In 1916, at Camp Wigwam in Harrison, Maine, a group of boys sat around the fire singing, "Dear Old Wigwam."
a scene that has surely been repeated many times since.
However, "Dear Old Wigwam," a song I suspect very few of you have heard,
was the first work of a young composer who was to grow up and revolutionize the American musical comedy theatre.
His first professional score was for a musical in 1920 called, "Poor Little Ritz Girl."
The lyricist with whom he was to collaborate for over 20 years was Lorenz Hart.
Our composer, you will have guessed, was Richard Rodgers.
[applause, music]
1925 saw the opening of the "Garrick Gaieties" with a song we're all still humming:
We'll have Manhattan,
The Bronx and Staten Island too.
It's lovely going through
the zoo.
The great big city's a wondrous toy
Just made for a girl and boy
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy
The Twenties roared on, and "The Girlfriend" in 1926 brought us "Blue Room."
In November of 1927, "A Connecticut Yankee" opened to rave reviews and theatregoers were humming the delicious "My Heart Stood Still."
I took one look at you
That's all I meant to do
And then my heart stood still
Though not a single word was spoken
I could tell you knew
That unfelt clasp of hands
Told me so well you knew
Never right at simply lounging about, Rodgers and Hart filled 1928 with "She's My Baby," "Chee-Chee," and "Present Arms"
...'Cause you took advantage of me...
And 1931 with...
I've got five dollars
I'm in good condition
And I've got ambition
that belongs to you
10 projects helped the Depression years pass.
Among them, "Simple Simon" and "Evergreen."
And then suddenly there was 1935 and "Jumbo."
The most beautiful girl in the world
isn't Garbo, isn't Dietrich,
But that sweet trick who can make me believe it's a beautiful world!
Social? Not a bit!
Natural kind of wit,
She'd shine anywhere,
and she hasn't got platinum hair!
The most beautiful house in the world
has a mortgage. What do I care?
It's "goodbye, care"
When my slippers are next to the ones that belong
to the one and only
beautiful girl
in the world!
Can you believe that it was 36 years ago when "On Your Toes" opened at the Imperial Theatre and we all first heard...
There’s a small hotel
With a wishing well
I wish that we were there together
Looking through the window, you can see a distant steeple
Not a sign of people
Who wants people?
We hardly had time to catch our breath before it was 1937 and "Babes in Arms" with "Where or When."
It seems we stood and talked like this before
We looked at each other in the same way then
But I can't remember where or when
The clothes you're wearing are the clothes you wore
The smile you are smiling you were smiling then
But I can't remember where or when
Finishing off 1937 with "I'd Rather Be Right," Rodgers and Hart began 1938 with "I Married an Angel."
Toward the end of that year, they opened yet another musical, "The Boys from Syracuse," with the song...
This can't be love because I fell so well
but I love to look in your eyes
My heart does not stand still
Just hear it beat
This is too sweet to be love
This can't be love because I fell so well
but I love to look in your eyes
Back to the Imperial Theatre; the year: 1939; the show: "Too Many Girls;" the song: "She Could Shake the Maracas;"
the singer: Desi Arnaz.
[music]
Ev'ry Latin has a temper,
Latins have no brains
And they quarrel as they walk in
Latins' Lover's Lane
So before you lose your temper
listen, little señorita,
And I'll tell to you the story
Of Pepito and Pepita
She could shake the Maracas
He could play the guitar
But he lived in Havana,
she, down in Rio del Mar.
And she shook her maracas
in a Portuguese bar
while he strummed in Havana
The distance between them was far
But by and by
He got a job with a band in Harlem
She got a job with a band in Harlem
Ay! Ay! Ay!
He said, "I'm the attraction"
She said, "I am the star"
But they finally married, and now see how happy they are!
So shake your maracas
and play your guitar!
[applause]
And then it was 1940 and the stunning "Pal Joey."
I'm wild again
Beguiled again
A simpering, whimpering child again
Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered am I
Lost my heart, but what of it?
He is cold, I agree
He's a laugh, but I love it
Although the laugh's on me
I'll sing to him
each spring to him
and long for the day I can cling to him
Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered
am I
[applause]
Rodgers and Hart wrote one more show together, and five months after the opening, Larry Hart died.
With more than 60 musicals and films to his credit,
one could have understood if Richard Rodgers had decided to rest on his laurels.
One might reasonably have thought that Richard Rodgers had given the world enough melodies and that the world might be content.
But the very next year, with a new collaborator, Oscar Hammerstein II, a new phase began in this remarkable musicians career,
and on March the 19th, 1943, a musical opened in New Haven that was to change the shape of the entire musical theater.
"Oklahoma!" was different, because, for the first time, everything that happened onstage moved the story forward.
The dances were full of real people, not chorus girls,
and the songs told you something about the characters. For instance...
[music]
There's a bright golden haze on meadow
The corn is as high as a elephant's eye
and it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky
Oh, what a beautiful morning!
Oh, what a beautiful day!
I got a beautiful feeling
Ev'rything's goin' my way
Oh, what a beautiful day!
In 1945, Rodgers and Hammerstein gave us "Carousel," which has now become an American classic.
How hard it is to pick one song out of that bountiful, beautiful score.
So when he wants your kisses
you will give them to the lad
and anywhere he leads you, you will walk
And anytime he needs you
you'll go runnin' there like mad
You're his girl, and he's your feller
and all the rest is talk.
1947 brought us "Allegro," a musical which dealt seriously with society's growing materialism.
It was the Broadway debut of Lisa Kirk.
The gentleman is a dope.
gentleman is a dope
you
woman is the dough he isn't very smart
you'd like
the gentleman
you belong
continuing to push out the musical theater Rodgers and
Hammerstein wrote South Pacific appiy for racial tolerance and an
unusual love story will you ever forget I'm just corny as
Kansas and August I'm as normal as blueberry pie no more
the guy in the conventional dinner with starring my eye and you will notice
there's a lump in my throat when I speak oh that's wonderful guy
I'm astride and the scales that's Daisy in May a cliche coming true
I'm wrong mini and bright as the moon happy night pouring light on the - I'm
as corny as Kansas in August high as the flag on the 4th of July if you'll excuse
an expression I use
about the difference between eastern and western cultures the king and I had
among many lovely songs the delightful getting to know you getting to know all
about
you like me it's hard to choose something from The Sound of Music
copper kettles and warm woolen mittens brown paper packages tied up with
strings these are a few of my
when I'm feeling sad I simply remember my favorite things
as well as music Richard Rodgers scored several more firsts with no strings and
one of them was just that no stringed instruments in the orchestra and another
was the fact that the orchestra itself was onstage with the performers all
making sweetest sound
ah gee
is wait
with Stephen Sondheim's death lyrics and Richard Rogers lovely songs we find
ourselves in
got disbanded