Trivia / Anthony Newley

• Breakaway Pop Hit: See Covered Up below.
• Covered Up: A majority of his songs from the musicals him and Leslie Bricusse wrote have become pop standards when recorded by other artists, most notably "What Kind Of Fool Am I?" from Stop The World, I Want To Get Off and "The Candy Man" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, both made famous by Sammy Davis Jr.. Ironically, Anthony Newley's own Cover Version of Frankie Avalon's "Why", reached a higher position in the UK. (the original only went to #20, while Newley's version reached #1.
• Creator Killer: An example usually not mentioned in retrospectives about him, but his last major theatrical film role in his life was Captain Manzini from The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. Given the film's reputation, it's safe to say why.
• Cut Song:
  • His notorious Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? had "Oh What A Son of a Bitch I Am", which was cut from the film. (Although some versions of the film allegedly keep the song).
  • Not a confirmed example, but "Best of All Worlds" from his 1971 album Pure Imagination, is believed by Tony Rounce, the author of the mini-biography that came with the CD reissue of that album and Ain't It Funny, to be one from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, given its references to chocolate and the fact that it was co-written with Leslie Bricusse.
• Hostility on the Set: Newley and Rex Harrison did not get along during the production of Doctor Dolittle, including being on the receiving end of antisemitic verbal abuse, as he was jealous of Newley's superior singing talent, and this among many other examples of Harrison's primadonna antics almost lead to Harrison's firing.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Both Newley's music and his series The Strange World of Gurney Slade have fallen victim to this trope:
  • The Strange World of Gurney Slade was eventually rescued, as British distributor Network DVD released the series in its entirety in 2011.
  • A few of his albums have also fallen victim, although a majority of his music is able to be purchased digitally on Amazon. Three noteworthy albums are Pure Imagination (1971), Ain't It Funny (1972), and The Singer & His Songs (1977). Some of the songs from the latter two can be bought digitally ("Ain't It Funny", "Me Without You", "Lunch With a Friend", and "My Friend Howie" for example) but only as part of a compilation album. "Teach The Children" from The Singer & His Songs is not available digitally or on CD. Neither are any of the songs from Pure Imagination (which includes his own original recordings of "The Candy Man" and "Pure Imagination")...
  • Although, speaking of CDs, both the full Pure Imagination and Ain't It Funny albums are available on one CD, so getting high quality recordings of the songs and ripping them as MP3 files can be done, just not by directly buying and downloading them online.
  • Newley's film Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? may have been released on VHS, but if so, said tape is extremely rare, and does not show up on eBay or Amazon, and has no DVD release.
• Production Posse: A good majority of Newley's musicals (both stage and film) were co-written by Leslie Bricusse. Not only that, but Newley himself even starred in some works that were only scored by Bricusse and otherwise did not involve him, such as Doctor Dolittle and the Screen-to-Stage Adaptation of Scrooge.
• Star-Derailing Role: It was his infamous Vanity Project Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? that started his acting career's downfall.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: According to a YouTube comment mentioned on IMDB, Newley apparently believed The Garbage Pail Kids Movie had some merit, and his performance as Captain Manzini, for what it's worth, is considered the best character in the film.
• What Could Have Been: Anthony Newley actually wanted to play Bill, "The Candy Man" in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, but he was deemed too hammy for that specific role.

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