Gershwin at 80; Part 5

<v Radio Host>If it seems hard to imagine how one human voice could ever top the Red Nichols brass, <v Radio Host>listen now to the lady who burst onto the stage of the Alvin Theater and took New York by <v Radio Host>storm that October evening in 1930 when "Girl Crazy" opened. <v Radio Host>Ethel Merman sings "I Got Rhythm.". <v Speaker>[Ethel Merman sings "I Got Rhythm"] <v Radio Host>With the advent of talking pictures, it was inevitable that George and Ira Gershwin would

<v Radio Host>be summoned to the coast to write for movies. <v Radio Host>There had already been several silent films based on Gershwin shows, and Warners had <v Radio Host>filmed "Song of the Flame" entirely in Technicolor. <v Radio Host>But the brothers had not worked on these films directly. <v Radio Host>They finally left for California in November 1930 to begin work for Fox on a Janet <v Radio Host>Gaynor/Charles Farrell vehicle called "Delicious," which was being produced and written <v Radio Host>by their old friend, Guy Bolton. <v Radio Host>In "Delicious," Janet Gaynor plays a Scottish immigrant who comes to America. <v Radio Host>The night before her ship lands at Ellis Island, she dreams about her welcome in New <v Radio Host>York, where the streets are paved with gold. <v Radio Host>For this dream sequence, the brothers wrote an unusual little playlet, with decided <v Radio Host>Gilbert and Sullivan overtones. Janet Gaynor was greeted by a quartet of newspaper <v Radio Host>reporters, eight Uncle Sam's, Mr. Ellis of Ellis Island, of course, <v Radio Host>the mayor, and even by the voluptuous Statue of Liberty, who comes to <v Radio Host>life and begins to cavort like a "hi-de-ho" singer. <v Radio Host>From the soundtrack of the 1931 film "Delicious," here is the chorus in <v Radio Host>"Welcome to the Melting Pot." The introductory prayer is spoken by Mannya Roberti,

<v Radio Host>sister of ?Leta? Roberti. <v Speaker>["Welcome to the Melting Pot" plays] <v Speaker>

<v Speaker>

<v Radio Host>All of Janet Gaynor's films feature delicate romantic ballads for the diminutive star. <v Radio Host>"Delicious" is no exception. <v Radio Host>And here is Janet Gaynor to sing "Somebody from Somewhere." <v Speaker>[Janet Gaynor sings "Somebody from Somewhere"] <v Speaker>Ira Gershwin took a jibe at his own profession in another song from the "Delicious"

<v Speaker>score. In "Blah, Blah, Blah," he spoofed the inanity of most love song lyrics. <v Speaker>Here to explain are Swedish dialect comedian Al Brendel and Polish comedienne <v Speaker>Manya Roberti as two Russian immigrants. <v Speaker>["Blah, Blah, Blah" plays] <v Radio Host>It was not until Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "Showboat" in 1927

<v Radio Host>that the Broadway musical began to embrace serious themes like miscegenation and divorce. <v Radio Host>In 1930, the Gershwin musical "Strike Up the Band" with a book by Morrie Riskand had <v Radio Host>introduced an element of satire. <v Radio Host>This was more fully developed than "Of Thee I Sing," which opened December 26, 1931 <v Radio Host>at the Music Box and went on to become the first musical to be awarded the Pulitzer <v Radio Host>Prize. The book by George S. <v Radio Host>Kaufman and Morrie Riskand was an affectionate swipe at American national politics. <v Radio Host>The hero, John P. Wintergreen, runs on a platform of love and vows to marry his beloved <v Radio Host>Mary if the country elects him president, despite an earlier promise to wed the Atlantic <v Radio Host>City bathing beauty Diana Devereaux. <v Radio Host>In addition to conventional popular songs "Of Thee I Sing" contained long, concerted <v Radio Host>groupings of musical selections. <v Radio Host>The following example is taken from the cast recording of the 1951 Broadway revival <v Radio Host>with Florenze Ames, recreating his original role as the French ambassador, Lenore <v Radio Host>Lonergan as Diana Devereaux and Jack Carson and Betty Oak's as President and Mrs.

<v Radio Host>Wintergreen. The scene is from act 2. <v Speaker>[scene from "Of Thee I Sing" plays] <v Speaker>

<v Speaker> <v Radio Host>For "Delicious," George Gershwin had composed the piece for piano and orchestra to

<v Radio Host>suggest the nightmarish quality of modern New York City upon the innocent immigrant <v Radio Host>played by Janet Gaynor, who is being pursued by immigration authorities. <v Radio Host>Amid eerie, expressionistic, shadowy images, the city creates a world of terror for the <v Radio Host>poor girl as the propulsive music forms a suitable background. <v Radio Host>Titled the "Second Rhapsody," the piece was introduced by George and Serge <v Radio Host>Koussevitzky with the Boston Symphony in 1932. <v Radio Host>Robert Russell Bennett talks about the "Second Rhapsody.". <v Miles Krueger>With your orientation uh and preference toward classical music, how do you feel about <v Miles Krueger>his concert pieces compared to the popular songs? <v Robert Russell Bennett>Great talent needed. You- I used to- I used to give him a music <v Robert Russell Bennett>lesson after every one of them, and he would argue with me and- and talk me down. <v Robert Russell Bennett>And I'd go- go away, not having made my point. <v Robert Russell Bennett>And the next thing that came out had everything that I told him. <v Robert Russell Bennett>[Miles laughs] Like, for instance, <v Robert Russell Bennett>?inaudible? A fine thing he did the American in Paris for me, and he played it for me on

<v Robert Russell Bennett>the piano in Paris at the Hotel Majestic. <v Robert Russell Bennett>And I listened to it. <v Robert Russell Bennett>And I said, "George, this is where I want you to do- what I wanted you to outgrow. <v Robert Russell Bennett>[sings rhythm]." I <v Robert Russell Bennett>said, "This thing of coming- keep coming back to the tonic all the time. <v Robert Russell Bennett>Like you want to go out in the ocean, but you're scare to get your feet too wet, so you <v Robert Russell Bennett>come back all the time, you know. <v Robert Russell Bennett>And he said, "Well, Russ, you're wrong. You see, now you- you- you uh serious students of <v Robert Russell Bennett>music, you all? You're all afraid to [mumbles]." It is a little bit true, <v Robert Russell Bennett>what he said, you know, we- we- we're self-conscious when we- when we come back to the <v Robert Russell Bennett>tonic too soon, and so forth and then you can't argue against him. <v Robert Russell Bennett>But the next thing he wrote was the "Second Rhapsody." The "Second Rhapsody" has never <v Robert Russell Bennett>been a big success, but it has the best tune that George Gershwin ever wrote in his life. <v Robert Russell Bennett>It goes [sings rhythm].

<v Robert Russell Bennett>Never goes back. Goes right on like uh-. <v Miles Krueger>Yes. <v Robert Russell Bennett>Like, life does like the earth does, like everything else. <v Robert Russell Bennett>And it's such a grand, grand tune. <v Robert Russell Bennett>And uh it never sees the light of day. <v Miles Krueger>It has a marvelous weaving quality. <v Robert Russell Bennett>Oh, this is a great tune. <v Miles Krueger>And it's used marvelously in the film, you know, uh. <v Robert Russell Bennett>Yeah. <v Miles Krueger>"Delicious." <v Robert Russell Bennett>Yeah. <v Radio Host>Russell's enthusiasm for the piece is shared by George's close friend and fellow <v Radio Host>composer, Kay Swift. <v Miles Krueger>Robert Russell Bennett told me today that he thinks that perhaps the most interesting <v Miles Krueger>theme that Gershwin ever wrote, at least for a concert piece, is the <v Miles Krueger>theme in the "Second Rhapsody.". <v Kay Swift>I know. <v Robert Russell Bennett>And he said that the reason is that it is the one that varies <v Robert Russell Bennett>the most from the standard A A B A structure of a popular song. <v Robert Russell Bennett>It goes on and on and it develops and it changes and it never comes back to where it <v Robert Russell Bennett>started.

<v Kay Swift>Right. George and I used to call that horizontal quality. <v Kay Swift>It was horizontal, it pulled out into a long horizontal line going on and on, <v Kay Swift>as Russell said. And I knew that Russell felt that way because we've talked about it. <v Miles Krueger>Well, do you- do you feel also that that's one of his most distinguished- <v Kay Swift>Oh, yes, I do. And one of the least valued <v Kay Swift>by the average hearer. <v Radio Host>Here now was a private recording of the "Second Rhapsody," played by George Gershwin, <v Radio Host>possibly as a guide to pianist Marvin Ma-