"Lovely Lonely Man" is a song from the 1968

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 children's film, children's Musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli. It stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle, ...

''. It was written by Richard & Robert Sherman and sung by

Sally Ann Howes Sally Ann Howes (20 July 1930 – 19 December 2021) was an English actress and singer. Her career on screen, stage and television spanned six decades. She is best known for the role of Truly Scrumptious in the 1968 musical film ''Chitty Chitt ...

as Truly Scrumptious. In the song, she pines for eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts (played by

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. Dick Van Dyke on screen and stage, His work spans screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Dick Van Dyke, his awards includ ...

) at her family's estate after she has an outing with the inventor and his children in the eponymous car. Sally Ann Howes used the song in her audition for the role; van Dyke later recalled "They couldn't have picked a better Truly Scrumptious than Sally. ... I heard her voice and it was the richest contralto ... I thought 'My God, this girl is great.

Reasons for being cut

Due to the length of the motion picture and the need to accommodate standard TV broadcast practices, entire sequences are often cut for television programming purposes. "Lovely Lonely Man" and "

The Roses of Success "The Roses of Success" is a song and musical number from the popular 1968 motion picture ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang''. In the film, it is sung when Grandpa Potts (played by Lionel Jeffries) is caught in the Vulgarian inventors' workshop and is force ...

" are often cut from

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

television broadcasts. *Both songs do not advance the main plot line of the film, so their absence is not missed in general. *The song was cut from the 2002/2005 stage version of ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' due to length and plot changes to the book by

Jeremy Sams Jeremy Sams (born 12 January 1957) is a British theatre director, composer, and lyricist. Early life and education Sams is the son of the Shakespearean scholar and musicologist Eric Sams. He read music, French, and German at Magdalene Colleg ...

. The songwriters fought for the song's inclusion but were eventually convinced by director

Adrian Noble Adrian Keith Noble (born 19 July 1950) is a theatre director, and was also the artistic director and chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 to 2003. Education and career Noble was born in Chichester, Sussex, England. After le ...

that its inclusion was impossible.

References

* Sherman, Robert B. '' Walt's Time: from before to beyond'', Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.

External links

* 1968 songs Songs from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Songs written by the Sherman Brothers {{1960s-song-stub