Moanin’ Low

We remember Claire Trevor on her birthday (8 March, 1910) for that great scene in Key Largo (1948), as “Gaye Dawn,” remembering old times with former boyfriend Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson), who requires her to perform an old torch song to his satisfaction before she can have that much-needed drink.  Gaye sings about as well as this writer, unfortunately for her.  It doesn’t get much more touching than this.

There’s a nice little back-story to that scene, courtesy of Wikipedia, quoting from an article by Dennis McLellan in the Los Angeles Times of 28/5/1995:

“Trevor was nervous about the scene, and assumed that she would be lip-syncing to someone else’s voice. She kept after director Huston, wanting to rehearse the song, but he put her off, saying “There’s plenty of time,” until one afternoon he told her that they would shoot the scene right then, without any rehearsal. She was given her starting note from a piano, and, in front of the rest of the cast and the crew, sang the song. It was this raw take that was used in the film.”