The Rodgers & Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty

this studio in New York is being prepared for performances of songs written by a great musical partnership one that helped define a classic era of sophistication and wit in the American musical theater the composer was Richard Rogers the lyricist was Lawrence ha unlike the integrated musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein it's the songs of Rodgers and Hart which are remembered more than their shows but in this profile of the two men today's Broadway singers perform their songs with period orchestrations to reflect the way they were first heard songs that have become standards like my funny Valentine the lady is a and from the 1938 show said in ancient Greece the boy is from Syracuse falling in love with love [Music] morning it's not falling for me falling in love with love it I fell in love with nothing what night when the fool [Music] I wasn't fine with I'm unable to live [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I one night when I wanna fly but I thought a belay [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a lyric about the illusory nature of love was typical of Larry Hart who would under five feet held himself to be deeply unattractive to set such a lyric to a little thing sweet waltz underlined the difference between him and the confident handsome dick Rodgers this contrast is visible in a short film made in 1929 in which the two men gallantly attempted to play themselves proposed you tell me how you began have you got two or three days to listen yes if you tell it to mr. Rogers music laugh out of heart it's a long heart-rending story Rodgers and Hart grew up in New York at the turn of the century Larry was born in 1895 big seven years later in 1902 though they wouldn't meet until 1919 their family homes were located only one block apart in Harlem just by what was then called Mount Morris Park in those days the neighborhood was predominantly middle-class and Jewish the Rodgers lived at number 3 West 120th Street bacon his elder brother Morty grew up in a brownstone with their father William a distinguished doctor and then mother may me was talent for the piano inspired the future composer to take up the instrumentation they realized that he did he had talent and they encouraged that by taking him to the theater the Hart's lived at number 59 West 119th Street Larry and his younger brother Teddy were born to German parents from Hamburg their father max was a loud cause businessman but their mother Frieda was gentle and artistic and encouraged Larry's gift with words Barry and dick both attended Columbia University at different times but it was here their collaboration will begin for mutual friends don't let it said to dick Rogers you need a lyricist and I know a guy who writes terrific lyrics why don't you come and meet him so he took him around the block to where Larry heart is and they were introduced and beloved friend it was love at first sight when I first met mr. Hart mr. Hart was an old man 23 and I was 16 he felt that the musical shows or cowardly responded only the former and said nothing in their earlier shows there's a kind of collegiate quality to their work and it's not surprising because the first shows that Rodgers and Hart wrote were for college productions and amateur productions [Music] [Applause] [Music] people can't read even for Philadelphia really is dead Rodgers and hearts first published song was an amusing little number liked by the producer in comic Lew fields who included it in his Broadway show a lonely Romeo already Larry Hart was showing off his flair for the unexpected rhyme there is a rare older I love the plane and the conductor is you haha faster than any your train ride on cattle all is ready for a honeymoon Iver imbue Alex Presley's morning light and hoon travel with key please we'll never carry a brief in Siberia negligee in Timbuktu in Jamie Portugal I'm gonna party gas station will paint a new I'll call it do the best you like in Budapest Oh Harper [Music] I'll go to Hellfire war Philadelphia Guinea lose some Herbert field join forces for Rodgers and Hart to try to find a producer for their shows five years of struggle followed which they would later recreate for the camera so your fault my fault all you did was talk about your lyrics but until let me play the music for I'm sick of this racket and I all have to go just as Richard Rodgers was poised to change professions and sell baby clothes a call came from the theatre guild to write songs for a revue called the Garrick gaiety the show was an overnight success and one song in particular was an immediate hit would happen happen Johnson's back and I love to see how it's very fancy I know the long ccq down later on when phony reason co2 and go tell me box be compared once they hit with Manhattan in the garret kiddies they were constantly in demand and the thing that blows my mind is that they would write two three or four shows a year and most of these shows were pretty successful schedule I mentally nearly complete she's not out reading them you see then he goes she's a girl I am one of the things that really distinguishes those early Rodgers and Hart Strong's is just the virtuosic display of rhyming that Larry Hart can do he loved to rhyme and not in a kind of June moon way he loved to find the unexpected rhyme the triple rhyme the interior rhyme or whatever so in a song like mountain greenery of there's a lyric that goes beams could get no keener reception in a Beanery so he loved to do that and I think he elevated the sense of wordplay in Broadway songs and of course Rodgers matched him note-for-note with a kind of rhythmic insistence in his music on the first of May it is moving day bringing it here so blow your job throw your job away now the time to trust to your wanderlust given ability don't you wait you wait just you wait in a song noggin greedy there God takes to see the ring up crazy people together [Music] laughable weather and if you're good I'll sit forward so you can cook while I stand in recess granary whole of greenery where people together during where no won't bite you dear I'll let them here me on the finger like machinery [Music] [Applause] [Music] producers were willing to listen to them and to their ideas and one of the ideas that they had had was to make a musical of Mark Twain's a Connecticut Yankee in the court of King Arthur and they did it in a way that had never been done on the whole precinct which was to give characters the knowledge of today perhaps languages and speed as it was a hundred twenty-seven but also with the diesels hours of the Old English eat speech as well now with these vows we the grand would kiss me pretty what's hold my hand above mine Isaac you - what they do to me pyramid power I chose us with Allah loser in the dick prize mysteries the lovely in what he wrote they didn't write as fast as why Larry could write on a piece of toilet tissue or on anything in five minutes and sometimes he disappear at rehearsal and they said where is Larry we need to saw when you son Larry come in 15 minutes later I saw in the same here in my arms horrible that you were never there they're not good all right now let's go it in my arm while the books of the Rodgers and Hart shows of the 1920s were slight they featured gems of songs which would outlast them songs such as the haunting ballad from Betsy this funny world [Music] funny world makes the fun of the scenes that you thrive this funny world can laugh at a tree if you pee concealing there's no pity for you for the world cannot be little keep [Music] funny world can turn [Music] it's always sure to roll along [Music] and if you are broke you should it's all a joke this funny world is making [Music] the world London to embrace Rodgers and Hart who are often referred to as the new Gilbert and Sullivan their biggest hit there was featuring the music it is my into my didn't go away my novel while returning by sea from Europe Richard Rodgers began his romance with Dorothy fine will be married in 1930 as the Depression hit Broadway dick and his wife made their way west to Hollywood which was eager to take on songwriters for the new medium of the talkies now I want you to leave Richard Rodgers and the lens time era face competition [Music] [Applause] Rogers in half found their perfect collaborator and director Rouben Mamoulian together they use cinematic techniques to raise the film musical to a new level we'd love me tonight there are even scenes in the film where the dialogue is rhyme they did this in the film afterwards - hallelujah I'm a bum where there are just reams and reams of rhyme dialogue that Al Jolson does is sort of the mayor of Central Park the king of the hobos you are we saw she was a crime I'm glad to be home but I had every time what goes on down south in this man's nature panhandling man Hannigan he reagent any population hallelujah I'm a bum was a flop and Rodgers and Hart were relegated to providing occasional songs for movies it was just plain insulting for daddy and Larry they songs with cut numbers they would just you know get no respect as a songwriter out there and you're for hire at least one song from this period with a new lyric by heart became a standard a dream [Music] in 1935 Rodgers and Hart returned to Broadway for jumbo a circus extravaganza created by impresario Billy rose and staged at vast expense in the huge theater of the Hippodrome these home movies provide a rare glimpse of that extraordinary production it has elephants and seals and Jimmy Durante and I still remember that was the first joke I ever got probably Jimmy Durante is stealing an elephant and the cop comes up to him and says where you going with that elephant and Jimmy Durante who's what elephant which I remember thinking was hilarious and funny at the age of four my jumbo would Herald a string of Broadway hits for Rodgers and Hart who by collaborating with directors like George Abbott and Joshua Logan extended the range of the musical theatre on your toes starring ray Bolger was no exception to this trend on your toes used a light in an integrated sense for the first time the only time ballet had ever been used in the musical theatre a billion reviews disjointed their connectedness portion of the show we made it a part for the first time and we went to a regular I've never Balanchine we didn't talk much English but talked an awful lot about and loved the idea for the movie version of on your toes Balanchine had the challenge of working with an actor less skilled in dance he said we're gonna be alright his marvelous man too tremendously warm and and a creative Holy Smoke he looked just look at me he can make me a dancer but she did so hard ah Balanchine would work with Rodgers and Hart on their next show babes in arms in which he created an Egyptian Valley featuring the Nicholas brothers the show also included Dick's favorite among his songs composed with Larry where or when [Music] it seems we stood like me before way there what I can't remember where [Music] you're wearing our the poor but I can't remember where dog things not happen the first I seem to be homily again and so it seems that we have met us before why we fall before [Music] where [Music] and you're come from the dream to dream what has wings and lots of things I seldom what they times you think you live before like you live today means you to come back to you [Music] it seems we stand like this [Music] weary mother Oh [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] one of the things that distinguishes babes and arms from a lot of their musicals has just had a lot of great songs in it I think it had five standards where when the lady is a my funny Valentine Johnny one note I wish I were in love again I mean it's an incredible sport and there are some interesting things about the context of the songs for instance the lady is a the character who sings it is actually a woman who hitchhiked across country and has lived the life of a hobo so when she talked about my hobo he Mia she's really been although I've wined and dined on Mulligan stew whenever wish returnee and I hitch to - drift is to remain now with her feet alas I miss the whole art form and what in spices and I would never had a they honored NOLA head but social circles spend too fast for me my whole goal he Mia is the place to be I get too hungry for dinner at a I like the Peter but never come late I never bother with people I hate that's why the lady is a trail I don't my cupcake with bear in the girl will go to Harlem and ermine and pearls won't ditch dessert with the rest of the girls that's why the lady is a triumph I like the free fresh wind in my hair life without care I'm throwing its golden hey California is cold and that's why the lady is a I go to Coney the beach to survive I go to ball games the bleachers are fine I follow Winchell and read every line that's died the lady is a I like the prizefight that isn't a face I'm on the ball wheel on Central Parkway hey one lady in the I like the green grass after my shoes what can I lose my plan I'm all alone when I lower my mouth that's what [Music] [Applause] [Music] based on Shakespeare's the comedy of errors the boys from Syracuse featured Larry's brother Teddy in a lead role and also brought into the fold a new collaborator the budding composer Hugh Martin he wrote to Richard Rodgers asking why they didn't bring to the stage the popular jazz both arrangements of the day I didn't get a reply from dick but I did get a phone call which scared the hell out of me because it said come to the Alvin theatre at once I have a job for you and he said well we thought it would be amusing to have our three leading ladies sing a harmony thing at the end we have a little song called singing for your supper and here's a copy you take it home fiddle around with it and come back and tell me what you think come on so I went home frozen with fear inside of the piano Oh God let me think of something pretty and I worked very hard on it and came back the night next day with the arrangement and said oh you've already finished it I said well I was excited about it's a wonderful song and it did [Music] [Applause] [Music] along with [Music] [Music] Oh your mother and you'll get friends install furs are gone they don't buy a [Music] ping-pong offer and you'll get practice songbirds always e if s longing for luncheon and you'll get their net diamond if romance in your canary trilling now is the time to sing for you follow vision you'll get practice songbird they don't die [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and one day the phone rang and with dick Rogers and he said we opened last night New Haven your arrangement stopped the show we had to do it twice we had dude three times at all we got too hard cause too many girls starring desi arnaz in his stage debut was another great success for Rodgers and Hart it was a huge yeah well it was so fresh and filled with so many wonderful kids our me being whenever me and of course there were songs in there that code well known I had I didn't know what time it was which became a standard har didn't know what fun it was then I met you oh what a lovely time it was how sublime it was to that gradually very easy to get along with his such a regular guy Larry wasn't there too much he was in saloons all over the place and be there when he was needed if they could get him there who's rushing so here I am I can remember Larry quite vividly he was a bad drunk who drank an awful lot but there was something about him they were so endearing he always seemed to think that nobody knew that he was homosexual and feared that people would find out he actually once said to me he was afraid his mother would find out I couldn't resist it added Larry she might have had a lot to do with it and I thought you wouldn't accept that at all the guy Keith he reacted very badly when I said that he was a man supported in love he admired many ladies but could never really get to the point of having an actual affair and I think this ported and impinged on his whole life he wasn't sad all the time they would say well he was settled he wasn't said all the time but he was said a great deal at the time if he had to write a love song he wrote a sad love song [Music] once there was a big country when the world was right versus flight rules Akbar all the lads and girls when we turn the tables and drank they won now it will make [Music] whoa no desire no land beyond maybe because nobody why doesn't the breeze why doesn't the night light maybe because nobody [Music] [Applause] [Music] it was no coward I think the said of my father that man positively pees melody and he did and quirky melodies and it always went not quite where you expected it to go at but the minute you heard if you thought oh that's exactly where it should be it was a genius incredible stuff Danny was I was a very self-contained disciplined person who and dissident person who didn't like to show his feelings very often when he did look out I mean that he could be quite sarcastic inviting but he just wanted to write he didn't want playing around and fooling around and Larry was very hard to pin down you disappear so I had to lock them in and I had to stimulate him with a tomb and then we would sit there and work out the lyrics for many Rodgers and Hart reached their peak with the first truly adult musical Pal Joey based on stories written for The New Yorker by John O Hara this was set in this kind of milieu of dive bars and lowlifes and it was the kind of atmosphere that frankly Larry Hart knew pretty well and I think it appealed to them because it was a chance to expand the boundaries of what a Broadway musical was and what it could be and they threw themselves into it with gusto I have the worst apprehension that you don't crave my attention but I can't force you to change a day if you don't care to be nice here then give me air but not idea don't let a good fella go to wait for this little sin that you commit and letter you read it in hey if my pockets in your hair you must pick it around if you're bored with this affair you want to kick it around even though I filed a week when we have a brawl if I turn the other cheek you mustn't kick it at all when I try to ring the bell you never care for the foul I think I'm being not doing well you mustn't take it [Music] they asked me I could write a book about the way you walk and whispers Gene Kelly won this role hands down everybody knew that he was perfect for it and I was playing a very rough character her name was Gladys bumped and she was tough and I had never done anything even similar to that before it was strong stuff all I remember is excitement a bit of danger because of the difference in that show from other shows the hero was not a hero the hero was a kind of cheap smart aleck that's the nightclub scene where the society lady Vivien Siegel very rich lady middle-aged meets PAL Joey Gene Kelly and has designs on him I'm wild again because again I simply bring a child again we will water and we will I'm all she conveyed sophistication intelligence the ability to have a passionate sexual affair when her head knew better and she sang very well [Music] ha Mary Hart who is very close with living in C they were close intimate friends and he was always bringing little presents and things and she was always screaming delight and hugging him and kissing him they used to have terrible fights too and and and he would march around like a big man and he was some tiny very heart proposed marriage to Vivian Segal but she turned him down as his alcoholism worsened hearts working relationship with his partner was becoming strained when Rogers was offered a nostalgic rural drama to turn into a musical and Hart said he wasn't interested they compose it turned to another lyricist oscar hammerstein ii their first collaboration oklahoma was a phenomenal success greater than anything Rodgers and Hart of done Larry didn't want to do it he went to see the opening night and was and he didn't like any but he wouldn't tell dick even he hadn't le different personality than I understand it had a kind of funny optimistic quality to it that I think connected with audiences immediately and the influence that Oklahoma had on the musical theater was profound you couldn't write a joke joke song kind of musical anymore so I guess the birth of Rodgers and Hammerstein in a lot of respects meant the death of Rodgers and Hart the death of the kind of musical that they wrote Rodgers and Hart would collaborate one last time on a revival of the 1927 hit a Connecticut Yankee the new songs they created showed that in spite of his problems Larry's wit was still alive I'm in heaven and when I'm gone I've never the drive made I will be someone I never did most m-my had in the heart yet remember these sweet words tilde [Music] I've married many men I'm tellin em Andy and I wasn't rude none of them because I want everyone to okay more betrayal he looks correct to me at night he was a whole map and to me so I told people [Music] Tommy oh he would be behind my mother little Dominick he's leaning no Phillip later hawk-i custody Mike how you become policy and now he plays what ha ha [Applause] [Music] opening night of the revival of Connecticut Yankee the Larry had been drinking heavily dick Rogers had said out loud that Larry made a fuss he was gonna have rejected and so Larry was singing along with Vivian you know this song magic came and took Larry out that bottle II just woke him out and I said to Larry let's go Dorothy Hart took Larry back to her apartment but next morning he was gone three days later he was found suffering from pneumonia and was taken to Doctors Hospital on the 22nd of November 1943 during a blackout caused by an air-raid alert very hard died he was 48 years old the day Larry died we went up to me right now dick just fell apart he fell into his wife's arms and cried like a baby and he was not an emotional man I think daddy was very very upset by death I'm sure part of it was a residual sense of guilt over having left him although that was the right thing to do and he knew what and Larry knew it but that also great sadness I felt around the house because it was such a waste if he'd only gotten himself to AAA or if he'd only thought better of himself because everybody loved him if he'd only loved himself as much as everybody else loved and he might have kept himself alive [Music] why me [Music] make me my home laughs alone all the grass let your my flavor [Music] are you Oh [Music] if you hear mommy [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you Wednesday night it became the essential tool of the conclusion join Howard Goodall as he steps back 300 years to examine the creation of the piano in had good old Big Bang Wednesday night at 8:30 say with us to the conclusion to station X [Music]

Channel: jambam223

Views: 47,323

Rating: 4.9045725 out of 5

Keywords: rodgers and hart, jazz

Id: yxruMAuctL0

Length: 52min 56sec (3176 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 02 2017