Oldie Goldie New Yorkers

 It was 1930, the Depression had hit,

and so did The New Yorkers,
a Cole Porter musical,

proving that despite small change in their pockets,

New York audiences wanted to see a musical

based on them!

From the hoy ploy to the prostitutes, all seemed represented.

 Jimmy Durante starred,

but by the looks of this painted billboard scene,

he was low on the totem pole

(" Clayton Jackson & Durante")?

Also starring were Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians,

who played AND sang

(above, with 40 megaphones!).

 Herbert Fields (Dorothy's brother)

wrote the book,

Cole Porter did the music, 

but...NOT the 5 songs sung by Durante.

Those were written by Durante himself

(guess he couldn't trust Cole!?).

Another star of the show,

Ann Pennington.

 Four years earlier, 

Ann was doing the Black Bottom

in George White's Scandals of 1926!

 Barrie Oliver,

who though not listed on that marquee,

sang "Getting Myself Ready For You!"

 Composer/lyricist Cole Porter

(with actress Ruth Chatterton)

dining at the Coconut Grove, 1936.

Ah, to be at THAT table!

 Lee Wiley

(above, sedate, below, not sedate)

a jazz singer of the 1930s, 40s and 50s...
who sang with the Paul Whiteman band,
the Casa Loma Orchestra,
and opened the very first Newport Jazz Festival, in 1954.
We'll hear her rendition of
"Let's Fly Away" also from The New Yorkers.

Two shots of Ruth Etting,

who definitely knew how to dress for a photo shoot.

Ruth was one of the first to record

"Close Your Eyes"

by Bernice Petkere

back in 1933.