Marni Nixon, “the Invisible Voice” Dies at 86
Hollywood voice double Marni Nixon passed away Sunday at 86 after battling breast cancer. Nixon, known as “the invisible voice” wasn’t known in Hollywood for her physical acting, but for her dubbed-in singing in some of Hollywood’s most famous musicals. Marni Nixon was the long uncredited singing voice heard in place of the leading actresses in musicals like West Side Story, The King and I, and My Fair Lady. Nixon’s contracts with each of these musicals included a clause compelling her to silence about her involvement in the picture under threat of being blacklisted in Hollywood entirely, and only after a couple of hard-learned lessons did she begin to reap royalties for her film work. Eventually Nixon’s roles began to leak out, followed by Deborah Kerr’s public praising of Nixon’s work as the “ghosted” singing voice of Ana in 1956’s The King and I.
Jack White and Third Man Records To Play First Vinyl in Space
Yesterday Jack White confirmed Third Man Records’s next vinyl-specific venture. Historically, the label has made triple-decker records, broken world records, literally dropped vinyl from the sky, and built a mobile record store. Now, they’re seeking to play the first vinyl in space. Called “the Icarus Craft,” the space-proof phonograph will launch attached to a high altitude balloon armed with a gold pressing of Carl Sagan’s “A Glorious Dawn,” which Third Man Records originally pressed during their first year of operation in 2009; the copy going into space is the label’s 3 millionth pressing. Literal launch parties will be held at Third Man’s locations in Detroit and Nashville this Saturday, July 30th featuring live bands, copies of the record, and live streams of the launch, which takes off at 11am CST.
-Taylor Wallace
