Authors: Stewart F. Lane
Tags: #Jews in Popular Culture - United States, #Theater - New York (State) - New York - History - 20th Century, #Performing Arts, #Jewish Entertainers, #Jews in Popular Culture, #Jewish, #20th Century, #General, #Jewish Entertainers - New York (State) - New York - History - 20th Century, #Drama, #Musicals - New York (State) - New York - History - 20th Century, #New York, #Musicals, #Theater, #Broadway (New York; N.Y.), #New York (State), #United States, #Jews in the Performing Arts, #Jews in the Performing Arts - New York (State) - New York - History - 20th Century, #History
Greene teamed with Kern on one of his earliest hit shows, in 1915, a musical called
Very Good Eddie
which ran on Broadway for 341 perform-54
3. The Music of Broadway
ances. Then two years later, Kern teamed with P.G. Wodehouse for an even longer running musical called
Oh, Boy!
which played on Broadway for 463 performances, becoming the third longest musical of the 1910s.
Over the next few years, Kern and Wodehouse would turn out other hit shows, all staged at the Princess Theater. Pretty soon Kern became
the
composer for the Princess Theater, penning the music for such light musicals.
It was in the late 1920s, however, that Kern would team with Oscar Hammerstein II for one of Broadway’s groundbreaking musicals,
Show
Boat
, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, based on Jewish novelist Edna Ferber’s story about life along the Mississippi River. Ferber, born in Kala-mazoo, Michigan, in 1885, was a reporter in Wisconsin by the age of 17.
But her true talent was in creating stories, rather than reporting on them.
Thus her days as a novelist began several years later with
Dawn O’Hara,
in 1910. She would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1924 for
So Big
and proceed to write books for some 50 years, including
Cimarron
in 1929, the film adaptation of which won Best Picture honors at the Academy Awards in 1931. She would also collaborate with George S. Kaufman on several plays including
Dinner at Eight
and
The Royal Family
.
Ferber’s
Show Boat
, once made into a musical, featured the classic
“Ol’ Man River,” among other American standards. It was groundbreaking as it sharply contrasted with the typical light musicals, a style that was becoming all too familiar to theatergoers. Ferber’s story was rich and the Kern and Hammerstein songs were significant and deeply woven into the fabric of the show, which covered a span of over 40 years and touched upon relationships and cultural realities of the era. The issue of racism was brought to light at a time when African Americans were not accepted into most of white American culture.
Show Boat
opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 27, 1927.
It was proclaimed, the following day, by the
New York Times
as “an American masterpiece.” The audience left the theater thinking about the story as well as humming the tunes. As a result it was revived several times on Broadway, as well as at the New York City Opera house and three times on film.
The 1930s would see a number of other Jerome Kern musicals make it to Broadway, including
The Cat and the Fiddle
, in which he teamed with lyricist Otto Harbach,
Music in the Air
with Oscar Hammerstein 55
Jews on Broadway
II, and
Roberta
, again with Harbach and featuring the ageless hit “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.”
Kern’s melodies were described as pure, timely and timeless. He did not use rhythmic or harmonic contrivances, but instead sought out a beau tiful, and simple, single melody line. He was also a perfectionist, stead fast in his melodies and was not one to change his tune, literally, to fit his lyricist’s wishes. Nonetheless, he collaborated with some of the finest lyricists in the history of Broadway musicals.
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendinning Hammerstein II, the grandson of the legendary opera and theater impresario who built much of Broadway, was born in the summer of 1895 in New York City. His father, William, managed the Victoria Theater, where the senior Hammerstein had built a roof garden years earlier on top of the stately structure. Despite being a vaudeville producer, and despite the family’s great theatrical history, Wil liam Hammerstein did not want his son Oscar taking part in the rough show business lifestyle. However, after his father’s death in 1914, the 19-year-old Hammerstein II began writing and performing in variety shows at Columbia University, where he was attending as a pre-law student. Determined to be part of the theater, and get out of attending law school, Oscar II urged his Uncle Arthur, also a Broadway producer, to give him a job as an assistant stage manager. Arthur, however, did not want to go against his brother’s wishes. After some convincing, Arthur saw the determination of the young Hammerstein and conceded, giving him his first job in the theater.
By 1919, Hammerstein had gotten married and been promoted by his uncle to production stage manager. It was in this role that he met, and began working with, Otto Harbach. Their first success came with composer Vincent Youmans, who was coming off a relatively unsuccessful show called
Little Girls in Blue
, with lyrics by a young Ira Gershwin.
Youmans hired Harbach and Hammerstein to write the lyrics for a show called
Wildflowers
, produced by Arthur Hammerstein. The musical would premier on Broadway in 1923 and run for 477 performances. From there, it was on to an even bigger hit, also produced by Oscar’s uncle, called
Rose-Marie.
By 1925, Youmans had moved on to write
No, No, Nanette
, while 56
3. The Music of Broadway
Berlin and George S. Kaufman were working with the Marx Brothers on
The Cocoanuts.
Hammerstein and Harbach teamed on the show
Sunny
with composer Jerome Kern. Opening in September of that year,
Sunny
ran for over 500 performances. It was the first time Hammerstein and Kern had worked together, and they would follow this debut with the legendary musical
Show Boat
just two years later, which opened at the Ziegfeld Theater just two days after Christmas.
While Ziegfeld produced
Show Boat,
the next venture for Hammer -
stein was truly a family affair.
Sweet Adeline
ushered in the 1930s at the Hammerstein Theater with book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. It was produced by Arthur Hammerstein and directed by Reginald Hammerstein. The music came from Kern, who was becoming part of the Hammerstein family. In the early ’30s, the team of Kern and Hammerstein, famous both individually and together, would not only handle the music, lyrics and book, but would also serve as co-directors on the hit show
Music in the Air
.
As the decade progressed, however, Hammerstein was drawn to the silver screen and the grandeur of Hollywood and motion pictures. For the rest of the 1930s Oscar Hammerstein II was notably missing as one of the major contributors to Broadway. He would, however, return to theater in New York, to work on an all–African American opera called
Carmen Jones
, which was favorably received. It was shortly thereafter that he would meet up with his former Long Island neighbor, and fellow Columbia University alumnus, Richard Rodgers.
Together, Rodgers and Hammerstein would become the most influ -
ential American musical team of the century. Their pairing began with a musical adaptation of the book
Green Grow the Lilacs
, written by Lynn Riggs. The musical, initially called
Away We Go!
, would be ready in March of 1943, and open at the St. James Theater under a new name,
Okla homa
. It featured songs such as “Oh What a Beautiful Morning”
and “People Will Say We’re in Love.” Some 2,122 performances later it closed on Broadway, setting a record at the time as the longest-running musical in Broadway history.
Oklahoma
would subsequently tour for over a decade. But it was more than a major hit musical. Like
Show Boat
, 15 years earlier,
Oklahoma
was a landmark show, changing the face of Broadway musicals again. The combination of serious drama and music carefully integrated into the story once again set the show aside from the 57
Jews on Broadway
more familiar light Broadway fare. Additionally, the cast was largely com-prised of singers who could also act, rather than the reverse, bringing some of the best musical performances ever to Broadway. The show garnered many awards, perhaps none greater than a special Pulitzer Prize.
Oklahoma
was obviously adapted for the screen and once again enjoyed tremendous success.
While it would be a challenge to follow up on such a masterpiece, Rodgers and Hammerstein would enjoy great success with
Carousel
in 1945 and
Allegro
in ’47. But it was in 1949 that they would procure the rights to the best-selling James Michener book
Tales of the South Pacific
, which they would combine with Michener’s
Our Heroine
to create the musical
South Pacific
. Rodgers and Hammerstein also shared producing credits. Featuring timeless standards like
Younger Than Springtime
and
Some Enchanted Evening,
and with Mary Martin in the starring role,
South Pacific
played over 1,900 performances in its initial run and would be revived to tremendous success on Broadway. Like
Oklahoma
, it would be staged by touring companies and in regional theater forever. It would also bring the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein their second Pulitzer Prize.
The next show was based on
Anna and the King of Siam
, a 1944
book from the diaries of a British governess in the Royal Court of Siam (now Thailand) in the mid–1800s. The book had been made into a dramatic film in 1946. This time it would become a blockbuster musical (the only kind of musicals written by Rodgers and Hammerstein) called
The King and I
, featuring the songs “Getting to Know You,” “Shall We Dance?,” “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” and “Hello, Young Lovers.” The King and I opened at the St. James Theater and ran for 1,246 performances.
Again Rodgers and Hammerstein also produced the show, which starred Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brenner, with choreography by Jerome Robbins, who had conceived and choreographed
On the Town
just seven years earlier, thus launching his own Broadway career. By the time he first worked with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Robbins had already worked with Leonard Bernstein and Sammy Cahn and was established in a career that would continue for decades, with numerous hit shows. More about Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz, better known as Jerome Robbins, in upcoming chapters.
58
3. The Music of Broadway
If
Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific
and
The King and I
were not already enough to hang their hats on, the team of Rodgers and Hammer -
stein would have one more mega-hit show, this time based on the singing von Trapp family’s true story of escaping the Nazis in World War II by climbing over the Alps.
The Sound of Music
, like their other hugely successful shows, was a story of significance. It included beautiful and joy -
ous music that served as an integral part of the show and the storyline.
The songs, including “Do-Re-Mi,” “Edelweiss,” “My Favorite Things,”
“Climb Every Mountain,” and of course the title song, “The Sound of Music,” not only evoked images of the show, but took on a life of their own
.
Unfortunately, Hammerstein would have little time to enjoy the remarkable impact of
The Sound of Music
, which ran for 1,443 performances and has since been revived for Broadway several times. Hammerstein passed away in August of 1960, at the age of 65. On a night in Sep tember of 1960, the lights on Broadway were turned off in memory of the great lyricist, who was called “the man who owned Broadway.”
Richard Rodgers (and Lorenz Hart)
Richard Rodgers was born in 1902 in Queens, New York, to a wealthy Jewish family. His father was a doctor and his grandfather had become wealthy in the silk trade. Rodgers took to the piano at the age of six. While vaudeville and Yiddish theater were the impetus for many young Jewish writers, composers and performers, Rodgers was weaned on Broadway theater and operettas, which his family took him to see often as a youngster.
By the time he was 17, Rodgers had a published song and was writing amateur musical revues. It was during his family’s summer vacations on Long Island that he got to know Oscar Hammerstein II, who encouraged the young Rodgers to keep on working toward his musical goals. And Rodgers did just that, teaming up with a school friend, Lorenz Hart, or Larry, who wrote lyrics for Rodgers’ melodies.
Rodgers and Hart first teamed up at the age of 18, while they were both attending Columbia University in upper Manhattan. They started out by writing songs for several variety shows at the school, thus honing their skills and familiarizing themselves with each other’s style while generating the attention of some professional composers. It was through 59
Jews on Broadway
such networking that they met Lou Fields, formerly of the famous vaudeville comedy team, Weber and Fields. At the time Fields was in need of songs for an upcoming show called
Poor Little Ritz Girl
. So, in 1920, Rodgers and Hart had their first Broadway writing assignment. The show only lasted for three months on Broadway and was quickly forgotten, but it was a huge step for the young songwriting duo. In fact, Fields was so impressed with Rodgers that when he went on tour in Europe with Fred Allen and Nora Bayes, he asked Rodgers to come along and conduct the orchestra. Only 19 years old at the time, Rodgers left school and went on the tour.
Rodgers and Hart would continue together for years to come. Hart, like Rodgers, came from a Jewish family with money. He attended private schools prior to Columbia University. Hart had a strained relationship with his strict father, and after his father’s death, he spent several years living with his mother. Far less grounded than his partner, Hart spent time traveling, partying and drinking. In a closeted era, he was fairly open about his homosexuality but was forever seeking someone with whom to share his life.
His emotional ups and downs were reflected in his lyrics, at times being sarcastic or caustic, while at other times simply longing for love.
In the classic “My Funny Valentine,” Hart writes about wanting someone who, not unlike him, was not particularly attractive, and then responds with the words he wants to hear, a request not to change. His personal life was reflected in many of his songs, such as “I Wish I Were in Love Again.” Despite his inner turmoil, and because of it, Hart’s lyrics were considered among the most touching, and sometimes most biting, of the era between the two world wars.