The Jazz Age - Popular Music in The 1920s PDF
The Jazz Age - Popular Music in The 1920s PDF
The Jazz Age - Popular Music in The 1920s PDF
A R N O L D SHAW
THE
JAZZ AGE
Popular Music in the
1920's
Oxford
24681097531
Printed in the United States of America
To my beloved wife
Ghita
with love and admiration
Preface
The 1920s have been the subject of a considerable number of surveys, beginning with the brilliantly analytical and anecdotal Only
Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen. But these studies, including
Allen's panoramic view, paid scant attention to the popular music
of the time, perhaps because that music was escapist, avoiding serious issues and controversial subjects.
But the twenties were a crucial period in the history of popular
music, as significant musically as the fifties were with the advent
of the "rock revolution." It was in the Roaring Twenties that a
group of new tonalities entered the mainstream, fixing the sound
and the forms of our popular music for the next thirty years. Jazz,
hot and hybrid, came booming out of the South to prompt the creation of a new-styled dance music and new dances. The blues, also
originating with blacks and for a long time transmitted orally, first
made their way onto disk and paper, and influenced the songs being
written in Tin Pan Alley. Black pianists of the Harlem scene transformed ragtime into stride piano, motivating the creation of bravura
pieces known as "piano novelties." The Broadway theater was flooded
with revues that were contemporary in theme and, inspired by the
heightened tempi and rhythms of jazz, severed its European ties and
moved toward the Golden Era of the thirties and forties.
In sum, the twenties were a period when elements of black and
white music first achieved a rich and permanent fusion. This book
viii PREFACE
is an attempt to delineate these vast changes, to view them in the
climate of the era, and to acquaint the reader with the men and
women responsible for them.
Las Vegas, Nevada
September 20,1986
Arnold Shaw
P.S. It is perhaps not inappropriate to mention here the sheer, lasting appeal of some of the decade's hit songs. If any evidence is required to demonstrate this, Bob Fosse's musical Big Deal, which
opened on Broadway in April 1986, provides eloquent testimony.
After considering a number of eminent show composers, Fosse settled on a group of tunes that were first heard in the twenties: "I'm
Just Wild About Harry," "Ain't She Sweet," "Button Up Your
Overcoat," and "Happy Days Are Here Again."
"These tunes had been in my head for years," Fosse explained.
"So I ended using old songs that I loved and grew up with. . . ."*
* New York Times (April 6, 1986), "Arts & Leisure," 1.
Contents
I
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
14
31
9
10
11
12
13
14
57
"Dardanella"
95
"The Sheik of Araby"
111
"Three O'Clock in the Morning"
120
"Yes! We Have No Bananas"/"Charleston"
"Rhapsody and Romance in Blue"
142
"Tea for Two"
157
132
x CONTENTS
15
16
17
18
184
275
285
289
Bibliography
303
Discography
311
321
Song Index
339
319
10
The third emblematic figure of the era, the gangster, made bloody
headlines and also made it into the Fox Movietone Newsreels, as
Prohibition, in columnist FPA's words, "left a trail of graft and
slime, and filled our land with vice and crime."17 A grisly climax to
the war for control of the illegal liquor trade came in a Chicago
garage on Valentine's Day in 1929 when four men, two dressed as
policemen, lined up seven men, including five members of the Bugs
Moran gang, against a wall and pumped bullets from sawed-off shotguns and machine guns into their backs. The world, which had become accustomed to reading of the gangland killings masterminded
by mobsters like Al Capone, was shocked by the Valentine Day's
massacre.
Operative as of July 1, 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment became
a battleground on January 16, 1920, when the Volstead Act made it
illegal to sell or transport any beverage containing more than onehalf of 1 percent of alcohol. The cast of characters of the "lawless
decade," as it has been called, included the Prohibition agent, the
rum runner, the bootlegger, the speakeasy owner, the hijacker, the
feds and local police grafters, and mobsters like Owney Madden,
Dion O'Bannion, Jack (Legs) Diamond, Al Capone, and others. A
most unpopular law, Prohibition contributed to the era's loosening
of morals, turning millions who had never touched a drop before
into drinkers who flouted the law.
Bandleader Vincent Lopez has offered valuable testimony: "The
breakdown of law and order, used as an argument by the Drys to
peddle Prohibition, materialized the day after it became a national
law. Crime and gangsterism, once a smalltime operation, was handed
a billion dollar tax free business to organize with blood and bullets.
"No binge in history equaled the one in the Prohibition Era. The
2
King Oliver, Jelly Roll,
and Satchmo
"The Jazz Age is over," F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote Maxwell Perkins
in May 1931. "If Mark Sullivan is going on [with his history of Our
Times: The United States], you might tell him that I claim credit for
naming it and that it extended from the suppression of the riots of
May Day 1919 to the crash of the stock market in 1929almost exactly a decade."1 He could have added as personal punctuation the
mental breakdown of his glamorous, giddy wife in 1930. It was a
neat structure that Fitzgerald erected. But the Jazz Age did not begin
in 1919. If any year is to be picked, it would have to be 1917. Two
events occurred that year, both involving a five-piece combo from
New Orleans that became famous as the Original Dixieland Jazz
Band (ODJB).
In 1917 the U.S. Navy Department, reacting to wartime moral
fervor, shut down Storyville, New Orleans's redlight districtthe
city was an embarkation point for American troops. With the bordellos shuttered, musicians sought work on the Mississippi riverboats,
migrating to port cities like Memphis and St. Louis, and settling in
Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.
The ODJB was not part of the New Orleans diaspora of 1917, most
14
16
19
1915 or 1916 to 1918."10 But it was the playing of the ODJB itself
that motivated the Royal Gardens of Chicago to call upon bassist Bill
Johnson to supply another band when the ODJB left for the Reisenweber booking in New York. Among those who came to the Windy
City early in 1918 was King Oliver, whose chair in Edward Kid
Ory's New Orleans band was taken by young Louis Armstrong. When
the King took up residence at the Lincoln Gardens (formerly the
Royal Gardens) as leader of the Creole Jazz Band, he sent for Armstrong.
Hoagy Carmichael visited the Lincoln Gardens around 1923 with
Bix Beiderbecke and other members of the Wolverines, and later
wrote in Sometimes I Wonder:
A southside black and tan place, King Oliver's Band was
there. This was the solid real jazz. Louis Armstrong played
second trumpet. His white teeth showed when Bix gave
him the high sign.
Bix said, "That's my boy."
Louis' wife, Lil, was playing piano and she could, too.
There was a bass fiddle and clarinet, a regular jazz combo.
As I sat down, I lit my first muggle [marijuana cigarette]
as Louis and King Oliver broke into the introductory part
of Bugle Call Rag. Everything was chaos at our table. We
smoked and gulped our terrible drinks. Bix was on his
feet, his eyes popping out of his head.
Louis was taking a hot chorus. Gene Fosdick [Hoagy's
buddy] had a mild spasm, finally overturning the table
and sliding off his chair in a fit of stupor, muttering to
himself in his strange style.
The joint stank of body musk, bootleg booze, excited
people, platform sweat. I couldn't see well but I was feeling all over, "Why isn't everyone in the world here to
hear this?"
The muggles took effect, making my body feel as light
as my Ma's biscuits. I ran over to the piano and played
Royal Garden Blues with the band.
Music meant more than flesh just then. I had never heard
the tune before, but full of smoke, I somehow couldn't miss
20
22
24
pair of long trousers, I'd give him a job. Within two hours, Louis
came to my home."26 When the call came later from Oliver in Chicago, Armstrong was playing on and off on the riverboats with Fate
Marable's Jaz-E-Saz Band. Of Louis's playing on the riverboats, it
was said that he would start playing choruses fifteen miles out of
St. Louis and would still be finding new things to say when the boat
was berthing at the St. Louis dock.
In 1924, the year the Wolverines were formed and made their first
recordings with Bix Beiderbecke on cornet, and George Gershwin introduced Rhapsody in Blue, Louis married Lil Hardin, King Oliver's
pianist, and left for New York to join Fletcher Henderson at the
Roseland Ballroom. After that year-plus gig, he returned to Chicago
to work with his wife, who had acquired a band of her own at the
Dreamland Cafe. In November 1925 Louis began making records as
the leader of his own combos, the Hot Five and the Hot Seven;
during the next three years the masterful disks he cut brought him
world renown and still remain among the most influential of jazz recordings. In them the New Orleans emphasis on ensemble playing
(polyphony) is enhanced by Armstrong's solos, with their strong
blues feeling. The same shading enriches sides he made with over a
dozen blues singers, including, in May 1925, the great Bessie Smith
("Careless Love Blues," "I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle").
Out of the Hot Five and Hot Seven sessions came such classics as
"West End Blues," regarded as the masterpiece of the Hot Seven
disks and considered by some critics "the greatest of all jazz records"; also "Muskrat Ramble"; "Gut Bucket Blues" (with appropriate jive talk); "Cornet Chop Suey"; the brilliant and widely
copied "Tight Like This," a contemporary erotic blues by Tampa
Red and Georgia Tom; "Struttin' with Some Barbecue"; "Potato
Head Blues," with Louis's celebrated stop-time chorus; "Twelfth
Street Rag"; and "Heebie Jeebies." This last is the side on which
Armstrong, employing a flowing stream of nonsense syllables, indulged in the vocal imitation of instrumental style that became known
as "scattin'." You can buy or discredit the tale that he dropped the
sheet of lyrics while he was singing and in order not to spoil the
master (mistakes could not then be edited out, as they can be today
28
his first recorded soloJelly Roll Morton also made his first solo piano recordings. Like Satchmo, Mr. Jelly Roll came from a broken
home in New Orleans and also grew up with a feeling of rejection,
which perhaps motivated his egocentric and idiosyncratic behavior.
"Hustler, pool shark, gambler, pimp, nightclub manager, entrepreneur
and high-liver," Collier writes, "Jelly would be worth telling about
had he never played a bar of music. He was proud, he was vain, he
was arrogant, sensitive, ebullient, a braggart, suspicious, superstitiousbut he was, nevertheless, the genuine article, a true artist."32
He did, of course, make the claimand more than oncethat he
originated jazz. "It is evidently known, beyond contradiction, that
New Orleans is the cradle of jazz, and, I, myself, happened to be the
creator in the year 1902." "Despite his boasting," Collier observes,
"and his desire to be the wheeler-dealer, Morton was fundamentally
a decent man, honorable in human relations, open with friends, generous towards his family. He simply lacked the character necessary
for the bad man."33
Jelly Roll was born Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe around 1885, the
son of a black Creole father who defected earlyhis stepfather was
a step down socially. Morton never overcame the feeling of being declassed. Being light-skinned, he attempted to pass for white much of
the time in order to escape the stigma of being a Creole black. To
avoid being called "Frenchy," the label pinned on anyone with a
Gallic name, he took the name of his mother's second husband and
adopted nicknames with sexual connotations like "Winding Boy" and
ultimately "Jelly Roll." As a youthful pianist in the luxurious bordellos of Storyville where he made much money in tips, he was
thrown out of the house by the grandmother, who raised him after
his mother's death and feared he would be a bad influence on his
two sisters. He wandered through a flock of towns on the Gulf Coast
and then through the Midwest and along the West Coast, gambling,
hustling and conning, all less profitable than music, which he then
regarded as a sideline.
His priorities changed when he reached Chicago, where he made
about 175 recordings, piano solos or piano rolls of his own compositions. He later arranged and recorded originals like "Milenburg
29
30
harder and made more sheer musical sense than anything anybody
else was doing by way of band jazz. . . . It seems quite clear that
Morton, on these sides, showed Ellington, Henderson, Moten, Basie
and Goodman, and the rest, a way that jazz could go."35 On the onehundredth-anniversary of Jelly Roll's birth in 1885, the Book-of-the
Month Club released a collection of thirty-six sides, including "Courthouse Bump," "Pretty Lil," "Tank Town Bump," "Sweet Peter,"
"Jersey Joe," "Mississippi Mildred," "The Chant," "Each Day," and
"Gambling Jack"all previously unissued in the USA; the last three
masters that had never been issued at all.
32
of which came not only the jazzmen already mentioned but also
Benny Goodman, Eddie Condon, Dave Tough, and others.
The band that inspired and spawned Bix and the Austin jazzmen,
though composed of New Orleans white musicians, was formed in
Chicago. The NORK, in fact, never played in the Crescent City. According to Paul Mares, who organized the group, people yelled for a
substitute when the Original Dixieland Jazz Band left Chicago for
New Yorkso he packed his horn when the offer came to a New Orleans associate who preferred to remain in the cab business. The call
from the Friars Inn for a white dixieland band came after he had
played at Camel Gardens with Tom Brown, the earliest of the white
New Orleans emigres.
The Friars Inn was a cabaret-styled club in downtown Chicago in
a basement of the Loop. Its diner-dancers were influential and moneyed
people, including gangsters like Al Capone and Dion O'Bannion. The
original personnel of the NORK involved three melody instruments
and four rhythmJack Pettis (C-melody sax), Arnold Loyacano
(bass), Louis Black (banjo), Frank Snyder (drums), and Elmer
Schobel (piano). To lure trombonist George Brunies up from New
Orleans, Mares sent not only train fare but a new overcoat. What
they played was white dixieland, peppy, happy, rip-snorting, twobeat, up-tempo music, much of it arranged by pianist Elmer Schoebel,
the only NORK member who could read and write music, and who
composed a number of the tunes they recorded and popularized.
Among these were "Farewell Blues," written by Mares, Schoebel,
and clarinetist Leon Rappolo, who succeeded Jack Pettis; "Nobody's
Sweetheart," interpolated by Ted Lewis in The Passing Show of
1923 after the New York opening, whose writers included, in addition to Schoebel, Gus Kahn, Ernie Erdman, and Billy Meyers; "Bugle
Call Rag," with music by Pettis, Meyers, and Schoebel; and "Tin
Roof Blues," with music credited to the NORK (which consisted of
George Brunies, Leon Rappolo, Paul Mares, Mel Stitzel, and Ben
Pollack). One of their earliest hits, introduced to them by Ted Fiorito, later a pop bandleader, was "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye),"
interpolated by Al Jolson in the musical Bombo (1921) after the
New York opening and later sung by him in the film The Jazz Singer
34
37
down Oliver's face who said that he was the greatest he had ever
heard";12 and trumpeter Red Nichols frankly said, "Bix made a tremendous impression on me and I'd be the last to deny that his playing influenced mine."13
As recently as the 1960s, Philip Larkin, who wrote monthly jazz
reviews for the London Daily Telegraph, said of listening to Bix,
"One is left miserable at the utter waste of the most original talent
jazz ever produced. . . . To hear him explode like Judgment Day
out of the Whiteman Orchestra (as in No Sweet Man) only to retire
at the end of sixteen bars into his genteel surroundings like a clockcuckoo is an exhibition of artistic impotence painful to witness."14
"Bix's masterworks are I'm Coming Virginia and especially, Singin'
the Blues," James Lincoln Collier writes, "which was memorized by
all the trumpet players of the day and recorded note for note by a
number of bands, both black and whiteArmstrong called the record of Singin' the Blues a collector's itemFletcher Henderson took
his Singin' the Blues note for note from the Bix and Tram record,
with the saxophone section playing the Trumbauer chorus and Rex
Stewart playing the Bix chorus."15
Apart from the direct and pervasive influence he had on his contemporaries, Bix added new resources to the jazz palette, and actually anticipated later developments in the music. He was a follower
of Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, but had an extensive interest in
modern innovators like Schonberg, Stravinsky, Hoist, and Eastwood
Lane. Paul Whiteman recalled a concert at which Bix was enthralled
by Wagner, and Jimmy McPartland remembered a Stravinsky concert to which Bix took him in 1925. "He was the first in Jazz,"
Jimmy said, "[whom] I heard use the whole-tone or augmented
scale."18 An early instance of this can be heard in "Tia Juana," a
Gennett disk made by the Wolverines when they were working as a
relief band at the Cinderella Ballroom in Manhattan. Bix's partiality
to the whole-tone harmonies of Ravel and Debussy as well as to the
modern harmonies of Cyril Scott and Eastwood Lane (especially
"Land of the Loon") found expression in a group of piano pieces
he improvised and that were transcribed by Bill Challis and other
jazzmen. Of the group, which included "Candlelights," "Flashes,"
40
together with edema of the brain, caused his death at the age of 28.
Whether afflicted with "tragic temperament," as James Lincoln
Collier puts it, or the trauma of genius, Bix's doomed journey poses
a timeless enigma. Collier has left us with an image that may or may
not hold an explanation:
When he came home sick near the end of his life, he
found in a hall closet all of his records that he had proudly
sent homestill wrapped in their mailing envelopes. To
the Beiderbecke's, their son was a dirty secret and the
path he had chosen, abhorrent.26
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42
52
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
Silver
Thomas
Schonberger
Braham
Archer
Kern
Confrey
[no composer listed]
Confrey
Baer
Grofe
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
Herbert
IX.
b. Chinese
c. Cuban
d. Oriental
Adaptation of Standard Selection to Dance Rhythms
a. "Pale Moon". . .
b. "To a Wild Rose". . .
c. "Chansonette". . .
X.
XI.
Logan
MacDowell
Friml
Gershwin
Elgar
II
5
Duke, Ethel, and the
Harlem Scene
On his arrival in Harlem in 1921, the poet Langston Hughes wrote,
"I can never put on paper the thrill of the underground ride to Harlem . . . At every station I kept watching for the sign: 135th Street.
When I saw it, I held my breath . . . I went up the steps and out
into the bright September sunlight. Harlem! I stood there, dropped
my bags, took a deep breath and felt happy again." Hughes had
come from Mexico, where he worked with his father, ostensibly to
study at Columbia University. But as he wrote in his first autobiography, The Big Sea, "I really did not want to go to college at all.
I didn't want to do anything but live in Harlem, get a job and work
5>1
there
In those intoxicating years, there was enchantment in the very air
of Harlem. It crackled with excitement, with the anticipation of unusual experiences, and the vaulting urge to create something overwhelming. And new poetry, novels, essays, and plays poured from
the pens of Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Wallace
Thurman, Arna Bontemps, Aaron Douglas, Rudolph Fisher, Alain
Locke, Zora Neale Hurston, among others, some inspired by the
new spirit of Negro nationalism aroused by Marcus Garvey and his
Universal Negro Improvement Association. (The Garvey movement
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50th Street and Broadway. The score for the floor show was composed by Harry Akst, formerly the accompanist for Nora Bayes,
later for Al Jolson, and eventually the writer of such hits as "Baby
Face" and "Am I Blue?" The Plantation score included "Dinah,"
which became a hit for Ethel and remained in her repertoire.
"Dinah" is sometimes typed as the first evergreen to come from a
nightclub revue; it later served as the theme of Dinah Shore's television show. Touring with the Plantation Revue, Ethel elicited from
Ashton Stevens, the tough critic of the Chicago Herald-American,
a rave review in which he hailed her as "a new star, the greatest
artist of her race and generation." Another critic of the time commented, "When she sings Dinah, she is beautiful. When she sings
Eli, Eli, she achieves greatness. And when she sings Shake That
Thing, she is incredible."10
In 1927 she was featured on Broadway in a short-lived revue,
Africana. In 1929 she made her first film appearance in On with the
Show, popularizing Harry Akst's ballad, "Am I Blue?" In 1933 she
became the headliner at the Cotton Club, where she introduced and
popularized Harold Arlen's imperishable hit "Stormy Weather."
That year she was heard on network broadcasts from the club and
on the CBS network show, "American Revue," backed by the Dorsey
Brothers band. Before the year was out, she was signed by Irving
Berlin as a headliner for his revue As Thousands Cheer, becoming
the first black artist after Bert Williams to star in an all-white Broadway show. Her rendition of "Supper Time," the moving anti-lynch
ballad, and of the sizzling "Heat Wave" were high points of the
show. Later, Ethel made her mark in films (Cabin in the Sky), and
on the stage with two dramatic, non-singing parts in two plays,
Member of the Wedding and Mamba's Daughters, and became the
first black international superstar.
A turning point in the expansion of her artistry came with her
appearance at the Kedzie Theatre in Chicago in the early twenties.
A vaudevillian friend, Earl Dancer, had urged her to reach out to
white audiences: "White people would love you for the rest of your
life. You don't have to sing as you do for colored people."11 With
great trepidation, Ethel agreed to a booking at the Kedzie. Although
65
she was certain that she and Earl would flop, they were so well received that they were signed to tours by the Keith-Orpheum circuit.
Those who didn't think of her as the "Ebony Nora Bayes" referred to
her as the "Yvette Gilbert of her race." As her audience grew, Ethel
varied her program, which now included pop and theatre songs as
well as blues. She could, as she put it, "riff and jam and growl, but
never had that loud approach."12 A genius at characterization and
immaculate in her diction, she sang with a swinging beat or with
refinement, according to the demands of the number.
Ethel sang blues, but was not a blues singer. She sang jazz, but
was not a jazz singer. She sang pop and show tunes, but was not a
pop singer. Her singing was very much like her religion. As a child,
she was drawn to Catholicism, but also attended Methodist services
and was attracted to the unbuttoned emotionalism of the Holy Rollers
and Baptists. From 1957 until her death in 1977, she worked with
the Billy Graham Crusade. In song and in spirit, she disregarded
categories in order to express her own singular self.
The blues began to develop in the post-Civil War years as an expression of the black man's experiences during Reconstruction; stride
piano had its beginnings in ragtime; black musicals were staged on
Broadway in the first decades of the twentieth century. But all three
of these forms came to fruition and became mainstream phenomena
during the Harlem Renaissance. There is no causal relationship between the development of the three forms. However, the atmosphere
created by the renaissance permitted all three to evolve. With the
onset of the Depression in 1929, the renaissance came to an end.
Whites stopped going uptown and the fringe clubs, lounges, grills,
taverns, and cabarets began to close, a process hastened when the
repeal of Prohibition in 1932 shuttered the speakeasies. Publishers
no longer sought books and songs by new black creators. The shutdown of Harlem led to the emergence of 52nd Street as Swing Street
and the mecca of jazz. The rise of the nightclub era in the thirties
brought Harlem's entertainers and even its rib joints and chicken
shacks downtown.
The magic of Harlem during the Renaissance found expression in
66
6
"The Birth of the
Blues"
They were the Roaring Twenties, Torrid Twenties, Frenzied Twenties. Every epithet linked the era with a time of untrammeled fun,
unconventional living and high excitement. Yet it was in the twenties
that the blues entered the mainstream and became part of the tonal
fabric of American popular music. The blues evolved as a folk music
during the post-Civil War period, embodying the feelings, problems,
and experiences of black people as they suffered through the transition from slavery to "freedman." Transmitted orally and "written"
and "rewritten" by countless unknown figures, they remained a regional, rural, southern music into the twentieth century. Before the
1920s, a few blues appeared in print, most importantly W. C.
Handy's "The Memphis Blues" (1912). Initially written as a song
for a Mr. Crump in a Memphis political campaign, the melody was
original but two segments of the instrumental version were in classic
twelve-bar, three-line, three-chord blues form. Later, one of the most
recorded of instrumental blues, "Memphis Blues" made so little impress at the outset that Handy sold the work to a publisher for $50.
Although Handy titled his autobiography Father of the Blues, his
role was that of adapter, arranger, collector, and popularizer of the
folk form, and he admittedly was not its creator. By 1914 he had
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"I've Got the Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues," which parodied the
biggest novelty hit of the decade, "Yes! We Have No Bananas," interpolated by ebullient Eddie Cantor in the revue Make It Snappy
after it was introduced on the radio and in vaudeville by Frank
Silver's Music Masters.
A check of Nat Shapiro's Annotated Index of American Popular
Songs for 1920-1929 discloses over two hundred songs with blues
titles.17 In this list, one finds the names of virtually every top Tin
Pan Alley songwriter. The number of bestsellers that emerged from
this avalanche was surprisingly small. Except for Gershwin, Harold
Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, and a few others, the blues idiom proved
elusive. But just as white songwriters responded to the blues, using
flatted thirds and fifths and related harmonies in their melodies,
black songwriters adapted their themes and tonality to the thirty-twobar form. The interplay produced the sound that dominated popular
music into the mid-fifties and was recognized as uniquely American.
The image of women during the twenties was ambivalent. The new
woman, the flapper, was depicted as light-hearted, fun-filled, daring,
unconventional. But the female image as it emerges in song and in
the musical theatre bears the visage of the tragic muse. Consider
Fanny Brice, Ruth Etting, Helen Morgan, and Libby Holman, four
of the major singers of the era. Fanny Brice never surpassed her anguished renditions of "My Man." Ruth Etting's repertoire abounded
in brokenhearted ballads like "Love Me or Leave Me" and "Mean to
Me." Helen Morgan's songs were tear-filled ballads like "Can't Help
Lovin' Dat Man," "Don't Ever Leave Me," and "Why Was I Born?"
Libby Holman was the impassioned singer of "Moanin' Low." All of
these are songs of unrequited love"torch" songs in music business
vernacularand sometimes described as a white offshoot of the
blues. Alec Wilder names Clarence Williams's "I Ain't Got Nobody,"
published in 1915, as the number with which "the torch song had
arrived to stay."18 He next singles out Raymond Hubbell's "Poor
Butterfly"surely a torcher even if it takes a third-person approach
which made its appearance in 1916.
The personalization of feeling introduced into popular song in the
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ham, pig's feet, pork chops, gumbo, potato salad, and moreto
which a supply of bootleg liquor was added. An admission was
charged, and the piano players supplied the entertainment. "James P.
Johnson, Willie "The Lion" Smith and Fats Waller became great
favorites," Ellington recalled. "For ten bucks a shot, they somehow
made appearances at three or four different rent parties on a good
Saturday night,"3 which did not end until sometime on Sunday.
It has been suggested that the house rent party grew in popularity
as a reaction of blacks to their exclusion from Harlem clubs like the
Cotton, Connie's Inn, Smalls' Paradise, etc. There was dancingthe
bump, grind, monkey hunch. The pianist, assisted at times by a
drummer who muffled his traps by covering the head with a blanket,
sought to approximate orchestral effects, which, perhaps, helps explain the character of stride piano.
The most direct antecedent of the style was, of course, ragtime,
whose bass or left hand was augmented to create a stronger sense of
rhythm. The Harlem striders learned much from a group of itinerant piano players who operated as pimps in the 1912 period, and
among whom the best known was Jelly Roll Morton. Before Harlem
became a thriving entertainment center, these traveling ragtime keyboard players (with curious nicknames like Baltimore's Willie "Egghead" Sewell) performed in saloons in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen.
Barren Wilkins, who operated the Little Savoy on 35th Street, was
among the early saloon operators to move to Harlem around 1915,
and Luckey Roberts, whom he hired as his house pianist, became
one of the first to serve in this capacity.
As a style, stride piano took the bass of ragtime and amplified it
by substituting an octave or a tenth on the first beat of a measure
and then a three- or four-finger chord in the middle register for the
second and fourth beat. You had to have a large or agile mitt to
manage the stride and keep the motion going from the tenth and the
low fifth on the third beat to the middle register chords. Pianists
who had difficulty stretching ten notes would flip their fingers from
the low tonic to the tenth. Eubie Blake and Charles Luckeyeth Roberts, who could easily stretch a tenth, included a fifth in the middle
of the downbeat tenth chord. As the stride pianist played, the left
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hand described two arcs in each measure in its movement from the
low (one and three beats) to the middle register chord (two and four
beats).
The King, the dean of Harlem striders, and recognized as such by
his peers, was James P. Johnson (1891-1955), originally a selftaught pianist from New Brunswick, New Jersey, who practiced in
the dark, played complicated exercises through a sheet to increase his
dexterity, and always performed with a long, fat cigar resting in a
tray, close at hand. Johnson was versed in the European classics and
in 1927 produced a ballet, Symphony Harlem, at the Lafayette
Theatre. But he also accounted for such hits as "Charleston," the
sensational dance number of the decade, presented in Runnin' Wild,
the Broadway musical of 1923, which he composed and scored; "If
I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight" (1926), the theme song
and bestselling record of McKinney's Cotton Pickers; and the classic
"Carolina Shout," which dazzled the pianists he himself admired
like Luckey Roberts, "the outstanding pianist in New York in 1913"
and Eubie Blake, "one of the foremost pianists of all time." He
manned the keyboard at Leroy's, Barron Wilkins' and the Clef,
among other Harlem spots. He spent his latter years, until he suffered
a stroke, leading orchestras, producing, and composing larger works
in which he sought to merge Afro-American and European traditions.
Although most of these works have apparently been lost, it is
known that he wrote two symphonies, three tone poems, a piano
concerto, and five short operas. Yamekraw (Negro Rhapsody), completed in 1927, premiered at Carnegie in 1928. An all-Johnson concert at Carnegie in 1945 heard his Harlem Symphony. The second
movement of his piano concerto (1934), published in 1947 as "Concerto Jazz-A-Mine," has just been released in an album by pianist
William Albright, which also contains Yamekraw and "April in Harlem," the second movement of the Symphony.
A. fat cigar hanging out of his mouth was also a mark of the stride
pianist whose full name was William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff but who became known as Willie "The Lion" Smith (18971973). (James Lincoln Collier claims that Willie got his nickname
in France during World War I, when he was cited for courageous
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his making piano rolls for QRS and Victor. The high point in his career came in 1924 when he was featured, along with George Gershwin, at the legendary Aeolian Hall concert of February 12. Paul
Whiteman and his Palais Royal Orchestra introduced the delightfully
discordant "Kitten on the Keys" as well as the Rhapsody in Blue. Although none of Confrey's numerous novelties approached "Kitten on
the Keys" in popularity and sales, "Dizzy Fingers" was a very engaging piano novelty and the pentatonic "Stumbling," a song using
virtually only the black keys on the piano, became a hit.
Shuffle Along
In 1980 when an old-time revue, Black Broadway, played briefly at
New York's Town Hall, Newsweek was moved to recall "the almost
forgotten era: the exuberant Black Broadway of the 1920sa bubbling cauldron of creativity, a melting pot of black and white, old
and new, vaudeville and operetta, burlesque and musical comedy."1
The flame under the bubbling cauldron was a show that opened on
May 23, 1921, at an old lecture hall on West 63rd Street, converted
into a theatre later called Daly's. Shuffle Along, which launched the
era of black theatrical creativity, was also the culmination of two decades of experimentation,
As far back as 1898, a New York theatre patronized exclusively by
whites housed the all-black musical, Clorindy: or the Origin of the
Cakewalk. It was the work of Will Marion Cook, one of a group of
black composers, lyricists, bookwriters, and arrangers who helped
bring the black musical out of the womb of the minstrel show and
vaudeville. Among other blacks who participated in this transformation were Bob Cole, J. Rosamond Johnson, Joe Jordan, Ernest Hogan,
Will Vodery, and Eubie Blake. Many of these contributed their talents to the musicals starring (Bert) Williams and (George) Walker,
who were crucial in advancing the growth of the black musical
theater.
Vodery (1885-1951), who became the first black arranger to invade the Hollywood musical scene, served in that capacity for Shuf88
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fle Along, recently described by Newsweek's Jack Kroll as "the thermonuclear fusion of vaudeville, operetta and musical comedy that Eubie
Blake and Noble Sissle brought to Broadway."2 At its outset in 1921,
the show was hardly regarded in the glowing terms used by Kroll, a
fact suggested by its inability to secure a Broadway theatre. The
"choice" of the 63rd Street was indicative of the early difficulties and
stringencies faced by Shuffle Along, celebrated later as the "critical
influence . . . in the rush to Harlem for entertainment."3 The musical was born when two black vaudeville teams met by accident in
Philadelphia. Comics (Flournoy) Miller and (Aubrey) Lyles came
up with the idea of the libretto, and songwriters (Noble) Sissle and
(Eubie) Blake with the score. Operating with scant financing, they
dressed the cast in costumes bought from a folded 1919 black musical (Roly-Boly Eyes). Their "previews" were one-night stands in
New Jersey and Philadelphia theatres, with the threat of foreclosure
hanging over their heads.
It is no wonder, then, that in November 1921, seven months later,
Variety observed that the show was "one of the surprises of the season," and expressed astonishment that on the completion of its Broadway run, it would play no less than a "Loop" theatre, the prestigious
Olympic, in Chicago.4 Shuffle Along had established itselfit ultimately ran for 504 performancesand was to affect the style of succeeding musicals, white as well as black. Shuffle Along had three important elements going for it: talent, in the starring performances of
Florence Mills, Josephine Baker, and Hall Johnson, among others; a
tuneful, memorable score; and whirlwind dancing. Among the unusual number of appealing melodies, there were "I'm Just Wild
About Harry," the big hit; the love ballad "Love Will Find a Way";
and the festive "Bandana Days." The dancing had verve, excitement,
and drive, with its tap routines, buck and wing, soft shoe that set a
standard for black shows but also proved a challenge to white musicals. Until then black dancers had worked to a ragtime or Cakewalk
beat. Shuffle Along brought the sound of jazz, or what was regarded
as jazz, onto the musical comedy stage. Henceforth, white musicals
veered from the stately movements of the Ziegfeld statuesque beauties
to the more rhythmic steps of music with a jazz beat. With the
III
9
"Dardanella"
(1920)
New Year's Day 1920 dawned cloudy and rainy in New York after
a night that was, according to the New York Times, "gay in hotels
but quiet in the streets, with an abundance of liquor in dining rooms,
brought in packages by the guests."1 The night of the "dismal sixteenth," when the Volstead Act was to take effect, was yet to come,
"the night of incredible sadness, of silly high jinks . . . of gaiety
with overtones of mockery,"2 as Stanley Walker of the Herald-Tribune
phrased it. But the Eighteenth Amendment, making it illegal to sell or
transport any beverage containing more than .5 of 1 percent of alcohol, had become law on July 1, 1919. Prohibition was inand the
country was beginning to go "dry."
The day after New Year's, readers of Variety, "the bible of show
business," were startled by its front page. Instead of the typical headlines and news stories, there was a full-page advertisement. It read
like a sign posted to warn poachers against trespassing, only it was
concerned not with land (or liquor) but with a song. "WARNING," said
the top line, followed by equally large capitalized words, "THIEVES
AND PIRATES!" The third line, in small upper-and-lower letters, "and
those who live on the efforts of other people's brains." Then, capitals
again: "DON'T IMITATE, COPY OR STEAL," small letters, "any part of
(in letters three inches high) "DARDANELLA, The Biggest Musical Hit
of the Past 20 Years." The succeeding paragraph stated that "we will
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prosecute . . . criminally and civilly, any infringement on the melody or lyric of Dardanella. . . ." The ad was signed by copyright
owners, McCarthy and Fisher, Inc., of 124 West 46th Street, Nathan
Burkan, Attorney.
Although the reference in the ad was to a possible infringement on
"melody or lyric," what concerned the copyright owners was really
the song's bass line, a novel adaptation of an eight-to-the-bar boogie
figure with an ascending chromatic melody. It was different, had an
identity of its own, and added to the attractiveness of the song by
giving the melody line a memorable underpinning. Whether or not
they anticipated an infringement, the fact is that two years later, they
had occasion to bring suitand not against an unknown composer.
From its beginnings, the song had a curious history and involved
two strange and eccentric people. Of its publisher, Fred Fisher, who
also wrote the words, it was said that when he became nervous he
pulled paper money out of his pockets and tore up the bills; also that
he was one of the few publishers who brought a wastepaper truck to
his door to dispose of an overstock of unsalable copies of a "dog"
song, lest he be crowded out of his limited office space. Of German
descent, Fisher never lost his accent but mastered the language and
musical idiom of his adopted country well enough to cowrite a long
list of hits, including "Peg 0' My Heart" (1913), "There's a Broken
Heart for Every Light on Broadway" (1914), "Ireland Must Be
Heaven for My Mother Comes from There" (1916), and "Chicago
(That Toddlin' Town)" (1922), originally popularized in vaudeville
by Blossom Seeley.
The writer who brought "Dardanella" to Fisher was Johnny Black,
a vaudevillian whose great hit was "Paper Doll," originally identified
with Tommy Lyman, which went on to sell 6 million records for the
Mills Brothers in 1942. Reports have it that Edward B. Marks turned
the "Doll" down when he first heard it, but finally in desperation accepted it when Black played it repeatedly on a violin with a trained
canary perched on his shoulder chirping along. The title under which
Fisher first heard "Dardanella" was "Turkish Tom-Tom," a piano instrumental without a lyric or chorus. Fisher's ear was caught by the
novel bass. When Black returned with a lyric as requested, Fisher
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All rejected the claim that the "Dardanella" bass was original. To
support his claim, Fisher presented an eight-piece band performing
"Dardanella," with added solos on the ukulele by May Singhi Breen
and on the piano by himself. To demonstrate further that the bass
line had a unique identity, Fisher played the hymn, "Nearer My God
to Thee" "against the harem thump and wriggling rhythm of "Dardanella" 's bass."3
Presiding Judge Learned Hand, who felt that the suit was "trivial
pother . . . and a waste of time for everyone," as he said in his verdict, called a meeting in chambers. Fisher offered to settle the suit for
a suit of clothes. Whatever Kern's reasoningego, insult to his reputation, confidence in his witnesseshe rejected the offer. Judge Hand
thereupon ruled in Fisher's favor, asserting that the bass material was
"essential and substantial"4 and awarded him the minimum sum of
$250 in damages.
With "Dardanella" selling in quantities that spelled hit, Fred Fisher
attempted to piggy-back a new song on its popularity. In the Variety
of January 24, 1920, a large ad devoted to celebrating the success of
"Dardanella," including a reprint of its lyric, carried the announcement of a new Fred Fisher song, "Daddy, You've Been a Mother to
Me," which became a moderately popular ballad. It is sometimes remembered because of a gag that a fellow publisher perpetrated on
Fisher, who never forgave Joe Goodwin for it. After Prohibition, the
Globe Cafe on Broadway near 47th Street was turned into a freak exhibition hall, with freaks stationed on platforms selling photographs,
and performing similar tasks. When Fisher was about to release
"Daddy You've Been a Mother to Me," Joe Goodwin purchased a
photograph of the bearded lady and sent it to Fisher with the suggestion that he use it as the illustration on the song cover.
Another major copyright became a source of controversy early in
1920. There was no issue of plagiarism, but two major songwriters
and publishers were involved. The conflict surfaced as the result of
advertisements in Variety on February 20 and 27. The earlier ad
came from Harry Von Tilzer, who identified the problem as one involving songs with "almost identical titles""When My Baby Smiles"
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in the mid-fifties. Thirty-two bars were the set number, divided into
four segments of eight bars each. The most common arrangement was
A8 A8 B8 A8, with the B segment known as "the bridge,"11 "release,"
or "channel." Among the hundreds of songs that fit into this framework are "Avalon" (1920), "The Man I Love" (1924), and "My
Heart Stood Still" (1927). Variations of this setup include As Bs As C8
("April Showers," 1921), "Carolina in the Morning" (1922), and
"I'm Just Wild About Harry" (1921), which added four bars to the
C segment. Another variant is A8 As A8 B8 ("My Blue Heaven,"
1927). The A ABA /orm is used far more often than the others. (In
passing, let it be said that the rock era, when its songs did not adhere
to the twelve-bar blues progression, brought a wide variety of forms
into popular music, frequently involving a verse-chorus arrangement,
which had been quite common during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries but largely disappeared during the twenties, except in show,
production, and film tunes.) The thirty-two-bar form was both a
boon and a challenge, supplying the songwriter with a usable and acceptable form but challenging his creativity to achieve freshness
within its restrictions.
Tin Pan Alleyit never was an alleyacquired its name by accident
some time in the early twentieth century. As a locale where song publishers, songwriters, entertainers, and related businessestheatres,
clubs and restaurantsclustered, it existed in Manhattan during the
1880s and 1890s. It was then focused around Union Square at East
14th Street. When M. Witmark and Sons had its first hit, "The Picture that Is Turned toward the Wall," in 1891, it was situated on the
corner of 13th Street and Broadway, across from the Star Theatre.
(Its first complete building was at 8 West 29th Street, and in 1903, it
rented a building at 144-46 West 37th Street.) By the time the alley
acquired its cognomen, it was largely located on West 28th Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue in a group of five-story buildings.
Here, according to legend, a songwriter named Monroe Rosenfeld,
who was also a freelance journalist, concocted and used the colorful
phrase in articles he wrote. The cacophony of different tunes being
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banged out by song pluggers on tinny upright pianos, was nicely suggested by the reference to tin pans. Hence Tin Pan Alley, a phrase
that quickly caught on between 1903 and 1910, and that remains in
use today.
By the 1920s, Tin Pan Alley had left 28th Street and moved uptown, settling in buildings in the West 40s. Broadway Music and
Jack Mills Music were on West 45th Street. Jerome Remick, Harry
Von Tilzer, and Fred Fisher were on West 46th. Shapiro, Bernstein were at Broadway and 47th, M. Witmark at 1582 Broadway,
Irving Berlin at 1587 (the corner of 47th Street), and Waterson, Berlin and Snyder were in the Strand Theatre Building. The incentive to
move came from three developments: the building of new theatres
along West 44th, 45th, and 46th streets, the location of the major network studios, and the opening of new hotels and restaurants. By the
1920s, eighty theatres existed in the Broadway area, and forty or
fifty musicals were produced each year. When CBS was incorporated
in 1927, it settled in a building at 52nd Street and Madison Avenue,
while NBC put its offices and studios at 55th Street and Fifth Avenue.
When World War I came to an end, the impulse to break loose led
people to dine out and dance more and more frequently. As a result,
all the major hotels in Manhattan opened large dining rooms, usually
with a bandstand and dance floor. For soft summer nights, there were
the cabaret roofs at the Astor, St. Regis, and Commodore, among
others, offering dining and dancing under the stars.
Opening nights at these major hotels, like Broadway premieres,
were covered by the society reporters. On June 6, 1928, for example,
Cholly Knickerbocker, the New York American's columnist, carried
the following account of the summer opening of the St. Regis Roof:
Society's newest aerial dining and dancing rendezvous
opened last evening in a gala blaze of colorful surroundings, people, and the strains of Vincent Lopez's music. So
great was the demand for resservations that more than a
thousand guests were turned away after accommodations
for 500 were exhausted, with the result that another opening will be held tonight. . . .
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to one dollar.) In the year that Roseland went into business, Rodgers
and Hart wrote their first little-noticed, complete music score for
Poor Little Ritz Girl. They thought their score was complete until
they attended the opening and found that, without their knowledge,
eight songs had been interpolated by Sigmund Romberg and Alex
Gerber.
Some of the year's most popular songs emanated from Broadway
musicals. The season's smash, Sally, with incandescent Marilyn Miller
as its star, yielded "Look for the Silver Lining," music by Jerome
Kern and words by B. G. DeSylva. "Alice Blue Gown" came from
Irene, a hit musical with songs by Joseph McCarthy and Harry Tierney. And "The Love Nest," words by Otto Harbach and music by
Louis A. Hirsch, outclassed the title song of the show, Mary. All
three of these musicals, titled with a girl's name and exploiting the
Cinderella theme of the poor girl who makes it rich, possessed a kind
of homely domesticity that gave no clue as to what was about to
happen to the morality and psychology of the American people with
the proliferation of speakeasies and their Judas holes, secret passwords, and cocktails served in coffee cups.
Through the twenties and later, Tin Pan Alley functioned on a
plane of superficial escapism that evinced little concern for the
amorality, cynicism, and hypocrisy of the timesthemes treated by
novelists like Theodore Dreiser and Sinclair Lewis (who won the
Nobel Prize in 1930) and by poets like Edgar Lee Masters and T. S.
Eliot. The garish sentimentality of the early twenties found expression even in trade advertising. When publicity-minded publisher Jack
Robbins got married, he inserted an ad in Variety, naming some of
the hits he had picked and presenting "his latest and biggest hit"a
photograph of his bride.10 One of the most colorful personalities of
the Big Ballad era, Robbins later prided himself on his rhumba
dancing and his way with women. He was widely publicized inside
the music business as Mr. Music.
The devastating impact of radio and records on the active pianoplaying generationwith its swains gathered around the upright for
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ville.) But as reviewer Pearl Sieben wrote, "In the sparkling new
theater, which immortalized his name . . . when Jolson sank down
on one knee and beseeched his mammy to forgive him, the whole nation jumped to its feet to applaud."
The other theatre, "a new, exquisitely beautiful" one,3 was located
at 239 W. 45th Street. The Music Box, as it was called, was built by
Irving Berlin in association with Sam Harris, George M. Cohan's
former partner. The initial production was the Music Box Revue,
written and produced by Berlin. Among the songs in the first edition
was the lovely "Say It with Music," which became the theme of the
series. Before he set the song in the revue, Berlin had it played down
at the Sixty Club in New York. It caught on so fast and drew so
many requests for repeat plays that Berlin became concerned lest
it lose its impact as a new ballad in the show. His worry proved
groundless for most reviewers shared Percy Hammond's description
of it as "a molten masterpiece." Berlin wrote four Music Box Revues
before the theatre was opened to outside productions.
Chicago also boasted a new, impressive theatre, much larger than
either Manhattan's Jolson or the Music Box. Called simply the Chicago, it was a giant movie palace that seated 3,800 patrons. Opening
on October 26, 1921, it presented the superfilms and superstars of
the twenties and thirties, but deteriorated with the nationwide decline
of movie palaces and of State Street as Chicago's affluent thoroughfare. Almost torn down by the Plitt Theater owners in the early
eighties, it was saved by a community-minded group of investors
who bought the theatre for 311.5 million in October 1985, refurbished it at a cost of $3.5-million, and reopened it in September
1986 as a showcase for touring Broadway shows, top talent concerts,
and touring orchestrasa la New York City's Radio City Music Hall.
Not too many songs gave expression to the incipient freewheeling,
devil-may-care spirit of the times. But in 1921 lyricists Gus Kahn
and Raymond B. Egan came up with the title, "Ain't We Got Fun,"
to which Richard A. Whiting set an infectious gang melody. George
Watts, now forgotten, introduced it in vaudeville, where it attracted
the well-known team of Van and Schenck, who proceeded to popu-
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larize it and generate a sale of over a million copies. It was not until
the middle of the twenties that several dance songs like the Charleston
and Black Bottom gave expression to the unbuttoned sexuality of the
period. In 1921 women were still having fun at their social teas and
at lunch in some restaurants where they could play mah-jongg, or
with Ouija boards.
Richard A. Whiting (1891-1938), who wrote the spirited music
for "Ain't We Got Fun," hailed from Peoria, Illinois, and moved into
songwriting after being stage struck in his youth. For a time he
worked to develop a vaudeville actit never came offwith Marshall
Neilan, a Pierce Arrow chauffeur who later became a well-known
movie director. On a visit to Detroit, where Jerome H. Remick
bought three of his songs at $50 apiece, he was offered the post of
"Professional Manager," which he declined at first, but accepted
when the salary was upped to $25 a week. He supplemented the meager take by playing piano for $10 a week at a local hotel backed by
six native Hawaiians. What was probably the biggest hit of his
career was also nearly his first"Till We Meet Again" (1918)-
a great group song that reportedly sold over 5 million copies. During
his two years in Detroit, he collaborated with Ray Egan and Gus
Kahn, who came from Chicago expressly to work with him. Efforts
to persuade Kahn to go to New York to write shows failed. Whiting,
nevertheless, went to New York and was almost immediately handed
a train ticket for Hollywood by a music publisher. His first film
contract was with Paramount, but after scoring two Broadway musicals in 1931 he returned to tie up with Fox and then with Warner
Brothers, collaborating with Johnny Mercer.
During the 1920s he produced a series of top songs: "Japanese
Sandman" (1920), recorded by Nat Brandwynne, Russ Morgan, and
Ray Noble; "Sleepy Time Gal" (1924), recorded by Harry James,
Art Lund, Buddy Cole, and Paul Weston; "Ukulele Lady" (1925);
"Breezin' Along with the Breeze" (1926), and the torch song "She's
Funny That Way" (1928), recorded by Connie Haines, Martha
Stewart, and, after a time, Frank Sinatra. Ray Egan was the lyricist
on "Japanese Sandman" and "Sleepy Time Gal," while Gus Kahn
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Indian" (Blanda Merrill and Leo Edwards). She was the dialect
comedienne without peer.
Nevertheless, Ziegfeld chose her to sing "My Man" in place of
Mistinguett. During rehearsals, Miss Brice sang the torch ballad,
dressed in a formal evening gown. According to reports, Ziegfeld
leaped on stage during one rehearsal, ripped off the gown, substituted
the shabby dress of a street urchin and instructed her to sing the
number while leaning against a lamppost. Singing with a poignancy
that brought down the house, Fanny Brice made the song her own,
partly because of events in her own life. "In my mind," she said of
her tearful rendition, "I think of Nick [her husband] leaving and the
tears just come." Nick was Nicky Arnstein, a gangster to whom Brice
was joined in an unhappy marriage that ended in divorce. During
her career, Fanny Brice recorded three different versions for Victor,
and sang it in three different films: her talking picture debut, My
Man (1928); The Great Ziegfeld (1936); and Rose of Washington
Square (1939). Later, attaining fame and popularity on the radio
as Baby Snooks, Fanny inspired the title role of the Broadway musical, Funny Girl (1964). Barbra Streisand, who starred in both the
stage and film version (1968) of the musical, recorded a number of
Fanny's hits, including "Second Hand Rose," which was also interpolated in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921. (This revue included a
tribute to entrancing Marilyn Miller, then the queen of Broadway
musicals, "Sally, Won't You Come Back to Me?" She starred in
Sally (1920-21), written by Gene Buck [words] and Dave Stamper
[music], and introduced by Van and Schenck.)
At least three jazz-blues classics were added to the standard instrumental repertoire in 1921. In addition to "Wabash Blues," popularized by Isham Jones and, to a lesser extent, by the Benson Orchestra of Chicago, there were "The Wang Wang Blues" and "Jazz Me
Blues," commercial, not ethnic blues. "Wang Wang" was popularized
by Paul Whiteman and his virtuoso trumpet player, Henry Busse,
cowriter of the tune. "Jazz Me Blues" began its celebrated career with
recordings by classic blues singer, Lucille Hegamin, and by the Wolverines, who cut it on the first session the great Bix Beiderbecke made
with the group.
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By 1921 the illicit liquor business was in full swing. Outside the
three-mile limit of the Atlantic seaboard, Rum Row (as it became
known) flourished with fleets of speedboats smuggling contraband
liquor; luxury liners made excursions to sea for jet setters who could
afford to pay for a cocktail with a hundred-dollar bill. Chicago, Boston, New York, and other cities were rife with hijackings, sawedoff shotguns, and bloody confrontations. Other cities occupied themselves with various activities: Atlantic City, with its first Miss America
bathing beauty contest, concocted by local businessmen to promote
tourism after Labor Day; Jersey City, with the Jack Dempsey-Georges
Carpentier heavyweight prizefight, the first major boxing match broadcast over the radio.
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Richard Bold and Rosalind Fuller, sung in front of a plain-blue curtain and danced to by Margaret Petit and Valodia Vestoff, ballet
dancers, who served as the chime ringers in the triple-bell effect of
the song. In its middle strain, the waltz made use of the famous Westminster chimes of London's Big Ben. The romantic ballad proved the
most memorable song to come out of the seventh edition of the
Greenwich Village Follies, a strange turn considering the revue's
vaunted reputation for cynicism, mockery, and sophistication.
Dorothy Terriss was not really the name of the lyricist, but a
pseudonym for Theodora Morse, the wife of Theodore F. Morse
(1873-1924), a successful turn-of-the-century songwriter and publisher who was the author and/or composer of "Keep on the Sunny
Side," "M-o-t-h-e-r," and "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here," this last
written to the music of the "Pirate's Chorus" in Gilbert and Sullivan's
comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. Theodora Morse's best-known
lyrics were written to Ernesto Lecuona's "Siboney," popularized by
Grace Moore in the film When You're in Love (1929), and to the
Paul Whiteman-Ferde Grofe tune, "Wonderful One," a 1922 musical
adaptation from a theme by film director Marshall Neilan.
Another giant song of 1922 with exotic origins was "Parade of
the Wooden Soldiers." Originally a German instrumental, Leon Jessel's "Die Parade der Holzsoldaten," published in 1911, it was introduced in the Russian cellar revue Chauve Souris, which was a hit in
London, displayed its charm when it was presented at the Forty-ninth
Street Theatre in Manhattan, and became a box-office smash when it
moved to the Century Theatre. The great attraction was its master
of ceremonies, Nikita Balieff, whose English pronounciation convulsed audiences "Phooden Soldjurs") and the effectiveness of whose
role thereafter made M.C.'s a must in revues. Edward B. Marks, its
publisher, wrote:
As a show number, the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
was a great success, but it sold few copies. Who wanted
a precision march at home in the living room? It seemed
a great plug gone to waste. But I swore I would make the
tune a best seller as well as a stage hit. "What?" roared
my neighbors. "It's just a Dutch march!"
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(words) and Ernest Breuer (music), was the butt of many jokes and
became a record hit thirty-three years later during the Skiffle craze
in England when it was recorded by Lonnie Donegan. (Another novelty, from 1920, was titled "Who Ate Napoleons with Josephine
When Bonaparte Was Away?")
The big novelty song of the yearmore of an audience-raiser than
a gang songwas "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean," popularized in
the Ziegfeld Follies of 1922 by Gallagher and Shean, Although the
pair supposedly wrote the patter song, publisher Isidore Witmark has
stated that songwriter Ernest Ball contributed much to it as an act
of friendship.4 The construction of the song made it easy to insert
names and jokes so that it became a long-standing favorite at parties
and conventions.
By 1922 the Algonquin Round Table was flourishing, as were Broadway revues. Two theatre-oriented regulars among the wits who met
daily for the wisecracking luncheons in the hotel's Rose Room,
George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, became prime movers in
putting together a revue. They called it The 49ers, for no reason except that it opened at the minuscule Punch and Judy Theatre on 49th
Street. Concerned to present a revue that "eschewed spectacle and
vaudeville vulgarity," they offered a burlesque of current operetta,
parodies, and satiric sketches. The contributions were by celebrated
figures like Dorothy Parker, Ring Lardner, Heywood Broun, FPA,
Robert Benchley, and other Round Table jokesters. Opening on
November 7, 1922, The 49ers "bombed out" after an abbreviated
run of two weeks. In critic Burns Mantle's words, "the multitude
sniffed and would have none of it."5 Obviously, it took more than
wisecracks, bon mots, and epigrams to mount a successful Broadway
show, as proved by the success of The Grand Street Follies, which
had similarly elevated aims, but more substance.
The two novelty songs named above are hardly an index of Billy
Rose's talents or scope. Born on the Lower East Side, like Fanny
Brice, to whom he was married for a time, he became a fifty-yard
dash champion while attending Public School 44it was a matter of
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rhythmic jazz accentuations. Winnie Lightner and a chorus introduced the hit to the accompaniment of Paul Whiteman's pit band.
Zez Confrey produced a hit in "Stumbling," whose tricky melody
was developed on the pentatonic scalethe black notes of the piano.
A number of other songs that year embodied unusual tonal or
rhythmic gimmicks. In "Carolina in the Morning," Walter Donaldson set Gus Kahn's words"Nothing could be finer than to be in
Carolina . . ."to a pair of notes, a minor third apart, repeated
seven times. Employing schottische rhythm, the song was introduced
in vaudeville by William Frawley and interpolated successfully in
The Passing Show of 1922 by Willie and Eugene Howard. In "Way
Down Yonder in New Orleans," a bright, dixieland-styled tune,
J. Turner Layton (music) and Henry Creamer (words) took the
stop-time device and incorporated it into the song. When the lyric
read, "Stop!Oh, would you give your lady fair . . . ,"the melody paused after the word "stop." The device was repeated in the
succeeding line: "Stop!You bet your life . . ." Dropped from the
short-lived show, Strut Miss Lizzie, "Way Down Yonder" became
known through the Spice of 1922.
The year saw the rise of Ager, Yellen and Bornstein, a very successful publishing firm, among whose first hits was "Lovin' Sam, the
Sheik of Alabam," written by Ager and Yellen, and introduced by
Grace Hayes in the musical The Bunch and Judy. Among songwriters
for whom 1922 brought the first rays of recognition, there were composer Harry Warren with "Rose of the Rio Grande"; composer
J. Fred Coots with "Time Will Tell," interpolated in Sally, Irene and
Mary; composer Ray Henderson, whose first collaboration with lyricist Lew Brown yielded "Georgette"; and lyricist Gus Kahn, whose
first joint effort with Walter Donaldson produced the classic tearjerker, "My Buddy," popularized by the ubiquitous Al Jolson.
J. Fred Coots (1897-1985) started his career as a song plugger
and then performed in vaudeville and nightclubs. He composed his
biggest hits in the thirties: "Love Letters in the Sand" (Nick and
Charles Kenny), which became the theme of George Hall and His
Orchestra; "Santa Glaus Is Coming to Town," written with Haven
Gillespie, with whom he also collaborated on "You Go to My Head,"
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introduced by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Band, and adopted as
his theme by Mitchell Ayres and His Orchestra. Coots achieved recognition initially in the twenties through his contributions to many
Broadway shows, although he accounted for no major hits. After
Sally, Irene and Mary (1922), his songs were heard in two editions
of Artists and Models (1924-25), June Days (1925), and A Night
in Paris, among other productions. In 1928 he produced two hits,
both in films: "A Precious Thing Called Love," introduced Nancy
Carroll in Shopworn Angel, and "I Still Get a Thrill," was included
in the score for Ripples.
Bert Williams, regarded by many as the greatest comic of his time,
died in 1922 after catching a cold that developed into pneumonia. A
transfusion he received from his friend, arranger Will Vodery, was
not effective in preventing his death on March 8 at the early age of
forty-eight. After starting as a banjo player in minstrel shows,
Williams joined forces with George Walker and the two became famous. From playing vaudeville in blackface, Williams and Walker
moved successfully into black musicals, starring in In Dahomey
(1903), Bandana Land (1908), and others. By the time of Mr. Load
of Koal and the death of George Walker, Williams was more than
ready for the bigtime.
In 1910 he became the first black featured in an all-white Broadway
musical when Florenz Ziegfeld starred him in the Follies of that year
despite opposition from white cast members. Thereafter, Williams
starred in eight successive Follies, winning plaudits from fellow
comics as well as from critics and audiences. His last appearance was
in Broadway Brevities of 1920, a George Le Maire production in
which he performed "The Moon Shines on the Moonshine" and "I
Want to Know Where Tosti Went (When He Said Goodbye)." He
recorded the former, one of more than seventy sides he cut from
1901 into 1922, all for Columbia except for eight sides made for
Victor in 1901.
Although his talent was theatricalhe was a superb actor and
comicfrom the early days of his partnership with George Walker,
Williams wrote songs that the pair used in their vaudeville appear-
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ances. His most important tune, encapsulating the role of the downer
he generally played on stage, was "Nobody," with words by Alex
Rogers, first performed in 1905. It became the song most identified with him, and he recorded it at least three times. Throughout
his career Egbert Austin Williams, born in the British West Indies
in 1874, suffered not only from the indignity of being compelled to
perform in blackface but also from the prejudice rampant even in
theatrical circles. "I am what I am," he wrote in an article in American Magazine, "not because of what I am, but in spite of it. ...
Every time I come back to America, this thing they call race prejudice follows me everywhere I go. . . ."T
At times, people walking along 125th Street in Harlem were amazed
to see what looked like a reel of film rolling along the street. In fact, it
was movie film, set in motion by employees of a movie house exhibitor
who was a rival of theatre owner Leo Brecher. Brecher made projectionists go downtown to get the films shown in the many Harlem
movie houses he owned. Finally, Frank Schiffman, a former schoolteacher, established a delivery service that did away with the hijacking; he thus became a Brecher theatre manager and associate.
In 1922 the two took over the Harlem Opera House, just down the
block on 125th Street from the Apollo Theatre. "They developed a
successful format," Ted Fox observed in Showtime at the Apollo,
"of stage comedies and musicals featuring stars and stars-to-be,
among them, Al Jolson, the Four Marx Brothers, and a stock company presenting Ann Harding [the future film star]. For a time,
their operation included running girlie shows at the Loew's Seventh
Avenue on 124th Street and operating Harlem's Lincoln Theatre.
However, the Lafayette became the capital of their theatrical empire. . . ."8 In 1934 they took over the Apollo, making it the legendary theatre for black performers.
The shimmy was a ragtime dance whose major performers included
Gilda Gray, Bea Palmer, and Ann Pennington. It involved a sinuous
shaking of the hips and shoulders and was celebrated in songs like
"I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" and " 'Neath the
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12
"Yes! We Have
No Bananas"/
"Charleston"
(1923)
Songwriters have frequently drawn ideas for songs and titles from
conversations, heard and overheard. It was an unknown Greek fruit
peddler whose ambiguous handling of affirmatives and negatives inspired one of the most successful novelty songs of all time. His reply
to a customer who asked whether he had any bananas, was the legendary, "Yes! We Have No Bananas."
As the basis of a song, the expression was brought by Irving Conn
(ne Cohen) and Frank Silver to Waterson, Berlin and Snyder, who
rejected it along with Conn's request for a $1,000 advance. Louis
Bernstein of Shapiro, Bernstein liked the idea but wanted the specimen lyric rewritten. What emerged, according to Douglas Gilbert,
was "a perfect job of collaboration by virtually the entire Shapiro,
Bernstein office. The late James Hanley contributed the line, 'There's
a fruit store on our street,' and Elliott Shapiro offered, 'It's run by a
Greek,' and Lew Brown, later of De Sylva, Brown and Henderson,
finished the verse. The lyric of the second verse was touched up by
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pression that swept the world. When F. Scott Fitzgerald met Ernest
Hemingway in Paris in 1924, Hemingway's favorite expressions,
according to biographer Nancy Milford, were "Parbleu!" and "Yes,
we have no bananas!"5 It was played, sung, talked about, and joked
about to such an extent that it eventually led to the writing of "Yes!
We Have No Bananas Blues." Foreign publishers bid for the rights,
even though translating the title and retaining the ridiculous ambiguity was virtually impossible. A Viennese firm first tried a literal
rendering: "Ja, Wir Haben Keinen Bananen." Good German, but it
did not have the humorous impact. In despair, they settled for
"Angerechnet Bananen!," which meant, "Of All Things! Bananas!"
On October 29, 1923, a black musical titled Runnin' Wild opened at
the Colonial Theatre. It was the only show to approach the success
of Shuffle Along. A hoofer named Elizabeth Welch danced a fast,
high-stepping fox-trot, swinging her legs behind her and to the side,
to a song titled "Charleston." Written by Cecil Mack (a pseudonym
for Richard D. McPherson) and stride piano king James P. Johnson,
"Charleston" became the dance that, in Gerald Bordman's words,
"ultimately expressed and symbolized the whole gaudy era about to
explode. It pronounced the beat for the 'lost generation' and liberated
the whole jazz movement."6
It quickly elicited a commentary in "Charleston Crazy" by Porter
Grainger and Bob Ricketts, recorded by Fletcher Henderson and his
Orchestra on Vocalion. Clarence Williams likewise reacted quickly
and with Thomas Morris and William Russell, wrote "Original
Charleston Strut," recorded by Thomas Morris's Past Jazz Masters
on OKeh. The fad grew apace, peaking in 1924 when a Charleston
Marathon held at Roseland Ballroom in New York City lasted almost
twenty-four hours. In Boston, the floor of the Pickwick Club collapsed during the dancing of the Charleston, killing fifty. In George
White's Scandals of 1925, the popularity of the dance was documented in a performance by Tom Patricola, aided and abetted by
no fewer than sixty girls.
Clarence Williams was also a collaborator on "Just Wait 'till You
See My Baby Do the Charleston Dance" (1925), recorded by his
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Whistle Till the Clouds Roll By" (1921), "Put Away a Little Ray of
Sunshine for a Rainy Day" (1924), "Looking at the World Through
Rose-Colored Glasses" (1926), "My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now"
(1928), "Watching the Clouds Roll By" (1928), and "Painting the
Clouds with Sunshine" (1929). It seemed as if uninhibited sex, defiance of conventions, and boisterous, self-indulgent fun were all part
of an effort to escape premonition of disaster.
Some of these "optimistic" songs came from revues, of which there
seemed to be a plethora in 1923: Greenwich Village Follies, George
White's Scandals, Shuberts' Passing Show, Earl CarrolFs Vanities,
Shuberts' Artists and Models, Topics of 1923, Nifties of 1923, and
looking forwardbut not for longFashions of 1924.
Some songs go through stages before they achieve a form that appeals to the public. Rudolf Friml's "Chansonette" went through three
incarnations in seventeen years before it emerged as a hit. In its
original form it was a piano teaching piece, titled "Chanson" and
published, not by a Broadway publisher, but by a major "classical"
house, G. Schirmer. In 1923 musicologist, historian, and tune detective Sigmund Spaeth urged Friml to make his teaching piece a pop
song. Spaeth was joined in the undertaking by two people, neither
one of whom seemed a natural collaborator for Friml: Dailey Pasknian, a minstrel show buff, and ace lyricist Irving Caesar. The revamped "Chanson" emerged with words and the title "Chansonette."
The melody was so attractive that Paul Whiteman included it in his
Aeolian Hall concert of February 12, 1924, under the heading
"Adaptation of Standard Selections to Dance Rhythm." But it was
not until 1937 that it finally became a major hit. In that year,
Rudolf Friml's debut American operetta sensation of 1912, The Firefly, was made into a film. It featured a new song, "Donkey Serenade," with music by Herbert Stothart and lyrics by Chet Forrest and
Robert Wright.
Among the most popular songs of 1923 was "Bambalina," from the
musical Wildflower, the season's biggest hit, and the rhythm ballad
that brought Vincent Youmans recognition as a composer. A song
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Broadway," which Fanny Brice turned into a standing-ovation number in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1920. Their early collaborations included songs for Belle Baker's vaudeville act. In 1923, the year of
their first big hit, they were also successful in writing their first
Broadway show, Helen of Troy, New York, a satire with a book by
Marc Connelly and-writing his first musicalGeorge S. Kaufman.
It ran for 191 performances but yielded no hits, as was also the case
with the six musicals that followed, except for Good Boy, one of two
shows they wrote in 1928. A feature of Good Boy was the pip-squeak
singing by the "boop-a-doop girl," Helen Kane, of "I Wanna Be
Loved by You," which became the show's outstanding song and a
hit. In 1928, too, Kalmar and Ruby scored Animal Crackers, a zany
Marx Brothers musical, which yielded "Hooray for Captain Spalding," the role played by Groucho Marx. Groucho adopted the song
as the theme of both his radio and TV shows.
When Tin Pan Alley songwriters trekked West with the advent of
the talkies, Kalmar and Ruby were among the first to join Fox films,
for whom they wrote two of their biggest hits. "Nevertheless" appeared in an inconsequential 1931 film, I'm So Afraid of You, but
it became a favorite of both Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby, who
helped make it a bestseller. Before "Nevertheless," Kalmar and Ruby
wrote "Three Little Words," a mammoth hit and the song that became the title of their biopic when it was made in 1950. "Three Little
Words" was featured in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double
Check, sung by Bing Crosby, who was accompanied by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. It also was popularized by Rudy Vallee. When
Three Little Words was made in 1950 with Fred Astaire and Red
Skelton playing Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar, Vera Allen and Debbie
Reynolds were the female leads. Vera's songs were dubbed for her
by Anita Ellis, and Helen Kane did her baby-talk version of "I
Wanna Be Loved by You" for Debbie Reynolds. The film brought
a revival of "Nevertheless" in hit recordings by the Mills Bros, and
Paul Weston and his Orchestra. The following year (1951), Kalmar
and Ruby enjoyed their last hit, "A Kiss to Build a Dream On"
(posthumous for Kalmar), from the film The Strip.
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A proliferation of the blues was audible throughout 1923, with jazzmen, blues singers, and Tin Pan Alley songwriters all contributing.
King Oliver made his celebrated disks of "Canal Street Blues" and
"Dippermouth," while Fletcher Henderson presented "Dicty Blues,"
and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings recorded "Farewell Blues" and
Jelly Roll Morton's "London Blues." Among blues artists, Ida Cox
was represented by "Graveyard Dream Blues," Alberta Hunter by
"Down South Blues," Ethel Waters by "Kind Lovin' Blues," Clara
Smith by "Every Woman's Blues," and Sara Martin by Clarence
Williams's "Sugar Blues," which became a perennial as a result of
Clyde McCoy's wa-wa trumpet version recorded in 1936.
But with the tremendous popularity enjoyed by "Yes! We Have
No Bananas" and "Barney Google," among other nonsense novelties, Ira Gershwin's flippant verse seems not inappropriate: "The
rhythm is great/the beat immense/so who cares if it doesn't make
sense."12
13
"Rhapsody
and Romance in Blue"
(1924)
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plot and relationships." At the time this was done "almost de rigueur
in the finale" by setting new lyrics to one of the principal songs."8
In Lady Be Good, four couples, each formerly at odds, reunited at
11:00 P.M. each even to Fascinating Rhythm, with each couple singing a slightly different set of words to the title "Fascinating Wedding," and the four men joining in unison to sing the last eight bars.
1924 was a most rewarding year for bandleader Isham Jones, who
scored a succession of hits with the music he wrote for "It Had to
Be You," "I'll See You in My Dreams," and "Spain." The lyrics for
all three were written by Gus Kahn (1886-1941), one of the most
prolific lyricists of the twenties and thirties. Born in Coblenz, Germany, Kahn was brought to this country by his parents when he was
five, and was raised in Chicago. He began writing songs while in
high school, collaborated in 1914 on "The Good Ship Mary Ann"
with Grace Le Boy, who became his wife. One of his earliest hits was
"I'll Say She Does," written for Sinbad (1918) with Bud De Sylva,
and released by Jerome H. Remick, his publisher for five years. With
Richard A. Whiting, he wrote "Ain't We Got Fun" in 1921, and with
Walter Donaldson, in 1922, "My Buddy" and "Carolina in the Morning," and in 1925, "Yes Sir, That's My Baby." In time, he collaborated with virtually every top pop composer of the twenties and
thirties, producing one of the longest lists of hits of those years.4
Of all the hits of 1924, the strangest was a record released October
3 on which "The Prisoner's Song" was backed with "The Wreck of
the Old '97." Strange, because it was a hillbilly hit by a singer who
was not a hillbilly and because it was the biggest selling record of
the pre-electric era, aggregating a whopping six to seven million
Victor disks, a figure no pop record of the twenties approached. The
disk was the work of a man who called himself Vernon Dalhart, a
concoction made from the names of two towns near his childhood
home of Jefferson, Texas, where he was born Marion T. Slaughter on
April 6, 1883. After receiving a thorough musical education, he went
to New York, where he became a member of the Century Opera
Company. A tenor who specialized in light opera, he frequently performed in Gilbert and Sullivan productions. He began making rec-
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trice Lillie, dancer and singer Jack Buchanan, and actress and singer
Gertrude Lawrence.
On the evening of Whiteman's concert, Louis Armstrong was playing at Roseland with the Fletcher Henderson Band. Alternating with
Henderson for a time was Vincent Lopez with a standard nine-piece
dance band. Within a few days of the Whiteman concert, three Chicago musicians made a recording, at the suggestion of bandleader
Isham Jones, of "Blue Blues" b/w "Arkansas Blues" that became an
enormous hit. Led> by Red McKenzie and calling themselves the
Mound City Blues Blowers, they played banjo and two unconventional instruments: a comb wrapped in tissue paper and a kazoo, the
latter a toy horn whose tissue paper "reed" was activated by humming into the mouthpiece. Although they played hot jazz, the record
was sold "as a novelty, and high society found them amusing," Marshall Stearns reports. He continues: "The Blues Blowers played the
Palace, toured Europe and became the darlings of society people who
didn't know one tune from another but were thrilled by the freak instruments."8 Although more authentic jazz was being played by King
Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, Bennie Moten and others, "the Blues
Blowers had the distribution and the attention of the public. Their
influence accordingly was everywhere. Out in Spokane, 20-year-old
Bing Crosby was spellbound and set to work to copy them."9
1924 was a "hot" year in jazz and the blues. When Bessie Smith
played a theatre on the South Side of Chicago in May, there nearly
was a riot. In 1924 Hoagy Carmichael heard the Wolverines with
Bix Beiderbecke. "Just four notes . . . but Bix didn't blow them
he hit 'em like a mallet hits a chime-and his tone, the richness . . .
I got up from the piano and staggered over and fell on the davenport. . . ."
Paul Whiteman was not the only bandleader concerned with gaining recognition for jazz and with proving that it was an art form. Indeed another symphonic jazz concert took place the same year as the
Aeolian Hall program. This concert, which has generally escaped the
notice of historiansrightfully, perhapsoccurred on November 23,
1924. It was arranged by William Morris, a top impresario, was
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harmonica player, Borrah Minnevitch, whom Lopez discovered demonstrating the instrument in the Wurlitzer music store, performed an
"Original Jazz Fantasy" by Rubecalle but also "My Heart at Thy
Sweet Voice" from the opera Samson et Dalila. According to the program notes, these numbers proved "that the mouth harmonica, in the
hands of an artist, has a valid claim to be taken seriously as a musical instrument."11 The other curiosity was a soprano, Yvette Rugel,
singing "If Love Were All," a ballad, by Hugo Frey, a good arranger
and musician but hardly "a leading exponent of the jazz genre,"12 as
he was described in the program.
The mixed character of the undertaking was underscored most,
perhaps, by Lopez's adding Xavier Cugat, soon to become the Rumba
King, to his violin section because Cugat pestered him to be included.
The highest praise of the concert by a critic was the statement by
Olin Downes of the New York Times: "It demonstrates the real promise in American music!"13 It is the only comment that Lopez includes
in his autobiography. Nevertheless, Lopez was able to capitalize on
the Metropolitan Opera House program that winter with a jazz concert tour through the northeast, booked jointly by William Morris
and Sol Hurok. Serious music critics turned out and, according to
Lopes, "the inevitable comparisons with Whiteman weren't bad."14
In fact the reviewer of the Boston Transcript wrote, "The crowd was
as large and as enthusiastic as that which previously turned out to
greet his jazz contemporary, Paul Whiteman. The Lopez orchestra is
intrinsically a better orchestra than Mr. Whiteman's, and Mr. Lopez
is a firmer, more disciplined conductor than Mr. Whiteman. . . ."lu
Considering the top-notch jazzmen who were in the Whiteman orchestra, this is a strange evaluation indeed.
VINCENT LOPEZ'S "JAZZ" CONCERT,
METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE
November 23, 1924
Part One
1. RUSSIAN FANTASY
LOPEZ-POLLA*
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154
W. C. HANDY
AND JOSEPH NUSSBAUM
(Orchestral Development by Lopez-Nussbaum)
This "symphonietta in 'jazz' style," as it has been called, presents in
a free-form fantasy the evolution of that specifically American negro
emotional quality known as "the blues." The composers have been notably successfulafter a beginning in which the tribal drums of jungle villages beatin presenting in a brilliant, stepwise progression
the birth of "the blues" out of the profane song (negro tribal dance
and occupational melody) and sacred song (the slave-day spirituals).
These "blues"the negro character combinations of a surface melody
of carefree happiness on a ground bass of sorrow and melancholy
have been symphonically traced through their evolution in this tonepoem. It is a work rich in effect, and old negro spirituals and the
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famous "Blues"Memphis, St. Louis, Beale Street, Harlemare harmoniously interwoven in its pages to justify the title.
Part Two
11. SCHEHEREZADE
N. RIMSKY-KORSAKOW
(Orchestral Development by Lopez-Polio)
Themes from the different movements of the Russian composer's symphonic poem have been elaborated in free-form style and in a thoroughly symphonic manner, with effects of sonority peculiar to the special orchestral composite presenting the fantasy.
12. CIELITO UNDO (BEAUTIFUL SKY)
MEXICAN FOLK SONG
(Orchestral Development by Lopez-Polla)
A Spanish ballad in tango-rhythm presented in a novel orchestral
color-scheme.
13. "FOLLOW THE SWALLOW"
R. HENDERSON
(Orchestral Development by Lopez-Polla)
A popular song of the day in an original orchestral working-out of its
rhythm and color possibilities.
14. TWO SOLOS FOR HARMONICA
a. "My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice" from S. Saint-Saens' "Samson et,
Dalila"
b. Rubealle Original Jazz Fantasy
Soloist* MR. BORRAH MINEVITCH
* These numbers are introduced to prove that the mouth-harmonica,
in the hands of an artist, has a valid claim to be taken seriously as a
musical instrument.
15. "THE MEANEST BLUES"
FLETCHER HENDERSON
(Orchestral Development by Lopez-Katsmann)
This, a typical "jazz" number, is a composition of the genuine negro "jazz" variety, with all the instrumental "comedy" effects (clarinet glissandi, melodious wails, crooning, reproaches, insinuations,
chuckles, etc., on the part of the other reeds and brasses) which,
if spontaneous, as in this instance, are so unquestionably piquant.
16. A STUDY IN SYNCOPATION
HENRY SOUVAINE
(Orchestral Development by Lopez-Vodery)
A brilliant orchestral two-minute-and-a-half "review" of practically
all the forms of syncopation in colorful sequence.
17. a. "ALL ALONE
b. IF LOVE WERE ALL
IRVING BERLIN
HUGO FREY
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ABEL BAER
WOLFE GILBERT
HUGO FREY
Ampico Recording
Martin Instruments
14
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wrote for the 1935 Gold Diggers of Broadway, and which won the
Academy Award that year for best song.) Between 42nd Street
(1933) and Gold Diggers of Broadway, the pair contributed "I Only
Have Eyes for You" to the film Dames, in which it was introduced
by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. It remains a standard that has been
recorded by contemporary artists such as Art Garfunkel and groups
like the Flamingos, who had a bestselling disk in 1959. For James
Melton in Melody for Two, a 1937 film, they created "September in
the Rain."
The flow of lyrics from Dubin's pen continued until February
1945 when he succumbed to pneumonia and barbiturate poisoning.
On his deathbed, Al Dubin, the Jewish boy from Philadelphia, received the last rites of the Catholic church, for he had converted
when he married Helene McClay, a blonde showgirl.
"Always," one of the songs that Irving Berlin wrote in 1924-26 to
the woman he was wooing and who became his wife, was first heard
by the public in 1925 vaudeville performances by Gladys Clark and
Henry Bergman. For no accountable reason, "Always" attracted a
parody whose authorship was attributed at one point to Larry Hart,
of Rodgers and Hart. In 1967, many years after it became known inside the music business, the spoof was printed in Dramatists Guild
Quarterly. At that time Berlin admitted his familiarity with the parody and expressed the belief that it was written by Buddy De Sylva,
who first sang it to him. The parody went:
I'll be loving you
Always
Both in very big and
Small ways.
With a love as grand
As Paul Whiteman's band
And 'twill weigh as much as
Paul weighs,
Always.
In saloons and drab
Hallways
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it was presented in a snappy song by De Sylva, Brown and Henderson, and fetchingly danced by alluring Ann Pennington. Undeniably
of black origin, the dance had several people claiming credit or being
given credit for conceiving its final form. Producer George White
presumably devised the Ann Pennington opening during rehearsals.
But black songwriter, publisher, and producer Perry Bradford gave
interviews and wrote articles seeking to establish himself as the pioneer of the dance. Blues singer and songwriter Alberta Hunter seems
to be recognized as the creator, however, although the dance was
not copyrighted until 1926. Regardless of who accounted for it, the
black bottom caught on and became as emblematic of the era as the
Charleston.
In truth, in 1926 the Charleston was still quite popular, as Louis
Armstrong has stated: "The Sunset [Cafe in Chicago] had Charleston contests on Friday night, and you couldn't get into the place
unless you were there early. . . . Percy Venable, the producer of
the show, staged a finale [one night] with four of us band boys
closing the show with the Charleston. That was really something.
There was Earl Hines, as tall as he is; Tubby Hall, as fat as he was;
litle Joe Walker, as short as he is; and myself, as fat as I was at
that time. We would stretch out across that floor doing the Charleston as fast as the music would play it. Boy, oh boy, your talking
about four cats picking them up and laying them downthat was us.
We stayed there until old boss man got tired of looking at us."1
While the Black Bottom may have given the Scandals its notoriety, the show also contained a superlative score. Among the outstanding numbers was "Lucky Day," which later became the theme
of the celebrated Saturday night network radio show, Your Hit Parade, sponsored by Lucky Strike Cigarettes. In the show, Harry Richman and Frances Williams sang the attractive ballad, "The Girl Is
You and the Boy Is Me." The song that received the most opulent
production and has remained the most performed standard of the
score is "The Birth of the Blues." Harry Richman presented the number with its dramatically ascending melody, singing it from the center of a circular staircase on which the show's chorus girls, dressed
as angels and stationed on opposite sides, fought a mock battle as
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words for the Austrian import, "When Day Is Done," which was
introduced to America by Paul Whiteman. Working with Sydney
Clare, Lew Brown converted Dvorak's "Humoresque" into "I'd Climb
the Highest Mountain," popularized by Lillian Roth and Sophie
Tucker. And composer Ray Henderson, collaborating with Mort Dixon,
produced "Bye, Bye Blackbird," later George Price's theme and a
song whose bird motif was also heard in Harry Woods's "When the
Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob Bobbin' Along," introduced by
Sophie Tucker and a favorite of Al Jolson and Lillian Roth.
Harry Woods (1896-1970), a very successful denizen of Tin Pan
Alley, was born in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and educated
at Harvard, where he was known for his singing and piano playing.
Although he began being published in the early twenties, the "Red
Robin" was his first hit, followed in 1927 by "I'm Looking Over a
Four Leaf Clover" (words by Mort Dixon)-a bestselling record for
the Art Mooney band twenty years later on the strength of Mike
Pingatore's banjo soloand by a song for which Woods wrote both
the words and music, "Side by Side." To Rudy Vallee's The Vagabond Lover (1929), he contributed "A Little Kiss Each Morning (A
Little Kiss Each Night)" as well as "Heigh-Ho Everybody!"
Woods continued to produce hits during the thirties. With Mort
Dixon, he wrote "River Stay 'Way from My Door," popularized by
Jimmy Savo in a one-man revue. Kate Smith adopted his song,
"When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain," written with Howard
Johnson, as the theme of her radio broadcasts and turned the ballad
into an enormous bestseller. Two years later, in 1933, Woods collaborated with two British songwriters and publishers, Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, on the greatest standard of his career, "Try
a Little Tenderness." Its appeal is so broad that it became part of the
repertoire of the late Otis Redding, the Georgia soul singer.
A considerable number of pop hits emerged from other big shows of
the year. Rodgers and Hart's The Girl Friend yielded the title song
with its Charleston rhythm and "The Blue Room." The latter ostensibly turned a faltering show into a hit. Peggy Ann, also by Fields
(book), Rodgers, and Hart, yielded memorable songs in "A Tree
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Cotton Club floor shows. After Blackbirds, she branched out into
book writing, her first libretto being a collaboration with brother
Lew Fields on Let's Face It (1941), with songs by Cole Porter. Between 1930 and 1939, she turned to Hollywood in the heyday of the
movie musical, producing such sparklers as "I'm in the Mood for
Love" with Jimmy McHugh (Every Night at 8), and with Jerome
Kern, "Lovely to Look At" and "I Won't Dance" (both for Roberta),
and for Swing Time. "A Fine Romance" and "The Way You Look
Tonight," which won the Academy Award as the Best Song of the
Year (1936). In the same period, she contributed two perennials,
"On the Sunny Side of the Street" and "Exactly Like You," both
with music by McHugh, to the International Revue. In time, she
accounted for the songs and/or librettos for such smash Broadway
productions as Mexican Hay ride, Redhead, Sweet Charity (revived
in 1986), and Annie Get Your Gun. She wrote the last of eight musicals, See Saw, with composer Cy Coleman in 1973.
The two other women who figure in this brief overview of female
songwriters are Anne Caldwell (1867-1936) and Dorothy Donnelly
(1880-1928). Beginning her career as a lyricist and librettist in
1906 (Old Man Manhattan), Anne Caldwell was active in the Broadway theatre into the late twenties. Many of her lyrics adorned songs
by Jerome Kern, including The Night Boat and Tip Top, both produced in 1920, and The City Chap and Crisscross, both in 1926. But
she also collaborated with Vincent Youmans (Oh, Please, 1926);
Gene Buck and Dave Stamper (Take the Air, 1927); and Raymond
Hubbell (Three Cheers, 1928). She was more successful as a book
writer than a lyricist.
Dorothy Donnelly's most frequent collaborator was light-operatic
composer Sigmund Romberg. Together they worked on such notable
productions as Blossom Time (1921), The Student Prince (1924),
and My Maryland (1927). Educated in a convent, she began her career as an actress, performing in Henry Donnelly's Stock Company
and in several Broadway plays, including Madame X (1909-11).
Among the hit songs to which she contributed lyrics, there were
"Deep in My Heart, Dear," "Song of Love" and "Your Land and
My Land," all with music by Romberg.
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1926 brought the opening of the largest dance hall in Harlem. Billing itself as "The World's Most Beautiful Ballroom," the Savoy occupied the second floor of a building that stretched the full block
from 140th to 141st streets on Lenox Avenue. Opening night was
March 12, but outside Harlem American newspapers were more
concerned with the Rudolph Valentino sex cultso much so that even
on the South Side of Chicago Valentino films were billed above the
names of the jazz bands playing in the theatre. Savoy owner Moe
Gale, later a successful music publisher and manager, booked the
Fletcher Henderson Band for opening night, drawing a crowd of five
thousand to the Track, as regulars of the Savoy came to type the ballroom.
A feature introduced by Charles Buchanan, the Harlem businessman who managed the ballroom during the 1920s, became known
as the "Battle of the Bands," and it was a tremendous crowd-getter.
When Fletcher Henderson and Chick Webb, representing New York,
were pitted against King Oliver and Fess Williams, representing Chicago, in May 1927, the riot squad had to be called out to control
the mass of people that descended on the ballroom. Most bands were
aware that, regardless of how good they were, competition brought
out a kind of drive and determination from the resident Chick Webb
Band so that it could not be beaten. If accounts do not err, the most
celebrated Battle of the Bands occurred during the Swing Era when
the Benny Goodman Band took on Chick Webb. Twenty thousand
patrons felt that the Goodman Band, then at the height of its fame,
came out second best.
In 1934 Chick Webb recorded a song before its publication celebrating the ballroom. "Stompin' at the Savoy," according to the
best available information, was written by Edgar Sampson and Andy
Razafalthough two other names (Benny Goodman and Chick Webb)
appear on the credits of the song. Goodman made a cover (a later
record based on Webb's original) in 1936, which was a hit. Such
dances as the Lindy Hop, Suzy Q, Peckin' and Truckin', among others, are presumed to have originated, and certainly were popularized, at the Savoy. It was torn down in 1958 to make way for a
housing project.
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16
"Talkies"
and Theme Songs
(1927)
1927 was a critical year in the world of motion pictures and equally
consequential in the cosmos of popular music. On October 6, at the
Strand Theatre on Broadway, Warner Brothers presented Al Jolson
in The Jazz Singer, "with Vitaphone synchronization." The film
was characterized as "the first spectacular demonstration of the potential of the talkie,"1 and Jolson was celebrated as "the man who almost singlehandedly rendered silent films obsolete."2 On October
6, 1927, "a date enshrined in film history," as a recent commentator
observed, "with all the dread decisiveness of Waterloo, Sarajevo and
Pearl Harbor . . . the death knell of the 'silent' movie was sounded
and the "talkies" were born."3
At the first Oscar awards ceremony, held in May 1929, Warner
Brothers' contribution was recognized with an honorary award for
The Jazz Singer, "the pioneer outstanding talking picture which has
revolutionized the industry/ But the truth is that The Jazz Singer
was neither the first film to break the sound barrier, as we know,
nor was it a "talkie." The picture contained six moments of Jolson
singing. Five of them were popular songs: "Dirty Hands, Dirty
Face," "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye)," "Blue Skies," "Mother 0'
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Mine," "I Still Love You," and "My Mammy." The sixth was Kol
Nidre, the Hebrew prayer chanted on the day of atonement, and
delivered at the close of the film by Jolson in lieu of his rabbinical
father, who lay dyinga sentimental scene that contributed greatly
to its popularity.
The six sequences each took two to three minutes. The orchestral
accompaniment, arranged by the studio's Louis Silvers, was handled
through Vitaphone by the projection booth, which switched machines for Jolson's songs, the changeover occurring during intertitles,
which appeared as in any silent film. Jolson uttered a single line,
the exclamation he used in personal appearances: "Wait a minute!
You ain't heard nothin' yet!" In Andrew Sarris's precise characterization, The Jazz Singer was less a "talkie" than a "single."4
But it did have sound. Of greater consequence, it did enormously
well at the box office, grossing the unprecedented sum of $3 million.
This naturally impressed rival film companies, which had been skeptical of the innovation, concerned about the cost of new equipment,
and doubtful that the public would welcome the changeover. At
showings of The Jazz Singer, Warner Brothers also offered a fifteenminute trailer of a forthcoming attraction, Tenderloin, which made
its debut on March 20, 1928. It was described in Variety as "the first
try at character-talking from the screen"and indeed it was "the
first of the talking pictures wherein the characters speak their film
roles."5 Spoken dialogue was heard four or five times, aggregating
a total of twelve to fifteen minutes of talk in an eighty-seven minute
picture.
So revolutionary and so experimental was the use of spoken dialogue that Variety felt impelled to run two reviews, one based on
audience reactions on the first night, and another on the third night.
The difference in the two groups was that the third-night audience
consisted of ordinary moviegoersthe general publicand the firstnight group were critics. Partly because the movie was "a very ordinary film crook meller," and partly because of inane dialogue and
the limitations in Dolores Costello's voice, the first nighters howled
over several of the dialogue scenes, evidencing to Variety that "they
came into the theater prejudiced against the innovation . . . and
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some left still prejudiced."6 By the third night, two of the talking
sequences had been removed, leaving only two speaking scenes. But
the singing of "Sweet Adeline" by silent movie idol Conrad Nagel
and a buddy scored well, as did a talking bit by a former vaudeville
song-and-dance man, Georgie Stone.
That the film was an experiment in sound seems clear from the
use of captions, as in The Jazz Singer. At this juncture, only two film
companies were apparently using sound. In addition to Warner
Brothers, who were wiring some of their theatres, Fox was issuing
newsreels, using Movietone, a competitor to Vitaphone. But Variety
was not certain that patrons wanted the pantomime of the silent
screen disturbed by sound that would destroy the purity of the medium and bring it close to the stage play.
The Musicians Union, moreover, was quite worried in 1928 about
the Inroads Vitaphone and Movietone machines were making into
the domain of live musicians. The central office in Chicago sent out
directives urging locals to stop the use of these machines, and active
campaigns were waged in Chicago, Baltimore, and St. Louis. By October 1928, about eight hundred theatres were wired for sound and
the following month Loew's eliminated orchestras and organists in
twenty of its New York City theatres.7 In August 1928 First National
released Lilac Time, which included "manufactured back stage sound
effects" and the singing of the film's theme song by a vocal trio
or quartet "in person." Written by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Nathaniel
Shilkret, "Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time" was among the earliest
instances of a theme song, transformed into a hit through the medium
of the screen.
Lilac Time, starring Colleen Moore and Gary Cooper, bore the
notation "Sound" in its Variety heading. The many different descriptive notations that began to appear on films is indicative of the industry's growing concern with sound as well as its wariness about
it. Some like The Singing Fool (September 26), just bore the word
"Dialog." Then there was "Dialog and Songs" (Rio Rita); "Musical
Dialog" (The Desert Song); "5 Percent Dialog," "40 percent Dialog," "Half Dialog," "50 percent Dialog, including Songs" (Show
Boat); "60 percent Dialog," "65 percent Dialog," "100 percent Dia-
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log," "All Dialog," "All Dialog with Songs," and "All Dialog with
Songs and Technicolor." Other variants were "All Dialogwith Songs
and Dance" (Hallelujah) ; "All Dialog, Songs, Dances, 86 percent
Color"; "All Dialog, All Color with Songs" (Gold Diggers of Broadway). Occasionally "Silent" appeared as a description. Single Standard noted that it was "Silent, with Disc Orchestration," and it further advised in its credits: "Victor records contain musical score with
no sound or dialog": its star was appropriately the Great Garbo.
With the introduction of the talkies, theme songs became a sine qua
non of motion pictures. The absurd lengths to which producers went
is illustrated by the film Woman Disputed, which used as its theme,
"Woman Disputed, I Love You," The theme song had its beginnings
in the year of The Jazz Singer with two films that were actually
silent. What Price Glory?, released in January 1927, was accompanied by a program of Movietone shorts, as was Seventh Heaven.
Out of the synchronized scores that were later written for and added
by Erno Rapee came two schmaltzy waltz hits. Lew Pollack wrote
the lyrics to "Charmaine" for What Price Glory? and to "Diane"
for Seventh Heaven. Rapee, it was said, originally wrote the melody
for "Charmaine" in Hungary in 1913. Its popularity contributed to
the box office success of the film and alerted the music publishing
and film industries to the potential of theme songs. (Mantovani's hit
recording in 1952 for the remake of What Price Glory?, and the
use of the melody in the background as a recurrent theme, initiated,
it is believed, the vogue of lush, string-dominated recordings.) Seventh Heaven brought an Academy Award to Janet Gaynor to which
"Diane" 's popularity contributed greatly.
Of the early theme songs, "Ramona," commissioned by the studio
to promote the film of the same name, is generally conceded to have
been the most successful. Composed by Mabel Wayne to a lyric by
L. Wolfe Gilbert, it was given an innovative send-off weeks before
the release of the film. The song was presented on a coast-to-coast
broadcast, with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra accompanying a
vocal rendition by star Dolores Del Rio. But what made the broadcast newsworthy was that the orchestra and the singer worked three
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The Ziegfeld Theatre, at which Show Boat was moored, was itself
a new addition to the Broadway scene, even though it was located
at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue. It was bankrolled by William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper publisher who also owned the Hotel
Warwick across the avenue, and its cornerstone was laid by Ziegfeld
on December 9, 1926. The premiere of the first show to play the
new house was on February 2, 1927.
That evening, Gerald Bordman observes, "not only was the season's biggest musical hit unveiled, but the finest musical playhouse
ever constructed in America was revealed to the public."8 The show
was Rio Rita (book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, songs by
Harry Tierney and Joe McCarthy), and it ran for one week short
of the five hundred-performance mark. A tricky song titled "The
Kinkajou" as well as the title tune were the hits of the show.
Manhattan also had a new "cathedral of the motion picture" with
the opening of the world's largest theatre, the Roxy. Built at an
advertised cost of $10 million, it was the brainchild of Samuel L.
("Roxy") Rothafel, reportedly the first manager to bring a symphony orchestra into a movie house to accompany a silent film.
Rothafel is credited with this pioneering innovation when he was
managing the Regent Theatre on 116th Street and Seventh Avenue
in 1913. The Roxy Theatre, a huge Spanish Renaissance structure,
was opened to by-invitation, gala, celebrity-attended dedication on
March 21, 1927.
There was still another important opening that year. Duke Ellington, who had been performing at the Hollywood (later the Kentucky
Club) on Broadway, opened at the Cotton Club in Harlem on December 4. The Duke had just acquired publisher Irving Mills as his
manageralso, though he did not know it then, as his ubiquitous
"collaborator," with his name appearing on the credits of almost
every Ellington composition. The Cotton Club had opened at 644
Lenox Avenue under the ownership of a well-known group of mobsters. Jazz critic Leonard Feather credits Mills not only with booking the Duke at the clubbut with selling the management on the
Cotton Club Parades, all-black floor shows that were as glamorous
and lavish as Broadway musicals.10
All these events were dwarfed in significance on May 20 when
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Feel at Home with You," and "My Heart Stood Still," a song that
had its beginnings in another show, Charles B. Cochran's London
revue, One Damn Thing After Another (1927). It also had its beginnings npt in London but in Paris when Rodgers and Hart, riding in
a taxi with two girls, were almost in an accident, and one of the
girls exclaimed, "My heart stood still." The methodical Rodgers,
wrote the title in a notebook, and when they arrived in London to
work on the Cochran score, wrote a melody to the title although Hart
had forgotten all about it. Enter the Prince of Wales, who became
excited about the song when Rodgers taught it to him. Dining and
dancing one evening at the Cafe de Paris in London, the prince requested the song, demonstrating it, verse and chorus, for the Teddy
Brown band, which quickly picked it up. The incident, written up
extensively in the press, helped make "My Heart Stood Still" a hit.
I have heard an entirely different story about its origin. According
to this version, Hart got into an argument with another songwriter,
who was scoffing at the use of polysyllabic words by show writers
and suggesting that writing a song with simple words posed a much
greater challenge. Irritated, Hart sat down determined to show what
he could do with simple words. A glance at the chorus of "My Heart
Stood Still' will reveal that the first eight lines do not contain a single
word that is not a monosyllable; the succeeding eight lines are likewise monosyllabic except for five two-syllable words.
Starring the Astaires, the Gershwins' Funny Face provided delightful songs in "My One and Only" and " 'S Wonderful," both romantic
and both rhythmic, the latter displaying Ira's knack for word distortions. A third ballad, "He Loves and She Loves," more sentimental
and less rhythmic, made its appearance when "How Long Has This
Been Going On?" was dropped on the road. But Ziegfeld liked the
deleted song so much he used it in Rosalie, changing it from a duet
to a solo number.
Among the less successful shows of the season was Betsy, a shortlived musical that opened a few days before New Year's Eve of 1927.
Produced by Ziegfeld, starring Belle Baker, and with a score by the
new wunderkinder of Broadway, Rodgers and Hart, it nevertheless
closed after only thirty-nine performances. Yet it launched one of the
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Among the recordings of 1927 voted into the Hall of Fame by the
membership of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences were Whiteman's Rhapsody in Blue and two jazz-oriented
disks: Bix Beiderbecke's piano solo recording of his Debussy-flavored
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whom it appealed greatly and who offered to write a lyric. The family
song that Whiting devised had little meaning for Donaldson, who was
a bachelor, but it found great favor with Eddie Cantor. The ballad
was initially introduced by Whiting, a successful vaudevillian, but
made no great impression. It fared better when Tommy Lyman, a
radio singer, adopted it as his theme in 1927. But it was Cantor who
gave the song the send-off it warranted, interpolating it in the Zeigfeld Follies of 1927 and adding lines to the lyrics about his five
daughters as "the crowd" in his own blue heaven.
Gene Austin, who made the enormously successful recording, was
born Eugene Lucas in Gainesville, Texas (1900-1972), and grew up
in Louisiana. Although he introduced and recorded the two hits he
wrote in 1924"How Come You Do Me Like You Do?" and "When
My Sugar Walks Down the Street"neither approached "My Blue
Heaven" in disk sales. It reportedly remained the all-time bestseller
until 1942 when it was superseded by Bing Crosby's recording of
"White Christmas."
The year also produced an unusual portfolio of standards. "Ukulele Ike" added Walter Donaldson's "At Sundown" to his catalogue
of hits. Other songs by Tin Pan Alley songwriters that were being
bought, hummed, and whistled by the public included the peppy
"Ain't She Sweet," by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen; the nostalgic
"Among My Souvenirs," by Edgar Leslie and Horatio Nichols; the
scalewise "Just a Memory," by De Sylva, Brown and Henderson; and
the Latin-flavored "Ramona," by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Mabel Wayne.
Irving Berlin produced "The Song Is Ended," "Russian Lullaby" (a
waltz), and the cheerful "Blue Skies"cheerful despite a minorkeyed melody. A note of optimism was likewise sounded by Irving
Kahal and Francis Wheeler in "Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella (On
a Rainy Day)." Harry Richman added to his catalogue of hits with
"C'est Vous," credited to Al Green, Abner Silver, and Richman.
Ted Lewis's featured number, "Me and My Shadow," which he performed with a live, black "shadow," also had a 1927 copyright. It
was composed by Dave Dreyer (1894-1967) with Al Jolson, whom
he sometimes accompanied, as a collaborator, and with Billy Rose as
the lyricist. A mild-mannered man who came from Brooklyn, Dreyer
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17
"The Singing Fool"
(1928)
201
very much like the character he played in The Jazz Singer. He was
the son of an orthodox rabbi, who doubtless hoped to see his son
follow in his footsteps; Jolson did substitute for his father as a singing cantor at the age of thirteen. Nevertheless, by 1909 he was working as a blackface endman with the Lew Dockstader Minstrels. The
Shuberts were so impressed by him that two years later they starred
him in La Belle Paree, initiating a relationship that lasted ten years.
Their major Broadway showcase, the Winter Garden on Broadway
and 51st Street, was really Jolson's own playhouse.
During these years and through the twenties, Jolie was among the
most consistent hit maker among singers. His power was such that
most publishers and songwriters were willing to put Jolson's name
on a song if he would record itthus his name appears as cowriter
on a very large number of songs. Among the tunes he made a permanent part of popular music are "Avalon" and "My Mammy,"
from Sinbad (1918); "April Showers," "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo'
Bye)," and "California, Here I Come," all from Bombo (1921);
"My Buddy" (1922); "Alabamy Bound" (1925); "If You Knew
Susie Like I Know Susie," from Big Boy (1925); "Breezin' Along
with the Breeze" (1926); "I'm Sitting on Top of the World,"
"Sonny Boy," "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder," and "It
All Depends on You," from The Singing Fool (1928); and "Back in
Your Own Backyard" (1928). Jolson's career continued through the
thirties and forties, when the list lengthened immeasurably. Of Jolson's rendition of "There's A Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder,"
Charles Chaplin wrote in his Autobiography: "He lifted the audience
by an unadulterated compulsion. He personified the feeling of Broadway, its vitality and vulgarity, its aims and dreams."1
During World War II, Jolson devoted his time so unstintingly and
so successfully to entertaining the troops that Warner Brothers
mounted a biopic, The Jolson Story, that created a new generation of
fans. Larry Parks played Jolie, but the singing was done by Jolson
himself, with Parks lip-synching. The 1945 edition was so great a
success that Jolson Sings Again was released as a follow-up in 1946.
Returning in 1950 from an exhausting tour of American troops in
Korea, Jolson died suddenly in San Francisco of a heart attack.
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If The Singing Fool was the sensation of the musical film scene,
Blackbirds of 1928 was the big news on Broadway. After the allblack, Sissle-Blake revue, Shuffle Along, had dazzled theatregoers in
1921, there had been a flock of black musicals. Except for Runnin'
Wild (1923), none approached Shuffle Along, until Blackbirds ran
for over five hundred performances. An inexpensively mounted show,
relying mostly on drapes, Blackbirds succeeded because of its stellar
black cast and its sock score. Dorothy Fields (1905-1974), daughter
of legendary comic and producer Lew Fields and brother of Herbert
Fields (of Fields, Rodgers and Hart), and Jimmy McHugh (18941969) had never written a Broadway show before. But they created
a score filled with such hits as "I Can't Give You Anything But Love,
Baby," "Diga Diga Do," and the toe-tapping "Doin' the New Low
Down," to which Bill Robinson did one of his eye-catching and eararresting tap-dance routines. The sterling cast also included singers
Adelaide Hall and Aida Ward. The show was a triumph of talent,
song, and dance.
The varied musical fare available to theatregoers in 1928 included
Sigmund Romberg's last operetta, The New Moon, which ran over
five hundred performancesafter nearly closing during its initial
tryoutand boasted an unusual number of pop hits. Among the romantic ballads were "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise," "Wanting
You," "One Kiss," and "Lover, Come Back to Me," which became a
favorite with jazz combos. A large, rich-voiced male chorus added
color to the proceedings, especially during the rousing "Stout-Hearted
Men."
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who recently had died. A few years later, he asked Lew Pollack to
work on the melody with him, and eventually the song credits read
"Jack Yellen (words), Jack Yellen and Lew Pollack (music). "On
an impulse," he told David Ewen, "I called up Sophie Tucker at the
Claridge Hotel in New York. She bawled me out for spoiling her
sleeping pill, but she listened and when I finished singing, she was
weeping. Between gulps, she asked me to send her a copy. She wrote
me that her agents and friends suggested the title be changed to
"Jewish" or "Hebrew Mama," being afraid of the word 'Yiddish.' I
told her that if she sang it, it would be 'Yiddishe Momme' or nothing
at all; and what is more, I insisted that she should sing the chorus
in Yiddish, the way I had written it."2
The 1928 disk that sold a million copies was two-sided, with the English version on one side and the Yiddish on the other. The accompaniment was by Ted Shapiro, who worked with Sophie for forty-six
years, up to her death, and wrote much special material for her.
Sophie introduced the song initially at the Palace Theatre in New
York in 1925 to a standing ovation. Requests turned it into one of
her specialties, second in importance only to "Some of These Days."
In her autobiography, she wrote, "I have found whenever I have
sung 'My Yiddishe Momme' in the United States or Europe, Gentiles
have loved the song and have called for it. They didn't need to understand the Yiddish words. They knew by instinct what I was saying. . . . All over the Continent, this is the song which has identified
me, as 'Some of These Days' is recognized as my theme in America."3
Two songs that made their first appearance in 1928 had to wait for
years to attain their true popularity. "Together" by De Sylva, Brown
and Henderson was a moderate hit on its introduction, but came into
its own in 1944 when it was interpolated in the film Since You Went
Away. Also in 1944 "I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)," by
Roy Turk (words) and Fred E. Ahlert, (music), enjoyed a robust
revival as a result of the film A Guy Named foe, starring Spencer
Tracy and Irene Dunne, with the latter interpreting the song. Previously, it had been kept in the ears of the public by Ruth Etting.
Other songs also evolved slowly into standards. Introduced in
vaudeville and sung in his first starring role in a talking picture
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A film The Awakening, using an unidentified female vocalist offscreen, introduced Irving Berlin's "Marie," later a signature of the
well-known Tommy Dorsey swing band. A musical, Whoopee, brought
popularity to "Love Me or Leave Me" through the vocal artistry of
Ruth Etting. An orchestra, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians,
accounted for the popularity of "Coquette," one of their first Decca
recordings and John W. Green's first published song. All three songs
of 1928 were included in Variety's "Golden 100, 1918-35."
"Coquette" was the result of a collaboration of Gus Kahn (words)
and Johnny Green and Carmen Lombardo (music). Carmen was the
lead sax and vocalist for his brother Guy's Royal Canadians, the
saxman whose syrupy alto gave the orchestra one of its distinctive
sounds. Born in London, Ontario, in 1902, Guy Lombardo started a
three-piece band at the age of twelve with Carmen and another
brother, Lebert, who played trumpet. Expanding to nine, and adding
brother Victor on baritone sax, the band gained experience and established itself in Cleveland where it appeared in vaudeville and at
the Lake Road Inn. It then moved to Chicago and New York, beginning its recording activities in 1927. By 1929 it opened at the Roosevelt Grill in New York City, where it became one of the most commercially successful dance bands in America over a thirty-three-year
period. Using "Auld Lang Syne" as its theme, it played what it described as "The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven." Guy was
regarded by sophisticated musicians as the "King of Corn," but he
always claimed that his corn was golden.
Among the 128 records voted into the Hall of Fame by NARAS
were Gene Austin's disk of "My Blue Heaven," Jimmie Rodgers's
"Blue Yodel (T for Texas)," and Duke Ellington's "Black and Tan
Fantasy." Blues and Boogie were well represented by Bessie Smith's
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"Empty Bed Blues," Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues," and Pine
Top Smith's "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie."
Ruth Etting, to whom recognition as a Broadway star came in 1928,
never had a million-copy disk, though she recorded regularly for
Columbia, putting all her request numbers on disks. And yet it was
one of her records that moved Irving Berlin to urge her upon Ziegfeld for a role in the Follies of 1927. A starring role in Whoopee followed in 1928, yielding the Gus Kahn-Walter Donaldson torch ballad "Love Me or Leave Me," which became a perennial and was used
as the title of Ruth's biopic in 1955.
Born in David City, Nebraskasources do not agree whether it
was as early as 1896 or as late as 1903Ruth entered show business
at seventeen as a costumer in a Chicago nightclub, the Marigold
Gardens, after studying design at that city's Academy of Fine Arts.
Before long, she was dancing in the chorus line and began singing
after filling in one night for an ailing principal. A turning point in
her career came backstage at the Gardens when she met Martin
Snyder, better known as Moe the Gimp because of a leg injury that
gave him a peculiar gait.
The Gimp, a smalltime politician, worked with some of Chicago's
gangsters, who once rewarded him with seventeen bullets, all of
which reputedly remained lodged in his body. When the Gimp saw
the willowy, honey-haired, blue-eyed Ruth he fell in love, pugnaciously and possessively. Having served at times as a bodyguard for
Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, and others subjected to shake downs by
gangsters during appearances in Chicago, he had theatrical connections that proved advantageous to Etting. He became her adviser and
manager, and after divorcing his first wife, proposed to Ruth, who,
she confessed to friends, "was too frightened to say anything but
yes."6 In 1920, two years after they met, they eloped. It was a stormy,
ugly relationship, but one Ruth could not sever: "If I leave him, he'll
kill me," she told friends.7
After Whoopee, Ruth starred in Simple Simon (1930), with a
score by Rodgers and Hart that gave her "Ten Cents a Dance," another of her great numbers; but she also reprised "Love Me or Leave
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Me," even though it was penned by different writers. Between Whoopee and Simple Simon she appeared in The 9:15 Revue, which gave
her "Get Happy" by Ted Koehler (words) and Harold Arlen (music). In the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931, performing an impersonation
of the late Nora Bayes, she stirred a revival of "Shine On Harvest
Moon," introduced by Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908.
With her own shows on radioOldsmobile in 1934 and Kellogg's
College Prom in 1935nightclub bookings, recordings, and Broadway, Etting's salary soared to $2,500 a week. Her success was partly
the result of the Gimp's management, but her life with him was intolerable. Finally, in 1937 she managed, by threatening to give up
her career, to secure a Vegas divorce and moved to Hollywood. When
the Gimp learned that she was seeing socially Myrl Alderman, her
arranger and accompanist, he shot him. Alderman, who had divorced
his second wife, lived to marry Ruth two months after the shooting,
while the Gimp was on trial. By the time he had completed a oneyear prison term, Ruth was in retirement, in part because of damaging publicity resulting from an alienation of affection suit brought
by Alderman's ex-wife.
Ruth never took a singing lesson. But from the time she warbled
Berlin's "Remember," "Looking at the World through Rose-Colored
Glasses," and "Ramona" at the College Inn in Chicago's Hotel Sherman, songwriters clamored for her to introduce their songs. It's impossible to hear such tunes as "Sam, the Old Accordion Man,"
"Mean to Me," "If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight," among
others, without having Ruth's sound and image crowd one's memory.
Ruth Etting was among the three or four outstanding female hitmakers of the 1920s, all of whom were standout torch singers. The
feeling of lost, unrequited, or unfulfilled love which they communicated so heartfully, was perhaps the result of the unhappiness in their
own lives, for Ruth and Fanny Brice and Helen Morgan were most
unfortunate in their choice of mates.
"Payola," a problem in music business from the outsetthough public awareness of it has come mostly during the rock erawas the
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subject of an article in the January 4, 1928 issue of Variety. It observed that the older system of weekly payment for plugs to vaudeville and specialty revue performers had been superseded by royalty
payments to band directors, masters of ceremony, and stars. "The
new racket," Variety averred, "runs anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000
a year as salary charged against royalty . . . on the songs supposedly
written by them." Concluding, the paper said, "It's the old racket,
having the clothes made by a more expensive tailor." Noting further
that several unnamed bandleaders were on the payroll of various
firms as "collaborators" on songs, the publication named Chicago,
the Coast, and New York as the centers of such practices. Curiously,
Isham Jones, popular bandleader of the College Inn in Chicago, was
singled out as "a shining example." The attack on Jones quickly
drew a strong objection from lyricist Gus Kahn, who collaborated
with Jones on "It Had to Be You" and "I'll See You in My Dreams,"
among other hits, and who stated categorically, "I give you my word
that he wrote every note of every song I wrote with him."8
In January 1928, the Hotel Lincoln opened its doors in the West
40s, and Chez Helen Morgan, a most popular night spot on West
54th Street, was raided and completely demolished by Prohibition
agents.
Nora Bayes (born Dora Goldberg), singing star of early editions
of the Ziegfeld Follies and remembered for "Shine on Harvest
Moon," which she cowrote and performed with Jack Norworth, her
third husband, died in March 1928, just four days after she had sung
"Alabamy Bound," popularized by Cantor and Jolson, at a Bowery
Mission House benefit in New York City.
Bandleader Paul Ash was greeted enthusiastically by the Gotham
music publishing world when he arrived in New York for a stand at
the Paramount Theatre in May.
Donaldson, Douglas and Gumble was added to the roster of New
York music publishing firms in June as Walter Donaldson, one of
Alley's most consistent hit-writers, scored his first Broadway show,
Whoopee. With lyrics by Gus Kahn, the show was credited by the
Oxford Dictionary with introducing the phrase "making whoopee"
into the English language, but Broadwayites knew it before the show
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came the Rhythm Boys. Al Rinker, Harry Barris and Bing Crosby
shook up the record scene in 1928 with "Mississippi Mud," composed
by Barris and accompanied by Bix Beiderbecke, Tommy Dorsey,
Jimmy Dorsey, and other notables. Bing remained with the Rhythm
Boys when they went on to perform with Gus Arnheim at Los Angeles's Cocoanut Grove, embarking on his grandiose solo career in
1931. (In 1928 Johnny Mercer, who was hired by Whiteman to write
songs for his Kraft radio show, arrived in New York from Savannah,
Georgia.) The third new voice was that of Libby Holman, who
caused a sensation in The Little Show in 1929, but whose huskyvoiced rendition of "I Want a Man" in Vincent Youmans's musical
Rainbow opened the door to stardom.
Carnegie Hall was the scene in 1928 of the premiere of Yamekraw
(Negro Rhapsody) in an arrangement for piano and orchestra by
William Grant Still. It had appeared in the preceding year as a piano
solo by stride king James P. Johnson, composer of "Charleston,"
who spent his latter years trying to break down the barriers between
popular and art music, merging European and Afro-American traditions, and flavoring extended works with the sounds and rhythms of
boogie-woogie, blues, and jazz. W. C. Handy, "father of the blues,"
was the conductor of Yamekraw and Fats Waller the piano soloist.
In his publisher's preface, Perry Bradford described the piece, written in one movement with four large sections, as "a genuine Negro
treatise on spiritual, syncopated and blues melodies, expressing the
religious fervor and happy moods of natives of Yamekraw, a Negro
settlement on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia."10 Four years later,
Johnson completed Harlem Symphony, performed also at an allJohnson concert in 1945. All the movements of the work have apparently been lost except "April in Harlem," recorded recently by pianist William Albright.
1928 brought the creativity of two "new" theatre writers to the music
scene, and both came to epitomize the world-weariness, and sophisticated gaiety and the fin de siecle letdown that marked the end of the
decade. Although Cole Porter (1892-1964) had written shows back
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Among the picture studios that anticipated the increased value of music to films, Warner Brothers sped quickly out in front in a massive
move involving more than seven publishing companies. Raising a
kitty of $8.5 million, Warners absorbed the catalogues of Harms and
Chappell-Harms (Max and Louis Dreyfus), parent companies plus
their subsidiaries: De Sylva, Brown and Henderson (Robert Crawford, president); Remick Music Corporation (Jerome Keit, president) ; Green and Stept (Mack Stark, president); Famous Music Corporation (Paramount-affiliated, theme song publishing subsidiary);
T. B. Harms Company, a separate company that handled Jerome
Kern publications; and New World Corp, a unit that handled George
Gershwin's works. As owners of thousands of copyrights in these
companies, Warner Brothers had virtual control of the Executive
Board of ASCAP, on which representatives of the various companies
sat. Not to be outclassed, MGM purchased the catalogues of Robbing
Music Corporation, Leo Feist, Inc., and Miller Music to create the
Big Three. It was a shrewd move on the part of the film studios, since
they could now largely control the fees paid for the use of songs and
could build their own publishing giants by developing new film hits.
With so many publishers becoming adjuncts of the Hollywood studios, Shapiro-Bernstein and Company seized the occasion to boast in
a Variety advertisement: "We are the foremost Independent Publishers, absolutely unattached. . . . " More than a boast, it was an effort to attract Tin Pan Alley songwriters fed up with firms and whose
choice of plug songs was dictated by the film studios and picture
commitments. By the end of the year, the consensus of music publishers as to the effectiveness of various media in plugging and popularizing songs yielded the following rartings: 1) talkies and film
themes; 2) radio; 3) bands; 4) disks; 5) acts; 6) organists; 7) musicals; 8) nightclubs.
By a wide margin, Warner Brothers' list of musicals was the longest.
In addition to The Desert Song, it initiated a series of Gold Diggers
films, the first of which yielded "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" and
"Painting the Clouds with Sunshine," both by Al Dubin and Joe
Burke. Honky Tank was a vehicle for Sophie Tucker, in which she
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would have earned him the fame that came to him as a crooner. (He
died July 3, 1986 while watching the Statue of Liberty's centennial
celebration on TV,)
A number of new musical acting "teams" emerged on the screen via
the new medium of sound. The most popular was Janet Gaynor and
Charles Farrell for whom De Sylva, Brown and Henderson produced
three hits in Sunny Side Up (Fox): the spirited title song; "I'm a
Dreamer (Aren't We All)"; and, obviously inspired by the possibilities of sound, "If I Had a Talking Picture of You." Another popular
team was Nancy Carroll and Buddy Rogers, who appeared in Illusion (Paramount) and Sweetie. The ground was being laid for the
appearance of the masterful pair Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,
who came to Hollywood in the early thirties.
Two foreign stars made their American film debuts in 1929. Maurice Chevalier briefly left the French music halls to charm American
filmgoers with his rendition of "Louise" in Paramount's Innocents of
Paris, and Gertrude Lawrence made her American talkie premiere in
Paramount's Battle of Paris, singing Cole Porter's "They All Fall in
Love."
One of MGM's most ambitious films was Hollywood Revue, with
an all-star cast that included a large complement of contract playersMarion Davies, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Conrad Nagel,
John Gilbert, Buster Keaton, Lionel Barrymoreand many more.
The format was nostalgic minstrel so that many musical numbers
could be included. Only two left an imprint. Both were by Arthur
Freed (words) and Nacio Herb Brown (music). "You Were Meant
for Me" had been introduced by Charles King in The Broadway Melody; now it was sung by King again, except that it appeared to be
sung by Conrad Nagel. The other song was "Singin' in the Rain,"
introduced by Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, the Rounders, and the
Brox Sisters. It became the title twenty-three years later of what The
New Yorker reviewer Pauline Kael has called "the best Hollywood
musical of all time,"1 treasured for Gene Kelly's classic dance interpretation of the tune. (Broadway Melody dealt with the difficult transition actors had to make in turning from pantomime to sound, and
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the trauma some suffered when their voices were out of joint with
their appearance.)
Arthur Freed (1894-1973) and Nacio Herb Brown (1896-1964)
were the first songwriting team to emerge from the sound screen.
Freed, born in Charleston, South Carolina, and raised in Seattle, was
involved with vaudeville as writer and performer, collaborating with
composer and arranger Louis Silvers also on material for New York
cafe revues. He was a theatre manager and show producer before he
began writing for movie musicals in 1929, scoring majestically with
his first effort (Broadway Melody). Other song hits of this and other
musical films of 1929 included "Wedding of the Painted Doll,"
"Chant of the Jungle," and "Pagan Love Song." Later, Freed was a
most successful film producer of movie musicals, serving in the sixties as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Nacio Herb Brown, born in Deming, New Mexico, became a movie
composer in a strange way. As the operator of a tailoring business
and real estate office in Los Angeles, he became acquainted with members of the movie colony. Although he wrote moderately successful
songs before Broadway Melody, it was his collaboration with Freed
that resulted in hit material. In addition to titles already mentioned,
he accounted for "Doll Dance," "You're an Old Smoothie," "Temptation," and "You Are My Lucky Star."
In September 1929, Photoplay magazine ran a long article, "Westward the Course of Tin Pan Alley," and announced that "because of
the tremendous interest of its readers in theme songs of motion pictures, Photoplay . . . will review phonograph and piano records of
the music used in screen production."2 Pictured in the article were a
dozen songwriters (with some of their hits) who now frequented the
tables of Wilson Mizner's Brown Derby and Eddie Brandstatkis's
Montmarte in place of Lindy's and the Paddock in Manhattan. Among
the Tin Pan Alley mainstays who had moved to Hollywood were
Irving Berlin ("Coquette" and "Marie"), L. Wolfe Gilbert ("Ramona" and "Lilac Time"), Con Conrad ("Breakaway" and "That's
You, Baby"), Dave Dreyer ("Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder"), Harry
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Akst ("Am I Blue" and "On with the Show"), Fred Fisher ("Strike
Up the Band" in Hollywood Review), and De Sylva, Brown and
Henderson ("Sonny Boy").
In Photoplay's estimation, things had never been so easy for songsters "financially, artistically, comfortably."3 In the past, the song
plugger had to contact and "romance" vaudeville actors, bandleaders,
radio entertainers, cabaret performers, and even circus troupers. Now,
the screen did the entire job. Photoplay posed the question: was the
motion picture industry a subsidiary of the music publishing industry, or had film producers gone into the business of making songs?
No matter how it was viewed, the music business was undergoing vast
changes that were trying for the pioneers of music publishing, who
felt control of their enterprise slipping out of their hands. It was time
to move onand veteran music publisher Julius Witmark (18701929), a founding member of M. Witmark and Sons, died on June 1.
He had been a singer whose beginnings went back to the famous minstrel troupe of Thatcher, Primrose, and West, with whom he sang in
whiteface though he auditioned in blackface. The amputation of a leg
in 1906 terminated his theatrical career.
What was most impressive was some of the prices Hollywood paid
for songwriting services. De Sylva, Brown and Henderson, it was reported, received $150,000 in advance from Fox for the songs, book,
and lyrics of Sunny Side Up. The sum was supposed to recompense
them for snubbing offers to write Broadway shows. Most songwriters
were paid regular checks by the studios, ranging from $250 to $750
a week, half charged against future royalties and half considered
salary.
One of the first easterners to go West was songwriter and publisher
Fred Fisher, whose hits included "Dardanella," "Peg o' My Heart,"
and "Chicago." Douglas Gilbert tells the story that on his first day at
the MGM studio Fisher passed studio executive Irving Thalberg in
the corridor, who was told, "That's Fred Fisher, the symphony writer."
Thalberg reportedly led Fisher back to his office and asked whether
he could write a symphony.
"Get me a pencil, boy," Fisher was supposed to have replied.
"When you get me, you get Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin."
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lected by ASCAP for its All-Time Hit Parade. It rates among Carmichael's favorite songs, along with "The Nearness of You," "One
Morning in May," and "Rockin' Chair," Mildred Bailey's theme.
Nineteen twenty-nine was a good year for Broadway musicals. January brought a smash hit in Follow Through by De Sylva, Brown and
Henderson, "a musical slice of country club life," with two hit ballads, "My Lucky Star" and the freshly romantic "Button Up Your
Overcoat." In a minor role, Eleanor Powell attracted notice with her
tap numbers. In March, Rodgers and Hart presented Spring Is Here
with a tuneful score that included the lush ballad, "With a Song in
My Heart."
To many the most important musical of the year was Dwight Deere
Wiman's production of the first Little Show in April. The outstanding
cast included singer Libby Holman, comedian Fred Allen, and dancer
Clifton Webb, a trio who scored a triumph the following year in
Three's a Crowd. The lyrics and music were mostly by Howard
Dietz, moonlighting from his job as advertising manager of MGM,
and composer Arthur Schwartz. Their strongest number was "I Guess
I'll Have to Change My Plan," based on a melody Schwartz had written as a boy's camp counselor when it was called "I Love to Lie
Awake in Bed," words by Lorenz Hart, then unknown. It was overshadowed in the revue by "Can't We Be Friends?," composed by a
George Gershwin disciple, Kay Swift, with words by Paul James,
alias James Warburg, a banker and Kay's husband. But the number
that drew encores was the bluesy "Moanin' Low" by Ralph Rainger
(L. Reichenthal) and Howard Dietza song that gave overnight stardom to its performer, Libby Holman.
Hot Chocolates arrived at the Hudson Theatre in June, having
started as a floor show at Connie's Inn. An all-black revue, it launched
Louis Armstrong on his notable career as an entertainer, and not just
a jazzman, for he would nightly rise from the orchestra pit to offer a
stage solo on "Ain't Misbehavin'," the show's smash hit, which also
yielded a classic recording for him on OKeh. The song became Fats
Waller's theme. Andy Razaf, who wrote the lyrics, asserts that the
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song was written in record time, a claim that has been made for
many hits.
"I remember one day," he has said, "going to Fats' house on 133rd
Street to finish up a number based on a little strain he had thought
up. The whole show was complete, but they needed an extra number
for a theme, and this had to be it. Fats worked on it for about fortyfive minutes and there it wasAin't Misbehavin'."6 If the tale is to
be believed about anyone, it would be Fats: his ability to turn out
tunes on the spur of the moment was legendary, including his readiness to sell them outright at times in order to meet inconsequential
momentary needs. Among other songs, the melody of "I Can't Give
You Anything but Love Baby" is attributed to Fats by the producers
of Ain't Misbehavin'.
Sigmund Spaeth, incidentally, claims that "by a strange coincidence, the melody of Ain't Misbehavin' turns up later almost literally
in the first movement of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony."7 Two
other Fats Waller hits of 1929 were "Honeysuckle Rose" and "I've
Got a Feeling I'm Falling." The latter involved a collaboration with
Billy Rose as lyricist and was introduced in the Paramount musical
Applause, "Honeysuckle Rose," with a lyric by Andy Razaf, was introduced at Connie's Inn as a dance number in the nightclub revue
Load of Coal. First broadcast by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra,
it became a specialty of Benny Goodman and also of Lena Home.
In the Prohibition nightclub era, few acts were as popular as Clayton, Jackson and Durante, formed in 1923 as a performing unit.
Whatever Clayton and Jackson contributed as dancers, singers, and
comics to the zany destructiveness and violence of the act, it was
Jimmy Durante who was the star. The oversized nosewhich gave
him the cognomen "Schnoz," or "Schnozzola"the fractured English,
the explosive displays of energy, and the comedy songs he wroteall
gave him a staunch and noisy following. The team and Schnoz reached
a peak when they were featured in Ziegfeld's Show Girl. Like Kern's
Sally, Show Girl told the oft-repeated story of the unknown performer
who succeeds in rising to Ziegfeld stardom. Although the Gershwins
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One young chap drew up to Reuben's at 2 a.m. in a Dusenberg car that stood him $12,000 six months ago. He
offered it for $1,500 cash. No takers! . . .
The openings of the Casanova and Richman clubs saw
fewer ermines, sables and jewels as a result of 150 cancellations for coats at one store alone. . . .
Two song publishers are reported to have cancelled
night club reservations, and the captains maintained the
boys were crying on the phone. . . .
Bookmakers who haunt the night clubs were cast in the
deepest sorrow because Irving Beatie, one of the most
popular Broadway bookmakers and Wall Street plungers,
had dropped dead at Empire City, due to tremendous ill
luck on the track and the street. He and Leo Donnelly had
been boxing playfully on the 48th Street corner only a
few days before. . . .
A vaudeville producer, elderly, was found weeping like
a child by his son, who returned to his office at seven
that night by chance. The old boy had lost all his cash,
$75,000. . . .
Viewed generally, the situation as it concerns Broadway made history, catapulting the Street into the darkest
despair it has ever experienced.9
Curiously, "Happy Days Are Here Again" (words by Jack Yellen;
music by Milton Ager) was introduced to the public by chance on
the very day known as Black Thursday. The song's history actually
antedated the financial catastrophe. It was written for the film Chasing Rainbows, to be sung by Charles King. For unaccountable reasons, its release was delayed. But the publishers of the songAger,
Yellen and Bernsteinwere obligated by contract with the picture
company, MGM, to maintain a twenty-nine release date. Accordingly,
they arranged for George Olsen to introduce it at the Hotel Pennsylvania, where the band was playing.
"In the big dining room of the hotel," Jack Yellen later recalled,
"a handful of gloom-stricken diners was feasting on gall and wormwood. Olsen looked at the title on the orchestration and passed out
the parts. 'Sing it for the corpses,' he said to the soloist. After a cou-
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IV
The Musical Theatre
19
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232
that's what they come for. They don't come to a musical comedy for
a story."3 Apart from offering girls, costumes, eye-arresting sets, and
songs, the revues tended to be extremely topical and to trade on burlesque, wit, and satire. In this respect, they were the medium par excellence of a time when a breakdown in traditional values and established conventions prompted performers and people to poke fun at
things. Consider such items as sportswriter Damon Runyon's stories
that kidded mobsters and gamblers, Ring Lardner's mockery of the
baseball clan, not to mention the witty luncheon sessions of the celebrated Algonquin Round Table crowd. Was there another period in
American life when writers, critics, editors, columnists, and other
cultural icons regularly met to exchange bon mots, and were quoted
in newspapers and magazines for their wit? When someone like
Dorothy Parker, who wrote excellent short stories and superb verse,
was best known to the general public for her wisecracks ?
The revues captured the spirit of the times in another way. Just as
frequenting a speakeasy and drinking forbidden liquor (especially
from a teacup) represented a sly nose-thumbing at the Establishment, so the revue was another expression of daring, urbanity, and
sophistication. Nudity was the essence of the form. Elegant sets, luxurious costumes, and opulent secenery, naked girls were what tired
businessmen came to see. And the producer's problem was to present
beauties onstage, as undressed as he could make them without getting into trouble with the law. Earl Carroll, who most aggressively
tested the limits of legality, put a lovely nude on a swinging pendulum (Vanities of 1924) in order to evade the requirement that
nudes must not move on stage. The vogue of the annual revue died
as the era's underlying moral and economic bankruptcy began to
surface, though revues of a different style continued through the
thirties and forties.
The man who set the pace and was the undisputed king of the revue
scene was, of course, Florenz Ziegfeld, who presented his first Follies
in 1907 (he first added his name to the title with the 1911 edition),
at the height of the craze for Viennese operetta, a craze generated by
the inordinate popularity of Franz Lehar's Merry Widow.* Although
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his approach was "American," Ziegfeld gave his revue a Continentalmore specifically a Frenchflavor. He did so, reportedly, at
the urging of Anna Held, the European soubrette who was his wife
(though there are doubts that they were legally married). The use of
the word "Follies" was designed to suggest the famous Folies Bergere,
and lest the association be missed, Ziegfeld renamed the New York
Theatre Roof "Jardin de Paris."
Librettist and lyricist Harry B. Smith, who wrote the book and
lyrics for the first Folliesand also for four of the succeeding five
editionsoffers a different version of how the series acquired its
name. In his autobiography, he notes that when he worked as a newspaperman he wrote a column titled "Follies of the Day." When he
sat down to write the book of the new revue he recalled the columnist, which seemed appropriate because the revue was a scan of the
season's foibles. He titled the libretto Follies of the Year, altered to
Follies of 1907 by Ziegfeld, who superstitiously preferred using thirteen letters. A number appeared above each letter and digit in the
title, from 1 to 13. (Throughout his life, Ziegfeld carried and fondled
miniature ivory carved elephants for good luck.)
Born on March 21, 1869, Ziegfeld was the son of the director of
the Chicago Musical College, which helped account for Florenz's aversion to classical music. His interest in show business was sparked in
his teens, when he viewed the Buffalo Bill-Annie Oakley exhibitions.
He himself staged a show called The Dancing Ducks of Denmark,
which was closed down by the American Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals. But he had demonstrated his resourcefulness:
he got his ducks to dance by heating the bottoms of their feet. His
real move into the show world came when his father was made musical director of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and hired
his son to secure performers. Among the jugglers, acrobats, and
circus people he engagedmuch to his father's disgustwas a strong
man named Sandow, whom he personally signed. The ingenuity and
imagination he later displayed in publicizing his shows, himself, and
his stars were evident in his handling and promotion of Sandow. It
led to his entering in a partnership with a comic and producer to
stage a Broadway show. During their search for talent in Europe,
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Ziegfeld met and fell in love with Anna Held, the Parisian music-hall
singer whom he turned into a star.
The Follies that is of special interest is the edition of 1919, hailed
by reviewers as the outstanding Ziegfeld production. "Thirteenth
Ziegfeld Follies Eclipses Predecessors in Beauty, Color and Action"
was the headline in the Herald. "Ziegfeld outziegfelds Ziegfeld," exclaimed the Evening Sun. As the revue scene unfolded, 1919 seemed
also to signal a gush of productions, for, in addition to the Follies,
George White launched his Scandals and John Murray Anderson presented the first Greenwich Village Follies.
Out of the 1919 score by Irving Berlin came the lilting song that
became the theme of all Ziegfeld Follies"A Pretty Girl Is Like a
Melody"and that has served as the traditional walk-on music for
models exhibiting new styles in fashion shows all over the world.
Eddie Cantor introduced "You'd Be Surprised," a song that caught
on so fast that within a matter of weeks it was being interpolated in
two other shows: Shubert Gaieties of 1919 and Oh, What a Girl!
Working with the illustrious black comic Bert Williamsappearing
in his last FolliesEddie Cantor presented the nostalgic "I Want to
See a Minstrel Show." Viennese-born Joseph Urban, long associated
with Ziegfeld, created the eye-arresting sets; John Steel, "the greatest
of all revue tenors," according to Gerald Bordman,3 sang the major
ballads, none the equal of "A Pretty Girl"; and petite, Indiana-born
Marilyn Miller, whom Ziegfeld wooed unsuccessfully and for whom
this was her last Follies, starred. Two songs, not written by Berlin,
are mentioned as enjoying a brief vogue: "My Baby's Arms" by Joseph McCarthy and Harry Tierney, the team later responsible for the
giant hit of 1927, Rio Rita; and "Tulip Time" by Gene Buck and
Dave Stamper, the former a longtime Ziegfeld factotum, prolific librettist, and for years a top ASCAP executive.
Fannie Brice sang the show-stoppers of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1920
and 1921, creating standards with "Second Hand Rose," revived in
recent years by Barbra Streisand, and with the poignant ballad,
"Mon Homme," a French import that became a worldwide winner as
"My Man," the quintessential female expression of undying love.
Paul Whiteman's polished band was in the pit of the Follies of
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that nobody would see were told by him, "But it does something to
their walk!"9
Before he became a producer, George White (born George Weitz
on the Lower East Side of Manhattan) was a messenger boy, Bowery-style hoofer dancing on the street for handouts, burlesque performer, turkey-trotter in a Shubert Passing Show, and a dancer in
the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915. When White began producing his Scandals, Ziegfeld regarded the move like an outraged father witnessing
the treachery of a son. White's shows were among the most musically
rewarding of all the revues, yielding more hits10 than the Follies,
and their prime asset, apart from developing several superlative songwriting talents, was their dancing.
For his first Scandals, mounted the year of Ziegfeld's greatest revue (1919), White employed Richard Whiting and Arthur Jackson
to write the undistinguished score. (By 1920 Whiting had a hit in
"Japanese Sandman" and became an outstanding Hollywood songwriter in the 1930s.) The show's power lay in the dancing of White
and Ann Pennington, a Ziegfeld Follies regular (1913-1918), with
whom White had danced in the Follies.
For the 1920 edition of Scandals, White turned to George Gershwin, whom he had met when George served as rehearsal pianist for
a Miss 1917 flop. By then Gershwin, who had done his first revue
chore for the Shuberts' Passing Show of 1916 in a partial collaboration with Sigmund Romberg, had had a hit in "Swanee" (1918), and
had written his first complete score ("the incarnation of jazz," according to the Times),li in La, La, Lucille (1919). Gershwin wrote
the scores for five Scandals, with the 1922 edition proving the blockbuster. Winnie Lightner (b. Winifred Hanson, 19011971) gave
George his first show-stopper with her rendition of "I'll Build a
Stairway to Paradise" (lyrics by B. DeSylva). Paul Whiteman led
the pit band, and his "slick playing of the electric Gershwin music
during intermission gave the show special sparkle."12
For the show, George composed a twenty-five-minute jazz opera,
Blue Monday Blues, set in Harlem, which opened Act II and which
unfortunately lasted just one performance. Although George White
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himself performed a key role as the dancer, the work was judged too
lugubrious and was yanked after opening night. It was later reorchestrated by Ferde Grofe, renamed 135th Street, and performed at
Carnegie Hall.
Winnie Lightner accounted for another Gershwin perennial when
she soloed "Somebody Loves Me" in the 1924 Scandals, with the last
score Gershwin wrote for White. During his tenure with the Scandals,
Gershwin had raised himself from $50 a week (1919 edition) to
$125 a week plus royalties (1924 edition). White refused to raise
this figure, and Gershwin left.
With his 1925 Scandals, White took up with De Sylva, Brown and
Henderson, Tin Pan Alley songwriters who had had limited contact
with the musical theatre but who proceeded to produce substantial
scores for four editions, scores with a surprising number of smash
hits. There were three blockbusters in the 1926 edition alone. "Birth
of the Blues," still an evergreen, was presented as a battle between
the blues and the classics. As Harry Richman delivered the song, the
McCarthy Sisters appeared on one flange of the revue staircase in
gowns suggesting "The Memphis Blues" and "St. Louis Blues," while
the Fairbanks Twins appeared on the opposing side, costumed to suggest Schubert and Schuman; the contest was harmoniously resolved
with the climactic interpolation of a portion of Gershwin's Rhapsody
in Blue. "Black Bottom," a variation on the very popular Charleston
dance, was sped on its worldwide conquest by the wild, seductive
dancing of Ann Pennington. Although a number of artists, including
Alberta Hunter and Perry Bradford, have claimed credit for devising
the dance, it was Pennington's dancing and the De Sylva, Brown and
Henderson song that made the "Black Bottom" a fad in 1926). The
third smash in the 1926 score was "Lucky Day," a rousing, up-tempo
number presented by Harry Richman, who also gave stature to "The
Girl Is You and the Boy Is Me," which he sang with Frances Williams. The show was one of the longest-run revues of the era424
performances.
Although the 1931 edition of the Scandals is outside the chronology
of this book, it deserves mention, not only because of the quality of
the De Sylva, Brown and Henderson score but because of its rele-
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vance to the temper of the 1920s. Among its many hits"This Is the
Missus" (Rudy Vallee), "Ladies and Gentlemen, That's Love" (Ethel
Merman), "That's Why Darkies Were Born" (Everett Marshall), and
"My Song" (Ethel Merman)were two songs whose titles were emblematic of the Roaring Twenties: "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries"
(Ethel Merman) and "The Thrill Is Gone" (Everett Marshall).
Emerging from the literary, creative, and bohemian community of
Greenwich Villagelow rents then made it an oasis for struggling
poets, writers, painters, and actors, but its mystique attracted recognized figures as wellthe Greenwich Village Follies early achieved
an identity as the most sophisticated and intellectual of the revues.
And well it should have. There were curtains by Reginald Marsh;
James Reynolds designed a fiesta number in the style of a Velasquez
painting; producer John Murray Anderson introduced a unique
form he called "Ballet Ballade" in which literary works such as
Poe's "The Raven" or Oscar Wilde's poem "The Nightingale and the
Rose" were conveyed through a mixed presentation of poetry, music,
and dance. That Broadway audiences were not exclusively lowbrow
or middlebrow became clear when the Greenwich Village Follies, presented originally in the intimate quarters of the Greenwich Village
Theatre, moved after its first two editions to the uptown Schubert
Theatre and even into the cavernous Winter Garden.
John Murray Anderson, who eventually numbered 143 productions
to his credit and wrote the lyrics for 64 songs, launched the series
in that annus mirabilis, 1919. It was the curtain for the 1922 edition
that epitomized its character and spirit. In a huge montage which
embodied many of the Village locales (MacDougal Alley, the Hotel
Brevoort, the Washington Square Book Shop, Harry Kemp's Playhouse, and so on), artist Reginald Marsh caricatured almost one
hundred denizens of the Village, including Zelda Fitzgerald making
her notorious dive into the Washington Square fountain. A truck
tearing through Seventh Avenue carried Stephen Vincent Benet, John
Peale Bishop, John Dos Passos, John Farrar, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ben
Hecht, Burton Rascoe, Gilbert Seldes, Donald Ogden Stewart and
Edmund Wilsonall celebrated intellectuals of the day.18
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According to Robert Baral, "the curtain went up at the Greenwich Village Theatre, and 'I Want a Daddy Who Will Rock Me to
Sleep' [A. Baldwin Sloane] emerged as a sock Tin Pan Alley hit."11
Bandleader Ted Lewis interpolated "When My Baby Smiles at Me"
(Andrew B. Sterling, Ted Lewis and Bill Munro), an immediate hit
that thereafter served as his theme song. After six weeks in the Village, the Greenwich Village Follies moved uptown to Broadway, and
being non-Equity during the Actor's Equity strike, ran for 212 performances before it went on tour.
The 1920 edition, "a smash," says Baral, likewise moved from its
theatre in the Village to the Shubert in Times Square. Sexier, "but
with the Village brand, not Broadway"14 and funnier, it introduced
comic-strip characters set to musicAs Thousands Cheer later did it
in "The Funnies"invited audience participation through the use of
miniature tambourines (instead of hand applause), and presented
Frank Crummitt playing the ukulele, then a big fad.
Out of the 1921 edition came one of the biggest hits to emanate
from a twenties revue. "Three O'Clock in the Morning," with a lyric
by Dorothy Terriss to a melody written in 1919 in New Orleans by
Julian Robledo, closed the show, with two ballet dancers serving as
chime ringers for the waltz's triple-bell effect. (The full history of
the song appears in Chapter Eleven.) Venetian blinds were used to
sparate the inner and outer stages, providing opportunities for unusual lighting effects.
In the 1922 edition, with the "bibliographical" curtain by Reginald
Marsh, which also employed an intermission curtain by Cleon Throckmoirton, another well-known artist, Anderson presented the first of
his series of "ballet ballads." In the same edition, the Greenwich Village Follies further demonstrated its urbanity by having a Parisian
diseuse, Yvonne George, sing "Mon Homme" in the original French
at the same time that Fanny Brice was delivering the lachrymose ballad in English.
The 1924 edition remains memorable for the use of music by
Cole Porter, which was quickly dropped and supplanted by a score,
equally unimpressive, by Jay Gorney and Owen Murphy. The Porter
score did contain a memorable ballad, "I'm in Love Again," but it
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apparently made no impression as done by the Dolly Sisters; it became a hit in 1951 when it was recorded by April Stevens. The lackluster score was still a problem when the show went on tour, and it
is said that Rodgers and Hart's "Manhattan" and "Sentimental Me"
were interpolated,15 although these two songs are unequivocally
identified with the Garrick Gaieties of 1925.
The 1925 edition of the Greenwich Village Follies was the last
and, perhaps, the least of the series. An attempt was made to resurrect the show in 1928, yielding the first hearing of a West Indian
sound known as calypso. It was clear that "the day of the annual
like the day of the operetta was ending.18 In Robert Baral's view,
John Murray Anderson contributed "intellectual beauty" to the revue form.17
Mention should be made of a series that emanated from a theatre
closer to Greenwich Village than to Broadway, the Neighborhood
Playhouse at 466 Grand Street. The Playhouse housed the oldest experimental theatre groups in the country, having been founded in
1915 to perform classical plays and popular dramas. In 1922, bright
young members of the group, perhaps inspired by the Greenwich Village Follies, put together a Grand Street Follies for their subscribers,
advertising the event tongue in cheek as "a low brow show for high
grade morons."
Two years later, in 1924, the first Grand Street Follies was unveiled
to the general public. Although there were six editions between 1924
and 1929, nothing of musical consequence came from them, even
though the young Arthur Schwartz was involved with the later editions. The emphasis of the series, with Albert Carroll and Dorothy
Sands taking the lead, was on impersonations, spoofing, and lampooning current plays and players. Most of the series managed to
last through the summer.
In a comparison with most of his contemporaries, Irving Berlin, like
Cole Porter, has a double distinction: he wrote both words and music. He was also one of the very few songsmiths who functioned successfully both as a pop songwriter and as a theatre writer, scoring
enormous hits in both media. In addition he early became his own
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with two top-notch scores in the Moss Hart revues Face the Music
and As Thousands Cheer,
The revue producer who sought to challenge Ziegfeld's preeminence
as the glorifier of ladies was Earl Carroll, a former songwriter from
Pittsburgh who put a sign over the stagedoor of his theatre: "Through
these Portals Pass the Most Beautiful Girls in the World." Carroll
made a fetish of the "living curtain" of lovelies, posing floods of
girls, draped and mostly undraped, against every conceivable type of
colorful and scincillating background. When Billy Rose produced
Jumbo at the Hippodrome, he put up a sign that read: "Through
these Portals Pass the Most Beautiful Elephants in the World." The
competition between Ziegfeld and Carroll involved star stealing. For
his Sketch Book in 1929, Carroll drew comics Leon Erroll and
Fanny Brice away from Ziegfeld. He also boasted that he had Eddie
Cantor, another Ziegfeld stalwart. In fact he had only a film showing
Carroll negotiating with Cantor, and some sketches that Cantor wrote
for the show. When Ziegfeld gave Cantor a gold watch to demonstrate
his affection for the comic, Carroll gave him a grandfather's clock.
Carroll's competitive spirit stirred him to lock horns as a publicist
with Ziegfeld, who had a formidable talent for grabbing space in the
media. Carroll's publicity ploys reached a climax on February 22,
1926, when the birthday of one of his backers, a Texas oil tycoon,
coincided with that of George Washington. Under a portrait of the
Father of Our Country, Carroll arranged for one of his attractive
chorines, Joyce Hawley, to take a champagne bath onstage. A select
audience viewed the event. Newspaper reporters who attended bypassed the story except for a Daily Mirror writer whose article
brought the federal law authorities into the situation. They charged
Carroll with violating the Prohibition law. Although it was clear that
the liquid in Miss Hawley's bathtub was mostly ginger ale and not
champagne, Carroll was convicted of perjury for denying he had
violated the dry law. Sentenced to one year and a day in a federal
penitentiary, he remained there only four months and eleven days.
Launching his series in 1923, Earl Carroll produced five editions
during the 1920s, three in the 1930s, one in 1940, and two Earl Car-
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roll Sketch Books in 1929 and 1935. "No real music of import figures with the Vanities," writes Robert Baral, "and few stars came
out of the series."21 Carroll's "finds" were apparently limited to
Patsy Kelly and Lillian ("I'll Cry Tomorrow") Roth. Vincente Minnelli pioneered in production with Carroll. Although Carroll availed
himself of the talents of E. Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen, Burton Lane,
and others he drew frequently on Tin Pan Alley writers such as Billy
Rose, Harry and Charles Tobias, Benny Davis, and Ted Snyder.
Lacking Ziegfeld's elegant taste, Carroll's extravaganzas, with their
scantily clad lovelies, attracted a coarser audience than the Follies,
and his sketches occasionally drew warnings from the police. He built
a handsome theatre, named after himself, at 50th Street and Seventh Avenue, and in the 1931 edition of the Vanities that broke in
the theatre he became the first to use Ravel's famous Bolero to accompany a dance number. The Bolero has since been used widely on
stage and in films.
The Passing Show was well named, for its twelve editions, from 1912
to 1924, left a limited legacy of material. Produced by the Shuberts,
who once owned so many Broadway theatres that Shubert Alley could
have been the name of the entire theatrical district, and not just the
thoroughfare between 44th and 45th streets, the Passing Shows were
housed at the Winter Garden. They were "basically designed to liven
up the summer doldrums," Robert Baral tells us.22 Originally a Dutch
farmhouse, the site of the theatre became the American Horse Exchange at the turn of the century, a horse ring that was a magnet for
Manhattan's fast set. Bought by the Shuberts, it became the Winter
Garden, with a seating capacity of over 1,700 when it opened as a
music hall in 1911. The horsey origin of the theatre was revived on
occasion when a redolent epithet was needed to characterize one of
the less impressive Passing Shows.
Sigmund Romberg, responsible for such blockbusters as The Student Prince and The Desert Song, and Jean Schwartz, writer of "Au
Revoir, Pleasant Dreams," Ben Bernie's theme song, wrote most of
the scores. But the hits were generally Tin Pan Alley interpolations.
In 1919 when Schwartz wrote the score, the interpolated hit was
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popular music. As with Sinbad, whose score was by Sigmund Romberg, it was Jolson's interpolations that produced the hits: in addition to "Swanee," "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby to a Dixie Melody" (Joe
Young, Sam Lewis, and Jean Schwartz) and "My Mammy" (Irving
Caesar and Walter Donaldson).25
The three performers of the first Little Show (1929) were so well
received (331 performances) that a series seemed in the making.
There was a second Little Show, not too consequential, but an audience-rousing Three's A Crowd. Clifton Webb added comedy to his
talents as a suave dancer. Fred Allen's sandpaper voice and dry
delivery heightened the impact of George S. Kaufman's classic skits.
The show-stopper was Libby Holman's low throat rendition of the
bluesy "Moanin' Low" (Howard Dietz and Ralph Rainger), interpreted after her initial rendition in an erotic dance by Webb and
Holman. The score was by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, who
did not reach their peak as songwriters until the legendary Band
Wagon revue of 1931. However, "I Guess I'll Have to Change My
Plan," delivered by Clifton Webb, which made little impression in
the show, developed into a hit in the 1950s as a result of its use in
a number of films.
The charismatic trioWebb, Allen, and Holmanrepeated their
hit performances in Three's A Crowd (1930), with another torch
song giving the opus the same erotic electricity that "Moanin' Low"
had. The new torcher was "Body and Soul" (Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, and John Green), a hit in England for Gertrude Lawrence (Green wrote it for her when he was her accompanist) before it was sung by Libby Holman. In Act II of the revue,
it was used in a stunning, show-stopping dance sequence on a darkened stage by Clifton Webb and Tamara Geva. The show also produced another hit in "Something to Remember You By" (Dietz and
Schwartz), sung by Libby Holman to a sailoran unknown named
Fred MacMurraywhose back alone was visible to the audience.
In the latter twenties, the personality revue built around a charismatic figure found a new exponent in Noel Coward. The Year of
Grace (1928) was a smash import with book and songs by Coward:
"It had pace," writes Robert Baral, "a steady flow of barbed black-
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20
The Golden Coterie
Although the 1920s were a peak period for the Revue, they also saw
the creation of the early worksand on occasion, the masterpieces
of the golden coterie of theatre writers: Jerome Kern, Rodgers and
Hart, Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin, Sigmund Romberg, and
Rudolf Friml, and, toward the end of the era, Cole Porter and Noel
Coward.
Jerome Kern (1885-1945) was not only the pioneer figure in the
modernization of the musical theatre but a composer held in almost
universal esteem by his contemporaries and successors. "Without exception," Alec Wilder states, "all the prominent American composers
of modern theater music, consider his songs as greater inspiration
than those of any other composer, and his music to be the first truly
American in the theater."1 His admirers and followers included,
among others, Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin,
who wrote, in a letter to Isaac Goldberg, "Kern was the first composer who made me conscious that popular music was of inferior
quality and that the musical-comedy music was made of better material. I followed Kern's work and studied each song that he composed. I paid him the tribute of frank imitation."2 Add to the list
of Kern admirers the surprising name of Milton Babbitt, the classical composer and theorist, who annotated an album of Kern songs,
sung by Joan Morris with William Bolcom as accompanist.3
Born into a well-to-do New York City familyhis father owned
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the concession that watered the city streetsKern studied piano first
with his mother, then at the New York College of Music, and, when
his father yielded to his son's interest in music, with private teachers
in Europe. In London, Kern worked for a pittance for producer
Charles K. Frohman and composed songs and pieces for the opening
numbers of musicalsmaterial almost never heard by the habitually
late theatregoers. The first complete score he wrote was for The King
of Caledonia (1910), and his first hit was "They Didn't Believe Me"
an interpolation in The Girl from Utah (1914). When Victor Herbert
heard the song, he said, "This man will inherit my mantle."
But while American audiences were rushing to hear the operettas
by Herbert and other European or European-derived composers, and
with revues rising in popularity, Kern and two English friends, Guy
Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, created a series of musicals between
1915 and 1919 known as the Princess Theatre Shows. The theatre,
on the south side of West 39th Street, was small299 seatsand the
sets were few, two to a production. But the stories were contemporary and made for intimate musicals that pointed a new realistic and
indigenous direction for the American musical. As Gerald Bordman
has observed, "They brought American musical comedy into the
twentieth century."
By 1920 Kern had completed an apprenticeship that involved not
only the Princess Theatre shows but also extremely busy years in
which he functioned as the leading composer of interpolated songs.
Alec Wilder indicates that between 1904 and 1917 Kern composed
interpolated songs for at least 43 musicals and plays, or an average
of four different shows a year. In preparing his analysis of Kern,
Wilder played over and examined 652 songs from 117 shows, plays,
and films. During the twenties Kern wrote at least ten complete musicals, including several that were among the biggest of the decade,
Partial to the letter "S" as a positive force-"sun," "smiling," "success," and so onKern scored hits with Sally, Sunny, Show Boat,
and Sweet Adeline.
Sally was the biggest musical of 1921, accumulating 570 performances, at a time when few musicals reached the 500 mark. Produced
by Ziegfeld, it was characterized as "the idealized musical comedy"
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in the World, and petite Marilyn Miller danced forth as the reigning
queen of the Broadway musical. Among other tunes, Marilyn sang the
evergreen hit of the show, "Look for the Silver Lining"originally
written by Kern for an unproduced musicalwhich later became the
title of her screen biography. In the 1921 edition of the Ziegfeld Follies, Van and Schenck introduced a tribute to Marilyn: "Sally, Won't
You Come Back to Me?" written by Ziegfeld's factotum, Gene Buck
(words), and Dave Stamper (music). To "Look for the Silver Lining," Alec Wilder adds two other songs, which he characterizes as
"phenomenal,""Wild Rose" and "Whip-Poor-Will," and praises
as "a leap forward in invention, style and experimentation," reflecting the influence of the "1919-1920 revolution in dance band arranging."4
Late in 1921, Kern wrote the score for Good Morning, Dearie, not
a rousing success despite the drawing power of Louise Groody. The
only song that attracted notice, apart from the fetchingly harmonized
"Blue Danube Blues," was a Hawaiian number, "Ka-lu-a." It was the
song that brought a plagiarism suit from the publisher of "Dardanella," a suit which Kern lost when the judge ruled that "the bass
materially qualified if it did not dominate the melody."5
Like Sally, Good Morning, Dearie was a Cinderella story, produced in the period when the theme of rags-to-riches dominated musicals. (They were unquestionably a reflection of the get-rich-quick,
two-cars-in-every-garage mania of the 1920s.) The Cinderella trend
persisted for three theatrical seasons, initiated by the record run of
Irene (670 performances) in her "Alice Blue Gown," book by James
Montgomery, lyrics by Joseph McCarthy and music by Harry Tierney. Irene was a shopgirl out of the Ninth Avenue slums of Manhattan who succeeds in marrying into the wealthy Long Island set. In
Mary (1920), Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel (book and lyrics)
combined the Cinderella and get-rich-quick themes. Jack Keene sets
out to build low-cost homes ("love nests") in Kansas and flounders
until oil is suddenly discovered; he becomes wealthy overnight and
marries his mother's simple secretary, Mary. Louis Hirsch, who supplied the music, created a bestseller in "The Love Nest," which advertised the domestic joys of the portable home.
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Sally starts out as an orphan, earning her livelihood as a dishwasher, but ends by becoming a Ziegfeld star and the bride of Blair
Farquar of the "Long Island Farquars." All three of these musicals
possessed a kind of homely domesticity, devoid of high jinks, that
hardly gave a clue to what was happening in the Roaring Twenties,
By 1922 the Shuberts tried to capitalize on the Cinderella theme with
a show titled Sally, Irene and Mary, wherein three girls living in a
tenement succeeded in becoming Ziegfeld stars. In a turnabout,
Mary, now rich, goes back to her old hometown boyfriend.
Sunny of 1925-26, starring Marilyn Miller and featuring George
Olsen's "jazz" band on stage, was the first musical in which Kern
teamed with librettist and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. It yielded
only one hit, "Who?," that quickly became a standard. It was a
blockbuster, but also a song that posed almost insuperable problems
for the lyric writer. The opening note of the melody was held for
two and a quarter bars, or nine counts, and was repeated five times
in the course of the refrain. The choice of the word "who" by Otto
Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein was clearly an inspiration, since
it stimulated listener interest conceptually through the long, sustained
melody note.
The best known of Kern's scores and the high point of his distinguished career came in 1927 with the production of Show Boat, regarded by historians as not just a musical comedy, but, as David
Ewen has said, "an artistic entity [with] dramatic truth, authentic
characterization, effective atmosphere and a logical story line. This
was a musical in which music, dance and comedy were basic to the
stage action."6
Based on the sprawling Edna Ferber novel of the same name, Show
Boat told the story of a group of people involved with riverboat entertainment, faced with serious problems, domestic and professional,
and not the hokey situations exploited in most musicals of the period,
The captain had his headaches with a shrewish wife. His daughter
Magnolia married a boozing gambler, who deserted her with child,
Julie, played by sad-eyed Helen Morgan, was attacked for being partNegro by a local sheriff and accused of miscegenation because she
was married to a white man. As the author of the book and lyrics,
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enjoyed an extended road tour, and has since been revived more
frequently than perhaps any other musical.
Oscar Hammerstein II (18951960) was thirty-two years old when
he wrote Show Boat. He came to it with a rich theatrical background.
His grandfather was an opera impresario, an uncle was a Broadway
producer, and his father was the manager of the Victoria Music Hall.
Although he graduated from Columbia University, where he was actively involved in the musical Varsity showshe met and worked
with the young Rodgers and with Hart at the time and went on to
study law and to work in a law officehe turned early to the theatre.
His desire to get married and the refusal of the law firm where he
labored as an apprentice to grant him a small raise, led to his taking
a job as assistant manager of a theatre.
When his first effort at playwriting failed, he interested himself
in the musical theatre, writing his first show, Always You (book
and lyrics) in 1919-20. His talent soon brought him collaborations
with such top composers as Kern, Friml, Romberg, and Youmans as
well as with veteran librettist and lyricist Otto Harbach (18731963). With Harbach he collaborated on book and lyrics for
Youmans's Wild/lower (1923477 performances), Friml's RoseMarie (1924577 performances), Kern's Sunny (1925517 performances,) and Romberg's The Desert Song (1926471 performances). Following Show Boat, and working with other librettists
and lyricists, or by himself, he wrote book and lyrics for Romberg's
The New Moon (1928509 performances), Youmans's Rainbow
(192829 performances), and Kern's Sweet Adeline (1929234
performances). Hammerstein began his golden partnership with
Richard Rodgers and their record-breaking hit, Oklahoma!, in 1943.
At the end of that year, when he was also enjoying the success of
Carmen Jones, his adaptation of Bizet's opera in a black version, he
ran a famous advertisement in Variety. Listing the flops he had had
and the small number of weeks they ran, he closed the ad with the
line: "I've Done It Before and I Can Do It Again."
Such self-deprecation was indicative of the man's humility and
humanity, qualities admired by all who knew him, including the au-
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Lorenz Hart, born in New York City on May 2, 1895, was privately educated, and entered Columbia University after a European
holiday. An inveterate theatregoer from his school days, like Rodgers,
he appeared as a female impersonator in a Columbia Varsity show
in 1915-16. Although he left the university without a degree, he was
extremely well read and developed a rich cultural background. For a
time, he translated German operettas into English for the Shuberts.
While at ColumbiaRodgers entered in the fall of 1919he and
Rodgers wrote the Varsity show, Fly with Me, with Rodgers becoming the first freshman ever to write and conduct a Varsity show. Lew
Fields, formerly part of the famous duo Weber and Fields and then
a theatrical producer, was so impressed by the songs in Fly with Me
that he offered to use them in his forthcoming musical, Poor Little
Ritz Girl. Fields had already used one of their songs, "Any Old
Place with You," in a 1919 production, and this tune not only
marked their entry into the theatre but became their first published
song. When Poor Little Ritz Girl opened on July 28, 1920, at the
Central Theatre, Rodgers and Hart were stunned to find that eight
of their songs had been dropped from the score and replaced with
songs by Sigmund Romberg and Alex Gerber.9
Unbelievable as it may seem, five years elapsed before they really
made Broadway. During those troubled years, they acquired a collaborator in Herbert Fields, son of Lew Fields and brother of
Dorothy Fields, with whom they wrote The Melody Mana Tin Pan
Alley comedy with two songs by Rodgers and Harta flop. Rodgers
left Columbia to study music at the Institute of Musical Art, now
known as the Juilliard School of Music. Between 1920 and 1924,
Larry and he wrote scores for eleven amateur productions, including
two during the two years he was at the Institute. But "the winter of
1924-25," he noted in his autobiography, "was the most miserable
period of my life. No matter what I did or where I turned, I was
getting nowhere. I would get up each morning, take my songs to a
producer or publisher . . . audition themor more likely, be told
to come back some other timeand go home. This happened day
after day. After the drubbing he had taken with The Melody Man,
Lew Fields turned us down. Larry Schwab never returned my call.
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voice, with the result that the demanding love ballad, "With a Song
in My Heart," had to be sung by a character who was not the romantic lead. Heads Up, also based on an Owen Davis libretto, moved into
the Alvin not too long after Spring Is Here left. Neither "A Ship
without a Sail" nor "Why Do You Suppose" quite made it. But by
the time Heads Up opened, the country was plunging into the Depression. The thirties turned out to be a great decade for Rodgers
and Hart whose sterling scores and shows included On Your Toes,
Babes in Arms, Jumbo, and The Boys from Syracuse.
While theatre composers like Kern, Berlin, and Rodgers were writing music that was American-flavored, Vincent Youmans caught the
upbeat, rhythmic pulse, the frenetic tempo of the times. In this respect, he was close to Gershwin, with whose brother, Ira, Youmans
wrote his first complete musical, Two Girls in Blue (1921). And yet
he acknowledged Victor Herbert, whose songs he rehearsed as a staff
pianist at Harms, as one from whom he "got something in less than
a year that money couldn't buy."15
Youmans's career was neatly encompassed by the 1920s. His first
musical came in 1921, and only two of the twelve shows he wrote
went into the early 30s. Just three of his musicals were really boxoffice successes, but all of them contributed imperishable melodies to
the permanent repertoire of popular music. Among these is, of course,
the most widely recorded and performed of show songs, a favorite
even today, more than fifty years after it was first heard in No, No,
Nanette: "Tea for Two." No song of the twentieth century approaches it for universal acceptance, popularity, and use.
Vincent Youmans (1898-1946) "wrote only 93 published songs,"
theatre historian Stanley Green has observed. "His Broadway output
consisted of 12 scores, and his Hollywood contribution comprised
two original film scores. He became a professional composer at 22,
an internationally acclaimed success at 27, and an incurable invalid
at 35."18 And, as Max Wilk has noted, "From 1932 until his death
in 1946, Youmans was absent from the Broadway scene. . . . His
health was bad and progressively worsened [because of tuberculosis
and alcoholism]. Unable to write for Broadway, he kept very busy
studying. In New Orleans he studied composition and counterpoint
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Me" and was written for the musical Mary Jane McKane in 1923.)
"Hallelujah" was also not written specifically for Hit the Deck. But
sung by a rip-roaring sailor's chorus, it brought the audience to its
feet. It was effervescent, as was the entire show, with an emphasis on
dancingthe black bottom, Charleston, and others. The song itself
embodied offbeat syncopation, a mark of some of Youmans's uptempo numbers. One heard it in "I Know That You Know,"23 a
rouser that survived from the 1926 flop Oh, Please and in "I Want
to Be Happy" from No, No, Nanette.
Youmans worked on four shows after Hit the Deck, all failures.
But each had its gem-like melodies. The romantic musical play Rainbow (1928), with a book by Laurence Stallings and Oscar Hammerstein II, brought Libby Holman to notice as a torch singer with "I
Want a Man." Smiles (1930), based on a story by Noel Coward, with
a cast that included Marilyn Miller and Fred and Adele Astaire,
closed after ninety-two performancesand the gorgeous ballad, "Time
on My Hands," forced out of the production by Miss Miller, did not
become a hit until later. Through the Years (1932), whose title song
was Youmans's own favorite, included the throbbing "Drums in My
Heart."
The heartbreak show for Youmans was unquestionably Great Day,
which he himself produced in 1929. It went through four grueling
months of tryouts, during which every effort was made to save the
show, and then, opening twelve days after the stock market crash, it
folded after just thirty-six performances at the Cosmopolitan Theatre
on Columbus Circle.24 Harold Arlen, then a singer, was to have sung
"Doo Dah Dey," which was dropped before the opening; but reports
have it that young Arlen happily served as the messenger boy carcrying Youmans's leadsheets to lyricists Billy Rose and Edward
Eliscu. Despite its failure, Great Day gave three great standards to
popular music. The title song was a rousing choral number, and two
ballads remain oft-recorded and oft-sung: "Without a Song," employing a repeated rhythmic figure deriving from the title, worked
as a baritone solo and group number: "More Than You Know,"
which became a Jane Froman favorite, was rated by Alec Wilder as
Youmans's "best ballad . . . and among the best of popular songs."25
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Jazz and the blues really made their imprint on the American
musical with the emergence of George Gershwin (1898-1937)not
ethnic jazz or Delta blues but a white adaptation. Gershwin's friend
Vincent Youmans had initiated the process, reflecting his contact
with the sounds of the dance bands of World War I and the Jazz
Age. With Gershwin, syncopation, blue notes, and the harmonic
colors of jazz became an integral part of his music, not only of his
songs but in longer works like Concerto in F, An American in Paris
and, of course, Rhapsody in Blue. With Gershwin the Jazz Ageits
cut-time tempo, its frenzy, its anxieties, its fun-and-gamesmanship,
and its zaninessfound stirring and infectious expression.
Born in Brooklyn, Gershwin began taking piano lessons at twelve
and studied with a number of teachers; Charles Hambitzer, who introduced him to the classics and the French impressionists, was impressed by his pupil's interest in jazz, and regarded him as a genius;
Edward Kilenyi tutored him in theory, harmony, and instrumentation; and, much later, after Gershwin was a recognized composer, he
worked with Joseph Schillinger, approaching music through mathematics. At fifteen Gershwin became active in Tin Pan Alley as a
song plugger and rehearsal pianist for Remick publishing and began
composing popular songs. His first published tune, "When You Want
'em, You Can't Get 'em," was released by the Harry Von Tilzer firm,
and his first theatre song, "The Making of a Girl," was heard in The
Passing Show at the Winter Garden. The most fruitful association of
this period, came when Max Dreyfus of Harms publishing put him
on staff at $35 a week just to write songs and submit what he wrote
to him. Harms was the "home" of Jerome Kern and in time of virtually all the top theatre composers of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.
Through Dreyfus, theatre assignments came to Gershwin. Nora
Bayes sang two of his early songs in Ladies First (1918). But his
first break occurred when he and lyricist Irving Caesar wrote
"Swanee," a song born during a lunch at Dinty Moore's in the
theatre district and developed as they rode atop a Fifth Avenue bus
to Gershwin's apartment in Washington Heights. When the Capitol
Theatre, a new motion picture palace, opened at 51st Street and
Broadway in October 1919, "Swanee" was featured in the lavish
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and rum-running, Oh Kay (November 1926) was Gertrude Lawrence's first American musical, and also starred comic Victor Moore
of the sad face and cracked voice. Lawrence introduced three songs
that became standards: the lilting ballad "Someone to Watch Over
Me," "Maybe," and the snappy "Do Do Do." In addition to the
lively title song, there were jazzy numbers in "Fidgety Feet" and
"Clap Yo' Hands."
Writing about "Clap Yo' Hands" in his Lyrics on Several Occasions, Ira Gershwin points out that when the title occurs in the song,
it is sung as "clap-a yo' hands." He also notes that the refrain's first
segment is repeated verbatim in the last segment to maintain the
momentum of the song as a dance number.32 The line, "On the sands
of time, you are a pebble," elicited criticism from Irving Caesar's
brother until a trip to the beach with a group of Gershwin friends
convinced him that a pebble could be found on the sand.33
Funny Face (1927), the third of the Aarons and Freedley hit
presentations, opened at the newly built Alvin Theatre (Alex + Fireton) on 52nd Street. Almost a flop with a Robert Benchley book in
its out-of-town tryout, it was turned into a catchy vehicle for the
Astaires and Victor Moore by Paul Gerard Smith and Fred Thompson. The score overflowed with memorable tunes, three of which
remain unforgettable standards: " 'S Wonderful," the lovely ballad
with Ira's sly verbal contractions, "He Loves and She Loves," and
"My One and Only," sung and tap-danced by the inimitable Fred
Astaire. There was also the melodious "Let's Kiss and Make Up" and
"High Hat," with Astaire in tuxedo and hands in pocket, doing a
tap dance as a male chorus aped his footwork. In 1983 My One and
Only became the title of a new posthumous Gershwin show, made up
of his tunes plus a new book. About the same time, the Minskoff
Theatre was renamed the Gershwin.
A most unusual number in Funny Face, whose lyric was potent
enough to win a place in an Anthology of Light Verse, was "The
Babbitt and the Bromide." The word "Babbitt" had been introduced
into the language by Sinclair Lewis's 1922 bestselling novel of that
title. It had come to define a philistine, adhering to accepted conventions of conduct and satisfied with the standardized gadgetry of
269
American life. Ira's satiric lyric provided a humorous interlude, enhanced as it was by a runaround dance routine by the Astaires.
Gershwin's last show of the 1920s, Show Girl, which opened in
July 1929, was a mixed bag of picklesand a flop. It had Clayton,
Jackson, and Durante, the last of whom did a brace of his own specialities like "I Ups to Him" and "I Can Do Without Broadway." It
had Harriet Hoctor and the Albertina Rasch Girls, who performed
a stirring ballet to Gershwin's An American in Paris, recently introduced at Carnegie Hall by Walter Damrosch and the New York
Philharmonic Symphony. It had Duke Ellington and his orchestra
accompanying Ruby Keeler on "Liza." It had Al Jolson, recently
married to Ruby Keeler, running up and down the aisles of the
Ziegfeld Theatre opening night and singing "Liza" with her. A swinging, sophisticated, up-tempo ballad, "Liza" was Gershwin's favorite
songand it was the solid hit that came out of the show. Ruby
Keeler, incidentally, left the production before it reached its lllth
performance, when it closed. Those who try to explain its failure
attribute it to the way the massive Ziegfeld production numbers
slowed down and overwhelmed the action. Reports have it that Gershwin had to threaten a lawsuit before he could collect the money owed
him by Ziegfeld, who suffered reverses in the stock market along with
other losses, not to mention those on the production of Show Girl.
The innovative character of Gershwin as a composer found matching books and themes in several shows with which he was associated
in the 1930s. Although they are outside the scope of this book, mention must be made of Strike Up the Band, which opened on January
14, 1930, and took a swipe at American big business, secret diplomacy, and Babbitry. Also of Of Thee I Sing, which opened on
December 26, 1931, satirized American .politics, and won the first
Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to a musical. (There was a 1927 version
of Strike Up the Band, in which the title song, a rousing march, was
first heard, but the show closed out of town. With a rewritten book,
the musical did open on Broadway, and the song was introduced by
Jim Townsend, Jerry Goff, and the chorus to the accompaniment of
the Red Nichols Orchestra in the pit.)
In discussing George Gershwin, I have disregarded two shows with
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21
The Operetta Revival
"The date when jazz became an established and even welcome idiom
(on Broadway)," Gerald Bordman has written, "can be pinpointed
to December 1, 1924. On that night Lady, Be Good opened. Musical
comedy was never quite the same."1 An even earlier candidate for
the jazzy transformation of the musical would be the all-black revue
of 1921, Shuffle Along. Regardless of which composer or date is
accepted, the 1920s introduced a new style of musical that employed
excited tempi, modern melodic lines, bluesy harmonies, and whirlwind dancing.
Curiously, however, even as this transformation was occurring, the
European-styled operetta, modernized to a degree, returned to bring
audiences into the Broadway theatre. Beginning the same year as
Lady, Be Good and No, No, Nanette, a series of operettas became
huge box-office attractions over a four-year period from 1924 to
1928. Naturally, the major creators had European backgrounds, the
two most important, Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml, coming
from Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In considering the vogue for
operetta in this period, one must assume that the primary audience
was the older generation, some of whom may even have enjoyed "the
most successful musical ever written,2 Franz Lehar's The Merry
Widow, which played at the magnificent New Amsterdam Theatre in
1907 and whose "gorgeous free-flowing well of unforgettable melody"3 was doubtless familiar to that generation. But since a number
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of these new operettas racked up substantial runs of over five hundred performances, the romanticism of remote times and exotic lands
must not have been lost on the younger generation.
Signiund Romberg (1887-1951) came from Hungary, and, while
studying to be an engineer, became assistant manager of Vienna's
largest operetta house. Work as a pianist in London and then in
New York led to his becoming the leader of the orchestra at Bustanoby's, one of New York's most elegant restaurants. Songs published by Jos. W. Stern and Company later known as Edward B.
Marks Music, led to a longtime association with the Shuberts. During
his prolific career, he wrote about fifty operetta-styled Broadway
shows. In the twenties, Romberg produced four enormous operetta
hits: The Student Prince (1924), The Desert Song (1926), My Maryland (1927), and The New Moon (1928). The biggest box-offce
smash was The Student Prince, which had 608 performances and 9
touring companies. To get it produced, Romberg had to break down
Shubert resistance to the bravura music, to the unhappy ending (the
student prince had to give up his waitress love), and Romberg's demand for a large male chorus in place of a bevy of beauties. The
male chorus turned out to be such a rousing success that it was adopted
by other producers and almost became a Shubert trademark.
The Desert Song (1926), based on the real life of a heroic Berber
renegade, ran for 471 performances, just short of the season's biggest hit, Rio Rita. Apart from the stirring title tune, the score included the martial "Song of the Riffs" and the arioso ballad "One
Alone." It became the first Broadway operetta to be filmed with
sound. My Maryland (1927), a romantic treatment of the Barbara
Frietchie legend, produced the perennial, "Your Land and My Land."
Musically, the most potent was The New Moon (1928), the only
show of the season to break the 500-performance mark after being
rewritten, recast, rescored, and finally reopened. Set in Louisiana in
the eighteenth century, it yielded "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise,"
"One Kiss," "Wanting You," and the imperishable "Lover Come
Back to Me." All these made their appearance during the revisionary
process, with only the stirring "Stout-Hearted Men" remaining from
the original version.
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22
276
To Moss Hart, who came from an impecunious Brooklyn background, this was incredible, although afterward he felt that the scene
embodied "some of the gaiety, the impishness, the audacity and the
wonderful insouciance of his songs. Also of his pocketbook, Hart
might have added. For Cole Porter was born to wealth in Peru (Indiana), married wealth in Paris, and inherited part of a $7-millionestate left by his maternal grandfather. Giving away gold garters was
as inconsequential as hiring the entire company of the Monte Carlo
Ballet for a private party, which Porter also did in the dizzy days
just after World War I.
Like many gifted veterans of that war, Porter spent most of the
succeeding decade as a rootless expatriate in Europe. He went to the
bull fights at Pamplona (a la Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises). He
spent summers on the Riviera or at the Lido in Venice. He attended
the endless round of parties given by wealthy Americans for gifted
Americansor, rather, he gave them. He lived in Paris, as did a host
of American writers and artists, though not on the Left Bank. (In
fact, he had a Paris apartment during the war that became famous
for its luxurious accoutrements: platinum-textured wallpaper, zebracovered chairs, that well anticipated those of El Morocco.) And yet,
except for his wealth, Porter was as much a member of the Lost Generation as F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, Kay Boyle, and
Hemingway himself.
In truth, though it is not customary to view songwriters and novelists from the same perspective, Porter's journey from his beginnings
in Indiana parallels that of his literary contemporaries. Like Fitzgerald of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Hemingway of Oak Park, Illinois, he
came from a nineties background in the Midwestand worked diligently at eradicating his Hoosier roots. He began the process by attending an exclusive Eastern university. Just as Fitzgerald went to
Princeton, Porter attended both Yale and Harvard, contributing two
famous football songs "Bingo Eli Yale" and "Yale Bulldog Song" to
the former. The parallels continued with the war. Before Hemingway
was eighteen, he joined the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps in France,
as did Louis Bromfield, e.e. cummings, Sidney Howard, and John
Dos Passos; and when the American army moved in, he moved on to
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from the flaming youthfulness of The Girl Friend and The Garrick
Gaieties to political commentary in I'd Rather Be Right (with George
M. Cohan playing Franklin D. Roosevelt). Even Irving Berlin became involved in the sociology of the era: Face the Music was a
travesty of police corruption then under federal scrutiny, and As
Thousands Cheer a journalistic expose of contemporary issues, including lynching. (Who can forget Ethel Waters singing "Supper
Time," a blues for women waiting with the evening meal for men
who will never come to eat it?)
At the same time, there was a movement, experimental and groping, toward a type of musical whose songs and dances would be an
integral part of the book. As early as 1927 Oscar Hammerstein II
and Jerome Kern demonstrated that it was feasible in Show Boat. By
using a saga of ballet life, Rodgers and Hart created in On Your
Toes a show whose dances, including the first ballet sequence in a
Broadway musical, were inseparable from the story. Ranging far and
wide in their search for new subjects, Rodgers and Hart finally
achieved in Pal Joey a story with music, whose characters, including
a heel as hero, were acclaimed for being three-dimensional people.
From these developments in form, content, and outlook Cole Porter
remained aloof. Working within the traditional confines of Rockette
dancing, brassy singing, gaudy costumes, and zany comics like Jimmy
Durante and Bert Lahr, he nevertheless created a body of material so
unique that, while the songs of other show writers have been mistaken for his, his have seldom been attributed to anyone else. "Give
him a choice between sacrificing the integrity of a character . . ,
and a rhyme," wrote a historian of the musical theatre, "and he
would unhesitatingly sacrifice the character."2 But the Porter touch is
unmistakable: the lean lyrics, urbane, suggestive, trickily rhymed, set
like sparkling stones in minor-keyed melodies that are long-lined and
throb-rhythmed.
Porter was not part of the wisecracking Algonquin Round Table,
but his kinship with them is inescapable. The motive power of Porter's songs is, of course, in his words, the jeweled product of a creator not merely of song lyrics but of light verse. The difference is
that the former always need to be clothed in music, while the latter
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281
ice" if her "sweet pound of flesh you would menace" and "When you
would flatter her / Tell her what Tony told Cleopatterer." All this
leads to the charming couplet about "mussing" her clothes and the
play on the Shakespearean title, "Much Ado about Nussing." Porter's
inventive distortion of language ran riot, of course, in the tonguetwisting song in Red, Hot and Blue!, "It's De-Lovely." Here he piles
line upon line, extending and embellishing words like "de-reverie,"
"de-rhapsody," and "de-regal" to climax in the title phrase, "It's DeLovely."
Apart from his skill as a rhymester and his variety as a wit, Porter
displayed versatility in expressing the basic theme of all musicals. He
was arrogant enough to write a song called "I Love You" in Mexican
Hayride, obviously determined to demonstrate that he could devise a
hit even with this mundane and much-abused title. In "I Concentrate
on You," "So In Love" and "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye, I Die a
Little," he created some of the theatre's most touching and tender
love ballads. It was the negative side of love, however, the agony
rather than the ecstasy, the frustration rather than the fulfillment,
that yielded some of Porter's most memorable songs: "What Is This
Thing Called Love?," "In the Still of the Night," "I Get a Kick Out
of You" (though you obviously don't adore me), "All Through the
Night," and the ineluctable "Begin the Beguine" (with its shifting
moods, all of them twisted by nagging doubts). But what is unique in
the Porter catalogue is his approach to the physical side of love. In
songs like "Let's Misbehave," "I've Got You Under My Skin" and
"Night and Day" ("there's oh such a hungry yearning burning inside
of me"), he achieves a degree of sexual heat rare in song literature.
Porter participated not only in the Lost Generation's attack on sexual taboos but also in its expose of the distorting and destructive
power of money. Free from the striving for social position and from
the wealth-envy that complicated Fitzgerald's outlook, he was the
cynic par excellence on the subject of money. So blunt is his expose of the life of the prostitute that, despite the popularity of the
tune, the moving words of "Love for Sale" have never been heard
either on radio or TV. In "Two Little Babes in the Wood," "Always
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himself, whom he loved deeply and whose death in 1954 turned the
gay party-giver into a recluse, but with whom he shared an unresolved relationship that included separate apartments (albeit both
were in the Waldorf Towers).
In his autobiography, Richard Rodgers tells of a dinner date in
Venice in the summer of 1926. Porter was then sojourning at the
Palazzo Rezzonico, where he, Noel Coward, and Cole played some of
their songs for each other. (If only that musical feast had been recorded or videotaped for posterity!) When Rodgers heard for the
first time "Let's Do It," "Let's Misbehave," and "Two Little Babes in
the Wood," he demanded to know why Porter wasn't writing for
Broadway. "To my embarrassment," Rodgers observes, "Porter told
me he had already written four musical comedy scores, three of
which had even made it to Broadway. But little had come of them,
and he simply preferred living in Europe and performing his songs
for the entertainment of his friends."3 Later, Porter told Rodgers that
he had discovered the secret of writing hits. "As I breathlessly awaited
the magic formula, Porter leaned over and confided, 'I'll write Jewish
tunes.' I laughed at what I took to be a joke but not only was Cole
dead serious, he eventually did exactly that."4
And Rodgers, suggesting we hum the melodies that go with "Only
you beneath the moon and under the sun" from "Night and Day," or
any of "Begin the Beguine," or "Love for Sale," or "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," or "I Love Paris," goes on to comment, "It's surely
one of the ironies of the musical theatre that, despite the abundance
of Jewish composers, the one who has written the most enduring
'Jewish' music should be an Episcopalian millionaire who was born
on a farm in Peru, Indiana."5
It may well be that the polarity between his witty, suggestive lyrics
and the throbbing, charged "Eastern Mediterranean" melodies, as
Rodgers characterized some of them, gives Porter's songs a quality
that prevents them from palling and that elicits the contrasting interpretations accorded them by singers as diverse as Ethel Merman, Ella
Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra. Porter's songs were clearly as much
an expression of his ambivalent personality as they were the embodiment of a dislocated era of high living and romantic disillusion. Un-
284
questionably, however, his most peaceful and his most relaxed hours
were those he spent writing the songs that generations will go on
singing and listening to. "If we listen to his early efforts," Stanley
Green has said, "and compare them with his most recent songs [1960],
we find little change in his basic attitudes. There is still something of
the glittering Twenties about even his most recent compositions."6
Epilogue
In 1929 Ernest Hemingway bade A Farewell to Arms, while Harry
Crosby, another American expatriate writer of "the lost generation,"
bade farewell to life.
"Henry Grew Crosby, 32 years old, of a socially prominent Boston family," the New York Times reported on December 11, 1929,
"and Mrs. Josephine Rotch Bigelow, 22 years old, the wife of Albert
S. Bigelow, a postgraduate student at Harvard, were found dead
about ten o'clock last night, each with a bullet wound in the head, in
the apartment of Crosby's friend, Stanley Mortimer, Jr., a portrait
painter, on the ninth floor of the Hotel des Artistes, 1 West 67th
Street.
"The couple had died in what Dr. Charles Norris, Medical Examiner, described as a suicide compact. . . . There were no notes,
and the authorities were unable to obtain information pointing to a
motive for the deaths."1 The Herald-Tribune added the cogent detail
that the two lay in bed fully clothed.2
Malcolm Cowley, who tried to explain Crosby's suicide in the terminal chapter of Exile's Return and traced it to the bankruptcy of
the "religion of art," described the atmosphere of the time in the following evocative terms.
"Always, everywhere, there was jazz; everything that year was enveloped in the hard bright mist of it. There were black orchestras
wailing in cafes and boites de nuit, radios carrying the music of the
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286
EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE
287
Notes
1: "FLAPPERS ARE WE"
1. Nancy Milford, Ze.Ua (New York: Avon Books, 1971), 92.
2. Louis Untermeyer, Makers of the Modern World (New York: Simon
and Schuster, 1955), 695.
3. Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff, eds., Hear Me Talkiri to Ya (New
York: Rinehart, 1955), 276.
4. Lehman Engel, The American Musical Theater (New York: Collier
Books, 1976), 78.
5. Hoagy Carmichael with Stephen Longstreet, Sometimes I Wonder:
The Story of Hoagy Carmichael (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1965) ,43.
6. Milford, Zelda, 128.
7. Untermeyer, Makers of the Modern World, 694.
8. Ibid., 694.
9. Milford, Zelda, 92.
10. Walter demons, Newsweek (July 28, 1986), 65. Benchley at the
Theatre (Ipswich, 1986) collects more than 80 of his pieces (pluH,
mysteriously, Ring Lardner's famous radio column parodying the
lyrics of Night and Day, which the editor seems to think Benchley
wrote).
11. Andrew Turnbull, ed., The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald (New York,
Dell, 1963), 333.
12. Milford, Zelda, 131.
13. Ibid., 160.
14. Turnbull, Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, 165.
15. Ibid., 177-78.
16. May 21,1920.
289
290
NOTES
1.2.
13.
14.
15.
.16.
NOTES
291
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
Ibid., 104.
Ibid., 188.
Ulanov, History of Jazz in America, 72.
Ibid., 78.
Stearns, The Story of Jazz, 176.
Shapiro and Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, 103-4.
Stearns, The Story of Jazz, 176.
Shapiro and Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, 43.
Ibid., 48.
Ibid., 49.
Albert McCarthy, Alun Morgan, Paul Oliver, Max Harrison, Jazz on
Record (London: Hanover Books, 1968), 7.
28. Louis Armstrong, Swing That Music (London, New York: Longmans,
Green, 1936), viii-ix.
29. Jazz on Record, 7.
30. Collier, The Making of Jazz, 141.
31. Dan Morganstern, "Louis Armstrong and the Transformation of the
Jazz Repertory," paper read at the IASPM Conference, Univ. of
Nevada, May 11, 1984.
32. Collier, The Making of Jazz, 85.
33. Ibid., 99.
34. Jazz on Record, 206.
35. Collier, The Making of Jazz, 107.
3: BIX, AUSTIN HIGH, AND CHICAGO STYLE
1. Shapiro and Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, 123.
2. Ibid., 119.
3. Ibid., 121.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., 125.
6. Ibid., 129.
7. Ibid., 123.
8. The New Republic (June 8,1938), 136.
9. Ibid.
10. Shapiro and Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, 151.
11. Ibid., 158.
12. Ibid., 160.
13. Ibid., 274.
14. Philip Larkin, All What Jazz, A Record Diary, 1961-1971 (New
York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1981).
15. Collier, The Making of Jazz, 171.
292
NOTES
NOTES
293
2. Ibid., 240.
3. Freedomways, Summer, 1963, vol. 3, no. 3, 314.
4. Liner notes, The Sound of Harlem, Jazz Odyssey, vol. Ill, Columbia
C3L 33.
5. James Weldon Johnson, Black Manhattan (New York: Arno Press
and New York Times, 1968), 260.
6. Frank Driggs, The Sound of Harlem, booklet with Columbia recording C3L 33.
7. Stanley Dance, The World of Duke Ellington (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1970), 68.
8. Quoted in Frank Driggs, liner note, Ethel Waters: Greatest Years,
Columbia KG 31571.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Henry Pleasants, The Great American Popular Singers (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1974), 86.
12. Ibid., 9.
13. Shapiro and Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, 224-25.
6: "THE BIRTH OF THE BLUES"
1. Ewen, All the Years of American Popular Music.
2. W. C. Handy with Abbe Niles, A Treasury of the Blues (New York:
Boni, 1949).
3. OKeh's 8000 series soon had competition from Paramount's 12000
series (1921), Columbia's 14000 D series (1922), Vocalion's 1000
series (1925), Perfect's 100 series (1925), Brunswick's 7000 series
(1926), and Victor's V38500 series (1927). Most of these were decimated, dropped, or phased out during the Depression.
4. Robert Dixon and John Godrich, Recording the Blues (New York:
Stein and Day, 1970), 99.
5. Shapiro and Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, 248.
6. Dixon and Godrich, Recording the Blues, 24.
7. Ibid.
8. But presumably the most famous version of the song is Louis Armstrong's.
9. Chris Albertson, liner note, Bessie Smith, The World's Greatest Blues
Singer, Columbia GP 33.
10. Ibid.
11. Shapiro and Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, 247.
12. Ibid., 240-41.
13. John Chilton, Who's Who in Jazz, Storyville to Swing Street (New
294
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
NOTES
NOTES
9:
295
"DARDANELLA" (1920)
296
NOTES
NOTES
297
6.
7.
8.
9.
Ibid.
Stearns, The Story of Jazz, 171.
Ibid., 173.
Hoagy Carmichael, The Stardust Road (New York: Rinehart, 1946),
42.
10. Lopez, Lopez Speaking, 182.
11. Ibid., 186.
12. Ibid., 187.
13. Ibid., 184.
14. Ibid., 190.
15. Ibid., 190.
14: "TEA FOR TWO" (1925)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
298
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
NOTES
cently led to the rediscovery of the astounding fact that early in 1913
Edison linked two of his inventions, the phonograph and the motion
pictureto produce a film in which the characters talked and sang in
sync and with surprising clarity. . . . Known as the "Great Electrician," Edison ignored all possibilities of synchronizing by means
of electric signals and relied on ingenious mechanical devices. . . .
On Feb. 17, 1913, when Edison's Kinetophone opened to a fanfare of
publicity at the Colonial Theatre in Manhattanpart of the Orpheum
vaudeville chain that later became RKOthe belts slipped and
stretched. As a result, the sound lagged behind, as sourly noted in
this newspaper the next day by an anonymous reporter who must
have been one of the first film critics. . . ." (Jan. 9, 1983).
Variety (Mar. 21, 1928).
Ibid.
Preston J. Hubbard, "Synchronized Sound and Movie-House Musicians, 1926-29," American Music (Winter 1985), 439.
Abel Green and Joe Laurie, Jr., Showbiz: From Vaudie to Video
(New York: Henry Holt, 1951), 271.
Bordman, American Musical Theatre, 422.
Leonard Feather, Los Angeles Times (Apr. 28, 1985), "Calendar."
Marshall and Jean Stearns, Jazz Dance (New York: Macmillan,
1968), 315-16, 323.
Wilk, They're Playing Our Song, 281-82.
Ibid., 282.
Ibid., 282.
Variety (Nov. 11, 1927).
Ibid.
NOTES
299
300
NOTES
NOTES
301
302
3. Ibid., 279.
4. Ibid.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Ibid., 289.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
NOTES
Bibliography
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Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the
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Sloan and Pearce, 1958.
ASCAP Biographical Dictionary. New York and London: Jacques Cattell
Press, R. R. Bowker Company, 1980.
Baral, Robert. Revue, The Great Broadway Period. New York and London : Fleet Press, 1962.
Bordman, Gerald. American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. New York:
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. American Musical Comedy: From Adonis to Dreamgirls. New
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. American Musical Revue: From the Passing Show to Sugar
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. American Operetta: From H.M.S. Pinafore to Sweeney Todd.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
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Century House, 1952.
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. The Blue Book of Tin Pan Alley. Watkins Glen, N.Y.: Century
House, 1965, rev. ed.
Brunn, H. O. The Story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. New York:
Da Capo Press, 1977.
Cahn, William. Good Night, Mrs. Calabash: The Secret of Jimmy Durante.
New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1963.
303
304
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
305
306
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
307
308
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY 309
Waters, Ethel with Charles Samuels. His Eye Is on the Sparrow, An
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Whiteman, Paul, and Mary Margaret McBride. Jazz. New York: J.H.
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Wilder, Alec. American Popular Song, The Great Innovators 1900-1950.
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Wilk, Max. They're Playing Our Song. New York: Atheneum, 1973.
Wilson, Edmund. The Twenties, from Notebooks and Diaries of the
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Witmark, Isidore, and Isaac Goldberg. From Ragtime to Swingtime, The
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G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1925.
Discography
PERFORMERS AND COMPOSERS
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, Vol. 1, Columbia ML 54383
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven, Vol. 2, Columbia ML 54384
Louis Armstrong, Genius Of, Vol. 1 (1923-1933), 2 Columbia CG 30416
Louis and the Big Bands (1923-30), Swing SW 8450
Louis Armstrong & King Oliver (1923-24), 2 Milestone 47017
Bix Beiderbecke 1924, Olympic 7130
The Bix Beiderbecke Legend, RCA Victor LPM 2323
Bix Beiderbecke and Chicago Cornets (1924), 2 Milestone 47019
Bix Beiderbecke (1924-30), Archive of Folk and Jazz Music 317
The Bix Beiderbecke Story, Vol. 1: And His Gang Columbia, CL 844
Vol. 2: And Tram, with Frankie Trumbauer, Columbia CL 845
Vol. 3: Whiteman Days Columbia, CL 846
Irving Berlin, And Then I Wrote, Time Records S/2113
The Music Of, Al Goodman and Orchestra, Columbia C 78
Melodies, Wayne King and His Orchestra, Victor P-159
Eubie Blake, Early Rare Recordings with Sissle, EBM 4
Vol. 2: With Noble Sissle, EBM 7
The Perry Bradford Story, Crispus-Attucks PB 101 B
Nat Brandwynne and Orchestra, Songs of Our Times: Hits of 1920, Coral
20081E
Fannie Brice, Songs She Made Famous, Audio Fidelity 707
See Legends of the Musical Stage, Take Two Records TT104
Eddie Cantor, Date With, Audio Fidelity 702
Memories, MCA 1506E
Rare Early Recordings, Bio 10254
See Legends of the Musical Stage, Take Two Records TT 104
311
312
DlSCOGRAPHY
Hoagy Carmichael, From "Star Dust" to "Ole Buttermilk Sky," Book-ofthe-Month Records 61-5450, 3 LP's.
Hoagy Sings Carmichael with Art Pepper, Jimmy Rowles, et al.,
Pausa 9006E
Stardust (1927-30), Bio 37
Stardust Road, MCA 1507E
In Hoagland: Georgie Fame, Annie Ross, Hoagy Carmichael, DRG
Records
Dixieland with Eddie Condon, Vol. 1, Jazz Panorama 1805
The Chicagoans: Muggsy, Tesch and the Chicagoans, Riverside 1004
Zez Confrey, Novelty Rag (1918-24), Folkways RF 28
Kitten on the Keys: The Music of Zez Confrey, Dick Hyman, Piano, RCA
XRL 1-4746
Cotton Club Stars, Cab Galloway and the Cotton Club Orchestra, Stash
ST 124
Noel Coward, Album, 2 Columbia MG 30088
We Were Dancing with Gertrude Lawrence, Monmouth-Evergreen
7042E
The Golden Age of Noel Coward, EMI GX 2502
Vernon Dalhart, First Recorded Railroad Songs, Mark 56 794
First Singing Cowboy, Mark 56 793
Dancing Twenties (Carle, Confrey, et al.), Folkways RBF 27
The Legend of Jimmy Durante, Narrated by Walter Winchell, Collectors
Edition
Duke Ellington, The Beginning (1926-28), MCA 1358
Hot in Harlem (1928-29), MCA 1359
Music of Ellington (1928-49), Columbia Special Products JCL 558
Rockin' in Rhythm (1929-31), MCA 1360
This Is (1927-45), 2 RCA VPM 6042
This Is, Vol. 2: Early Years, Archive of Folk Jazz Music 249E
Ruth Etting, Original Recordings, Columbia ML 5050
1926-31, Biograph C 11
Georgia Blues, 1927-33, Yazoo 10126
George Gershwin, From Tin Pan Alley to Broadway (piano rolls), 2
Mark 56 680
Plays Gershwin and Kern, Klavier 122E
Golden Twenties, Longines Symphonette Recording Society
Benny Goodman, Boys with Jim (Dorsey) and Glenn (Miller) 1928-29,
Sunbeam 141
Great Soloist, 1929-33, Biograph C 1
Hotsy Totsy Gang 1928-29 with Teagarden, Sunbeam 113
Rare Benny Goodman, Sunbeam 112
DlSCOGRAPHY
313
314
DlSCOGRAPHY
DlSCOGRAPHY
315
316
DlSCOGRAPHY
DlSCOGRAPHY
317
318
DlSCOGRAPHY
319
320
Index
Aarons, Alex, 225, 266, 267, 268
Abrahams, Maurice, 194
Academy of Motion Pictures Arts &
Science, 219
Actors Equity, 239
Acuff-Rose, 135
Adams, Franklin P. (FPA), 5,10, 124
Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 170
Aeolian Hall (NYC), 47-55, 87, 112,
137, 142, 150
Ager, Milton, 105, 128, 196, 216, 227
Ager, Yellen & Bornstein, 128, 227
Ahlert, Fred, 83,104, 105, 204
Akst, Harry, 64, 99, 104, 105, 160, 220
Albee, Edward, 72
Albright, William, 82, 211
Alderman, Myron, 208
Alexandria Hotel (L.A.), 41
Algonquin Round Table, 5, 6, 124,
144, 232, 279
Alhambra Ballroom (NYC), 60
Alhambra Theatre (NYC), 60
Allen, Fred, 222, 245
Allen, Frederick Lewis, 111-12
Allen, Red, 29
Allen, Vera, 140
Alter, Louis, 44, 205
Alvin Theatre (NYC), 268
Ambassador Hotel (Atlantic City), 41
American Magazine, 130
321
322
Babbitt, Milton, 250
Back Stage Club (NYC), 125
Baer, Abel, 52, 105, 114, 156, 160,
179, 191, 205
Bailey, Buster, 21, 45, 71
Bailey, Mildred, 26, 42, 72, 222
Baker, Belle, 113, 140, 183, 194, 198
Baker, Dorothy, 35-36
Baker, Edythe, 249
Baker, Josephine, 58, 89, 149
Baker, Phil, 104
Balieff, Nikita, 113, 121, 246
Ball, Ernest, 124
Balliett, Whitney, 47
"Banjo Eyes," 123
Bankhead, Tallulah, 6, 7
Baral, Robert, 239, 240, 243, 244,
245-46
Barbarin, Paul, 135
Baron Long's Roadhouse (L.A.), 160
Barris, Harry, 211
Barrymore, John, 183
Barrymore, Lionel, 218
Bartholdilnn (NYC), 189
Basement Brownies, 60
Basic, Count, 30, 45, 83
Baxter, Phil, 216
Bayes, Nora, 64, 86, 109,172, 176, 208,
209, 165
Beatie, Irving, 227
Bechet, Sidney, 18, 29, 73
Beiderbecke, Bix, see Bix
Belasco Theatre, 263
Benchley, Robert, 5, 6, 124, 268
Benet, Stephen Vincent, 238
Bergman, Henry, 165
Berigan, Bunny, 192
Berkeley, Busby, 260
Berkeley Sq. Orchestra, 146
Berlin, Irving, 44, 49, 52, 63, 64, 66,
76, 78, 85, 99-100, 102, 105, 106,
109, 111, 115, 117, 133, 135, 139,
143-44, 151, 155, 157, 159, 161, 168,
172, 175, 176, 191-92, 194, 196, 206,
207, 208, 210, 214, 219, 224, 234,
235, 240-42, 244, 248, 256, 261, 275,
278, 279
INDEX
Bernie, Ben, 74, 104, 159, 168, 243
Berstein, Louis, 132
Berton, Vic, 3
Bigard, Barney, 29, 62
Bigelow, Josephine Rotch, 285
Bishop, John Peale, 238
Bix, 3, 15, 19, 22, 24, 31-32, 35-40,
42, 44, 78, 118, 150, 195, 211, 287
Bizet, Georges, 255
Black, Johnny, 96, 97
Black, Lew, 18, 32
Black Bottom, 9, 114, 116, 135, 170,
171, 192, 264
Black Patti Records, 70
Black Swan Records, 45, 63
Black Swan Troubadours, 44, 70
Blackwell, Scrapper, 75
Blake, Eubie, 60, 81, 82, 88, 89-90,
202, 248
Bledsoe, Jules, 92, 189
Blesh, Rudi, 85
Block, Harry, 61
Bloom, Marty, 123
Bloom, Rube, 86, 198
Blue Five, 73, 135, 149
Blue Friars, 33
Blue Serenaders, 74
Blues, 65, 67-73
Bodansky, Arthur, 97, 151
Bogart, Humphrey, 11
Bolcom, William, 250
Bold, Richard, 121
Bolden, Buddy, 178
Bolton, Guy, 190, 225, 251, 267
Bontemps, Arna, 57, 58
Bonx, Nat, 162, 216
Bordman, Gerald, 92, 134, 158, 190,
234, 235, 251, 266, 267, 271, 274
Bordoni, Irene, 212, 277
Bornstein, Saul H., 99
Bow, Clara, 170
Boyle, Kay, 276
Bradford, Perry, 63, 68-69, 72, 75,
171, 211, 237
Braham, Philip, 52, 246
Brandstathis, Eddie, 219
Brandywynne, Nat, 116
INDEX
Brass Rail Restaurant (NYC), 198
Breakfast Club, 216
Brecher, Leo, 130
Breen, May Singhi, 98
Bremer, Henry, 33
Brennan, J. Keirn, 112
Breuer, Ernest, 124
Brice, Fanny, 77, 109,117-18, 124,
140,143, 173, 208, 216, 234, 239, 242
Brick Top's (Paris), 109
Broadway Music, 102
Brokenshire, Norman, 62
Bromfield, Louis, 276
Brooks, Shelton, 16, 63, 91
Broonzy, Big Bill, 29
Broun, Heywood, 5,124
Brown, Lew, 78, 128,132,162, 172,
173
Brown, Nacio Herb, 44, 86, 214, 218,
219
Brown, Steve, 18
Brown, Teddy, 193
Brown, Tom, 32; Band, 16-17
Brown Derby (L.A.),219
Browning, Robert, 277
Brox Sisters, 218, 241
Brunies, George, 18, 32, 33, 177
Buchanan, Charles, 181
Buchanan, Jack, 150,163, 246
Buck, Gene, 118, 180, 234, 235, 252
Burkan, Nathan, 96, 149
Burke, Joe, 105, 107, 164, 215
Burleigh, Harry T., 166
Burrows, Abe, 278
Burwell, Cliff, 205
Bushkin, Joe, 83
Busse, Henry, 42, 113, 118,187
Bustanoby's (NYC), 272
Bynner, Witter, 59
323
Caldwell, Anne, 180
Calhoun, Cora, 74
Galloway, Cab, 61
Camel Gardens (Chicago), 31
Campbell, E. Simms, 58
Campbell, Jimmy, 173
Campus (NYC), 60
Cantor, Eddie, 77, 106-7, 108, 113,
123, 133, 138, 160, 161, 162, 175,
195, 196, 207, 209, 234, 235, 242
Capitol Records, 117
Capitol Theatre (NYC), 109, 175,
265
Capone, Al, 10, 32, 34
Carey, Mutt, 18, 21
Carmichael, Hoagy, 4,19-20, 22, 26,
36, 38-39, 77, 150, 221-22, 262
Carnegie Hall (NYC), 82, 85, 211,
237, 269
Carol, Sue, 205
Carpenter, John Alden, 43
Carr, Jimmy, 161
Carr, Leroy, 75-76
Carroll, Albert, 240
Carroll, Earl, 137, 232, 242-43, 244
Carroll, Harry^ 117
Carroll, Nancy, 125,129, 218
Carson, Fiddlin" John, 135
Carter, Alvin Pleasant, 203
Carter, Benny, 45
Carter, Maybelle, 203
Carter Family, 197, 203
Caruso, Enrico, 12,112
Casa Loma Orchestra, 44, 129
Casanova Club (NYC), 227
Case, Frank, 5
Casey, Kenneth, 74
Casino de Paris (NYC), 125
Cassard, Jules, 33
Celestin, Oscar, 18
Central Theatre (NYC), 258
Cerf, Bennett, 60
Challis, Bill, 36, 37, 38
Chaney, Lon, 106
Channing, Carol, 9
Chaplin, Charles, 189
Charig, Phil, 174
324
Charleston (dance/song), 5, 9, 60,
82, 91, 104, 114, 116, 134-35, 144,
168, 169, 170, 171, 192, 211, 226,
259, 264
Chariot's Revue, 246
Chester, Eddie, 177
Chevalier, Maurice, 114, 218
Chez Helen Morgan, 209
Chicago, The (Chicago), 115
Chicago Barn Dance, 197
Chicago Conservatory of Music, 172
Chicago Musicians Union, 17
Chicago style, 34, 35
Chief Log Lance, 59
Cinderella Ballroom (NYC), 37
Clare, Sydney, 173
Clark, Bobby, 143
Clark, Gladys, 165
Clark, Grant, 161
Clark & McCullogh, 143
Classic Blues Singers, 68-72
Clayton, Buck, 58
Clayton, Jackson & Durante, 167, 223,
248, 269
Clef Club, 74, 82
Clicquot Club Eskimos, 127
Club Lido (NYC), 226
ClubRichman (NYC), 227
Cochran, Charles B., 193, 147-48
Cochran, June, 246
Cocoanut Grove (L.A.), 211
Cocoanut Grove (Palm Beach), 90
Cohan, George M., 115, 191, 241, 246,
279
Cohen, Oscar, 25
Cole, Bob, 88
Cole, Buddy, 116
Cole, Cozy, 29
Cole, Nat "King," 205-6
Coleman, Cy, 180
Coleman, Emil, 15
College Inn (Chicago), 113, 208,
209
College Inn (Coney Island), 113
Collier, James Lincoln, 20, 28, 29-30,
37, 40, 82
Colonial Theatre (NYC), 90, 134
INDEX
Colony Theatre (NYC), 183
Columbia Broadcasting System
(CBS), 102
Columbia Records, 44, 59, 71, 72, 129,
175, 177, 207, 235
Columbia Varsity Show, 257, 258
Columbian Exposition, 233
Columbo, Russ, 26, 214
Commodore Hotel (NYC), 102
Como, Perry, 136
Condon, Eddie, 23, 32, 35
Confrey, Zez, 49, 52, 86-87, 128, 143,
146
INDEX
Crosby, Bing, 26, 76, 127,140,150,
196, 205, 211
Crosby, Harry, 285-86
Crothers, Rachel, 9
Crummit, Frank, 239
Cugat, Xavier, 114, 152
Cnllen, Countee, 57
cumming, e. e., 276
Gushing, Catherine Chisholm, 123
Daddy Browning, 170, 175
Dale, Alan, 263
Dalhart, Henry Whittier, 136
Dalhart, Vernon, 147, 191
d'Alvarez, Marguerite, 59
Daly's Theatre (NYC), 85, 89, 90
Damrosch, Walter, 269
Dancer, Earl, 64
Daniels, Bebe, 106
Daniels, Billy, 206
Daniels, Charles N., 117
Davies, Marion, 214, 218
Davis, Benny, 106-7, 167-68, 243
Davis, Meyer, 104
Davis, Miles, 38
Davis, Owen, 261
De Luxe Cabaret (Chicago), 18
De Mange, George, 61
De Paris, Sidney, 29
De Paris, Wilbur, 29
De Rose, Peter, 256
De Sylva, Buddy, 50, 108, 114, 123,
127, 147, 164,165, 168, 172, 182,
236
De Sylva, Brown & Henderson, 9, 76,
132, 162, 168, 171,175,192, 196,
198, 200, 204, 210, 215, 218, 220,
222, 237-38
Debussy, Ckude, 37,195
Decca Records, 176, 205
Del Rio, Dolores, 187-88
Deppe, Lois, 91
Diamond, Jack (Legs), 10
Diamond Horseshoe (NYC), 126
Dickerson's Band (Carroll), 25, 61
Dietz, Howard, 222, 245
Dillingham, Charles B., 97, 259
325
Dinty Moore's (NYC), 109, 265
Dixieland, 16, 17, 32, 35
Dixon, Mort, 173
Dockstader's Minstrels (Lew), 201
Dodds, Baby, 20, 29
Dodds, Johnny, 20, 29
Dohnen, Richard, 248
Dolly Sisters, 172, 240
Donaldson, Walter, 104, 105, 123, 128,
147, 161-62,175, 195,196, 198, 207,
209, 235, 244, 245
Donaldson, Will, 86, 160
Donaldson, Douglas & Gumble, 161,
209
Donegan, Lonnie, 124
Donnelly, Dorothy, 180
Donnelly, Leo, 227
Donnelly's Stock Company, Henry, 180
Dorsey, Jimmy, 3, 42, 45, 177, 195, 211
Dos Passos, John, 238, 276
Dougherty, Dan, 127
Douglas, Aaron, 57
Douglas Theatre (NYC), 60
Dover Club (NYC), 167
Downes, Olin, 48, 152
Downey, Morton, 78, 145
Dowson, Ernest, 282
Dreamland Cafe (Chicago), 18, 24,
178
Dreiser, Theodore, 58,108
Dressier, Marie, 103
Dreyer, Dave, 196-97, 200, 219
Dreyfus, Max, 97, 133, 215, 247, 259,
265, 273
Driggs, Frank, 59, 69
Dubin, Al, 160,163-65, 215
Dunne, Irene, 204, 224
Duo-Art, 86
Durante, Jimmy, 126, 223-24, 248,
269, 279
Dutrey, Honor, 20
Dvorak, Anton, 173, 273
Edelweiss Gardens (Chicago), 107
Ederle, Gertrude, 175
Edgewater Beach Hotel (Chicago),
176
326
Edison Records, 148
Edmond Johnson's Cellar, 63
Edwards, Cliff, 18, 162, 218
Edwards, Eddie, 15
Edwards, Gus, 15, 86, 139
Edwards, Leo, 118
Egan, Raymond B., 109, 115, 116
Elder, Ruth, 106
Elgar, Sir Edward, 53, 142
Eliot, T. S., 58, 108
Eliscu, Edward, 264
Elks Rendezvous (NYC), 60
Ellington, Duke, 8, 16, 20, 30, 44, 58,
59, 61-63, 66, 80, 81, 83, 135,140,
190, 206, 269, 287
Ellis, Anita, 140
Elman, Mischa, 12
Embassy Club (NYC), 226
Emerson Records, 109
Empress of the Blues, 135
Erdman, Ernie, 32
Erroll, Leon, 242
Etting, Ruth, 9, 73, 76, 77, 107, 144,
149, 161, 162, 204, 206, 207-8, 235,
248
Etude, 18
Europe, Jim, 90
Ewen, David, 51, 253
Experiment in Modern Music, 142-43
Eyton, Frank, 245
INDEX
Fields, Benny, 107
Fields, Dorothy, 26, 61, 76, 91, 106,
178, 179-80, 202, 216, 258
Fields, Herbert, 173, 192, 202, 258-59,
263
Fields, Lew, 179, 180, 202, 231, 258,
263
Fifth Avenue Club (NYC), 125
Fiorito, Ted, 32, 78, 105, 161
First National Pictures, 186
Fisher, Fred, 95-98, 102, 126, 220-21
Fisher, Mark, 107
Fisher, Rudolph, 57
Fitzgerald, Ella, 75, 283
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 3, 4-5, 8, 10,14,
35, 41, 42, 134, 162, 170, 238, 276,
281
Fitzgerald, Zelda, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 35, 238
Five Pennies, 131, 195
Flamingos, The, 165
flapper, 4, 7, 8, 9, 168, 263
Fleeson, Neville, 109
Fleischmann Hour, 217
Fontanne, Lynn, 247
Ford, Henry, Peace Ship, 158
Forrest, Chet, 137
Forton, John, 23
Fosse, Bob, vi
Fox, Ted, 130
Fox Studio, 116, 186
Francis, Arthur, 262
Francis, Connie, 138
Franklin, Benjamin, 199
Frawley, William, 114,128
Freed, Arthur, 44, 214, 219
Freedley, Vinton, 266, 267
Freeman, Bud, 31
French Foreign Legion, 277
Frey, Fran, 176
Frey, Hugo, 152, 155, 156
Friars Club, 195
Friars Inn (Chicago), 18, 31, 32, 33
Friend, Cliff, 105, 125, 148, 159-60,
162, 198, 267
Friml, Rudolph, 53, 123, 137, 142, 143,
151, 159, 235, 250, 255, 262, 271,
273-74
INDEX
Frisco, Joe, 16, 125
Frohman, Charles K., 251
Froman, Jane, 264
Frost, Robert, 58
Fuller, Rosalind, 121
Fulton, Jack, 176
Furber, Douglas, 246
Gabriel, Gilbert, 48, 179
Gale, Moe, 181
Gallagher & Shean, 124
Galli-Curci, Amelita, 12
Garbo, Greta, 187
Garden of Joy (NYC), 60, 68
Garfunkel, Art, 165
Garrick Gaieties, 157, 246-47
Garvey, Marcus, 57-58
Gaskill, Clarence, 198
Gatsby, Jay, 11
Gauthier, Eva, 145
Gaxton, William, 224
Gaynor, Janet, 187, 218
Gennett Records, 3, 27, 33, 37, 123,
195
George, Yvonne, 239
Georgia Jazz Hounds, 71
Georgia Tom, 71
Gerber, Alex, 108, 258
Gershwin, George, 24, 39, 43, 44, 4753, 76, 77, 78, 86, 87, 105, 109-10,
127, 143, 145-46, 151, 158, 160, 172,
174, 182, 215, 222, 223, 224, 225,
236-37, 244, 248, 250, 261, 262, 26470, 278, 282
Gershwin, Ira, 50, 127, 141, 174, 261,
262, 267, 268-69
Geva, Tammara, 245
Gibbs, A. Harrington, 131
Gibbs, Parker, 216
Gilbert, Douglas, 132, 220-21
Gilbert, John, 218
Gilbert, L. Wolfe, 44,105, 113-14,
156, 160, 179, 186, 187, 191, 196,
203, 205, 219
Gilbert, Yvette, 65
Gilbert & Sullivan, 121, 147, 157
327
Gillespie, Haven, 128
Gilman, Lawrence, 48
Glaser, Joe, 25
Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich, 246
Globe Cafe (NYC), 98
Godowsky, Leopold, 47
Goetz, E. Ray, 277
Goff, Jerry, 269
Goldberg, Isaac, 47, 250
Golden Gate (NYC), 60
Goldfield Hotel (Baltimore), 90
Golding, Edmund, 214
Goldkette, Jean, 36, 38, 104
Goodman, Benny, 30, 32, 34, 46, 181,
195, 223
Goodwin, Joe, 98
Gorman, Ross, 49, 51, 163
Gorney, Jay, 105, 239
Gorrele, Stu, 221
Gottschalk, Louis F., 106
Grable, Betty, 126
Grainger, Porter, 59, 75, 91, 134
Grand Ole Opry, 197, 203
Grand St. Follies, 240
Grant, Coot, 75
Grauer, Bill, 17
Gray, Gilda, 68, 130-31
Gray, Glen, 129
Greeg, Jesse, 86
Green, Al, 196
Green, John, 206, 245
Green, Stanley, 261, 284
Green Mill (Chicago), 112, 199
Green & Slept, 215
Greenwich Village Follies, 238-40
Greenwood, Charlotte, 241
Greer, Jesse, 9, 198
Greer, Sammy, 62, 80
Grenet, Elisio, 114
Grey, Joe, 131
Griffith, D. W., 189
Grofe, Ferde, 41, 43, 51, 52, 121, 237
Groody, Louise, 25, 263
Guinan, Texas, 167, 169
Hadlock, Richard, 38-39
Hagar, Fred, 68-69
328
Haines, Connie, 116
Hale, Sonnie, 249
Hall, Adelaide, 62, 91, 202
Hall, George, 128
Hall, Tubby, 171
Hall, Wendell, 136
Hambitzer, Charles, 265
Hammerstein II, Oscar, 78, 159, 189,
224, 253-54, 255-56, 262, 264, 273,
279, 280
Hammond, John, 44, 46, 71, 72
Hammond, Percy, 115
Hand, Judge Learned, 98
Handy, W. C., 15, 45, 63, 67-68, 70,
151, 154
Handy Brothers, 72
Hanley, James F., 109, 132
Happiness Boys, 127
Happy Roame's (NYC), 62
Harbach, Otto, 108, 159, 252, 253, 262,
263
Harburg, E. Y., 243
Harden, Lil, 20, 21, 24, 178
Harding, Ann, 130
Hardwicke, Toby, 80
Hare, Ernie, 127
Harlem, 65-66, 80, 110
Harlem Renaissance, 65-66, 68, 92,
166, 226
Harling, Frank, 91
Harms, Inc., 82, 97, 215, 261, 265
Harris, Phil, 149
Harris, Sam, 115, 241
Harris, Will J., 205
Harrison, Jimmy, 45
Harrison, Max, 25, 27, 29
Hart, Lorenz (Larry), 222, 255;
see also Rodgers & Hart
Hart, Moss, 242, 275-76
Harvard School of Music, 277
Hawkins, Coleman, 45
Hawley, Joyce, 242
Hay, George D., 197
Hayes, Grace, 128
Hayton, Lennie, 195
Healy, Mary, 221
Hearst, William Randolph, 190
INDEX
Hecht, Ben, 238
Hegamin, Lucille, 69, 118
Heifetz, Jascha, 47
Heifetz, Vladimir, 153
Heigh-Ho Club (NYC), 210, 217
Held, Anna, 233, 234
Held, Jr., John, 9, 10
Hemingway, Ernest, 7, 58, 134, 170,
213, 276, 278, 285
Henderson, Fletcher, 20, 24, 26, 30,
37, 44, 46, 63, 70, 134, 141, 150,
151, 155, 181
Henderson, Ray, 128, 151, 155, 172,
173
Henderson, William J., 48
Henley, Lou, 63
Hentoff, Nat, 71
Herbert, Victor, 49, 52, 97, 122-23,
142, 172, 251, 257, 261
Herman, Woody, 113
Heyman, Edward, 245
Heyward, Dubose, 167
Hickman, Art, 31, 44, 104, 131
Higgenbotham, J. C., 29
. Hill, Chippie, 75
Hines, Earl "Fatha," 25, 75, 171
Hippodrome (NYC), 126
Hirsch, Louis A., 108, 252
Hitchcock, Raymond, 277
Hoctor, Harriet, 269
Hodges, Johnny, 66
Hogan, Ernest, 88
Holiday, Billie, 72, 75
Holloway, Sterling, 246
Holman, Libby, 77, 211, 222, 245, 264
Hoist, Gustav, 37
Holt, Nora, 58
Homer and Jethro, 160
Horlick, Harry, 127
Home, Lena, 58, 195, 223
Horowitz, Vladimir, 85
Hot Five, 24, 29, 43, 75, 135, 178
Hot Seven, 24, 29
Howard, Sidney, 276
Howard, Willie & Eugene, 128, 244
Hubbell, Raymond, 77, 180
Hudson Theatre (NYC), 91
INDEX
Hughes, Langston, 57, 58, 92, 226
Hunter, Alberta, 69, 71-72, 74, 141,
171, 178, 237
Hunter, Glenn, 260
Huntley, G. P., 212
Hurok, Sol, 152
Husing, Ted, 62
Hylton, Jack, 163
Immerman, Connie, 61
Institute of Musical Art, 258
Ippolitov, Isamiv, 153
Jablonski, Edward, 49, 51
Jackson, Arthur, 236
Jackson, Preston, 20, 22
Jacques, Charles, 117
Jaffe, Moe, 162, 216
James, Harry, 45,116
James, Paul, 222
Janis, Elsie, 85, 214
Janney, Russell, 259
Jardin de Paris Theatre (NYC), 233
Jaz-E-Saz Band, 24
Jazz Hounds, 69
Jenkins, Gordon, 113
Jerome, William, 11
Jessel, George, 114, 205
Jessel, Leon, 121
jitterbug, 19
Johnson, Charles, 60, 62, 66, 135
Johnson, Hall, 89
Johnson, Howard, 173, 191
Johnson, James J., 91
Johnson, James P., 15, 80, 81, 82, 83,
84, 85, 211
Johnson, James Weldon, 59, 166
Johnson, Jimmy, 73
Johnson, J. Rosamond, 88, 166
Jolson, Al, 32, 42, 64, 109-10, 113,
114-15, 130, 160, 161, 162, 168,
172, 173, 183, 184-85, 196-97, 200202, 207, 209, 217, 244, 245, 266, 269
Jolson Theatre (NYC), 114, 115
Jones, Billy, 127
Jones, Isham, 22, 44, 45, 78,103, 105,
329
112-13, 118, 147, 150, 168, 195, 209,
221
Jones, Richard M., 75
Joplin, Janis, 72
Jordan, Joe, 88,117
Jordan, Louis, and His Tympani
Five, 60
Judge Magazine, 138
Juilliard Institute, 258
Jungle Kings, 34
Kael, Pauline, 218
Kahal, Irving, 106, 196, 198
Kahn, Gus, 32, 78, 115, 116, 123,128,
147, 161, 162, 206, 207, 209, 244
Kahn, Roger Wolfe, 159
Kalman, Emmerich, 182, 274
Kalmar, Bert, 104, 109
Kalmar & Ruby, 109, 117, 138^10, 225
Kane, Helen, 9, 74, 140, 210
Katscher, Robert, 182
Kaufman, George S., 5, 124,140, 144,
225,245
Kaye, Danny, 195
Keaton, Buster, 218
Kedgie Theatre (Chicago), 64
Keeler, Ruby, 165, 269
Keene, Jack, 252
Keepnews, Orrin, 17
Keith, Jerome, 215
Keith, Albee, 198
Keith Orpheum Circuit, 65
Keith's 81st Street Theatre (NYC),
217
Kellette, John William, 244
Kelly, Gene, 218
Kelly, Patsy, 243
Kelly's Stable (NYC), 205-6
Kemp, Hal, 104
Kenbrovin, Jean, 244
Kennedy, John F., 228
Kenny, Nick and Charles, 128
Kentucky Club (NYC), 62, 135, 190
Kern, Jerome, 52, 76, 97-98, 108, 127,
159, 172, 180,189, 215, 223, 224,
248, 250-56, 257, 261, 266, 279
Khayyam, Omar, 163
330
Kilenyi, Edward, 265
King, B. B., 120
King, Bob, 133
King, Charles, 218, 227, 228
King, Jack, 214
Kirkpatrick, Sidney D., 122
Klages, Ray, 216
Klemfuss, Harry C., 112
Knickerbocker, Cholly, 102-3
Koehler, Ted, 123, 208
Kreisler, Fritz, 47
Kreslow, George, 39
Kristofferson, Kris, 120
Kroll, Jack, 89
Krupa, Gene, 195
Kreuger, Bennie, 205
Kubelik, Jan, 273
Ladnier, Tommy, 45
Lafayette Theatre (NYC), 60, 82, 130
Lahr, Bert, 279
Laine's Band, Jack, 16
Lala's Cabaret (N.O.), 23
Lamb's Cafe (Chicago), 16
Lampe, J. Bodewald, 122, 151, 156
Laadry, Art, 123
Lane, Burton, 243
Lane, Eastwood, 37
Lange, Arthur, 97
Lannigan, Jim, 31
Lardner, Ring, 5, 6, 124, 232
Larkin, Philip, 37
La Rocca, Nick, 15
La Rue, Grace, 241
Latin Quarter (NYC), 177
Lawrence, Gertrude, 76, 127, 150, 163,
174, 218, 245, 246, 268
Layton, J. Turner, 73-74, 91, 127, 128
Lecuona, Ernesto, 114
Lee, Peggy, 72
Lehar, Franz, 182, 232, 270, 271-72
Le Maire, George, 129
Leonard, Eddie, 195
Leroy's (NYC), 82, 83
Leslie, Edgar, 139, 162, 163, 196
Leslie, Lew, 61, 179
Lewis, Joe E., 198-99
INDEX
Lewis, John, 85
Lewis, Sinclair, 58, 108, 213, 268-69
Lewis, Ted, 31, 32, 44, 68, 100, 104,
176, 177, 196, 216, 239
Lewis & Young, 160-61, 162, 245
Liberty Theatre (Brooklyn), 163
Library of Congress, 29
Lieurance, Thurlow, 153
Lightner, Winnie, 128, 236-37
Lillie, Beatrice, 149-50, 212, 246
Lincoln Gardens (Chicago), 19, 23
Lincoln Theatre (Baltimore), 63
Lincoln Theatre (NYC), 60, 83, 130
Lindbergh, Charles, 106, 191, 214
Lindy Hop, 181, 191
Lindy's (NYC), 219
Little, George A., 112
Little Savoy (NYC), 81
The Little Show, 222, 245
Liveright, Horace, 59
Livingston, Fud, 66
Locke, Alain, 57, 58-59
Loeb, Philip, 246
Loesser, Frank, 225
Loew, Marcus, 188-89
Loew's Seventh Avenue (NYC), 130
Loew's State Theatre (NYC), 175,
186, 189
Logan, Frederick Knight, 53, 142
Lohner, Fritz, 113
Lombard, Carole, 214
Lombardo, Carmen, 27, 206
Lombardo, Guy, 74, 114, 206
Loos, Anita, 9, 167
Lopez, Vincent, 10-11, 16, 44, 86, 102,
103, 122, 150-56, 168
Losch, Tilly, 248
Love, Bessie, 228
Loyacano, Arnold, 16-17, 32
Lucas, Nick, 164
Luce, Clare Booth, 191, 235
Lumpkin, Grace, 213
Lunceford, Jimmie, 45
Lund, Art, 116
Lunt, Alfred, 247
Lupino, Ida, 146
Lyman, Abe, 78, 103, 162
INDEX
Lyman, Tommy, 96,162, 196
Lyric Theatre (NYC), 273
MacDonald, Ballard, 108,117, 133
MacDowell, Edward, 53, 142,143
Mack, Cecil, 91, 134
Mackay, Ellen, 144, 175
MacMurray, Fred, 245
Madden, Owney, 10, 61
Maeterlinck, Maurice, 7
Magidson, Herb, 107
Magine, Frank, 123
Malipiero, Riccardo, 48
Mandel, Frank, 252
Manhattan Casino (NYC), 69, 191
Mankiewicz, Joseph L., 139
Mantee, Duke, 11
Mantle, Burns, 92, 124
Mantovani, 187
Marable, Fate, 24
marathon dance, 191, 210
Marbury, Elizabeth, 277
Mares, Paul, 18, 31, 32, 35
Marks, Edward B., 11, 13, 96, 114,
121-22, 167, 247, 272
Marks, Herbert E., 114
Marsh, Howard, 189
Marsh, Reginald, 238, 239
Marshall, Everett, 238
Martin, Sara, 69, 141
Marx, Groucho, 140
Marx Brothers, 130,140
Massey, Guy, 148
Masters, Edgar Lee, 58, 108
Matthews, Jessie, 248
Matthews, June, 248
Maugham, Somerset, 59
Maxwell, Elsa, 278
McCarthy, Joseph, 108, 190, 234, 252,
274
McCarthy, Justin Huntly, 273
McCarthy Sisters, 237
McClay, Helen, 165
McCormack, John, 47, 168
McCoy, Clyde, 73,141
McHugh, Jimmy, 26, 61, 76, 91,105,
331
106, 112, 127, 135, 149,179, 198,
202, 216
McKay, Claude, 57
McKenzie, Red, 34, 150
McKenzie & Condon's Chicagoans,
34-35
McKinney's Cotton Pickers, 45, 73, 82
McPartland, Dick, 31
McPartland, Jimmy, 31, 33, 34
McPherson, Aimee Semple, 170
McPherson, Richard D., 134
Meiken, Fred, 113
Melrose Brothers, 29
Melton, James, 165
Mencken, H. L., 278
Mercer, Johnny, 42, 116, 117, 211
Mercer, Mabel, 109
Merman, Ethel, 238, 275, 283
Merrill, Blanda, 118
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 9, 188, 189,
195, 214, 218, 227, 235
Metropolitan Opera, 135, 151, 152, 168
Metropolitan Theatre (Chicago), 84
Meyer, George W., 105
Meyer, Joseph, 105, 158, 160, 163, 168
Meyers, Billy, 32
Miley, James "Bubber," 62
Milford, Nancy, 4, 134
Milhaud, Darius, 43
Miller, Glenn, 84, 195
Miller, Marilyn, 108, 118, 145, 234,
252, 253, 254, 264
Miller & Lyles, 89, 91
Miller Music, 215
Mills, E. C., 99
Mills, Florence, 63, 78, 89, 90, 91, 160
Mills, Irving, 62, 97, 106, 112, 190
Mills, Jack, 97, 135
Mills Brothers, 96, 140
Mills Music, 86, 97, 102, 106, 111,
112, 113, 135, 179, 205
Minnelli, Vincente, 243
Minnevitch, Borrah, 152
Minter, Mary Miles, 122
Miss America Contest, 119
Mistinguett, 117-18
Mizner, Wilson, 219
332
Modern Jazz Quartet, 85
Mohr, Harry K., 11
Mole, Miff, 3, 195
Monogram Theatre (Chicago), 74
Montgomery, James, 252
Montmartre Club (NYC), 226
Mooney, Lon, 175
Moore, Colleen, 186
Moore, Grace, 121, 135, 241
Moore, Victor, 268
Moran, Bugs, 10
Moret, Neil, 117
Morgan, Billy, 177
Morgan, Helen, 77, 125, 146, 174, 189,
208, 209, 224, 253, 254, 256
Morgan, Russ, 36, 116
Morgenstern, Dan, 27
Morris, Joan, 250
Morris, Theodora, 121
Morrow, Anne Spencer, 214
Morse, Theodore F., 121
Mortimer, Jr., Stanley, 285
Morton, Jelly Roll, 20, 21, 28-30, 81,
141
Moten, Bennie, 30, 150, 158
Mound City Blues Blowers, 150
Mountbatten, Lady, 146
Movietone, 186, 187, 191
Muir, Lewis F., 113
Munro, Bill, 239
Murphy, Owen, 239
Murray, Lynn, 42
Music Box Revues, 115
Music Box Theatre (NYC), 115, 143
Music Publishers Protective Association (MPPA),99
Music War Committee, 256
mutoscope, 188
Nagel, Conrad, 186, 218
Naset, C., 123
Nathan, George Jean, 138, 231
National Academy of Recording Arts
& Sciences, 202
National Broadcasting Company
(NBC), 102
INDEX
National Theatre (Washington, D.C.),
189
Nazimova, Alia, 106
Negri, Pola, 106
Neighborhood Playhouse (NYC), 240
Neilan, Marshall, 44, 116, 121
New Amsterdam Theatre (NYC), 235,
271
New Orleans Rhythm Kings (NORK),
18-19, 31-35, 141, 177
New York College Of Music, 179, 251
New York Times, 157
The New Yorker, 167
New York World's Fair Aquacade, 126
Newsweek, 88, 89
Nichols, Harold, 163
Nichols, Horatio, 196
Nichols, Red, 37, 66, 131, 195, 269
nickelodeon, 188, 189
Nick's (NYC), 35
Noble, Ray, 116
Noone, Jimmie, 205
Normand, Mabel, 122
Norworth, Jack, 208, 209
Nussbaum, Joseph, 151, 152, 153, 154
O'Bannion, Dion, 10, 32, 213
O'Brien, Floyd, 23
O'Hare, Husk, 33
O'Neill, Eugene, 58
Odeon Theatre, 60
Ogden Theatre (Utah), 195
Okeh Records, 38, 68, 75, 134, 135,
178, 222
Oliver, Edna May, 189
Oliver, Joe "King," 18, 19-23, 27, 29,
36, 37, 45, 141, 150,178, 181
Olman, Abe, 109
Olsen, George, 103, 175-76, 227-28,
235, 253
Olsen & Johnson, 123, 138
Olympic Theatre (Chicago), 89
On the Levee (San Francisco), 178
Oriental Theatre (NYC), 60
Original Dixieland Jazz Band
(ODJB), 14-15,16, 19, 32, 33, 106,
110, 151, 177, 216
INDEX
Orpheum Theatre (New Orleans), 113
Ory, Kid, 18, 19, 23, 177, 178
Osborne, Herbert, 263
Osgood, Henry 0., 47
Osterman, Jack, 198
Owens, Harry, 43
Pace, Harry, 63, 70
Pace and Handy, 68
Paddock (NYC), 219
Paderewski, Ignace, 12
Palace Theatre (NYC), 162, 168, 172,
175, 204, 217
Palais d'Or (NYC), 50
Palais Royal (NYC), 41, 44, 49, 87
Palazzo Rezzonico (Venice), 277, 283
Palladium (London), 176
Palmer, Bea, 130
Palmer, Jack, 73, 149
Panico, Louis, 113
Paramount Music, 215
Paramount Pictures, 116, 216, 218
Paramount Records, 70, 77
Paramount Theatre (NYC), 209
Paradise (Ed Smalls'), 60, 81
Parish, Mitchell, 205, 221
Parker, Dorothy, 5, 124, 214
Parks, Larry, 201
Paskman, Dailey, 137
Passing Shows, 244
Past Jazz Masters, 134
Pastor's (Tony) (NYC), 160, 176
Patricola, Tom, 134-35
"payola," 208-9
Peckin', 181
Peer, Ralph, 197, 203
ThePekin (Chicago), 18
Pekin Restaurant (NYC), 11, 16
Pennington, Ann, 130, 171, 236
Pennsylvania Hotel (NYC), 86, 103,
168, 227
Pennsylvanians, The, 162
Peress, Maurice, 47
Perkins, Maxwell, 8, 14
Perkiomen Seminary, 164
Petit, Charles, 160
Petit, Margaret, 121
333
Pettis, Jack, 18, 32, 177
Photoplay, 219-20
piano novelties, 86-87
Pickford, Mary, 122
Pickwick Club (Boston), 134
Pingatore, Mike, 43,136
Pinkard, Maceo, 74, 91
Plantation (NYC), 63-64
Plaza Music, 145
Plitt Theatres, 115
Pod's & Jerry's (NYC), 83
Polla, W. G., 152,153
Pollack, Ben, 32
Pollack, Lew, 187
Pollock, Channing, 117
Ponchielli, Amilcare, 42
Porter, Arthur B., 135
Porter, Cole, 5-6, 9, 107, 126, 133,
180, 211-12, 218, 224-25, 239, 240,
248, 250, 275-84
Powell, Dick, 195
Powell, Eleanor, 222
Presser Co. (Theodore), 18
Price, George, 173
Pridgett, Melissa Nix, 70
Prince of Wales, 193
Princess Theatre (NYC), 251, 254,
256, 257
Pryor Band (Arthur), 266
Puccini, Giacomo, 42
Punch and Judy Theatre (NYC), 124
Quality Reigns Supreme (QRS), 85,
86,87
Rachmaninoff, Sergei, 47, 85, 151, 152
Radio City Music Hall (NYC), 115
Raft, George, 169
Ragas, Henry, 15
Ragtime, 81, 86
Rainbow Gardens (Chicago), 113
Rainey, Gertrude "Ma," 69, 70-71,
74, 178
Rainey, Will, 70
Rainger, Ralph, 222, 245
Rapee, Erno, 187
334
Raphaelson, Samson, 167
Rappolo, Leon, 18, 22, 32
Rasch, Albertina, 224, 269
Rascoe, Burton, 238
Ravel, Maurice, 37, 243
Razaf, Andy, 25, 58, 61, 84, 91, 181,
222-23
Rector's (NYC), 99
Red Hot Peppers, 29, 43
Red Mill Cafe (Chicago), 18
Redding, Otis, 173
Redman, Don, 45, 221
Regent Theatre (NYC), 190
Reisenweber's (NYC), 15, 16, 176
Remick, Jerome H., 102, 106, 116, 139,
147, 158, 198, 215, 265
Renaissance Casino (NYC), 60
Rendezvous (NYC), 84
Reubens (NYC), 227
Reynolds, Debbie, 140
Reynolds, James, 238
Rhapsody in Blue, 24, 47-53, 142^3
Rhythm Boys, 42, 211
Rica, Bob, 176
Richman, Harry, 76, 159, 160, 171-72,
196, 237
Ricketts, Bob, 134
Rimsky-Korsakoff, Nikolai, 151, 153,
155
Ringle, Dave, 113
Rinker, Al, 211
Ritz Hotel (Paris), 275
RKO Pictures, 214
Robbins, Jack, 108
Robbing Music, 74, 215
Roberts, Charles Luckeyeth, 61, 81,
82, 84-85
Robeson, Paul, 58, 166, 189
Robin Hood Dell (Philadelphia), 85
Robinson, Bill, 91, 92, 202
Robinson, Carson, 106
Robinson, Edward G., 11
Robinson, Edwin Arlington, 58
Robinson, J. Russell, 106
Robinson, R., 154
Robledo, Julian, 120, 239
Rodgers, Jimmie, 197, 202-3, 206
INDEX
Rodgers, Richard, 126, 255, 261, 278,
283; see also Rodgers & Hart
Rodgers & Hammerstein, 256, 257
Rodgers & Hart, 9, 76, 107-8, 125,
126, 157, 165, 173, 175, 182, 192-94,
202, 207, 222, 225, 240, 246-48,
250, 257-61, 278-79
Rogers, Alex, 130
Rogers, Buddy, 218
Rogers, Ginger, 107
Rollini, Adrian, 42
Romberg, Sigmund, 78, 108, 114, 122,
180, 202, 214, 236, 243, 244, 245,
250, 255, 258, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274
Rome, Harold, 225
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 228, 279
Roosevelt Grill (NYC), 206
Roosevelt Hotel (Hollywood), 228
Roosevelt Hotel (N.0.),262
Rose, Billy, 74, 104, 105, 123, 124-26,
138, 160, 163, 179, 196, 200, 223,
242, 243, 264
Rose, David, 62
Rose, Fred, 135
Rose, Vincent, 42, 43
Rose Danceland (NYC), 60
Roseland (NYC), 24, 44, 45, 107-8,
134, 150
Rosenfeld, Monroe, 101
Ross, Harold, 5, 167
Ross, Lanny, 168
Roth, Lillian, 173, 243
Rothafel, Samuel L., 190
Roxy Theatre (NYC), 49, 190
Royal Gardens (Chicago), 18, 19
Royal Theatre (Chicago), 84
Rubecalle, 152
Ruby, Harry, 104, 105, 109
Ruby, Herman, 197
Rugel, Yvette, 152, 156
Rum Row, 119
Runyon, Damon, 232
Russell, Luis, 22
Russell, Pee Wee, 39
Russell, William, 184
Ryan's (Jimmy) (NYC), 35
Ryskind, Morrie, 174, 225
INDEX
St. Cyr, Johnny, 29, 178
St. Regis Roof (NYC), 102-3
Sampson, Edgar, 181
Sanborn, Pitts, 47
Sandburg, Carl, 126
Sands, Dorothy, 240
Santly, Joseph, 148
Santly-Joy Music, 148
Sarris, Andrew, 185
Savo, Jimmy, 173
Savoy Ballroom (NYC), 60, 181, 191,
286
Sbarbo, Tony, 15
Scandals, 236-38
Schenck, Joseph M., 188
Schiffman, Frank, 130
Schiller Cafe (Chicago), 15
Schillinger, Joseph, 265
Schirmer, Rudolph, 273
Schoebel, Elmer, 18, 32, 177
Schoenberg, Arnold, 37
Schoenberger, John, 52
Schomburg, Arthur, 58
Schumann-Heink, Ernestine, 12
Schuster, M. Lincoln, 145
Schutt, Arthur, 3, 195
Schwab, Lawrence, 247, 258
Schwann catalog, 49
Schwartz, Arthur, 222, 240, 245
Schwartz, Jean, 139, 243, 245
Scott, Cyril, 37
Scott, Linda, 256
Scribner's, 8
Seeley, Blossom, 96, 107
Segal, Vivienne, 254
Seidel, Emil, 221
Seldes, Gilbert, 238
Selvin, Ben, 44, 97
Sennett, Mack, 189
Seven Kings of Syncopation, 176
Sewell, Willie "Egghead," 81
Shakespeare, William, 280
Shapiro, Elliott, 132
Shapiro, Nat, 77, 127
Shapiro, Ted, 204
Shapiro, Bernstein, 74, 102,132-33,
172, 198, 215
335
Shaw, Artie, 83, 221
Shaw, Oscar, 143, 241
Shearer, Norma, 218
Sherman, Al, 175, 191
Sherwood, Robert, 11
Shilkret, Nathaniel, 114, 186
shimmy, 130-31, 135
Shostakovich, Dmitri, 223
Shubert Alley (NYC), 243
Shubert brothers, 114, 137, 138, 182,
225, 231, 244, 253, 259, 272
Shubert Theatre (NYC), 238, 239, 243
Shubert Theatre (Philadelphia), 225
Shuffle Along, 89-90, 92
Shuffle Inn (NYC), 60
Shutta, Ethel, 176, 235
Silver, Abner, 106, 196
Silver, Frank, 52, 77, 132
Silvers, Louis, 114, 185
Simeon, Omer, 29
Simon and Schuster, 145
Simons, Moises, 114
Sinatra, Frank, 116, 120, 216, 283
Singleton, Zutty, 25, 29
Sissle, Noble, 60, 68, 89-90, 202
Sissle & Blake, 89
Sixty Club (NYC), 115
Skelton, Red, 140
Skiffle craze, 124
Slaughter, Marion T., 147, 148
Sloane, A. Baldwin, 239
Smalls' Paradise (NYC), 60, 62, 81,
83
Smith, Bessie, 37, 68, 71-73, 135, 150,
178, 206, 287
Smith, Cecil, 282
Smith, Clara, 69, 141, 157
Smith, Harry B., 182, 233
Smith, Kate, 173
Smith, Mamie, 68-69, 83, 110
Smith, Paul Gerard, 268
Smith, Pine Top, 207
Smith, Trixie, 69-70
Smith, Whispering Jack, 74, 197
Smith, Willie "The Lion," 80, 81,
, 82-83
Smith's Band (Leroy), 25
336
Snowden, George "Shorty," 191
Snyder, Frank, 18, 32
Snyder, Martin (Moe the Gimp),
207-8
Snyder, Ted, 106, 111, 138, 156, 243
Sondheiin, Stephen, 224
Songwriters Protective Association,
126
Sour, Robert, 245
Sousa, John Philip, 18, 192, 262
Southern Music Company, 203
Souvaine, Henry, 155, 174
Spaeth, Sigmund, 133, 137, 148, 182,
223
Spanier, Muggsy, 23, 177
Specht, Paul, 103, 168
spirituals, Negro, 166
Spivey, Victoria, 69
Stalliiigs, Lawrence, 91, 264
Stamper, Dave, 118, 180, 234, 252
Stanley, Jack, 112
Stark, Mack, 215
Starr Piano Co., 33
Station WLS (Chicago), 197
Station WSM (Nashville), 197
Stearns, Marshall W., 17, 43, 191
Steel, John, 234, 241
Stein, Johnny, 15
Stept, Sam H., 105
Sterling, Andrew B., 239
Stern, Jos. W., Company, 272
Stetzel, Mel, 32
Stevens, April, 240
Stevens, Ashton, 64
Stewart, Donald Ogden, 238
Stewart, Lawrence D., 49, 51
Stewart, Martha, 116
Still, William Grant, 44, 211
Stokowski, Leopold, 18, 97
Storyville, 14, 28
Stothart, Herbert, 137, 262, 270
Strand Theatre (NYC), 184
Stravinsky, Igor, 37, 47, 48
Street Singer, The (Arthur Tracy),
114
INDEX
Styrie, Jule, 9
Sugar Cane Club (NYC), 60
Sullivan, Arthur, 154
Sullivan, Mark, 14
Sunset Cafe (Chicago), 25, 75, 171
Sunshine, Marion, 114
Suzy Q, 181
Swanson, Gloria, 214
Sweet Mama Stringbean, 63
Swift, Kay, 222
Syncopated Six, 123
Tait, John, 41
Talmadge, Constance, 8
Tampa Red, 71
Tancil, Eddie, 34
Tanguay, Eva, 176, 189
Tanner, Elmo, 136
Tanner, Gid, and His Skillet Lickers,
113
Tate, Erskine, 18, 25, 84
Tatum, Art, 60, 84, 85
Taylor, Deems, 47, 48
Taylor, William Desmond, 122
Teagarden, Jack, 27, 195
Terris, Norma, 189
Terriss, Dorothy, 44, 120, 121, 239
Teschemacher, Frank, 31, 33, 34-35
Texas, Tommy, 191
Thalberg, Irving, 220-21, 228
Thatcher, Primrose and West, 220
Theatre Guild, 157, 259
Theatre Owners Booking Association
(T.O.B.A.),70
Third Stream Jazz, 38
32-bar song form, 100-101
Thomas, Ambroise, 52
Thomas, Linda Lee, 277
Thompson, Fred, 190, 268
Three Deuces (Chicago), 85
Throckmorton, Cleon, 239
Thurman, Wallace, 57, 58
Thurston, Zora Neale, 57
Tierney, Harry, 108, 190, 234, 252, 274
Tilley, Eustace, 167
Tin-Pan Alley, 101, 108, 213
Tiny Tim, 164
INDEX
Tobias, Charles, 74, 105, 198, 243
Tobias, Harry, 105, 243
Tobias, Henry, 105, 175
Toomer, Jean, 57, 58
Torch songs, 77, 78
Tough, Dave, 32, 33
Town Hall (NYC), 85, 88
Townsend, Jim, 269
Tracey II, William, 127
Tracy, Arthur, 114
Tracy, Spencer, 204
Tree of Hope (Harlem), 61
Trent, Jo, 205
Trocadero Club (NYC), 226
Truckin', 181
Truman, Harry, 228
Trumbauer, Frank, 37, 38, 66, 78,195
Tucker, Sophie, 16, 63, 68, 69,107,
113, 138, 168, 173, 176-77, 189, 197,
204, 215
Turner, Joe, 72
Turk, Roy, 74, 198, 204
Twaify's Music Store (LaSalle, 111.),
86
Twain, Mark, 260
20th Century-Fox, 126, 140, 192
ukulele, introduction of, 136
"Ukulele Ike," 78, 267
Ulanov, Barry, 17
Universal Negro Improvement
Association, 57
Untermeyer, Louis, 4, 59
Urban, Joseph, 103, 234, 235, 274
Valentino, Rudolph, 111-12, 170, 181,
217
Vallee, Rudy, 26, 78, 140, 205, 210,
216-18
Van Vechten, Carl, 58, 59, 60, 118
Van & Schenck, 76, 109, 115,138, 252
Vanderbilt Theatre (NYC), 260
Vargas, Albert, 235
Variety, 17, 89, 95, 98, 103, 108, 135,
138,175, 182, 185,186,189,198,
199, 209, 210, 215, 226-27, 244, 255
Varsity Drag, 135, 192
337
Vaudeville, 188
Venable, Percy, 171
Vendome Theatre (Chicago), 18, 25,
84
Venuti, Joe, 42, 195
Vestoff, Valodea, 121
Victor Talking Machine Co., 12, 15,
29, 41, 87, 123, 129, 133, 136, 147,
176,187,188,203
Victoria Music Hall (NYC), 255
Villa Vallee (NYC), 210, 217
Villon, Francois, 273
Vitaphone, 182, 184
Vocalion Records, 134
Vodery, Will, 88, 91,129
Von Tilzer, Harry, 11, 98-100, 102,
139, 265
Vorse, Mary Heaton, 213
Wagner, Richard, 37
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (NYC), 225
Walker, Frank, 72
Walker, George, 88, 129
Walker, Joe, 171
Walker, Stanley, 95
Wallace, Sippie, 69
Waller, Thomas "Fats", 25-26, 44, 61,
66, 73, 80, 81, 83-84, 85, 91, 149,
211, 222-23
Ward, Aida, 91, 202
Ward, Billy, 221
Warfield, David, 188
Waring, Fred, 9, 104, 162, 248
Warner Bros., 116, 182-83, 184, 185,
200, 201, 214, 215, 216, 224
Warner Theatre (NYC), 183
Warren, Harry, 104, 128, 162-65
Washington, Dinah, 72
Waters, Ethel, 37, 44, 63-65, 66, 68,
74, 91, 141,160, 216, 279
Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, 102, 105,
111, 132, 139, 198
Watkins, Ralph, 205
Wayburn, Ned, 109, 266
Wayne, Mabel, 44, 104, 105, 114, 161,
178-79, 187, 196, 203
338
Webb, Chick, 16, 181
Webb, Clifton, 222, 245
Weber & Fields, 179, 188, 231, 258
Weems, Ted, 136, 216
Weill, Kurt, 27
Welch, Elizabeth, 134
West, Mae, 172
Western Electric, 182-83
Weston, Paul, 116, 140
Wheeler, Francis, 106, 196, 198
Whettling, George, 23, 162
White, George, 9, 50, 76, 134, 137,
158, 170-71, 172, 175, 231, 236-38,
244, 266
White, Pearl, 189
Whiteman, Paul, 31, 36, 37, 38, 39,
41-44, 46, 47-53, 87, 97, 110, 112,
113, 114, 118, 120, 121, 122, 126,
128, 135, 136, 142-43, 149-51, 163,
166, 173, 179, 182, 187-88, 194, 197,
210, 216, 223, 234, 236
Whiting, George, 149, 195-96
Whiting, Margaret, 117
Whiting, Richard A., 105, 109, 115,
116-17, 236
Whittier, Henry, 148
Wiedoeft, Rudolph, 217
Wilder, Alec, 77, 100, 176, 250, 251,
252, 256, 257, 259, 264
Wilk, Max, 105, 139, 194, 261-62
Wilkins, Barron, 81, 82, 83
Willemetz, Albert, 117
Williams, Bert, 63, 72, 73, 74, 88, 117,
129-30, 234
Williams, Clarence, 63, 73, 77, 85, 127,
134, 141, 149
Williams, Fess, 181
Williams, Frances, 171, 175, 237, 248
Williams, J. Mayo, 70
Williams, Mary Lou, 70
Williams, Spencer, 73, 127, 149
Williams Sisters, 162
Williams & Walker, 91, 129
Wilson, Edith, 26, 69
Wilson, Edmund, 199, 238
Wiman, Dwight Deere, 222
INDEX
Winchell, Walter, 104, 210
Winniger, Charles, 189
Winter Garden (NYC), 9, 107, 109,
114, 160, 198, 201, 238, 243, 244,
265, 266
Witmark, Isidor, 124
Witmark, Julius, 220
Witmark, M, & Sons, 102, 198, 220
Wodehouse, P. G., 251, 254, 267
Wolfe, Thomas, 213
Wolverines, 16,19, 24, 34, 37, 118,
150
Wood, Del, 113
Wood, Leo, 131, 136
Woodford-Finden, Amy, 156
Woods, Harry M., 105, 173, 216
Woods Theatre (Cincinnati), 159
Woollcott, Alexander, 5, 6, 7, 135, 189,
246, 267
Work, Henry C., 148
Wright, Robert, 137
Wynn, Ed, 248
Yale Collegians, 217
Yellen, Jack, 105, 109, 128, 168, 196,
203-4, 216, 227
Youmans, Vincent, 3, 63, 137, 151, 154,
158, 182, 192, 211, 250, 255, 261,
265
Young, Joe, 83
Young, Lester, 38
Young, Victor, 205, 221
Young's Band (Bob), 90
Your Hit Parade, 171
Yvain, Maurice, 117
Ziegfeld, Florenz, 62, 117-18, 126, 129,
138, 175, 193, 207, 216, 224, 231,
232-36, 242, 244, 247-48, 249,
251-52, 253
Ziegfeld Theatre (NYC), 126, 189,
190, 235, 269, 274
Zimmerman, Leon, 216
Zit's Weekly, 47
Zukor, Adolph, 188
Song Index
After You Get What You Want, You
Don't Want It, 157
After You've Gone, 16, 26, 73, 74
Ain't Misbehavin', 26, 61, 83, 84, 91,
222-23
Ain't She Sweet, vi, 46, 196
Ain't We Got Fun, 115-16, 147
Alabamy Bound, 201, 209
Alexander's Ragtime Band, 52, 100,
143,176
Alice Blue Gown, 108, 252
Alia, 106
All Alone, 143-44, 151, 155, 168, 241,
319
All Through the Night, 281
Always, 144, 159, 165-66, 319
Always True to You in My Fashion,
281-82
American in Paris, An, 52, 224, 265,
269
Am I Blue?, 64, 216, 220
Among My Souvenirs, 163, 196, 210
L'Amour, Toujours L'Amour, 123
Angry, 33
April in Harlem, 82, 211
April Showers, 101, 114, 201, 319
Arkansas Blues, 150
Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,
The, 163
Atlantic Blues, 76
340
SONG INDEX
SONG INDEX
Dancing on the Ceiling, 248
Dardanella, 95-98, 100, 220
Darktown Strutters' Ball, The, 16, 34,
91, 176
Day by Day You're Going to Miss Me,
78
Deadman Blues, 29
Dear Old Southland, 73
Deep in My Heart, Dear, 180
Deep Night, 217
Deep River, 73, 166
Desert Song, The, 272
Diane, 187
Dicty Blues, 141
Diga Diga Do, 91, 179, 202
Dinah, 64, 160, 319
Ding Dong Daddy, 27
Dippermouth Blues, 20, 141
Dirty Hands, Dirty Face, 184
Dizzy Fingers, 87, 198
Doctor Jazz, 29
Do Do Do, 174, 268
Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on
the Bedpost Over Night?, 123-24
Doin' the New Low-Down, 91, 202
Doin' the Raccoon, 216
Doll Dance, 219
Donkey Serenade, 137, 235
Don't Be Like That, 74
Don't Bring Lulu, 125
Don't Ever Leave Me, 77, 224, 256
Don't Fish in My Sea, 70
Don't Forget to Mess Around When
You're Doing the Charleston, 135
Don't Wake Me Up and Let Me
Dream, 179
Doo Dah Blues (Sweet Cryin' Babe),
127
Doo Dah Dey, 264
Down by the 0-HI-O (0-My!-0), 109
Down Hearted Blues, 71, 74
Down in the Dumps, 72
Down South Blues, 141
Down Where the Wurzburger Flows,
100
Down Yonder, 112
Dreamer's Holiday, A, 179
341
342
SONG INDEX
SONG INDEX
If I Had You, 210, 217
If I Meet the Guy Who Made This
Country Dry, 11
If Love Were All, 152, 155
I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a
Five and Ten Cent Store), 125
If You Knew Susie Like I Know
Susie, 160, 168, 201
If You Want a Rainbow (You Must
Have the Rain), 216
If You Were the Only Girl in the
World, 217
I Get a Kick Out of You, 275, 281
I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, 27
I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan,
222, 245
I Kiss Your Hand Madame, 217
I Know That You Know, 264
I'll Always Be in Love with You, 78
I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom
Time, 109
I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise,
127-28, 236, 266
I'll Get By, 204
I'll Say She Does, 147
I'll See You Again, 224
I'll See You in C-U-B-A, 11
I'll See You in My Dreams, 112,147,
209, 319
I Love a Parade, 172
I Love Paris, 283
I Love to Dunk a Hunk of Sponge
Cake, 127
I Love to Lie Awake in Bed, 222
I Love You (Archer), 52
I Love You (Porter), 281
I'm a Dreamer (Aren't We All), 218
I'm a Gigolo, 9
I'm a Little Blackbird Looking for a
Bluebird, 78
I'm All Alone in a Palace of Stone,
175
I'm an Indian, 117-18
I'm a Vamp from East Broadway, 109,
117, 139-40
I'm Coming Virginia, 37
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles, 244
343
344
SONG INDEX
SONG INDEX
Livery Stable Blues, 15, 48, 52,143
Liza, 35, 269
London Blues, 141
Lonesome and Sorry, 107
Lonesome Road Blues, 136
Look for the Silver Lining, 108, 252
Looking at the World Through RoseColored Glasses, 137, 208
Looking for a Boy, 160, 267
Louise, 218
Love Everlasting, 123
Love for Sale, 248, 273, 281, 283
Love Letters in the Sand, 128
Lovely to Look At, 180
Love Me or Leave Me, 77,161, 206,
207, 208, 319
Love Me Tonight, 273
Love Nest, The, 108, 252
Lover, Come Back to Me, 78, 202, 272,
319
Love Will Find a Way, 89
Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere, 214
Lovie Joe, 117
Lovin' Sam, the Sheik of Alabam, 128
Lucky Day, 171, 237
Lucky in Love, 192
Lucky Lindy, 191
Lullaby of Broadway, 163, 164-65
Mack the Knife, 27
Maine Stein Song, The, 122, 217
Make Believe, 189, 254
Making of a Girl, 265
Making Whoopee, 161, 210
Malaguena, 114, 123
Mama Inez, 114
Mama Loves Papa, 49, 52,143,160
Manhattan, 157, 240, 246, 247, 259
Manhattan Serenade, 44
Man I Love, The, 78, 101, 145^6, 320
Maple Leaf Rag, 11
March of the Sirdar, 153
March with Me, 246
Margie, 106-7
Maria My Own, 114
345
346
SONG INDEX
SONG INDEX
Step, Turkey Trot), 84
Portrait of the Lion, 83
Potato Head Blues, 24
Precious Thing Called Love, A, 129
Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody, A, 52,
100, 143, 234
Pretty Lil, 30
Prisoner's Song, (If I Had the Wings
of an Angel), The, 147,148
Pucker Up and Whistle Till the
Clouds Roll By, 136-37
Put Away a Little Ray of Sunshine
for a Rainy Day, 137
Puttin' on the Ritz, 100, 172
Rag Doll, 86
Raggedy Ann, 52
Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder, 219
Ramona, 44, 114, 179, 187-88, 196,
203, 208, 219
Rangers' Song, The, 274
Remember, 144, 175, 208
Rhapsody in Blue, 24, 43, 47-53, 76,
87, 142-43, 151, 172, 194, 237, 265,
287
Rialto Ripples, 86
Rio Rita, 190, 274
Ripples of the Nile, 84
Riverside Blues, 20
River Stay Away from My Door, 173
Rock-A-Bye Your Baby to a Dixie
Melody, 245
Rockin' Chair, 26, 222
Romance, 162
Room with a View, A, 212, 246
Ro-Ro-Rolling Along, 172
Rose-Marie, 273
Rose of the Rio Grande, 34, 128, 163
Rose of Washington Square, 109
Royal Garden Blues, 19, 20, 73, 149
Runnin' Wild, 131
Russian Blues, 76
Russian Lullaby, 196
Russian Rose, 52
Sadie Salome, Go Home, 117
St. Louis Blues, 26, 27, 63, 68, 151,
347
348
SONG INDEX
Sweet Peter, 30
Sweet SueJust You, 205, 320
Swingin' Down the Lane, 112
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, 166
'S Wonderful, 174, 193, 268, 320
Symphony No. 5 (From the New
World), 166
'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do, 72,
75
Tank Town Bump, 30
Tea for Two, 3, 138, 157, 158, 261, 263,
287, 320
Tell Me a Bedtime Story, 135
Temptation, 219
Ten Cents a Dance, 9, 107, 207, 248
Thanks for the Buggy Ride, 127
That Beautiful Rag, 111
That Certain Feeling, 160, 267
That Rhythm Man, 61
That's Amore, 163
That's A Plenty, 73
That's My Weakness Now, 210
That's Why Darkies Were Born, 238
That's You, Baby, 219
That Thing Called Love, 68
Then I'll Be Happy, 159
There'll Come a Time When You'll
Need Me, 78
There's a Broken Heart for Every
Light on Broadway, 96
There's a New Star in Heaven Tonight, 112
There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder, 125, 197, 200, 201, 219
There's No Business Like Show Business, 100
There's Yes, Yes in Your Eyes, 148-49
They All Fall in Love, 218
They Didn't Believe Me, 251
They Needed a Songbird in Heaven,
so God Took Caruso Away, 112
This Is the Missus, 238
Thou Swell, 192, 260
Three Little Words, 140
Three O'Clock Blues, 120
SONG INDEX
Three O'Clock in the Morning, 43,
120-21, 239
Thrill Is Gone, The, 238
Through the Years, 264
Tia Juana, 37
Tiger Rag, 16, 31, 216
Tight Like This, 24, 25
Till We Meet Again, 116
Time on My Hands, 264
Time Will Tell, 128
Tin Roof Blues, 31, 32
Tip Toe Through the Tulips with Me,
164, 215
Tishomingo Blues, 149
Titina, 123
To a Wild Rose, 49, 53, 142
Together, 204
To Keep My Love Alive, 260
Too Many Rings Around Rosie, 263
Too Marvelous for Words, 117
Toots, 86
Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye), 32,
114, 184, 201
Tree in the Park, A, 173-74, 260
Trixie's Blues, 70
Trouble in Mind, 75
Trudy, 175
Try a Little Tenderness, 173
Tulip Time, 234
Turkish Tom-Tom, 96
Twaify's Piano, 86
Twas Not So Long Ago, 256
Twelfth Street Rag, 24
Two Guitars, 127
Two Little Babes in the Wood, 281,
283
Ukelele Lady, 116, 117
Vagabond Lover, 216, 285
Valencia, 122, 159
Volga Boat Song, 153
Wabash Blues, 112, 113, 118
Waiting for the Robert E. Lee, 113
Waiting for the Sun to Come Out, 136
Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie, 100
349
Wang Wang Blues, 42, 113, 118
Wanted, 176
Wanting You, 272
Watching the Clouds Roll By, 137
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans,
73, 128
Way You Look Tonight, The, 180
Weary Way Blues, 75
Weatherbird, 25
Wedding of the Painted Doll, 86, 219
We're in the Money, 164
West End Blues, 24, 25, 207
What Can I Say After I Say I'm
Sorry?, 162
What Ever Became of Hinky Dinky
Parley Voo?, 127
What Is This Thing Called Love?,
225, 248, 281
What'll I Do?, 44, 78, 144, 241
When a Kid from the East Side Found
a Sweet Society Rose, 175
When Buddha Smiles, 44
When Day Is Done, 42, 173, 182, 197
When Lindy Comes Home, 191
When My Baby Smiles, 98-100
When My Baby Smiles at Me, 99-100,
177, 239
When My Sugar Walks Down the
Street, All the Little Birdies Go
Tweet Tweet Tweet, 149, 196
When the Moon Conies Over the
Mountain, 173
When the Red, Red Robin Comes
Bob, Bob Bobbin' Along, 173
(In the Evening) When the Sun Goes
Down, 76
When You and I Were Young Maggie
Blues, 6, 127
When You're in Love, You Waltz, 274
When You're Smiling (The Whole
World Smiles at You), 26
When You Want 'em, You Can't Get
'em, 265
Where is My MeyerWhere's Himalaya, 123
Where's That Rainbow They Talk
About?, 174, 260
350
SONG INDEX
Zigeuner, 224