Loverly:The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Broadway Legacies) (43 page)

74
. Letter of June 13, 1955, Weissberger to Levin,
HLP
, 24/7. On June 17, Levin wrote to Beaton to inform him that he had received the contracts the previous day. Letter of June 17, 1955, Levin to Beaton,
HLP
, 24/7.

75
. Letter of April 20, 1955, Levin to Actors’ Equity Association,
HLP
, 25/5.

76
. Letter of April 27, 1955, Actors’ Equity Association to Levin,
HLP
, 25/5.

77
. Letter of May 14, 1955, Smith to Levin,
HLP
, 26/6.

78
. Letter of May 17, 1955, Levin to Smith,
HLP
, 26/6.

79
. Letters of May 20 and June 2, 1955, between Smith and Levin,
HLP
, 26/6.

80
. Lerner,
Street
, 61–62.

81
. “Suggested Deal—CBS” of May 23, 1955,
HLP
, 27/10. The fruits of the advertising aspect of the deal came to bear in February 1956. A letter from CBS to Levin lists fourteen television spots in the following week in which the opening of
My Fair Lady
would be announced. Letter of February 10, 1956, Sam Cook Digges of CBS to Levin, and attached list,
HLP
, 33/5.

82
. Letter of June 15, 1955, Irving Cohen to Levin,
HLP
, 27/10.

83
. Agreement of July 18, 1955, between Levin and CBS,
HLP
, 28/5.

84
. Letter of June 13, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

85
. Letter of June 24, Beaton to Levin,
HLP
, 24/7.

86
. Letters of March 16 and May 19, 1955, Geoffrey to Levin; letters of June 12 and July 27, Levin to Geoffrey,
HLP
, 23/5. Michael King would go on to earn $200 a week in this role.

87
. Letter of June 29, 1955, Lou Wilson to Levin,
HLP
, 25/5.

88
. Letter of June 28, 1955, Levin’s amanuensis—presumably his secretary—to W. H. Worrall (Levin’s London broker for this negotiation),
HLP
, 25/7.

89
. Letter of July 6, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

90
. Letter of July 6, 1955, Levin to Beaton,
HLP
, 24/7.

91
. Telegrams of July 12 and 13, 1955, between Levin and Evans, and letter of July 15, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

92
. Letter of July 15, Levin to Beaumont,
HLP
, 25/7. Evans’s secretary wrote a further letter to Levin that day to inform him of an error in the letter regarding the date of
Nina
’s opening: she had written August 27 instead of August 7, but it had now been changed to July 27. Letters of July 15, 1955, Evans and Eileen Rutherford to Levin,
HLP
27/5.

93
. Letter of July 15, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

94
. Letter of July 18, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

95
. Letter of July 18, 1955, Levin to Aza,
HLP
, 25/9.

96
. Letter of July 29, 1955, Levin to Evans; telegram, Levin to Evans of July 28,
HLP
, 25/7.

97
. Letter of July 19, 1955, Beaumont to Levin. In another letter, of July 26, he restated the complexity of his position,
HLP
, 25/7.

98
. Telegram of July 20, 1955, Evans to Levin, and telegram of July 20, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7. Levin wrote snappily to Evans: “
IMPOSSIBLE WAIT AUGUST 21 SITUATION HERE INTOLERABLE. LERNER AND LOEWE ARRIVE LONDON JULY 31. I ARRIVE AUGUST 3. PLEASE ARRANGE HOTEL
.”

99
. Telegram of July 28, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

100
. Letter of July 28, 1955, Gielgud to Hugh Wheeler. Richard Mangan, ed.,
Gielgud’s Letters
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2004), 183.

101
. Telegram of August 1, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
,, 25/7.

102
. Telegram of August 12, 1955, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7.

103
. Memorandum of telephone conversation 5:15 p.m., August 17, 1955, between Levin and Moskowitz,
HLP
, 25/7.

104
. Memorandum of telephone conversation between Levin and Evans at 3:10 p.m. on August 18, 1955,
HLP
, 25/7.

105
. Telegram of August 26, 1955, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7.

106
. Untitled memorandum of August 30, 1955,
HLP
, 25/7. A couple of annotations in Levin’s handwriting indicate the memo is probably his.

107
. Letter of September 1, 1955, Beaumont to Levin (with a draft version attached),
HLP
, 25/7.

108
. Contract between Levin and Harrison, September 2, 1955,
HLP
, 23/10.

109
. Contract between Levin and Andrews, September 8, 1955,
HLP
, 23/10

110
. Contract between Levin and Holloway, September 13, 1955,
HLP
, 23/10

111
. Contract between Levin and Michael King, September 23, 1955,
HLP
, 26/8.

112
. Memorandum Re: Robert Coote, September 27, 1955,
HLP
, 23/9. On March 26, 1956, Tom Helmore was hired as Rex Harrison’s understudy.

113
. Rider dated June 15, 1955, between Levin and the Trebuhs Realty Company,
HLP
, 24/3. Telegram of September 2, Levin in London to Lerner in New York,
HLP
, 25/7. Contract between Levin and Farrell of 9 September,
HLP
, 25/7. The choice of the Mark Hellinger was considered a bad omen, since that venue had not enjoyed success before, but after the triumph of
My Fair Lady
Lerner went on to use it for
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
and
Coco
.

114
. Contract of September 15, 1955, between Levin and the Shuberthaven Operating Company,
HLP
, 24/3.

115
. Contract of October 3, 1955, between Levin and 265 Tremont Street Inc. for the Shubert Theatre, Boston. Contract of November 2, 1955, between Levin and Goldlawr, Inc, for the Erlanger Theatre,
HLP
, 24/3.

116
. Elliott Norton, “Fair Lady Twice Passes Up Hub, Waits ’til 59,”
Boston Daily Record
, November 11, 1957. Accessed from a photocopy in
HLP
, 33/5.

117
. Agreements of June 27 and September 12, 1955, between Levin and Allers, c/o Meyer Davis Music,
HLP
, 26/3.

118
. Letter of September 20, 1955, Albert Sirmay to Levin; contract of August 31, 1955, between Levin and Chappell’s,
HLP
, 26/3.

119
. Letter of September 12, 1955, in which Levin asks Irving Cohen to draw up new contracts with Beaton and Smith to provide for the possible television transmission that may take place under the agreement with CBS,
HLP
, 24/7. On September 19, David Grossberg of Reinheimer and Co. sent Smith’s contract to
Levin, who then passed it on to Rudy Karnolt of United Scenic Artists the next day. At the same time, the producer submitted Abe Feder’s contract to do the lighting for the show. Letter of September 19, 1955, David Grossberg to Herman Levin, and letter of September 20, Levin to Rudy Karnolt. Smith’s contract is dated September 20, 1955,
HLP
, 26/6. Beaton’s contract is dated September 22, 1955, and was submitted to Arnold Weissberger that day by Levin. Weissberger returned them, signed, on September 28. Contract and letter from Levin to Weissberger,
HLP
, 24/7. Of the circumstances of Hanya Holm’s joining the show, very little documentary evidence exists. The Hanya Holm Collection in the New York Public Library contains no correspondence related to this period of the show’s genesis, and the Levin Papers contain only the contract of September 25, 1955,
HLP
, 25/10.

120
. Contract of September 7, 1955, between W. Spencer Harrison of CBS and Lerner, Loewe, and Levin. The television company’s investment was recouped by November 16, 1956, whereupon Levin wrote to Spencer Harrison in great satisfaction: “From now on, it’s all gravy,” Letter of November 16, 1956, Levin to W Spencer Harrison,
HLP
, 27/10.

121
. Letters of September 13 and 19, 1955, Levin to Evans; letter of September 15, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7.

122
. Letter of September 19, 1955, Levin to Evans, and letter of September 29, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7. Roy Lowe was Harrison’s vocal coach.

123
. Letters of September 27 and October 4, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

124
. Letter of October 12, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7. In his diary for November 1955, Beaton mentions completing the
Pygmalion
designs during the final days of his three-month visit. Diary 1954–5, vol. 98, Papers of Sir Cecil Beaton, St. John’s College Library, Cambridge.

125
. Contract of October 4, 1955, between Levin and Nesbitt; contract of October 10, 1955, between Levin and Hewett, specifying at that stage that he could be called upon to understudy Higgins, Pickering, or Doolittle, and resignation letter of mid-March 1956 (following a conversation with Lerner, Loewe, and Levin on March 13), attached,
HLP
, 23/9.

126
. On October 21, Levin wrote to the U. S. Passport Department to support Holm’s application for passport renewal. “The purpose of Miss Holm’s trip, so far as it concerns this organization, is to collect material and study various types of Cockney life and dancing in connection with
My Lady Liza
.” Letter of October 21 from Levin to U.S. Passport Dept. A list from the Helene Pons costume studio of New York, addressed to Beaton on October 31 indicates the costumes to be made in London for Harrison. In addition, wigs for Eliza, costumes and wigs for the footmen, costumes for the policemen, a hat for Doolittle, and an outfit for a Street Cleaner were to be bought in London. Letter of October 31, 1955, Helene Pons Studio to Beaton,
HLP
, 35/4.

127
. Memo to Oliver Smith from Levin, October 27, 1955,
HLP
, 26/6.

128
. Letter of November 1, 1955, Levin to Evans,
HLP
, 25/7.

129
. Letter of November 7, 1955, Evans to Levin. On November 17, Evans requested that Alan Jay Lerner pay Roy Lowe’s account for Harrison’s “tuition and coaching” between October 27 and November 10; Levin sent him a check for $77.30 six days later.
Then on December 29, Evans requested an additional payment for Lowe’s account from November 12 to December 2, giving a clear indication of when Harrison’s vocal lessons took place. Letter of November 17, Evans to Alan Jay Lerner, and Levin’s reply of November 23; letter of December 29, Evans to Levin,
HLP
, 25/7.

130
. Letter of November 1, 1955, Aza to Levin; letters of October 26 and November 4, Levin to Aza. Prior to this, Aza had informed Levin that “Julie Andrews had excellent publicity when she arrived in this country [i.e., returned to England after finishing
The Boy Friend
on Broadway]. Strangely enough her birthday is on the same day as Stanley, so they should get on well together,” letter of October 5, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

131
. Letters of November 9 and December 13, Aza to Levin,
HLP
, 25/9.

132
. Andrews,
Home
, 184–87.

133
. Letter of November 18, 1955,, Levin to Charles Tucker,
HLP
, 25/5.

134
. Letter of November 23, 1955,, Tucker to Levin,
HLP
, 22/5.

135
. Letter of December 5, 1955, Lerner to Julie Andrews,
HLP
, 25/5.

136
. Contracts of November 15 between Levin and Bevans, December 12, between Levin and Coote and December 12 between Roache and Levin,
HLP
, 23/9; contracts between Rod McLennan and Levin of December 5 and Olive Reeves-Smith of December 9,
HLP
, 23/10.

137
. Press releases and clippings,
HLP
, 23/6.

138
. Contract of November 26, 1955, between Levin and Maney; agreements of November 30, 1955, between Levin and Rittman; agreement of December 2, 1955, between Levin and Ernest Adler,
HLP
, 24/2.

139
. For an introduction to Rittman and her work, see Steven Suskin,
The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 155 and 196.

140
. Letter of November 26, 1955, Eileen J Hose on behalf of Cecil Beaton to Levin,
HLP
, 24/7.

141
. Letter of November 28, 1955, Levin to Hose,
HLP
, 24/7.

142
. Letter of December 6, 1955, Levin to Harrison. The reference to $450 is made in a letter of January 4, 1956, Jerry Leider of MCA Artists to Philip Adler, c/o Levin,
HLP
, 25/7.

143
. Letter of December 6, 1955, Levin to Beaton,
HLP
, 24/7.

144
. Estimates from Imperial Scenic Studios of December 13, 1955; TB McDonald Construction Co, Inc, of December 19; and the Nolan Brothers of December 14. On December 16, the Nolan Brothers submitted a new estimate, and on the same day Levin drew up a contract to hire them to make the sets,
HLP
, 35/8.

145
. Letter of December 28, 1955, Levin to Coote,
HLP
, 26/8.

146
. Lerner,
Street
, 75–76.

147
. Ibid, 91.

148
. Letter of November 29, 1955, Lerner to Harrison,
HLP
, 25/7.

149
. December 16 is the latest date on which Levin refers to
My Lady Liza
(in the contract with the Nolan Brothers); the letter to Coote of December 28 is the earliest mention of
My Fair Lady.