“Happy talk, keep talking happy talk. 

Talk about things you'd like to do. 

You gotta have a dream. 

If you don't have a dream … 

How you gonna have a dream come true?” 

Juanita Hall’s version of this simple and true song from the original 1949 Broadway soundtrack is pure.  It. Just. Makes. Me. Happy.   

I’ve said I don’t love Broadway or musicals, but every now and then I’ll like a couple of songs or numbers, and this is one of them. I’ve got the original 1949 program shown here with a picture of Juanita onstage that year. 

Juanita won a Tony award for Best Supporting Actress (the first black woman to do so) and played the role of Bloody Mary on Broadway for about 5 years straight.  She got to play the same role in the movie (but her singing was dubbed) and she did get some other work as well.  But her magical creation of Bloody Mary and the timeless innocence of her signature song gives her a niche in the pop culture pantheon. 

Photographs by James J. Kriegsmann are always works of art; collectibles in and of themselves.  I was beyond thrilled to find Juanita in a collection that I bought and I’m confident that mine has her authentic autograph and matches many other true examples.  I printed out other Kriegsmann photos (I think from the same sitting with her) that are also autographed to show you an example of how to authenticate. 

The one dedicated to Howard (not in my collection; found online) is authentic.  The other “Best wishes” (also found online) is most likely not.  You will see the circled differences on the one I think is a fake, starting with the hesitant, slightly staggered writing, the upward stroke at the bottom of the B, the straight crossing of the T – instead of her standard loop back and under, the upwards dangle on the s and m, the draw over on the u, the disconnected a from the H and most strikingly the vastly different, plain with a downward stroke J in Juanita.  There are so many differences, but the J is the official killer.