Loverly:The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Broadway Legacies) (42 page)

36
. Letter of October 20, 1954, Helburn and Langner to Lerner,
TGC
, Box 137.

37
. Bach says, “There were rumors that the collaborators had quarreled, for neither the first nor the last time.” Bach,
Dazzler
, 338.

38
. Interoffice memorandum of February 17, 1953, Jo Mielziner to Marshall,
TGC
, 137.

39
. D’Andre, “Theatre Guild,” 250. D’Andre does not state the sources for this information.

40
. Lewis Funke, “News and Gossip Gathered on the Rialto,”
New York Times
, February 8, 1953, X1.

41
. Brooks Atkinson, review of
Maggie, New York Times
, February 19, 1953.

42
. Letter of February 20, 1953, Helburn to Langner.
TGC
, 137.

43
. Although D’Andre states this date with certainty, he does not cite a source for the information.

44
. Sam Zolotow, “
Saints and Sinners
Stage News Again,”
New York Times
, May 27, 1953, 28.

45
. Letter of July 8, 1953, Benjamin Aslan to Charles Abramson of the Famous Artists Corp.,
HRP
, folder 79/57.

46
. Sam Zolotow, “Decision Awaited on Hit’s Transfer,”
New York Times
, August 28, 1953, 13.

47
. Sam Zolotow, “
Saints and Sinners
Is Postponed,”
New York Times
, September 18, 1953, 16.
The Girl with Pink Tights
had a score by Sigmund Romberg; it opened on March 5, 1954, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, which would eventually be the home of
My Fair Lady
.

48
. Letter of October 27, 1953, Benjamin Aslan to Jane Rubin of the Richard J Madden Play Company, Inc.,
HRP
, 79/57.

49
. Sam Zolotow, “
Richard III
Back on Stage Tonight,”
New York Times
, December 9, 1953, 9.

50
. Letter of January 26, 1954, Benjamin Aslan to Michael Halperin of Wilzin and Halperin,
HRP
, 79/57. A copy of the contract also lies in the same box of
HRP
at Yale.

51
. Sam Zolotow, “Guinness Stymied in Bid to Act Here,”
New York Times
, June 11, 1954, 20; Zolotow, “Katzka Discusses Spewack Musical,”
New York Times
, July 21, 1954, 19. Hal Prince went on to become one of Broadway’s leading producers and directors, with shows such as
West Side Story
and
The Phantom of the Opera
to his credit.

52
. Letter of September 8, 1954, Aslan to Herbert P. Jacoby of Schwartz and Frohlich,
HRP
, 79/57.

53
. Letter of September 10 from Aslan to Rome, Fields, Loewe, and Chodorov; letter of September 12, 1956, Rome to Aslan; letter of October 31, Aslan to Herbert Jacoby; letter of March 14, 1957, Aslan to Loewe, Rome and Fields,
HRP
, 79/57.

54
. Typescript for
Saints and Sinners, HRP
, folder 65/85. Sale of Frederick Loewe’s manuscripts at Christie’s, Los Angeles, November 18, 1999, Lot 99, Sale 9292. Demo recording of
Saints and Sinners
, Library of Congress, call number RGB 0465.

55
. Louis Calta, “
Li’l Abner
Bagged by Two Showmen,”
New York Times
, March 17, 1953, 26. Lewis Funke’s column briefly mentions the same project in his column five days later. Funke, “News and Gossip of the Rialto,”
New York Times
, March 22, 1953, X1.

56
. Arthur Schwartz’s successes include
The Band Wagon
, written for Fred Astaire on Broadway in 1931 and later fitted out with a new book and additional songs as an MGM film, again with Astaire (1953), and
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
(1951).

57
. Thomas M Pryor, “Cinerama Slates Full-Length Film:
Paint Your Wagon
, with New Music and Lyrics, on Tap as First Feature in Process,”
New York Times
, February 11, 1953, 35.

58
. Edwin Schallert, “Cinerama Start Looms,”
Los Angeles Times
, February 11, 1953, B9.

59
. A song with the title “There’s Always One You Can’t Forget” was written for Lerner and Charles Strouse’s
Dance a Little Closer
in 1983 but with an otherwise completely new lyric.

60
. My thanks to Mr. Schwartz and Erik Haagensen for bringing this script to my attention and for generously providing me with a copy.

61
. Louis Calta, “News of the Stage,”
New York Times
, November 12, 1953, 37.

62
. Stephen Holden, “A Composer’s Son Remembers Life with Father, Through Music,”
New York Times
, October 4, 1988, 17.

63
. Sam Zolotow, “Lewis Wondering about Three Musicals,”
New York Times
, June 21, 1954, 20.

64
. Howard Thompson, “The Local Screen Scene,”
New York Times
, August 15, 1954, X5.

65
. I thank Richard C. Norton for this piece of information about Olsen, which comes from his forthcoming biography of Loewe. Olsen also mentions her part in this reunion in the Camera Three Productions documentary
Lerner and Loewe: Broadway’s Last Romantics
(1988).

66
. Lerner,
Street
, 45.

1
. Sam Zolotow, “Bow Set Tonight for
On Your Toes
,”
New York Times
, October 11, 1954, 31.

2
. Letter of October 19, 1954, Lerner to Helburn and Langner,
TGC
, 137.

3
. Letter of October 20, 1954, Helburn and Langner to Lerner, ibid.

4
.
HLP
, 25/7. On December 4, 1956, Moss Hart would approach Coward with a view to him appearing in the London production of the show (
HLP
, 23/5). Nothing came of this offer, but Coward later wrote a musical for production by Levin,
The Girl Who Came to Supper
(1963).

5
.
HLP
, 26/6.

6
. Ibid.

7
. Lerner,
Street
, 60. Certainly Lerner, Loewe, and Levin met with Beaton in London, but Lerner leaves the reader with the impression that all discussions about the show took place there rather than having started in New York with Levin.

8
.
HLP
, 23/5.

9
. Ibid.

10
. Diary, 1955. Michael Redgrave Papers, Theatre Museum Archive, Victoria and Albert Museum, TH 17/31/41/12. The “Clurman-Giraudoux” project was a play about the Trojan wars called
Tiger at the Gates
, in which Redgrave would play Hector.

11
. Memo of telephone conversation with Richard Halliday, December 14, 1954,
TGC
, Box 137.

12
. D’Andre, “Theatre Guild,” 253. I was not able to access the interoffice memos D’Andre cites for this information.

13
. Letter of December 27, 1954, Langner to Paul Ramsay,
TGC
, 137.

14
. Theatre Guild Memo of January 18, 1955,
TGC
, 137.

15
. Summary of conversations with Rodgers and Hammerstein, February 9, 1955, TGC, 137.

16
.
HLP
, 25/8.

17
. Lerner,
Street
, 81. In the end, Hanya Holm’s choreography received unanimous praise, but the cutting of the ballet—which would have been her great moment—meant that the amount of choreography was reduced even further.

18
. Ibid. Lerner finished the story: “Moss had nothing to say and obviously could not wait for the meeting to end. After Mike left, Moss looked at Fritz and me and from his lips came an over-articulated, ‘No.’”

19
. In a letter of June 13, 1955, Levin wrote to Laurence Evans: “We have made a deal with Moss Hart to direct the show,”
HLP
, 25/7. Hart’s contract, dated June 18, 1955, is also in
HLP
, 25/8.

20
. Telegram of January 25, 1955, Lerner to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7. Letter of April 1, 1955, Levin to Laurence Evans,
HLP
, 25/7. Letter of April 1, 1955, Levin to Beaton,
HLP
, 24/7.

21
.
HLP
, 26/6. One assumes that the reference to
Show Boat
is sarcastic rather than the person referred to in the phrase “I’m meeting him today …,” if nothing else because Sammy Lee, the choreographer of the original
Show Boat
, did no further work on Broadway after 1932.

22
. Lerner,
Street
, 81.

23
.
HLP
, 25/7. In his book on Moss Hart, Steven Bach cites an interview he carried out with production assistant Bud Widney by way of explaining Holliday’s brief connection with the show, Bach, 343–44.

24
.
HLP
, 26/6.

25
. Agreement between Levin and Andrews of March 31, 1955, to which are attached various riders of May-June 1955,
HLP
, 25/5.

26
. Julie Andrews,
Home
(New York: Hyperion, 2008), 180–81.

27
. Lerner,
Street
, 52.

28
. Andrews,
Home
, 182.

29
.
HLP
, 23/5.

30
. Letters of February 7, 1955, Levin to Martin Jurow and David Hocker,
HLP
, 23/5.

31
. Letter of April 11, 1956, Basil Geoffrey of Renée Stepham Ltd. to Levin,
HLP
, 23/5. Geoffrey had read about
My Fair Lady
in the
Daily Express
and wrote to Levin to suggest three of his artists: Barry Sinclair for Higgins, Stanley Beard for Doolittle, and Petula Clark for Eliza.

32
. Lerner,
Street
, 54.

33
. Ibid.

34
. Ibid., 49.

35
. Ibid., 60.

36
. Ibid., 62–63.

37
.
HLP
, 23/5.

38
. Lerner,
Street
, 53.

39
. Letter of April 1, 1955, Levin to Beaton,
HLP
, 24/7. Beaton was designing both costumes and sets for Selznick’s production of Enid Bagnold’s play
The Chalk Garden
, which was to open on Broadway in October 1955 and star Gladys Cooper (who later played Mrs. Higgins in the 1964 movie version of
My Fair Lady
)

40
. Letter/agreement of March 18, 1955, Levin to Harrison and countersigned by the latter,
HLP
, 25/7.

41
. See, for instance: Jared Brown,
Moss Hart: A Prince of the Theatre
(New York: Crown, 2006), 338.

42
. Letter of February 24, 1955, Lillian Aza to Herman Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

43
. Lerner,
Street
, 60.

44
. Letter of March 14, 1955, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

45
. Letter of March 25, 1955, Levin to Aza,
HLP
, 25/9.

46
. Letter of March 31, 1955, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

47
. Letter of April 6, 1955, Levin to Aza,
HLP
, 25/9.

48
. Lerner writes: “We … promised him that we would fly over to see him to show him his songs as we wrote them, to make certain he felt comfortable with them,” Lerner,
Street
, 62–63.

49
. Letter of April 1, 1955, Levin to Laurence Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

50
. Letter of April 1, 1955, Levin to Smith,
HLP
, 26/6.

51
. Four telegrams between Levin and Van Druten. Only Van Druten’s first telegram is dated (April 6), so the dates of the others remain conjectural.

52
. Memorandum of Telephone Message, Monica McCall to Herman Levin of May 9, 1955,
HLP
, 25/7.

53
. Letter of April 14, 1955, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

54
. Letter of April 29, 1955, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

55
. Letter of May 6, 1955, Levin to Aza,
HLP
, 25/9.

56
. Letter of May 12, 1955, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

57
. Letter of May 17, 1955, Levin to Aza,
HLP
, 25/9.

58
. Letter of May 31, 1955, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

59
. Telegram of June 13, Levin to Aza,
HLP
, 25/9.

60
. Letter of June 27, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

61
. Telegrams of July 13, 1955 between Levin and Aza,
HLP
, 25/9.

62
. Letter of April 4, 1955, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7.

63
. Letter of April 20, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

64
. Letter of April 25, 1955, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7.

65
. Letter of May 2, 1955, Evans to Levin; letter of May 6, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
25/7.

66
. Letter of May 9, 1955, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7.

67
. Letter of May 17, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

68
. Letter of May 18, 1955, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7. Lerner describes how Harrison was having an affair with Kay Kendall at the time Harrison was appearing onstage with Lilli Palmer. Lerner,
Street
, 55.

69
. Letter of May 23, 1955, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

70
. Letter of May 27, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/9.

71
. Letter of April 6, 1955, Beaton to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

72
. Letter of May 13, 1955, Arnold Weissberger to Levin,
HLP
, 24/7.

73
. Letter of May 24, 1955, Weissberger to Levin,
HLP
, 24.7.