reasons I haven’t recorded more.' She lived with her partner, bassist Walter Booker, for over 20 years before they married in 2004. Together they released four albums, the last one was Nothin’ But Love, named after a song by saxophonist Frank Lowe, to which she added lyrics."
  5. ↑ Cohen, Rich (2006). Sweet and Low: A Family Story. New York: Blue Rider Press,. ISBN 978-0224072724. p. 126.
  6. ↑ "High School Girl Lands Role in Film". Jet. May 22, 1952. p. 9. Retrieved August 9, 2026 – via Archive.org. Bertha Rosemond, 15-year-old Los Angeles high school girl, will be featured in the 20th Century-Fox film, Tonight We Sing, a picture based on the life of impresario Sol Hurok, discoverer of Marian Anderson. The girl, a piano student, also plays the viola, violin and cymbals and conducts the band at Los Angeles' Manual Arts high school. She will sing Sweet and Low in the picture to be produced by George Jessel.
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