Jerome kern is a top g

He died of a heart attack btw

Early life

* Mom did piano
* Played organs and piano at newark high school
* Father asked him to order pianos and 2 but instead he orderd 200 so the buisness went bankrupt so his dad let him study music

Education of JK

* studyed music at Ny college of music and studied music and germany and london
* Returned to NYC to be a song plugger and rehersal accompanist
* Hired to americanize british music being imported to new york and did reverse for britian
* Developed musical writing skills

Jk songs

* Wrote “They Didn’t Belive Me” to The Girl From Utah
* Revered TDBM as the best mt comedy song but 4/4 pushed waltz out of a pop broadway catagory
* Partially responsibile for adding saxophones to “Oh I Say”
* Shubert Bros. first to hire Kern as the principle composer of new material for “The red petticoat” - 3 theatrees 66 preformances

The princess theatre

* Shubert bros, Ray Comstock and others made the Princess theatre; smallest theatre
* Only 299 seats
* JK composed for the PT in 1915 with bookwriter Guy Bolton
* Produced shows that were plot-heavy and different songs

PT musicala

* “Nobody’s Home” =- First PT Musical; first full jazz progression
* Very Good Eddie - Frst big hit; 341 preformnaces
* “Oh Boy!” - Ran 463 times; most successful, first lyrcist P.G. Wodehouse
* “Oh Lady! Lady!!” - Last successful musical; last show to fully invlove kern

Other musicals JK

* “Sally” - Ziegfield produced this; “Look For The Silver Lining” by Maryln Miller
* “Sunny” - First collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II

features the song “Who” sung by Miller

Later JK musials

“Very Warm For May” - Flop but composed best song, “All the Things You Are”

* Returned from hollywood to compose film scores in 1935, won an award for “The Way You Look Tonight”
* Berlin ended up getting the score for “Annie Get Your Gun" after he died

Jk accomplishments

* Ascap member - Founder
* 2 Academy Awards; nominated 5 times
* Posthumosly nominated for a best orginal score
* 1995 showboat won best revival
* Elected to songwriters hall of fame in 1970
* Composed and worked on 70 + musicials
* Wrote 700+ songs

Show Boat

* Based on a novel called, “Cotton Blossom”- Ferber worried the musical wouldn’t be faithful to the novel
* Collaboration between Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstien II and Florenz Ziegfield; Hammerstien is a lyricist
* HS had a hard time b/c it was adapted, plot spanned 70 years
* Black and White characters were equal (yey!)

Showboat synopsis

* Captian Andy likes his Black Girlfriend, Juile (white passing) but people are racist so they had to break up, ran preformances on the cotton blossom
* Andy employs his daughter (Magnolia) and the gambler gaylord Ravenel as the stars
* gaylord is a gambling cheater= poverty
* Magnolia gets pregnant and is left in chicago by gaylord
* They reunite after Magnoila’s daughter, Kim, becomes a star preformer

Showboat themes

* Gambling
* Alcholism
* Interracial relationships

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Showboat Songs

* African-American spiritual, “Ol’ Man River”, - Joe and dock workers sing about the river
* Opperetta, “Make Belive”- Magnolia falls in love with Gaylord and pretends their in love
* Musical comedy- “Life upon the Wicked Stage”
* Ragtime - “Can’t help lovin that man” - Julie teaches a song to Magnolia, Queenie enters and wonders how Julie knows that song

Showboat’s legacy

* Opened in 1927 as a spectacle
* Ran 527 preformances
* Breathtaking sets of music; strong story
* Audience was in shock
* Considered revoloutionary- Less then Oscar and Hammerstien
* Only show of Ziegfield that’s preformed today

Depression

* Hollywood and the Crash brung competition to broadway
* Florenz Ziegfield- lost 3 mil' - Was a gambler, sold everything, sold contracts to Eddie Cantor for the “Whoopee! Movie”
* Barely paid his debts
* Even had to sell his shows name to the shubert bros
* Billy burke, wife,, takes him to hollywood in 1932, dies fom pleurisy the same year
* “The Great Ziegfield” (1963) won best pic

Depression pt 2

* One third of nyers were unemployed
* Breadlines were everywhere
* Escapism v. Socially Critical Musical

264 escap shows > 187 reality

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Rog and Hart

* 1919 composer richard rodgers met lorenz hart and Oscar Hammerstien II at Columbia univeristy
* Rodgers wrote Poor Little Ritz Girl at 18 with Hart- Produced by Lew Fields, half the score was replaced by Sigmund Romberg; Rodgers never let that happen again
* Rodgers and Hart became the next generation of MT writers after Gershwin and Princess

R and H success

* Garrick Gaieties (1925) - Big break, “Manhatten” saved Rodgers from being an underwear salesman
* A conneticuit Yankee (1927) - Based on Mark Twian’s, A CONNETOCUIT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR”S COURT; just writing to show off singers
* After stock market crash in 1929, they moved to hollywood for paramount pictures- Two big songs “Love Me Tonight” and “Blue Moon”
* Fell out of sight, came back to nyc in 1935

Back to Broadway

* Eleven hits in the next 8 years
* Jumbo (1935) - Took place at the hippodrome, directed by George Abbots
* Babes in Arms (1937) - Idea came from kids bossing each other around, all young unknown preformers; Where or when, My Funny Valentine, Johnny One Note
* I’d rather Be Right (1937)- First musical to spoof current president; George Cohan as FDR; Book by Moss Hart and George Kaufman

Back to bway 2

* On your toes (1936) - Dance director George Balanchine used ballet to convery plot - first for musical comedy, George Abott
* Boys From Syracuse (1938) - First musical based on Shakespeare
* Pal Joey (1940) - Starred Gene Kelly, Mature story about 2nd rate nightclub singer wnating to own a club, becomes a gold digger and sleeps around, “Bewitched”

Partnership ending

* Lorenz hart - Failed to show up at out of town tryout of “the Boys of Syracruse” - Conservative and Jewish so he drunk to cope, Rodgers was homophobic
* Rodgers wrote lyrics himself due to hart disappearing for longer and longer peroids, unable to write end of Pal Joey
* Rodgers handled the buisness and worked with Hart whenever he could

Last RL Hart show, “Connetocuit Yankee In King Aruthurs Court”

* Lorenz Hart who promised to be sober but showed up drunk in act II; was ushered out by Rodgers
* Lorenz wandered city for 3 nights without a coat and was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and died

Why it fell apart

* Rodgers and Hart were Opposites

‘Rodgers was buisness like, diligent, focused and intelligent, Hart was an alchoholic but brilliant; first to get respect
* Rodgers- Melody Hart- Lyrics
* Hart was dry and satrical, used polysyllabic internal ryhmes

Harold Arlen’s Early Years

* Born Hyman Arluck in Buffalo, NY-

Twin brother died the following day

* Child of Jewish cantor
* Learned the piano as a child
* Formed a band (The Snappy Trio) at age 15-

Left HS at age 16

Arlen in the 1920’s

* Achieved local success as a pianist and singer and moved to NY
* Worked as accompanist in Vaudeville-

Changed his name to Harold Arlen

* Appeared occasionally as a band pianist and vocalist on recordings between 1926 and 1934- wanted to be a singer
* Landed a singing role in 1929 in The Great Day
* Composed his first hit song “Get Happy” with lyrics by Ted Kohler

Success in the 1930s

* Arlen and Koehler would write shows for the Cotton Club, a popular jazz club in Harlem, as well as Broadway and Film musicals
* Hit songs from the time: “Let’s Fall in Love” and “Stormy Weather”
* Songs are popular with jazz musicians
* Combines blues feel with conventional musical theater

Hollywood Success

* Worked for studios like Warner Brothers, MGM, and Paramount
* Married model and former showgirl and actress Anya Taranda -

Due to marriage, spent more time in California writing for movies

* Began working with lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg to compose music for The Wizard of Oz.
* Hired by MGM
* Won Oscar for Best Music
* “Over the Rainbow” won Best Original Song, recognized to 2000 as #1 song on the 20th Century

After Oz

* Wrote “Down with Love” for Hooray for What! (1937)

Later featured in 2003 movie Down With Love

* Teamed up with Lyricist Johnny Mercer in the 40s
* Hit songs like “That Old Black Magic”, “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive”, “Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home”, “Come Rain or Come Shine”
* 1954- Wrote musical A Star is Born starring Judy Garland singing the Arlen and Ira Gershwin song “The Man that Got Away”

Later Years

* 1970- Arlen’s wife passes away from a brain tumor
* Arlen withdraws from family and friends
* 1979- Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame
* 1986- Arlen dies in NYC from Parkinson’s and Cancer having written over 400 songs

Early life of Cole Porter

* Born to a weathly family in Indiana in 1892
* Went to yale for his grandaddy
* Sang and wrote football songs- Took trains to broadway

Linda Thomas

* Cole moved to paris after his first opera failed
* Linda is 8 yearls older, divorced, richer than him, considered the most beautiful woman in europe
* Linda and Cole married despite being Gay- Cheating was cool as long as the guys were cool, Cole lived the high life

Composin’ Cole

* Linda peursuaded Ellen Mackray’s rich father to let her marry Irving, Berlin reccomended Porter
* Wrote, “let’s do it” (1928)- Sex
* “The Gay Divorice”, (1932) Fred Astaire’s first work, “Night and Day”
* “Anything Goes” (1934) - Longest running hist of the 1930’s, great depression escpaism, starring Ethel merman

Leading up to WWII

* Cole Porter had crushed legs during a horseriding accident - never amputated, carried into opening night
* Wrote 8 shows leading up to WW2
* 3 for ethel, 5 hits a season, featuring mary martin, Gene Kelly, Betty Grable, Danny Kaye

Kiss Me Kate

* 1940’s--- style of MT becomes passe
* Theatre guild put up, “The Taming of the Shrew” on b-way starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontane-
* Crarried feuding back to dressing rooms
* Production assistant Arnold-Saint Stuber thought the couple fighting would make a good musical

KMK 2

* Arnold Saint-Stuber contacted Bella Spewack about combining Shakespeare and backstage antics of a couple
* Bella contacts cole, cole liked it
* Cole focused on Emotion, not storylines
* Threw in gangsters for old-fashioned number
* Premired in 1948 - Greatest hit of his, 5 tonies

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Other Porter songs

* “Out of This World (1950) - Porter could not sve the show with its poor plotline
* “Can-Can” (1953)- Introduced Gwen Verdon who stole the show, “I Love Paris” and “C’set Manifique”
* “Silk Stockings” (1955)- Porter’s last project, and pre-show tour caused him to retire
* Didn’t do anything else and died in 1964

Porter’s Legacy

* Bought glamour to broadway
* Allowed sex talk
* Acting ballads. added latin rythyms- “Begin the Beguine”
* Long complex musical structure

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ETHEL MERMAN

Born Ethel Zimmerman

Parents took her to the Palace
Theatre on Friday Nights to see
Vaudeville

Took a secretarial course in high
school- eventually learned
shorthand

Hired after graduation as a
stenographer- her backup career

Ethel’s Big Break

* Worked singing in Nightclubs at night while working in an office during the day

Was late to day job because of singing at clubs

* Agent caught her act and put her in Vaudeville
* First big break was Girl Crazy

Took lyrics in shorthand

* Sang “I Got Rhythm” as the 9th song in the show- audience went wild
* Held note for 10 seconds in the song

OTHER SHOWS

* Considered too loud for Hollywood- never had a long career there


* Cole Porter wrote Anything Goes specifically for Ethel Merman
* Porter said she was his favorite voice

Ended up writing another four shows for her

* Irving Berlin wrote Annie Get Your Gun to star Merman
* Ran for three years- Merman only missed two performances
* Berlin also wrote Call Me Madam for Merman

Ethel’s later career

* Originated the role of Mama Rose in Gypsy in 1959
* Stephen Sondheim was hired to do the music, but Merman wanted a known composer, so Jule Styne composer with Sondheim on the lyrics
* Jerry Herman wrote Hello, Dolly! for Merman in 1964, but she declined to play the role
* Went to Carol Channing instead
* Finally played the role in 1970 as the last person to play Dolly in the original run


* Worked periodically as offers came in until her health declined and she passed away in 1984

ETHEL WATERS

* Born as the result of a rape
* Grew up poor in Philadelphia
* Never lived in the same place for more than 15 months
* Attended a nightclub party at 17 where she was persuaded to sing two songs
* Impressive enough to be offered work at Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore
* Spent next ten years on Black Vaudeville Circuit

CAREER PRIME of ETHEL WATERS

* Eventually moved to Harlem and became a star performer as part of the Harlem Renaissance
* Eventually began to perform at the Cotton Club in Harlem
* Premiered the Rodgers and Hart song “Stormy Weather”
* Eventually starred in the Irving Berlin show As Thousands Cheer -Book by Moss Hart

\*First black woman to be featured on Broadway

\*Each scene based on a newspaper headline

* Waters’ song “Suppertime” tells of a black woman whose husband had been lynched

\*Black and white performers did not want to share curtain call, so Berlin said no one gets one- they all quickly changed their minds

LATER CAREER of ETHEL WATERS

* Became the first African American to star in her own TV show- The Ethel Waters Show in 1939
* Started to work with jazz musician Fletcher Henderson in the late 40s

\*Became the first black women to star in a weekly TV series- Beulah in 1950

\*Quit after one season due to “degrading” portrayal of African Americans

* Eventually passed from uterine cancer and kidney failure in 1977

POLITICAL SATIRE

* “The Cradle Will Rock”
* Directed by Orson Welles, Produced by John Houseman
* Follows the efforts of Larry Foreman to unionize the town's workers and combat a greedy businessman
* Almost entirely sung through
* Temporarily shut down by the WPA because it got too political and critical of the government

“Pins and Needles”

* Spoofed current events through a pro-union lens
* Cast was made up of members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union
* Music and Lyrics by Harold Rome

POLITICAL SATIRE 2

“I’d Rather be Right”

* Starred George M. Cohan as President FDR
* Book by Moss Hart and George M. Kaufman
* Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart


* Plot centers on Peggy Jones and her boyfriend Phil, who needs a raise in order for them to get married

“Hooray for What!”

* Music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
* Featured Agnes DeMille in her debut as choreographer
* Tell a story of a spy who steals a poisonous gas that becomes a love potion