(PP. 65-70) Music Section III: Broadway Turns the Tables → Listening Guide 6 (ACADEC '25-'26)

What could Flournoy Miller not understand about George White before the premiere of Runnin’ Wild?

Why he kept saying he did not like “The Charleston”

What did George White do multiple times during rehearsals of Runnin’ Wild?

He brought visitors and disparaged The Charleston, clearly trying to get Miller and Lyles to cut the number

What did George White want to do with The Charleston that Miller found out?

White wanted to premiere the dance in one of his revues (featuring white performers), the George White Scandals

What did George White think about The Charleston and was alert to?

He saw potential in it and was alert to the fact that Broadway was primed and ready for the full array of these new jazz-styled tunes

What did white producers initially rely on the expertise of?

Black musicians for jazz numbers in their shows

What happened with jazz as the 1920s progressed?

Broadway’s musicals were as up-to-date as the producers could make them

What was the greatest musical-comedy triumph of the 1920s?

No, No, Nanette

When did No, No, Nanette release?

1925

What are most Broadway shows based off of?

A property

What is a property?

A previous story, novel, play, or movie

What was Shuffle Along based on?

Miller and Lyles old vaudeville skit

What was the property of No, No, Nanette?

After May Edgington published her novel Oh James! in 1914, Frank Mandel and Emil Nyitray adapted it as a play titled My Lady Friends

Who published Oh James!?

May Edgington

When was Oh James! published?

1914

Who adapted Oh James! into a a play titled My Lady Friends?

Frank Mandel and Emil Nyitray

What was Frank Mandel’s lifespan?

1884-1958

What as Emil Nyitray’s lifespan?

1882-1922

When did My Lady Friends premiere?

1919

Who felt that Oh James! and My Lady Friends offered good potential for a musical?

Producer Harry Frazee

What was Harry Frazee’s lifespan?

1881-1929

Who was Vincent Youmans in relation to Harry Frazee?

His neighbor

What was Vincent Youmans’s lifespan?

1898-1946

Who was begging to work on the project of No, No, Nanette?

Vincent Youmans

What was Frazee not impressed with in regards to Youmans?

His previous Broadway work

Why did Frazee change his mind about Youmans?

When Youmans’s mother offered to back the show herself although sources disagree as to whether her investment was $9,000 or $10,000

How much money did Youmans’s mother invest into No, No, Nanette?

$9,000 or $10,000

What did Youmans give his mother in return for investing into No, No, Nanette?

Half of his future royalties

What sports team did Harry Frazee own?

The Boston Red Sox

When was No, No, Nanette released?

1925

What was to become the biggest hit in No, No, Nanette?

“Tea for Two”

Who created the book for No, No, Nanette 1919?

Playwright Frank Mandel and Broadway veteran Otto Harbach

What was Otto Harbach’s lifespan?

1873-1963

What did Frank Mandel work on as a playwright?

The 1919 play version of No, No, Nanette (My Lady Friends)

What did Harbach agree on while he started writing lyrics for No, No, Nanette?

To bring in Irving Caesar as a second lyricist

What was Irving Caesar’s lifespan?

1895-1996

Why was Caesar brought in as a second lyricist for No, No, Nanette?

Because he already has a good working relationship with Youmans

Even with so much expertise, what took a while for No, No, Nanette?

To find its footing

What did No, No, Nanette go on, like most shows aspiring to reach Broadway?

A “tryout” tour through various cities before attempting a New York premiere

Where did No, No, Nanette premiere?

New York

What was the critical reaction to the first two stops of No, No, Nanette?

Lukewarm

When did Frazee begin to panic about No, No, Nanette?

When critical reviews were lukewarm after the first two stops

What did Frazee do when he began to panic about the success of No, No, Nanette?

He took over as director himself, and he told Youmans and Caesar that some new songs were needed immediately

What did Youmans and Caesar decide to use in No, No, Nanette after Frazee began to panic?

To use a song they had just created a few weeks earlier—a danceable little number called “Tea for Two”

What had been happening when Youmans said he had just written a great tune and just needed words for it?

Caesar was taking a nap

What was Caesar’s sleepy memory of the melody he came up with when Youmans woke him up from a nap?

“Dee—da-dee—da-dee—da-dee…da-dee—da-dum—da-dee—da-dum”

What did Caesar do to satisfy his impatient writing partner Youmans?

He came up with what he thought was a “dummy lyric”

What is a dummy lyric?

Nonsense poem that had the right rhyme scheme and poetic rhythm to fit the tune

What did Youmans feel about the dummy lyric that Caesar gave him for Tea for Two?

It was perfect, and he refused to let Caesar change a word

What made Tea for Two soar?

“The almost idiotic simplicity of the ‘Tea for Two’ lyric”… all the optimism and light-heartedness of the 20s are captured in that song”

What were the two songs added to the struggling No, No, Nanette?

Tea for Two and I Want to Be Happy

Who was one of the first classical artists to be inspired by Tea for Two?

Soviet Composer Dmitri Shostakovich

At what point was it clear to Frazee that he had a hit on his hands with No, No, Nanette?

When he reached Chicago

When did Frazee decide it would be best to capitalize on the success of No, No, Nanette?

In Chicago

How long did No, No, Nanette remain in Chicago?

A year

Where were No, No, Nanette’s hit songs played?

In other stage productions, on recordings, on the radio, and also by the orchestras that entertained diners in major restaurants

What did the first recording of Tea for Two feature solely?

A jazz orchestra

What spot did the first recording of Tea for Two make it to on the BBH100?

Number 5 in January 1925, remaining there for 5 weeks

What spot did Marion Harris’s vocal version of Tea for Two make it to on the BBH100?

Number 1 in January 1925, staying there for 11 weeks

When did No, No, Nanette reach Broadway?

September 1925

What did New York critics act like when No, No, Nanette reached Broadway?

Like they were tired of it

How did The New York Daily News open its review of No, No, Nanette?

“Boston saw it. Philadelphia saw it. Chicago saw it. London saw it, and Guatemala, medicine Bend and the Canary [I]slands have probably seen it as well,” saying he’d probably heard it “for the 1,876,934th time last night”

How many times had the Daily News writer heard the music for No, No, Nanette?

1,876,934th

Was the New York reviewers’ weary attitude toward No, No, Nanette being on Broadway universal?

No, in London, the dance numbers in No, No, Nanette had a jazz flavor that was almost shockingly new to British audiences

What did one critic write about in regards to saxophone players when talking about No, No, Nanette?

Saxophone players (in the limelight) worked with the energy of a savage religious festival

What did one critic write about in regards to mislaying a melody when talking about No, No, Nanette?

The mislayed melody was emphasized by the brass with mutes

What did one critic write about in regards to a little of a muted trombone or trumpet when talking about No, No, Nanette?

A little is good for certain effects

What did one critic write about in regards to a whole melody played as if the instruments were a melodious steam when talking about No, No, Nanette?

It saws cuts into their brain and produces a mild nerve storm

What did one critic write about No, No, Nanette?

The music of “No, No, Nanette” and the frenzied dancing on the stage are the epitome of modern jazzomanis

Who designated No, No, Nanette as “the quintessential American 1920s musical on the world’s stages”?

Historian Kurt Ganzl

How does historian Kurt Ganzel designate No, No, Nanette?

“The quintessential American 1920s musical on the world’s stages”

After how many years did Youmans retire from Broadway?

13 years

Why did Youmans retire from Broadway so early?

Because of increasing health issues stemming from tuberculosis

What was Youmans undoubtably proud of, and was unquestionably his greatest hit?

Tea for Two

What may have dumbfounded British listeners of Tea for Two?

Its jazzy nature

What spheres did Tea for Two catch the ears of?

The classical world as well as the jazz sphere

Where did some of the earliest classical adaptations of Tea for Two take place?

The Soviet Union

What was Tea for Two known as in the Soviet Union?

The Tahiti Trot

What Soviet work wove Tea for Two into it?

A 1926 operetta by Boris Fomin

What was Boris Fomin’s lifespan?

1900-48

Who made an orchestral arrangement—from memory—in 40 minutes that wove Tea for Two into it?

Dmitri Shostakovich

What was Dmitri Shostakovich’s lifespan?

1906-75

Why did Shostakovich make an orchestral arrangement of Tea for Two from memory in 40 minutes?

Because of a wager with his teacher who did not think he could complete the assignment in under an hour

What was Shostakovich’s teacher’s name?

Nikolai Malko

What was Nikolai Malko’s lifespan?

1883-1961

Who was something of a champion for Tea for Two in a Soviet regime that did not care for American Jazz?

Nikolai Malko

What did Nikolai Malko recall about jazz music in Russia?

“Jazz music was regarded very negatively in Russia in those days. I did not agree with this philosophy and referred to [“Tea for Two”] as an example of music that was not bad”

Who found the harmonies of Tea for Two “quite Ravelian”?

Frenchman Maurice Ravel

Where was Maurice Ravel from?

Frenchman

What did jazz artists regard Tea for Two as?

A fruitful basis for further exploration

What was Art Tatum’s lifespan?

1909-56

Who performed Tea for Two numerous times during the 1930s?

The jazz piano virtuoso Art Tatum

What recording of Tea for Two was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1986?

Art Tatum’s 1939 recording

What spot did Tatum’s version of Tea for Two reach on the BBH100?

Number 18

When did Thelonious Monk release a version of Tea for Two retitled as Skippy?

1952

What was Thelonious Monk’s lifespan?

1917-82

What did Thelonious Monk employ in his version of Tea for Two?

The bebop style of jazz that had recently developed

What was one of the highlights of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival?

Singer Anita O’Day’s rendition of Tea for Two

When was Tea for Two released?

1925

Who created Tea for Two?

Vincent Youmans