B&H on Random!

Tom Bosley, above, as Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Howard Da Silva, below, as Republican party boss, Ben Marino, in Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's first Broadway smash...Fiorello! George Abbott directed, Peter Gennaro choreographed...and it scooped a Pulitzer Prize For Drama (there are only 10 musicals that have managed that triumph).

That's the real Mayor LaGuardia, and for those who don't know BOO about him, he was the Mayor of New York City for 3 terms of office (1934-1945). He stood only 5 ft. 2in. tall and "Little Flower" (that's what Fiorello means, btw) was his nickname (probably not said to his face).

Tom Bosley with 2 of his co-stars, Pat Stanley and Ellen Hanley. The show received a total of 3 Tonys: 1 for Tom, 1 for Director George, and it scooped the Best Musical Tony, as well. (It actually tied for that award...with The Sound Of Music!)

She Loves Me launched in 1963, Bock and Harnick's 5th musical collaboration, starring Barbara Cook (above), Jack Cassidy (below), Daniel Massey, Barbara Baxley, Ludwig Donath, Nathaniel Frey, and Ralph Williams. It was small in scale, with no big, over the top dance/company numbers, but it WAS romantic! Jack Cassidy received the only Tony award.

Barbara Cook, Director Hal Prince, Barbara Baxley, and Daniel Massey celebrating on opening night! 

Carol Haney (that Bob Fosse protege) choreographed.

And a couple of pics from that fantastic 2016 revival with Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi as the two leads.

Zachary and Laura with Michael McGrath and Nicholas Barasch. Must have been a very dramatic scene!

A year after Fiorello!, the team embarked on Tenderloin, which was about the gentrification of New York's red light district of 1890...where was this? The whole town must have been red at some point! Unfortunately, it didn't make quite the splash that Fiorello (or later, Fiddler) did. It opened in the fall of 1960, ran for 216 performances, and starred English actor, Maurice Evans (below),better known for his Shakespearean accomplishments. And WE might know him as Dr. Zaius in The Planet Of The Apes ANNNNNND Samantha's dad in Bewitched??? That's Maurice below!

 

 

 

 

The show also starred Ron Husmann who got to sing the one song that left the show unscathed: "Artificial Flowers".

Jerry and Sheldon collaborated on 8 Broadway musicals. The last one, the one that actually caused their "divorce", was The Rothschilds, when they disagreed on the choice of the show's director. They seem rather reconciled below!

Jerry passed away in 2010, at the age of 81, but Sheldon lives on, having reached the age of 96 this past April.