Classy (with a capital K!)

Some more pics of this Sunday's songbirds and shows:

Above, Ethel Merman ready to 

Take A Chance back in 1932,

tho it was originally dubbed "Humpty Dumpty"!

 The Ethel decided to do Something For The Boys,

a Cole Porter show from 1943,

with partner in crime, Betty Garrett (below).

We'll hear Betty, along with Paula Laurence, sing

"By The Mississinewah".

 Me & Juliet was one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's few flops. 

A backstage "show within a show" premise

that Oscar never wanted to do.

They did it anyway.

It starred Isabel Bigley and Joan McCracken, 

who we'll hear duet in "It's Me".

 Irving Berlin's Miss Liberty was a "sharp disappointment"

according to the NY Sun 

(well, where's the SUN today?).

It starred Eddie Albert (below) 

and Allyn McLerie, (with Eddie below THAT).

"Let's Take An Old Fashioned Walk"

Obsure. But we like 'em like that!

 Yes, there was a book by Edna Ferber (1941).

Yes, there was a movie...with Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman (1945).

 But in 1959, there was also a musical,

with a book by Morton DaCosta, music by Harold Arlen

and Johnny Mercer on lyrics.

It starred Howard Keel and Carol Lawrence (above).

Edna had hit pay dirt with Show Boat

and was hoping that this musicalization would succeed as well.

Well...that didn't happen.

 Saratoga won a Tony for its Cecil Beaton costumes

(which came to over 200 in number!),

and was nominated for its very complicated set design... 

but only 80 performances for this baby.

 In a supporting role,

Carol Brice (above) who we'll hear sing 

"Gettin' A Man"

along with Carol L. (wearing Carolyn Leigh's pearls???),

below with Howard at the cast recording.

 Follow The Girls (1944) wasn't a flop at all...

it starred Jackie Gleason, Gertrude Niesen,

and in a supporting role, Danny Aiello,

and tho the plot was thin

(a strip tease dame becomes a star!

maybe it was the strip part...or the tease),

it lasted 888 performances.

Below, Gertrude getting ready to sling that bouquet:

"I Wanna Get Married"

(Thanks Getty Images!)

 Gertrude did Vaudeville,

Broadway (Take A Chance, Ziegfeld Follies of 1936,

Calling All Stars),

movies (Start Cheering, The Babe Ruth Story, etc.)

and radio shows (like Duffy's Tavern).

She was also the first lucky person to record
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" back in 1933.

 Ankles Aweigh

was a throwback to Vaudeville,

and seemed dated to 1950s audiences,

who were by then used to the new "modern" book musicals.

It starred Jane and Betty Kean,

real-life sisters playing sisters Wynne and Elsey.

Despite a few "wow" reviews (a la Walter Winchell),

it lost money and closed after 176 performances.  

We'll hear the sisters and company in

Eleven O'Clock Song/Finale.

Music Sammy Fain and Dan Shapiro.

(The posters/playbills seem the only extant pics of this show!)

 Just TRY and find a photo of Betty Bruce,

or Celeste Holm

from Up In Central Park, from 1945,

which was later made into a movie with Vincent Price!

Over 500 performances, but who's heard of it?

We'll hear Betty with "Currier and Ives",

sort of a "come up and see my etchings" number.

 From 1935, At Home Abroad,

a Howard Dietz/Arthur Schwartz with a stellar cast:

Bea Lillie (below), Eleanor Powell, Eddie Foy, Jr., 

Ethel Waters, and Vera Allen.

It was a revue with a scrawny plot:

a bored couple goes on a musical world tour,

which gave them all plenty of excuses for Japanese Geisha songs,

and Russian ballerina songs...and

 "Paree" with Beatrice.

A nice line from that song:

  "I want to kiss your right bank, kiss your left bank; 

kiss Montparnasse"

 with the emphasis on the last syllable!

Playlist for Sunday, June 30, 2019: Gimme your tired, your poor, your boxed-set!

 I was given a very dangerous gift over the weekend...more Broadway! A boxed set of songs/musicals I had never heard of before. Stuff like The Amazing Adele, Texas Lil' Darlin', and Seventh Heaven. And from musicals I thought I knew, new-to-me songs like "By The Mississinewah" and "Chain Store Daisy". So as you might expect, I've spent the last few days (in a daze) listening and researching and playlist-carving (like a turkey at Thanksgiving, but less dry) to bring them all to you (you're welcome) come Sunday.

 From Texas, Lil' Darlin'...

with yodeling. 

Be prepared.

 Oh, there WILL be a few selections that you avid listeners have heard before, but like color-themed Christmas ornaments on an aluminum tree (still on that wish list!), they all seem to hang together. :) That means Bloomer Girl meets Banjo Eyes, and Where's Charley? finds Me & Juliet. This is not for the weak. It's for the Broadway Brave, those who wish to delve deep into the shows that died in Philly, snuffed it in New Haven (thank you, Addison Dewitt), no national tours, no full cast recordings, without an Encores! revival even! But steady on. You can do this.

Another goodie to sample...

Gertrude Niesen in Follow The Girls!

Maybe we'll get back to normal next Sunday, but I gotta THING for this mothballed, also-ran stuff, and you know that. If I played Oklahoma! and Hamilton every week, you'd get bored, I'd get bored, all god's children get bored. So turn up the dial.

Eadie Was A Lady (Ethel Merman, Take A Chance)
It Never Entered My Mind (Shirley Ross, Higher And Higher)
Never Again (Johnny Desmond, The Amazing Adele)
By The Mississinewah (Betty Garrett, Paula Laurence, Something For
      The Boys)
The Yodel Blues (Mary Hatcher, Kenny Delmar, Will Irwin, Texas, Lil' Darlin)
I'm The First Girl In The Second Row (Nancy Walker, Look Ma I'm Dancin'!)
Make A Miracle (Ray Bolger, Allyn McLerie, Where's Charley?)
There Must Be Someone For Me (June Havoc, Mexican Hayride)
We Deserve Each Other (Joan McCracken, Robert Fortier, Me & Juliet)
Right As The Rain (David Brooks, Celeste Holm, Bloomer Girl)
That's The Way It Happens (Isabel Bigley, Bill Hayes, Me & Juliet)
T'morra, T'morra (Joan McCracken, Bloomer Girl)
It's Me (Joan McCracken, Isabel Bigley, Me & Juliet)
Camille, Collette, Fifi (Chita Rivera, Patrica Hammerlee, Gerrianne
      Raphael, Seventh Heaven)
Paree (Beatrice Lillie, At Home Abroad)
Let's Take An Old Fashioned Walk (Eddie Albert, Allyn McLerie, Miss
      Liberty)
Gettin' A Man (Carol Brice, Carol Lawrence, Saratoga)
I Wanna Get Married (Gertrude Niesen, Follow The Girls)
Making Whoopee (Eddie Cantor, Whoopee!)
I Wouldn't Bet One Penny (Susan Johnson, Eddie Foy, Jr., Donnybrook)
We're Having A Baby (My Baby And Me)(Eddie Cantor, June Clyde,
      Banjo Eyes)
Chain Store Daisy (Ruth Rubinstein, Pins And Needles)
Lila Tremaine (Carol Burnett, Fade Out - Fade In)
Currier And Ives (Betty Bruce, Up In Central Park)
If You Hadn't But You Did (Dolores Gray, Two On The Aisle)
Carried Away (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, On The Town)
The Beast In You (Elaine Stritch, Goldilocks)
Prehistoric Man (Ann Miller, On The Town)
Find Me A Primitive Man (Kim Criswell, Fifty Million Frenchman)
A Show Tune (Company, Parade)
The Three Bs (Nancy Walker, June Allyson, Gloria de Haven, Best
      Foot Forward)
Eleven O'Clock Song/Finale (Jane and Betty Kean, Ankles Aweigh)

Playlist For Sunday, June 23, 2019: Once more, with feeling!

 This Sunday's edition of 2 on the Aisle is a repeat performance of my April 7th, 2019 show: Broadway Cowboys! I will be off parading as my alter-ego...Lawn Chair Lady. Wearing a pink boa, sporting plenty of bling, and generally making a fool of myself in my home-town festival. So I'll be back LIVE on Sunday, June 30th. Below is the republished playlist, and if you find any changes...well, hang it all, pardner! Just sit back on Old Paint and enjoy...


I'm On My Way (Ensemble, Paint Your Wagon)
The Farmer And The Cowman (Ensemble, Oklahoma?)
Bidin' My Time (Cowboy Trio, Crazy For You)
Doin' What Comes Naturally (Ethel Merman, Annie Get Your Gun)
Kansas City (Lee Dixon, Oklahoma!)
All Er Nuthin' (Lee Dixon, Celeste Holm, Oklahoma!)
Pore Jud Is Daid (Gordon MacRae, Rod Steiger, Oklahoma!)
When It's Cactus Time In Arizona (Louise Carlyle, Ensemble, Girl Crazy)
Joey, Joey, Joey (Art Lund, The Most Happy Fella)
Big "D" (Susan Johnson, Shorty Long, The Most Happy Fella)
The Country's In The Very Best Of Hands (Peter Palmer, Stubby Kaye, Li'l Abner)
Next To Lovin' (I Like Fightin' Best) (Ensemble, Shenandoah)
When The Sun Goes Down In The South (Rene Auberjonois, Daniel H. Jenkins,
      Bob Gunton, Ron Richardson, Big River)
Bless Yore Beautiful Hide (Howard Keel, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers)
Barn Dance (Instrumental, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers)
Lonesome Polecat (Tommy Rall, Russ Tamblyn, Jacques d'Amboise,
      Jeff Richards, Marc Platt, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers)
Wand'rin' Star (James Barton, Paint Your Wagon)
There's A Coach Comin' In (Company, Paint Your Wagon)
I'm An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande) (Harry Connick, Jr., 25)
Way Out West (Judy Blazer, Babes In Arms)
I'm An Old Cowhand (Bing Crosby, Louis Prima, Martha Raye, Leonid
      Kinskey, The Sons Of The Pioneers, Rhythm On The Range)
The Ballad Of Johnny Blood (Company, Desperate Measures)
It's Gettin' Hot In Here (Lauren Molina, Desperate Measures)
In The Dark (Company, Desperate Measures) 
If I Had This Truck (Company, Hands On A Hardbody)
My Problem Right There (Jacob Ming-Trent, Hands On A Hardbody)
Farmer Tan (Mark Hardwick, Pump Boys And Dinettes)
Vacation (Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, Pump Boys And Dinettes)
No Holds Barred (Company, Pump Boys And Dinettes)
Louisana Hayride (Nanette Fabray, Ensemble, The Band Wagon)
An Old Straw Hat (Shirley Temple, Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm)
The Wild West Is Where I Want To Be (Tom Lehrer, The Songs Of Tom
      Lehrer)
Happy Trails (Roy Rogers) 

A Brother, A Beadle, A Brice!

 Carol Burnett was only 26 when she was cast as

Princess Winifred

("Fred" to her friends)

in Once Upon A Mattress

with music by Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer,

which ran on off, and then ON Broadway in 1959,

for a total of 244 performances.

Below, Carol (who received a Tony nod for her work)

 with Joseph Bova who played

Prince Dauntless.

 When Carol left the show (she was cast in the same year

as a regular on The Garry Moore Show),

Ann B. Davis took over the role of Fred (below).

Touring Freds included

Jane Connell, Dody Goodman, and Imogene Coca.

 Matt Mattox played the Jester,

and got to sing (among other songs)

"Very Soft Shoes."

Matt was a classically trained dancer, and that's him, in air, in 

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, below.

He was a student of Jack Cole...

and along with Broadway credits in

Jennie and Say, Darling,

Matt danced in a string of movie musicals

(Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Band Wagon, Til The Clouds Roll By,

There's No Business Like Show Business and more!)

and TV variety shows.

He eventually moved to Europe and began his own dance school.

He lived til the age of 91!

 The original production of Sweeney Todd (1979)

had Edmund Lyndeck as Judge Turpin, at left,

and Jack Eric Williams as Beadle Bamford.

Jack, a world-class tenor, made his Broadway debut in 

the revival of The Three Penny Opera,

and he once sang for the King and Queen of Sweden!

However, he considered himself first a composer,

having written scores for off-Broadway shows,

including the musical biography of Frances Farmer,

and his most famous work...Swamp Gas and Shallow Feelings!

He passed away at the age of 49.

 

 Joaquin Romaguera played Pirelli, the Barber (above)...

not much is known about this actor,

other than he was born in Barcelona in 1932,

and performed in Sweeney, Fiorello (the 1997 revival)

and a production of Evita in 2000.

Below, Sarah Rice and Victor Garber (underneath the mutton chops)

as the star-crossed lovers.

 The Grass Harp began life as a novel by Truman Capote,

published in 1951,

all about 2 maiden aunts, herbal medicines, and a 

large tree house in a black walnut tree

(with an antique spiral staircase providing access, no less).

This was right out of Truman's past,

a tree house that Harper Lee 

(his cousin and future Mockingbird writer) 

would occasionally visit. 

It became a play (1952) and finally a musical (1971)

with music by Claibe Richardson and Kenward Elmslie.

 The cast included Carol Brice (above)

who we'll hear sing "Marry With Me"...

and below, Karen Morrow (center), as Miss Baby Love,

an evangelist...

 

 ...and below, Carol with Russ Thacker and Barbara Cook.

Orchestrations were by Jonathan Tunick. 

The show opened during a newspaper strike, 

limiting the advertising and ticket sales.

Seven performances and POOF! It was gone.

Death is in Da House!

 Death Takes A Holiday,

with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston,

and a book by Peter Stone and Thomas Meehan,

launched Off-Broadway in 2011.

It was based on La Morte in Vacanza, a play by

Alberto Casella, written in 1924...

Death, tired of collecting souls,

wants to find out what's so great about all this living 

(and loving) stuff.

He takes a holiday in the guise of a Russian prince,

 eating eggs, enjoying fresh towels (!), doing the Shimmy,

and falling in love.

 The caption has it right!

Jill Paice (center), who earlier starred in Curtains, played Grazia, 

Max Von Essen (to the right) was Corrado,

and below left is Kevin Early who portrayed Death/Prince Sirki.

Prior to writing this musical,

Maury wrote the music and lyrics for

Nine, Titanic and Grand Hotel.

He and Peter Stone supposedly then yearned

to write a show on a smaller scale...

Meet Joe Black (a modern-day, Brad Pitt version)

had just been released, 

so time was right;

 "It seemed to me that the piece screamed to be sung,"

said Maury.

 Reviews were mixed. 

Here's the best one, from The London Press 

(The Charing Cross Theatre produced the show in 2017):

 "The presiding genius of this musical adaptation is 

composer/lyricist Maury Yeston 

whose lush, operetta-like scores make him the heir 

to Jerome Kern’s crown among the current crop of Broadway writers. 

As in previous works such as Grand Hotel and Titanic,

he displays a rare ability to give voice to a wide range of characters, 

often within a single song."

 Had to include the Fredric March pre-code movie version

done in 1934,

with Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing.

Variety called it "the kind of story and picture that beckons the thinker, 

and for this reason is likely to have greater appeal among the intelligentsia."

It was a major box-office disappointment,

even with such a handsome "Death" as Frederic.

 

Playlist For Sunday, June 16, 2019: Still Feisty After All These Shows

This Sunday marks the 300th live 2 On The Aisle. That may not sound like a lot, but for this amateur, who literally shook in her shoes every one of those first 299th or so shows, it is. I never thought I'd last out the first year...But here I am, still spinning Broadway, trying to push the right buttons at the right times, attempting to pronounce the Bernsteins and the Fiersteins correctly, and have fun at the same time!

 Above, Year One...

vs

Below, Year Seven, and a little more feisty!

I never know for sure who's listening every Sunday, or perusing this blog, but every week I hope to not only remind you of the Golden Age of Broadway and celebrate those Comdens, those Greens, those Red Hot & Blues,  but also to invade your ears with the rarities, the flops, the also-rans, the diamonds in the rough...as well as contemporary Broadway (which of course includes all of the above!). The range is huge, so when you hear something you don't care for on 2OAT (nay, makes your teeth ache or blood boil), hopefully all you have to do is wait 10 minutes and voila! Hey, I like this/know this/can sing along to this/dance with me, bubbalah!/I love it!

I started off being a Sondheim nut, on a pretty high horse. I got off that and played Sugar Babies. And learned Broadway as I played it week after week, maybe just like you. I'll keep spinning for awhile longer, maybe 300 more live shows, and we can see how we're doing then. Meanwhile, it's you and me, Bubbalah!

vs

 Life's A Joy (Simon Jones, Kevin Early, Jill Paice, Death Takes A Holiday)
An Opening For A Princess (Joseph Bova, Ensemble, Once Upon A Mattress)
Shy (Carol Burnett, Once Upon A Mattress)
Sensitivity (Jane White, Once Upon A Mattress)
Very Soft Shoes (Matt Mattox, Once Upon A Mattress)
Opening Number (Santino Fontana, Ensemble, Tootsie)
I Like What She's Doing (Julie Halston, Reg Rogers, Lilli Cooper, John
      Behlman, Santino Fontana, Tootsie)
Why Do All Men?(Kevin Early, Michael Siberry, Death Takes A Holiday)
Death Is In The House (Michael Siberry, Death Takes A Holiday)
Alive! (Kevin Early, Death Takes A Holiday)
Marry With Me (Carol Brice, The Grass Harp)
Billie (Jill O'Hara, George M!)
Bill (Annette Warren, Show Boat)
A Summer In Ohio (Sherie Rene Scott, The Last Five Years)
The Girls Of Summer (Suzanne Henry, Marry Me A Little)
Night Song (Sammy Davis, Jr., Golden Boy)
The Song Of Purple Summer (Lauren Pritchard, Company, Spring Awakening)
Lazy Afternoon (Kaye Ballard, The Golden Boy)
Ev'ry Sunday Afternoon (Dawn Upshaw, Dawn Upshaw Sings Rodgers & Hart)
Lazy (Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, There's No
      Business Like Show Business)
Arthur In The Afternoon (Karen Ziemba, And The World Goes 'Round)
It's Delightful Down In Chili (Rex Evans, Carol Channing, Gentlemen
      Prefer Blondes)
Katie Went To Haiti (Mary Martin, DuBarry Was A Lady)
Cuban Pete (Desi Arnaz, Cuban Pete)
South America, Take It Away (Betty Garrett, Call Me Mister)
Pirelli's Miracle Elixar (Ken Jennings, Len Cariou, Angela Lansbury,
      Sweeney Todd)
The Contest (Joaquin Romaguera, Len Cariou, Sweeney Todd)
Ladies In Their Sensitivities (Jack Eric Williams, Edmund Lyndeck,
      Victor Garber, Sarah Rice, Sweeney Todd)