Sally Ann Howes - # 274

Sally Ann Howes, Truly Scrumptious in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,’ Dies at 91

A grand dame of Broadway and the West End, she starred in 'Paint Your Wagon,' 'My Fair Lady,' 'Brigadoon' and 'What Makes Sammy Run?'

 

She was number 274 on the list.

Sally Ann Howes, the radiant star of stage and screen who portrayed Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and replaced Julie Andrews on Broadway in My Fair Lady, has died. She was 91.

Howes died Sunday in a hospital in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, The New York Times reported. She was a longtime resident of nearby West Palm Beach.

The Londoner was nominated for a Tony Award in 1963 for her performance as Fiona in a revival of Brigadoon — though the production ran just two weeks — then starred opposite Robert Alda and Steve Lawrence in What Makes Sammy Run? (That one lasted for more than 500 performances in 1964-65).

Earlier, the graceful Howes starred in Lerner and Loewe’s Paint Your Wagon — appearing with her father, popular song-and-dance man Bobby Howes — and in another musical comedy, Summer Song, before earning high marks for a dramatic turn in A Hatful of Rain.

As a youngster, Howes was a contract player at Ealing Studios and the Rank Organisation and appeared opposite Vivien Leigh in Anna Karenina (1948) and with John Mills in The History of Mr. Polly (1949) before toplining a 1950 BBC production of Cinderella.

Howes came to Broadway in February 1958 to portray Eliza Doolittle in the original run of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady, with her countrywoman Andrews exiting to star in the show’s West End production.

“It was absolutely wonderful when you’re in probably the greatest show that’s ever been written. It’s certainly up among the top 10,” Howes told Playbill in 2007. “I enjoyed it immensely. I loved the American audiences, I loved the show, and I enjoyed being in America. [Broadway] at that time was the capital of musicals.”

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), adapted by Roald Dahl from the Ian Fleming 1964 children’s novel, Howes sparkled as Truly, the aristocratic daughter of a confectionery magnate. She got the part without having to audition after Andrews turned down the role, which she felt was too similar to those she had played in The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.

As the romantic interest of Dick Van Dyke’s inventor Caractacus Potts, Howes performed such wonderful numbers as “Toot Sweets,” “Lovely Lonely Man,” “Hushabye Mountain” and, as a wound-up figurine, “Doll on a Music Box.” (Richard and Robert Sherman were in charge of the music.)

“Music Box” was her favorite, she told Rosie O’Donnell in 1998. “It was the most difficult thing in the whole world. I really was very proud of it. I did it on the set. I was a bit nervous about it, with about 150 extras [looking on]. They put me up on this box and off I went. And I got it in one take!”

Two Barbie dolls based on her Truly Scrumptious were created in conjunction with the movie.

Howes was born in London on July 20, 1930. Her mother was actress-singer Patricia Malone, and her grandfather was Broadway director J.A.E. Malone.

She made her movie debut in the Stewart Granger-starring Thursday’s Child (1943), written and directed by a neighbor, Rodney Ackland, and followed with roles in The Halfway House (1944), Dead of Night (1945), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947), Anna Karenina and My Sister and I (1948) before signing a seven-year contract with Rank.

Her first love, however, was the theater. She made her stage debut in Sandy Wilson’s Caprice, then played her real-life dad’s daughter for two years (1953-54) in Paint Your Wagon.

In a 2013 interview with The Palm Beach Post, she said her father tried to upstage her.

“It was the first night, and I stopped the show with ‘What’s Goin’ on Here,'” Howes recalled. “The applause went on and on, and I moved my eyes to stage left and I saw my father coming on several times, a little too soon, intentionally. At one rehearsal, the director told us, ‘Listen, you’ve got to go on as two performers and fight it out.’

“My father taught me everything by example, but he also gave me things to do if anybody played games with me onstage. Come in immediately on someone’s applause, and you will kill it. And if anybody’s getting a laugh, lift a cigarette or pat your hair, use some gesture that will take the eye and ear away from the other performer. It’s like having the atomic bomb.”

Her stage turns in 1956 in Summer Song and in 1957 in A Hatful of Rain established her reputation as a star.

A month after marrying Tony-winning composer-lyricist Richard Adler (The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees), Howes joined My Fair Lady on Broadway. Director Moss Hart “gave me total freedom to create my own Eliza,” she said.

“The best afternoon I ever had was my first matinee,” she recalled. “It was the performance before Julie’s last show, and he wanted me to get [one] under my belt.

“Moss introduced me. He announced that ‘Julie Andrews will not be playing Eliza Doolittle,’ and there was this audible groan. The audience felt cheated, and I immediately felt I had been thrown to the wolves. But by the end of the performance, I had turned them; it was an artist and an audience discovering each other, and it was exhilarating.”

Howes played Eliza for 11 months before Pamela Charles took over for her.

In December 1958, she starred with Gordon MacRae in an NBC musical version of the O. Henry short story The Gift of the Magi, with Adler writing the music for her character. She returned to Broadway in 1961 for the Adler musical Kwamina, but that shuttered after a couple of months.

She re-created her role in Brigadoon in a private White House performance at the invitation of President Kennedy — she also sang for presidents Eisenhower and Johnson — and then returned as Fiona for a 1966 ABC production that co-starred Robert Goulet and Peter Falk.

Howes was back on Broadway in 2000 to play music teacher Aunt Julia for the musical drama James Joyce’s The Dead, for which she earned a Drama Desk nomination.

“I would have liked a film career, but I didn’t pursue it — I just loved connecting with an audience,” she said. “The theater is a drug.”

Howes and Adler divorced in 1966, but she remained close with her adopted sons Christopher, who died in 1984, and Andrew. She married literary agent Douglas Rae in 1972; he died in September.

The Times of London was the first to report her death.

Filmography

 

    Thursday's Child (1943) as Fennis Wilson

    The Halfway House (1944) as Joanna French

    Dead of Night (1945) as Sally O'Hara (segment Christmas Party)

    Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945) as Peggy Sutton

    Nicholas Nickleby (1947) as Kate Nickleby

    Anna Karenina (1948) as Kitty Scherbatsky

    My Sister and I (1948) as Robina Adams

    Fools Rush In (1949) as Pamela Dickson

    The History of Mr. Polly (1949) as Cristabel

    Stop Press Girl (1949) Jennifer Peters

    Honeymoon Deferred (1951) (aka Due moglie sono troppe, Italy) as Katherine Fry

    The Golden Year (1951) as Susan Halliday

    The Admirable Crichton (1957) aka Paradise Lagoon (USA Title) as Lady Mary

    Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) as Truly Scrumptious

    Death Ship (1980) as Margaret Marshall

    Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)

 

Theatre

 

    Caprice (Joan) – stage debut in Glasgow – written by Sandy Wilson

    Bet Your Life (Jane) – at the London Hippodrome, with Julie Wilson, Arthur Askey and Brian Reece – 1952

    Paint Your Wagon (Jennifer Rumson) at Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket – with father Bobby Howes – production ran for 477 performances over 18 months starting February 1953.

    Babes in the Wood (Robin Hood) – British pantomime – Golders Green Hippodrome – with Arthur Askey, holiday season 1954

    Romance in Candlelight (Margaret) – at Piccadilly – 1955 – 53 performances

    Summer Song (Karolka) – Princes Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, W.C.2 148 performances – directed by Charles Hickman – opened February 1956. Premiered at the Opera House, Manchester on 21 December 1955 before moving to the Princes Theatre on London's West End.

    A Hatful of Rain (Celia Pope) – Princes Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, W.C.2 – directed by Sam Wanamaker – 1956

    My Fair Lady (Eliza Doolittle) – Mark Hellinger Theater, Broadway – took over for Julie Andrews in February 1958 for one year.

    Kwamina (Eve Jordan) - 54th Street Theatre, 32 shows – 23 October – 18 November 1961

    Brigadoon (Fiona McLaren) – at New York City Center Light Opera Company – 1962

    Brigadoon (Fiona McLaren) – at New York City Center Light Opera Company – 28 January – 10 February 1963 (Tony Award Nomination)

    Brigadoon (Fiona McLaren) – Carter Barron Amphitheater, Washington, D.C. – 24–30 June 1963

    What Makes Sammy Run? (Kit Sargent) – 54th St. Theatre, 540 performances – 24 February 1964 – 12 June 1965

    My Fair Lady – (Eliza Doolittle) – Melody Top Theatre, Chicago – July 1964

    My Fair Lady – (Eliza Doolittle) – Melody Top Theatre, Chicago – July 1965

    Camelot (Guenevere) – St. Louis Municipal Opera (aka The Muny) – summer 1969

    My Fair Lady (Eliza Doolittle) – Kenley Players – Florida theatre – 23 December 1969 – 4 January 1970

    Blossom Time (Mitzi Kranz) – Morris Mechanic Theatre, Baltimore. Also starred Earl Wrightson and Lois Hunt – 1970

    Blossom Time (Mitzi Kranz) – Kenley Players, Memorial Hall in Dayton, Ohio – (one week) – August 1970.

    The Sound of Music (Maria) – Kenley Players – 1970 or 1971

    The Great Waltz (Resi) – Kenley Players, Packard Music Hall, Warren, Ohio – August 1971

    The Sound of Music (Maria) – The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera – 1972

    The Sound of Music (Maria) – San Francisco Light Opera Association – 1972

    Lover (Suzy Martin) – with Jeremy Hawk, Derren Nesbitt and Max Wall – Theatre Royal, Brighton – week of 11–17 February 1973 – thriller

    The King and I (Anna Leonowens) – British tour. Also starred Peter Wyngarde – 1973.

    Man and Superman (Ann Whitefield) – with Denis Quilley – 1973

    The King & I (Anna Leonowens) - the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion – with Ricardo Montalbán – April 1974.

    I Do! I Do! – Cherry County Playhouse, Traverse City, MI. – 18 August 1976

    Goodbye Charlie – 1976?

    Robert and Elizabeth (Elizabeth) – Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford – also starred Jeremy Brett – 22 December 1976 – 29 January 1977.

    Robert and Elizabeth (Elizabeth) – O'Keefe Center, Toronto – March 1977

    Hans Anderson (Jenny Lind) – with Tommy Steele. 10-week run at the London Palladium – 17 December 1977 – 28 February 1978.

    The Sound of Music (Maria) – 1978 USA touring company

    Hamlet (Queen Gertrude) – New Shakespeare Company, Gardner Centre Theatre, Brighton. Opened 9 May 1983.

    The Merry Widow – with Barry Clark – 1986

    Noël Coward's Semi-Monde – Royalty Theatre, London – 13 September 1989

    A Little Night Music (Desiree) – New York City Opera, Lincoln Center – 7 November 1990

    From This Moment On – one woman show – 1990.

    A Little Night Music (Desiree) – New York City Opera, Lincoln Center – 1992

    Cinderella (Fairy Godmother) – New York City Opera, Lincoln Center, 9–21 November 1993

    Cinderella (Fairy Godmother) – New York City Opera, Lincoln Center, 15 November 1995 – with Jane Powell and Jean Stapleton

    Where's Charley? (Charley's Aunt) – 13–16 August 1998

    James Joyce's The Dead world premier (Aunt Julia) – 14 December 1999 – 16 April 2000

    Dear World (Countess Aurelia) – 16 November – 10 December 2000

    My Fair Lady (Mrs. Higgins) – USA touring company – 12 September 2007 – 20 January 2008.

 

Television films, miniseries, series, musicals and specials

 

Early TV appearances included a guest appearance in Cafe Continental with her father when they faced the camera together for the first time. Other appearances included Kaleidoscope, and her own Sunday night series called Short and Sweet with Harry Jacobson at the piano. She appeared in the 1951 Festival of Musical Production, which was written for her and entitled The Golden Year.

 

    Cinderella (1950) (TV – BBC) – 26 December 1950

    Hallmark Hall of Fame playing "Della Young" in episode: "The Gift of the Magi" 9 December 1958

    The Sally Ann Howes Show (6 variety shows – UK) 1960

    The Fifth Column (1960)

    Jane Eyre (1961)

    Play of The Week in episode: "After Hours" – 1961 with Christopher Plummer

    Play of the Week in episode: "The Old Foolishness" (episode No. 2.24) 6 March 1961

    The Sally Ann Howes Special – A General Motors Special, A CBS Special for the opening of Lincoln Center – 23 September 1962

    Brigadoon (1966)

    Prudence and the Chief (1970) (TV pilot)

    The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972)

    Female Artillery (1973)

    The Good Old Days BBC TV – two appearances in the 1980s

    Great Performances playing "Herself" in "An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner" (episode # 18.5), 23 & 24 October November 1989

    Judith Krantz's "Secrets" (1992) (miniseries)

    After They Were Famous playing "Herself" in episode: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" 24 December 2004

 

Television guest appearances

 

    "Cafe Continental" – variety show 1947–1953. Appeared with her father as a guest star.

    "Saturday Spectacular" / "Startime" – variety show broadcast from Prince of Wales Theatre – 1950s?

    "Have You A Camera?" playing "Herself" with Royal photographer, Baron – mid-1950s.

    "Toast of the Town" playing "Herself" (episode No. 11.20) 9 February 1958, (episode No. 17.37) 21 June 1964, (episode No. 19.12) 28 November 1965, (episode No. 20.23) 12 February 1967

    "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" – March 1959

    "The Perry Como Show" – 17 May 1958, 15 November 1958, 3 June 1959

    "The Bell Telephone Hour" in episode: "A Night of Music" 9 October 1959, "Holiday in Music" 30 September 1960, "Music hath Charms" 20 January 1961, "A Measure of Music" 19 January 1962

    "Dinah Shore Show" -"Herself" – 8 May 1960

    "The United States Steel Hour" in episode: "The Leonardi Code" (episode No. 8.19) 17 May 1961

    "To Tell the Truth" – various appearances 1962–1965, Daytime and nighttime versions

    "Password" – various appearances 1962–1965, Daytime version

    "The Match Game" – various appearances 1963–1964, Daytime version

    "I've Got a Secret" playing "Guest Panelist" 24 June 1963

    "The Merv Griffin Show" – 1963 or 1964

    "You Don't Say!" (gameshow) – 1963, 1964 or 1965

    "The Price Is Right" – (with host Bill Cullen) – "Guest Star" – 1963 or 1964

    "The Miss U.S.A. Pageant" (hostess) – 4 June 1965

    "The Miss Universe Beauty Pageant" (hostess) – 24 July 1965

    "Fanfare" playing "Herself" 28 August 1965

    "Bob Hope presents the Chrysler Theatre" playing "Allison Lang" in episode: "The Enemy on the Beach" (episode No. 3.10) 5 January 1966

    "Run for Your Life" playing "Rhona" in episode: "The Savage Machines" (episode No. 1.29) 2 May 1966

    "The Dean Martin Show" playing "Herself" 6 April 1967

    "Everybody's Talking" playing "Guest Panelist" 22–26 May 1967

    "What's My Line?" playing – various appearances 1968–1970, Daytime version

    "The Hollywood Palace" playing "Herself" 5 April 1969

    "This Is Tom Jones" playing "Herself" 22 May 1969

    "Mission: Impossible" playing "Beth" in episode: "Fool's Gold" (episode No. 4.5) 26 October 1969

    "It Takes Two" – "Guest Panelist" – 25 May 1970

    "The Hollywood Squares" – "Guest Panelist" – 23–27 November 1970

    "Bracken's World" playing "Isabel Blue" in episode: "Miss Isabel Blue" (episode No. 2.15) 25 December 1970

    "The Virginian" playing "Martha Clayton" in episode: "Tate, Ramrod" (episode No. 9.20) 24 February 1971

    "The Virginia Graham Show" – guest appearance approx. 1971

    "Sesame Street" - guest star. 1 February 1972

    "Marcus Welby, M.D." in episode: "The Day After Forever" (episode No. 4.23) 27 February 1973

    "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" playing "Herself" 19 October 1998

    "Theatre Talk" – regarding "James Joyce's The Dead" – 20 January 2000

 

Radio

 

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, she appeared on many radio programmes including: Ignorance is Bliss, Geraldo's Open House, Taxi with Jerry Verno, Desert Island Discs, Talk Yourself Out of This, and she appeared twice on the Calling All Forces show.

 

    Arthur's Inn – radio variety program with Arthur Askey & Brian Reece – June 1952

    Marle Becker's "Out-FM" show, heard on WBAI-FM (99.5) (or on the internet at http://www.outfm.org/) from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. – 1 October 2000

 

Other live performances

 

    Royal Variety Performance – at the Victoria Palace Theatre – 29 October 1951

    London Palladium "Midnight Cavalcade 1954" – A Gala Night of World-Famous Stars in aid of the Actors' Orphanage, the Charitable Funds of the Grand Order of Water Rats & the J.N.F. Charitable Trust – Thursday, 18 March 1954

    London Palladium "Night of 100 Stars" – A Midnight Revue in aid of the Actors' Orphanage – Thursday, 23 June 1955

    Grand opening of the Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, PA – 21 September 1971

    "Golden Gala" – London Palladium – A musical spectacular from the London Palladium to mark the 50th anniversary of Equal Voting Rights For Women. Princess Margaret was the guest of honour. 2 July 1978

    "Cinderella's Star Night" – Charity gala at the Prince Edward Theatre, 31 January 1982.

    "A Royal Night of One Hundred Stars" – one night performance at the NT Olivier Theatre – in aid of the "Save the Children Fund." 17 March 1985 (Sunday 8:00 pm)

    Memorial service for Alan J. Lerner – was a speaker/singer at St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden – 1 September 1986

    A Celebration of Shakespeare "Hamlet Travestie" – Action Against Aids, at the Sadlers Wells Theatre – Howes sang "So in Love" from "Kiss Me Kate" – 12 April 1987

    "An Evening With Alan Jay Lerner" – Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. (Recorded Live – recordings available). – 7 June 1987 (Sunday)

    "An Evening With Alan Jay Lerner" – Opera House, Manchester – 27 March 1988

    Being Alive – A Celebration of the Genius of Stephen Sondheim – at the Drury Lane Theatre, on 4 June 1989, 7:00 pm

    "Let's Do it" – all star celebration of Noël Coward/Cole Porter – 1 night event at Barbican Centre Concert Hall – 19 October 1989

    "Kids at Heart" – at the London Palladium – a fundraising evening for Medical Aid for Free Romania. – 20 January 1991

    "A Glamorous Night with Evelyn Laye and Friends" – one-night gala at the London Palladium – Sunday, 26 July 1992

    "A Time To Start Living" – A Celebration of the great Elizabeth Welch – Shaftsbury Lyric Theatre – A World Aid's Day Gala, a fundraising event for Crusaid – 6 December 1992

    "Jack in Review" – charity gala concert in tribute to Jack Tinker, the theatre critic with the Daily Mail newspaper. London Palladium, London. Friday, 28 February 1997, 2:30 pm. Howes sang "Alice Blue Gown."

    Cabaret at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room in New York City – late 1990s – the cabaret may have been the inspiration for her album "Mary Lea, Songs My Sister Loved and Sang."

    "A Cultural Affair" – New York Pops Gala, A Cultural Affair honours New York City Commissioners of Cultural Affairs Schuyler Chapin – 15 May 2000

    Broadway Honours BMI Composer Lehman Engel – Merkin Concert Hall – hosted by Sally Ann Howes. 2 April 2001

    The 12th Annual New York Cabaret Convention – "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" – 24 October 2001 – was booked for but cancelled due to the events of 9/11.

    Lansing Town Hall Celebrity Lecture Series – guest lecturer in "The Best of Broadway" – Lansing, Michigan – Monday, 20 May 2002

    Age Cannot Wither – Rosemary Harris, Sally Ann Howes and Hayley Mills appeared in A Benefit for Shakespeare Globe Centre USA called "Coward X2"- presented at University Club, 1 West 54th Street, in New York City. – 17 March 2003 (Monday)

    Town Hall Celebrity Lecture Series, 11:30 am, Michigan League Ballroom (University of Michigan) – guest lecturer in "The Best of Broadway" – Wednesday, 15 October 2003

    Port Huron Town Hall – guest lecturer in "The Best of Broadway" – Monday, 8 December 2003

    The 16th Annual New York Cabaret Convention – Mabel Mercer Foundation – "Music From the Movies" – 20 October 2005

    23rd Annual S.T.A.G.E. event – Side by Side by Side by Side by Sondheim – 10 & 11 March 2007, Wilshire Theatre, Los Angeles.

    "I'd Like To Teach The World to Sing" – charity gala concert in tribute to vocal coach Ian Adam at Her Majesty's Theatre London, 24 February 2008. Howes sang "Send In The Clowns."[14]

 

Discography

 

She has several Broadway, West End, TV and Film cast albums available including:

 

    Bet Your Life (1952)

    Paint Your Wagon (1953)

    Romance in Candlelight (1955) – Original 78 recorded 15 October 1955 in London.

    Summer Song (1956)

    Gift of the Magi (1958)

    Kwamina (1961)

    What Makes Sammy Run? (1964)

    Brigadoon (1966)

    Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

    Hans Andersen (1977)

    I Remember Mama (1985)

    Great Expectations (1995)

 

She can also be found on the albums The Best of the Telephone Hour, Cole Porter: A Remembrance (1965), An Evening With Alan Jay Lerner (1987), and the three Christmas songs she recorded, Toyland, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, and O Little Town of Bethlehem can be found reissued each year on various compilation Christmas albums. The last known recording she made was a gift album for a party for a friend, called Mary Lea, Songs My Sister Loved & Sang (1998) for which she held the production rights and copyright.