Lip Sync Battle

When the change from black and white silent films to ‘talkies’ happened in the late 1920s, the whole screen industry was shaken. Actors who did not consider how they sounded now had to take elocution lessons to make sure that they spoke in a Mid-Atlantic accent that added prestige to their roles. Any strong accents that was too north, south, east or west (unless it was a film that required such an accent, like a Western film), had to change for risk of being kicked out of the industry.

However, dubbing solved some of this problem because the studios started to find people to speak and sing in place of the actors because those actors may not have the speaking abilities, but they are gifted in other areas like drawing in the right audience, fitting the film’s aesthetic or dancing. When the Golden Age of musicals, starting from the 1940s, required great singing, Hollywood studios employed theatre stars and ‘ghost singers’ to sing in place of the actors. This could have been through the actor lip-syncing live to the actual singer’s voice or a recording or the actor’s singing being replaced later on. But they were called ghost singers for a reason, as even though they carried the film musically, the singers were contractually uncredited in the films so the audience thought it was the actor’s voice. This was mainly because of the ‘star system’ at the time – actor personas were curated and designed to look perfect and unattainable. Someone dubbing their voice would say the contrary and ruin their image, so studios made an effort to keep dubbers in the shadows. One of my favourite movies ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ (1952) gives an accurate depiction of the change into talkies and how the process of dubbing worked, and the need to keep ghost singers as a secret so go and watch that to get a clearer picture.

Because of the clandestine nature of the ghost singers, many of them never received recognition for their work, and we still do not know who some are to this day. However, there is a famous singer, Marni Nixon, who shared her story as a ghost singer. She compared it to stunt men doing the physical stuff for actors. Nixon barely received any royalties for her singing and said that it was just part of the framework of Hollywood at the time. Especially if you are an aspiring actress/singer, you would take any chance to work with a studio, even if you weren’t fully acknowledged. Nixon dubbed Audrey Hepburn in ‘My Fair Lady’ (1964), Deborah Kerr in ‘The King And I’ (1956) and even Grandmother Fa in ‘Mulan’  (1998) – all big films which she was uncredited for. This is not a complete pity party for the dubbers though; they were not tied to studios like actors were, so they could go from studio to studio to provide their services. It was also serious work because the dubbers had to emulate the actor’s breathing and emotions, have a similar tone and match their mouth movements to ensure that the sync was believable, which is basically another form of acting. It was not an easy thing to do so singers like Marni Nixon, although not publicly known, were seen as a necessity in the studio system.

Marni Nixon, pictured here, was called “the ghostess with the mostest” with her 4 octave range. She could sing for so many different types of songs and as I said, this was good for the studios but it was not always loved by the actors, especially if they think that they are going to be the ones who sing. This is what happened to Natalie Wood in ‘West Side Story’ (1961). Playing the female protagonist, Maria, she wanted to sing the songs, and she did sing them, several recordings with a full orchestra even, but it was replaced with Nixon’s voice in post-production and Wood had no idea until the film’s release. They even had Natalie lip-sync to her own recordings when they were filming to really make her believe that her true voice would be used. Wood was livid, but I am sure that the widespread recognition and critical acclaim softened the blow! Whereas Nixon still didn’t get much and eventually quit dubbing in 1965 because she felt that she was losing her on voice in favour of others. Society eventually learned of her ghost work thereafter.

Photo Source: theartsdesk.com

You would think that this type of ghost singing would be completely done with now, but we cannot forget the infamous dubbing of Drew Seeley for Zac Efron for ‘High School Musical’. Like Natalie Wood, Zac Efron did the recordings and his voice was not on the film with little explanation given to him. It is said that the songs were written before he was cast and the songs were not in his range so by the sequels, they knew Efron’s voice and could accommodate it. The difference is that now, the singers aren’t typically ghosts, Seeley got his flowers. Another example is Loren Allred for Rebecca Ferguson in ‘The Greatest Showman’. Ferguson saw it as an open collaboration with Allred rather than a Hollywood secret. Dubbing isn’t as frequent because I think audiences don’t really seem to care about ‘perfect’ singing. It helps that the perception of stardom and a perfect celebrity is different than it was 70 years ago. Besides, actors take voice lessons and anything that isn’t seamless is either changed with pitch correction later on or it’s seem as ‘raw’. Obviously the ways in which dubbers are used varies from production to production, but what is key is that we know who they are.

Marni Nixon is just one story, but there any many others who haven’t seen the light of day. Here is a list of a few more ghost singers to learn about.