Me thinks this number was prerecorded and Kay lip-synced. Vocal quality not related to exertion of the dancing. Plus, no mic could follow all that dancing. Before body mics. This was the process for Hollywood musical numbers.

beautiful voice!❤🎉😊

she makes me cry. as simple as that 😪 gorgeous

I was introduced to her in that awful Steve Martin movie. I don't think she should have taken that part.

Gurrrlll!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤

Really hard to believe this was almost 50 years ago and today, she's headling in London.....still a glorious phenomenal talent!

Isn't that Bob Fosse in the line?❤ Love seeing Kay here. We know her so well from Funny Face.

This version is the best for me.....beautiful....thank you Bernadette.

I love how she’s always keeping time with her left leg Also I do find the bit at the end quite funny. From other episodes of the Milton Berle show, it’s obvious they’re tightly scripted. Kay is just a fabulous actress that it’s harder to tell here I think. Berle does these low digs at the guests and he allows them to dish right back.

Beautiful, beautiful one

Spectacular. So heartfelt. Thank you Oscar Levant and Bernadette Peters.

This rendition of the song is VERY well done and - to me - Miss Peters is singing it as if the realization/truth has JUST occurred to her. She's in shock. She's numb. She's not sure what to do next. It's almost sung expression-less but there is TONS of emotions going on underneath the exterior. The eyes are the give away. I don't think you could sing or present this song any better than how Bernadette sung it here. WOW!

Milton Berle comes across as mean and unfunny

She's so pretty.

What a beautiful song. I had it on another person's post earlier and they had it so speeded you couldn't understand the words. That was wonderful. I always have lived hearing Bernadette sing a aong.

I'm in love, but am I in love? With you... Yes, with you... I'm in love, (I'm in love) yes with you... I'm in love, (I'm in love) yes with you...!

Who was the choreographer of that number?

Kay Thompson was fabulous. Milton Berle was not. Hard to believe anyone ever found him funny.

No one looks or sings like her, She is a true legend, what a cupie doll

Thank you so much for posting this. I have remembered this performance since I saw it as a young girl.

Bernadette's expression while singing the song tells she's probably been through it before. It seems so personal when she sings it.

I know people that do not like Bernadette. I adore her!! Underrated Actress and Singer

Think Plink!!!

Wow! Best rendition ever- her breadth control is magnificent only surpassed by how she owns the lyrics.

Thanks Michael I finally found this masterpiece .

I love you! Forever an inspiration. What a talent, gift and soul you possess! Keep shining.

❤️❤️❤️

What year was this?

As JG said (below) a haunting melody from 1934 by Oscar Levant + Edward Heyman's bittersweet lyrics. Sung with lost innocence by Bernadette Peters : Also by Andrea Motis, Sant Andreu Jazz Band, KZfaq.

She worked hard to help Judy Garland. She happens to be Liza's Godmother hence her stunning tribute.

It's terrible how the US just forgets some of the most talented artists it produces and replaces them with mediocrity. How many people under the age of 60 have any idea who Kay Thompson was and her multi-faceted brilliance?

Interesting to see the misogyny in Berle’s monologue after she finishes her number. We’ve come so far! (Still further to go)

A very heartfelt rendition.

What song does Natalia sing in ‘Ladies in Black’ Australian musical?

Shivers. Most beautiful love song by Oscar Levant, beautifully performed.

I'm out of words to describe my love for your talent. So, thank you...😉

Thank you for posting this. Who was greater than Kay Thompson, ever? No one immediately comes to mind. Astoundingly talented.

So fine also admire chris Connor versikn

Micheal Mascioli Many, many thanks for sharing this with everyone. A quiet evening in the 70s watching the Carol Burnett show, and she announces a young singer named Bernadette Peters singing a slow tune called "Blame It On My Youth." After a few bars I started to get goose bumps. Wow ! What a beautiful song, what a moving delivery. The only other time I was so bowled over by a "pop" song and a "pop" singer was "The Man That Got Away" in that long, iconic take by Judy Garland in "A Star Is Born." Owning the DVD of the movie means I can watch Judy sing Harold Arlen /Ira Gershwin any time I choose. I'd given up on ever again seeing Bernadette sing Oscar Levant and Edward Heyman's masterpiece. I did recently discover Keith Jarrett's amazing, soulful piano reading. Superb ! Now, having access, after 45 or so years, to Ms Peters artistry with an 85 year old song, my hopes are fulfilled. Thanks again !

One of my favorite albums. So glad you posted this song.

Marcus, I have too. I remembered watching her sing this when it originally aired on CBS and have been checking in periodically for it. One of the best renditions ever!

Thank you for posting! I myself have been hunting for this version forever!

My favourite Lana Cantrell song. Thank you very much.

The Voice of an Angel. Bernadette was born 30 years too late.

Omg I’ve been looking for this version forever!!! Thank you for uploading!

Grwat song

This is one of my favorite songs of all time. I wonder what inspired Levant and Heyman to write this. It's also one of those songs that the story of the song just seems so different from singer to singer, especially between genders.

Catalogue Woman” could have been titled “A Woman’s Worth Is Based On Her Husband’s Worth” Forman Brown wrote satirical and frequently funny songs during his career with the Yale Puppeteers and at Turnabout Theater. He had a special knack for unusual and unexpected rhyming. Forman’s music covered a wide expanse from very risqué, amusing and serious looks of the human condition. He also could compose in many styles after other famous composers. In fact, Edwin Lester, impresario of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, dubbed Forman, “The composer of decomposers!”. Edwin Lester hired Forman Brown to rewrite and update lyrics for many of the light operas performed for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. Because the Turnabout was a non-union theater, Elsa Lanchester could not receive a salary during her twelve years performing as its main attraction. Instead, Forman and Elsa had an agreement that any music he wrote for her would become her property. Before her death, Elsa sent Forman a note saying that his songs written for her were the best things in her life. Many of Forman’s songs for Elsa were written during the 1940s and early 1950s. During World War II, the large population of young men went to war leaving a shortage of workers for jobs that were traditionally considered only for males. Women were finally filling those vacancies for building airplanes, ships, rockets, bombs, ammunition. Rosy The Riveter became a national symbol. Women were now working in untraditional areas previously considered only masculine areas of endeavor. Before that time, women, especially teachers, were allowed to work only if they were single. Once married, women were not allowed in the teaching profession. It was considered that a married working woman was taking a job away from a single women that needed to support herself. After all, a married woman had a husband for support. She was to stay home, cook, clean and raise children. The Second World War changed all that. But societal change is slow. When the war was over, those jobs for men were to be returned to the men and women found themselves back in the old constraints but not quite ready to give up their newly found freedoms. The song “Catalogue Woman” is a serious commentary on the Nineteenth Century life of an unmarried older maiden lady with poor prospects for a husband. Her father advertises in a catalog for a husband “Out West”. The “old-maid” reaching thirty, receives a train ticket from a prospective husband. She is anxious about the man and the life into which she is being “sold”. Meeting her at the train for the first time, he soothes her concerns by telling her that he “ordered her through a catalogue because in that way a man could get what he wanted”. Catalogue women were frowned upon by women who considered themselves “well married”. It was a class distinction. Those with prominent, well-to-do husbands took pride in their own self-worth based on their husband's worth. To their way of thinking, a catalogue woman was beneath their social level in the community. Thus, because her husband became wealthy, the catalogue woman could show up the other women, who “whispered behind the portiers, as she agitated the diamonds hanging in her ears”. It was her vindication. Although the word portiers, a french word meaning the doorman that keeps undesirable people out, I believe Forman intended it to mean more like the drapery separations in large openings or doorways between rooms. This song was intended to be a serious commentary and sympathetic look at the conditions of being a woman. It was not meant to be satirical or amusing but rather thought provoking. That was one of the attractive elements at Turnabout Theater. The entire gamut of theater from comedy, drama, tragedy could be experienced in one evening through puppets and a live human review with well known performers. Notice the joy in her face at the end of the song. It was particularly important as women of the 1940s and 1950s were taking a fresh look at their potential and possibilities. It’s just one more position on the dateline of human development and women’s place in society. It also is why Turnabout Theater was and is still considered an historical, important cultural influence on Los Angeles society. Elsa Lanchester was its main draw and frequently Turnabout was called the Elsa Lanchester Theater. If you've read this far, and you watch the video, please look at Elsa's expression on her face when she tells how her father sent her photo into a matrimonial agency. It's NOT FUNNY! She was terribly hurt. This is a serious dramatic song not intended to amuse but to make one sympathize and open the mind and heart of the viewers. At the end of the song, her expression changes to one of joy when she realizes she has "all that a woman could want!" Remember, this song is a reflection on the time in which the character lives. It is a backward's look from just after WWII. Elsa Lanchester creates such an illusion that you can see her hurt, her expectations of hope and finally when she stands, pushes the train of her dress behind her, turns around and then sits down taking care to fluff and spread her voluminous imaginary dress as her demeanor changes to one of shyness, happiness then joyfulness. She raises her right shoulder as she speaks of the seven petticoats on the line for either herself or possibly daughters. Every nuance of movement was set and never altered after preparation before she ever performed her numbers. No matter what the audience reaction, she doesn't alter anything. She brings tears to the eyes of the audience. So please note that even on this sound track you become aware of the audience realizing the depth of her expert skills as a chanteuse.

This was filmed at a nightclub and NOT at Turnabout Theater. The audience, made up mostly of men, did not realize it was a sentimental song and not one of humor. Thus the inappropriate laughter when she sings the line "Oklahomie" and later rhymes it with "Okey dokey". Perhaps, they were laughing because as she pantomimed sewing, she took four hard tugs at the thread in her needle. But the audience seems to catch on and laughs less as she continues singing. Elsa always rehearsed a song until she felt it was perfected with every nuance of her voice and movements. After the song was "set" she NEVER varied.

I lost my copy of this lp years ago. Had almost worn it down on the turntable. Would love to hear the other tracks if you have them. Regardless, thanks for bringing back some good memories.