The first of a three-part program paying tribute to renowned composer Arthur Schwartz. Schwartz is perhaps best known for his collaborations with lyricist Howard Dietz, whom he worked with on such famous musicals as THE BAND WAGON, REVENGE WITH MUSIC, and AT HOME ABROAD... Read More
From the show: Anything Goes
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The first of a three-part program paying tribute to renowned composer Arthur Schwartz. Schwartz is perhaps best known for his collaborations with lyricist Howard Dietz, whom he worked with on such famous musicals as THE BAND WAGON, REVENGE WITH MUSIC, and AT HOME ABROAD. Schwartz also collaborated with Dorothy Fields on BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA and A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. The legendary composer, who died less than a week before this tribute originally aired, is celebrated with numerous recordings from his many revues and Broadway shows.
Featured songs: “New Sun in the Sky,” “A Shine on Your Shoes,” “When You Love Only One,” “Revenge with Music Medley,” “Rhode Island is Famous for You,” “Growing Pains,” “You and the Night and the Music,” and “Love is a Dancing Thing.”
Originally produced and broadcast in 1984. Associate Producer, Jeff Lunden. For more information go to AnythingGoesPL.com or BPN.FM/Anything Goes. Theme music arranged by Bruce Coughlin. Anything Goes – Backstage with Broadway’s Best – is produced and hosted by Paul Lazarus.
Transcript
This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.
[0:00] Paul Lazarus: Hi, this is Paul Lazarus. In the 1980s, I produced and hosted a radio series called Anything Goes, a celebration of the American musical theater. Now, the Broadway Podcast Network is bringing back these shows. This is the first of a three-part tribute to legendary composer Arthur Schwartz. Schwartz was perhaps best known for the memorable songs he wrote with noted lyricist Howard Dietz, like "Dancing in the Dark," "By Myself," and "That's Entertainment." This tribute originally aired in 1984, less than a week after Schwartz's death.
[1:58] ♪ Musical number: "New Sun in the Sky" ♪
[3:20] Paul Lazarus: Good afternoon, and welcome to Anything Goes. Today, sadly, although we hope we can turn it around a little bit, we'd like to do a tribute to composer Arthur Schwartz, who died this past Monday at his home in Pennsylvania, 83 years old. And I know you're familiar with his work, primarily with lyricist Howard Dietz, and we thought it would be fun today to travel through Arthur Schwartz's career, and to also take your requests over the phone for your favorite Schwartz melody. It's been a bad couple of years in terms of the old guard of musical comedy, both Schwartz and Dietz dying recently, and many other of our greats, but anyway, their music lives on, and that's what we'll be about today. Here's another Fred Astaire version of a Schwartz-Dietz song, one of the greatest interpreters of their work.
[4:49] ♪ Musical number: "A Shine on Your Shoes" — performed by Fred Astaire ♪
[9:34] ♪ Musical number: "When You Love Only One" ♪
[10:42] ♪ Musical number: "When You Love Only One" — performed by Arthur Schwartz ♪
[12:43] ♪ Musical number: "Maria" — performed by Arthur Schwartz ♪
[17:23] Paul Lazarus: A medley of songs from the Schwartz-Dietz 1934 show Revenge with Music, which played 158 performances at the New Amsterdam Theatre. You're listening to a tribute to Arthur Schwartz. I'm your host, Paul Lazarus. Arthur Schwartz passed away last Monday, and Jeff Lunden and I are here to celebrate his amazing career in the musical theatre. Those of you who don't know anything about Mr. Schwartz, just let me give you a brief history of his phenomenal contribution to the theatre. He was born in Brooklyn, where he taught himself to play harmonica and piano, and about age 14, he started accompanying silent films in Flatbush while simultaneously attending New York University. His first published song appeared in 1932 while he was studying law, and he did indeed become a lawyer, practicing law from 1924 to 1928, and then teamed with his lifelong collaborator, Howard Dietz in 1929, where they started writing songs for The Little Show, one of the famous reviews of the late 20s, early 30s, and songs for that included I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan, which we'll play a little later.
They, throughout the 20s and 30s, collaborated on many songs for reviews, including Three's a Crowd, Bandwagon, Flying Colors, At Home Abroad, and then started writing book musicals with Revenge with Music and Between the Devil. They went on, both separately and together, to write many, many shows, including many we'll be featuring today, Inside USA, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, By the Beautiful Sea. Here is Schwartz himself performing a song that he was particularly fond of, Rhode Island is Famous for You.
[19:21] ♪ Musical number: "Rhode Island is Famous for You" — performed by Arthur Schwartz ♪
[21:25] ♪ Musical number: "Rhode Island is Famous for You" — performed by Unknown performer ♪
[22:39] ♪ Musical number: "Growing Pains" — performed by Unknown performer ♪
[27:03] ♪ Musical number: "You and the Night and the Music" — performed by Libby Holman with Richard Himber's orchestra ♪
[28:40] ♪ Musical number: "Love is a Dancing Thing" — performed by Nancy Dessau ♪
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