tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12502919.post-1163665951297294772006-11-17T00:04:00.000-08:002006-11-17T06:28:10.313-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/1600/fields-rodgers-hart.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/200/fields-rodgers-hart.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> Hart found even jauntier notes in this number from The Boys From Syracuse (1940) , a vaudeville-inspired rendition of A Comedy of Errors that in turn inspired A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, by a jealous queen whose name escapes me at the moment. “This can't be love, because I feel so well, No sobs, no sorrows, no sighs. This can't be love; I get no dizzy spells, My head is not in the skies. My heart does not stand still, just hear it beat. This is too sweet to be love. This can't be love, because I feel so well, But still 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 feel so well, But still I love to look in your eyes. Still I love to look in your eyes” <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/1600/higherMovieCard.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/200/higherMovieCard.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> But he returned to bittersweet form in 1940 with this number from Higher and Higher : “Once I laughed when I heard you saying That I'd be playing solitaire Uneasy in my easy chair It never entered my mind And once you told me I was mistaken That I'd awaken with the sun And ordered orange juice for one It never entered my mind You had what I lack, myself Now I even have to scratch my back myself Once you warned me that if you scorned me I'd say a lonely prayer again And wish that you were there again To get into my hair again It never entered my mind Once you warned me that if you scorned me I'd say a lonely prayer again And wish that you were there again To get into my hair again It never entered my mind <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/1600/mail.7.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/320/mail.5.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> And that same year produced Pal Joey, the first (and possibly last) truly adult musical and arguably Hart’s masterpiece. It was about a gigolo. Among its great songs, this one recently done to great effect in <a style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464049/%E2%80%9C">The History Boys.</a> “After one whole quart of brandy Like a daisy, I'm awake With no Bromo-Seltzer handy I don't even shake Men are not a new sensation I've done pretty well I think But this half-pint imitation Put me on the blink I'm wild again, beguiled again A simpering, whimpering child again Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I Couldn't sleep and wouldn't sleep When love came and told me, I shouldn't sleep Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I Lost my heart, but what of it He is cold I agree He can 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 when I'll cling to him Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I He's a fool and don't I know it But a fool can have his charms I'm in love and don't I show it Like a babe in arms Love's the same old sad sensation Lately I've not slept a wink Since this half-pint imitation Put me on the blink I've sinned a lot, I'm mean a lot But I'm like sweet seventeen a lot Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I I'll sing to him, each spring to him And worship the trousers that cling to him Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I When he talks, he is seeking Words to get off his chest Horizontally speaking, he's at his very best Vexed again, perplexed again Thank God, I can be oversexed again Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I Wise at last, my eyes at last, Are cutting you down to your size at last Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - no more Burned a lot, but learned a lot And now you are broke, so you earned a lot Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - no more Couldn't eat, was dispeptic Life was so hard to bear Now my heart's antiseptic Since you moved out of there Romance, finis. Your chance, finis. Those ants that invaded my pants, finis. Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - no more.” <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/1600/Beach.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/320/Beach.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> (Harold Lang, star of the 1952 revival of "Pal Joey" with boyfriend du jour Gore Vidal.) <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/1600/scan0010.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/320/scan0010.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> It was no more Larry for Richard Rogers by the mid-forties when he broke with his unreliable and increasingly dead-drunk lyricist and joined forces with Oscar Hammerstein to write a series of hit shows that while far from negligible are the polar opposite of the ones he wrote with Hart. Yet after Hammerstein’s death Rogers on his own wrote the music AND lyrics to No Strings -- a brilliant show about a white American novelist’s affair with a black American fashion model in a racially liberated Europe. In every way it was a séance in which Rogers was evoking (with striking success) the spirit of Larry Hart. But that spirit hasn't died. Robert Altman, for one, built a major dance sequence around Hart's arguably most famous song in his 2003 film <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335013/">The Company.</a><a> And that spirit will never die as long as we all can sing --</a><a> “My Funny Valentine Sweet comic Valentine You make me smile with my heart. Your looks are laughable, Unphotographable Yet you’re my fav’rite work of art. Is your figure less than Greek? Is your mouth a little weak? When you open it to speak, Are you smart? But don’t change a hair for me Not if you care for me Stay little Valentine, stay Each day is Valentine’s Day.” </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/1600/l04180c19ji.0.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3629/1063/200/l04180c19ji.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> I’d like to end the proceedings on an up note with a number from The Boys From Syracuse -- that I find myself singing every time I think of the state of American politics. “There was an old zany who lived in a tub; He had so many fleabites He didn't know where to rub. He kept looking for an honest man Said "I'm gonna find him if I can" If i could meet Diogenes today, This is what I'd say: Rub-a-dub-dub Oh, Diogenes! Find a man who's honest! Oh, Diogenes! Wrap him up for me Oh, Diogenes! Find a man who's stolid-solid Hook that fish if he's in the sea Hunt him! Trail him! Catch him! Nail him! If he is free Have you got your stick? Have you got your lantern? Can you do the trick And produce him, please! Catch that fellow! Ring that bell, Oh, Oh! Oh, Diogenes! ----Dennis Coopernoreply@blogger.com