well, That's Show Biz, 05-01-2022 5 Composer: Frank Loesser

Composer: Frank Loesser

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

5-1-2022

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• And welcome to “ well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman and every week I will be bringing you music from Broadway, Movies, and Entertainers along with some anecdotes, Commentary, and information in between. Each show has a theme and today we will be examining the works of one of the greatest composers of Movie songs Broadway, Frank Loesser.

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• Frank Loesser is best known today for being the composer and lyricist of the legendary Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls, which many have called “the greatest American musical of all time”.  He also wrote for movies. His song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” was originally performed as a duet with his wife at informal parties. He eventually sold it to MGM for use in a movie called Neptune’s Daughter where it won the Oscar for best song. Before Broadway he was mainly known as a lyricist. He wrote songs for more than 60 movies and Tin Pan Alley, the music publishers of the day, with many becoming American standards.  We are going to start by looking at three songs that he wrote before his Broadway career.

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• We are going to start by listening to Rosemary Clooney”s version of “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You”, lyrics by Frank Loesser and Music by Jule Stein. Next will be a beautiful rendition of “Two Sleepy People”, music by Hoagy Carmichael and sung by Carly Simon and John Travolta. And the final song of this set, “On a Slow Boat to China”, words and music both by Frank Loesser. This version is playfully sung by Bette Midler.  See if you can figure out who is accompanying her on piano and duetting with her. But first, here’s Rosemary Clooney with “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You”.

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” Our theme today is Broadway composer Frank Loesser and you just heard Rosemary Clooney sing “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You”, Carly Simon and John Travolta singing “Two Sleepy People”, and Bette Midler singing “On a Slow Boat to China”. Did you figure out who accompanied Midler on the piano and sang with her? When they were both just starting out, Bette Midler performed at the Continental Baths in New York City with Barry Manilow on piano. A few years ago, they reunited to put out two albums with this song on the first, Bette Midler sings The Rosemary Clooney songbook.

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• Before we go any further, I have to explain some of the rules I have to follow.  I can only play up to 3 songs from the same album in an hour and no more than 2 in a row. So in order to present music from a show, I need to find at least two different sources.  With that said, before we examine Frank Loesser’s Broadway shows, in 1952, Loesser wrote the songs to a beloved movie of the Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson. The movie is a fictional fairytale telling of the life of the author of many childhood stories.  Hans Christian Anderson was played by the multi talented actor, Danny Kaye. Here are two songs from Hans Christian Anderson, “Thumbelina” and “Wonderful Copenhagen”, all sung by Danny Kaye.

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID]. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman, and you just heard two songs from Frank Loesser’s Hans Christian Anderson, “Thumbelina” and “Wonderful Copenhagen”. In 1948, Frank Loesser was asked to write the music and lyrics for “Where’s Charley?” based on the play Charley’s Aunt and starring Ray Bolger, who was the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. It produced the popular song “Once in Love With Amy”.  But in 1950, his next musical was the all American, Tony Award winning classic, Guys and Dolls, based on stories by writer Damon Runyon. The guys were gangsters and gamblers and the plot dealt with gambler Sky Master who, in order to win a bet, had to go on a date to Havana with Sergeant Sarah Brown of the Save-a-Soul Mission. Meanwhile gambler Nathan Detroit is trying to find a location for his illegal floating crap game with his underlings Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Benny Southstreet wall also trying to avoid marriage to his fiance Adelaide. Here are two songs from the 1992 Broadway. The first is the title song sung by the characters Nicely and Benny. Benny is played by JK Simmons better known today for playing J Jonah Jameson in the Spiderman movies. We will follow that with Peter Gallagher singing “Luck Be A Lady”. Here’s “Guys and Dolls”.

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• We are focussing today on Broadway composer Frank Loesser and we just heard the title song to “Guys and Dolls” followed by “Luck Be A Lady”. The original cast starred Robert Alda, father of actor Alan Alda in the role of Sky Masterson and the wonderful Stubby Kaye as Nicely-Nicely Johnson. Here is Robert Alsda and Isabel Bigley singing “I’ve Never Been In Love Before” which was cut out of the movie version and Stubby Kaye singing the classic “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat”.

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” and we just heard “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” and “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat” from Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls.  Guys and Dolls was the selected winner of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Drama however, since one of the writers, Abe Burrows was known to have communist sympathies, it was decided not to award the drama prize that year.  In 1956, Frank Loesser wrote one of my favorite scores for the musical “The Most Happy Fella”. It is the story of Tony, an older italian vineyard owner in Napa Valley California who falls in love with a much younger San Francisco waitress, who he calls Rosabella, and who does not know who her admirer is. They correspond in a series of letters but when she asks for a photograph, he sends her a picture of his much younger and more handsome farm foreman.  The first song you will hear is a song originally written for Guys and Dolls, “Standing on The Corner”. This version is from the 1992 revival. We will then hear the song “Big D” from the original sung by Rosabella’s best friend and one of Tony’s farmhands.  And we will end this set with the soaringly romantic “My Heart is So Full of You”, when Rosabella realizes that she is truly in love with the real Tony.  Here’s “Standing on The Corner” from Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella.

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• You just heard “Standing On The Corner”, “Big D”, and “My Heart is So Full Of You” from Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella. I’m Jeremy Freedman, your host for “well, That’s Show Biz!” If you would like to contact me and give me suggestions for songs and themes, you can reach me at wruushowbiz@gmail.com.

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• In 1961, Loesser wrote the music to the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning musical How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Abe Burrows again co-wrote the book but this time the 1962 Pulitzer Prize was awarded. Based on the book of the same name, the story is about J. Pierpont Finch who uses the book to rise from the mailroom to Chairman of the Board of the World Wide Wicket Company. There have been several major productions of the show.  We will first hear Mathew Broderick as Finch sing the title song, “How To Succeed”. Then we will hear Daniel Radcliff, in the same role, sing “I Believe in You”. And finally, the original, Robert Morse, in “Brotherhood of Man”.  Here’s Frank Loesser’s, “How To Succeed”.

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• We just heard “How To Succeed”, “I Believe in You”, and Brotherhood of Man” from How To Succeed In Business Without Even Trying.  Frank Loesser passed away in 1969 from lung cancer at the age of only 59. You have been listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on WRUU FM. You can send me, Jeremy Freedman, comments at wruushowbiz@gmail.com and if you enjoy the show you can email wruu.org.