A weekly program focusing on the arts and entertainment

The word is now out. You really did not see and hear Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Anthony McGill and Gabriella Montero perform during the televised ceremonies that highlighted President Obama's inauguration. Well, you did. Sort of. But it was actually a concert that was pre-recorded two days earlier.

However, Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Sokolsky explains, this was not another capital coverup. It was merely a way to save the musicians from Washington's unseasonably cold weather. And it drew no cries of indignation.

Sokolsky says things were not always that way. And he cites as an example the fuss made when it was discovered that Mario Lanza pre-recorded his singing on a major TV special. Also the repercussions created when the Milli Vanilli duo had to surrender a Grammy because other singers subbed for them on their prize-winning recording.

On the other hand, Sokolsky points out that pre-recordings and dubbed voices are hardly new gimmicks. They have been around for a long time. Marni Nixon, he notes, made a career out of substituting her voice for a number of famous movie actresses. Then there was the case of the 1981 film version of the Lone Ranger. Klinton Spilsbury played the famous masked man but the voice audiences heard belonged to actor James Keach.

Truly, Sokolsky concludes, there's no business like show business.