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[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 second of a three-part program examining the Roaring Twenties on Broadway. My guest is noted musical theater historian Alfred Simon. This program originally aired in November of 1980 and featured songs by Jerome Kern, Eubie Blake, and George Gershwin in a celebration of Broadway in the early 20's. Please note that the recordings in this program are products of their time, and some contain offensive material.

[0:46] Paul Lazarus: Our next show is Two Little Girls in Blue, which was supposed to have music by George Gershwin, lyrics by his brother Ira, but Gershwin was too busy at that time, so he suggested another composer named Vincent Eumanns, who had done no shows. Incidentally, I should mention that Gershwin was notable for helping other composers get jobs, and he helped Vernon Duke and Harold Arlen, among others. The songs we're going to hear are O Me, O My, O You, and Dolly, the latter is sung by Bob Quint.

[1:56] ♪ Musical number: "Dolly" — performed by Bob Quint ♪

[2:58] Paul Lazarus: Two songs by Vincent Eumanns and Ira Gershwin for the show Two Little Girls in Blue. You first heard a piano version of O Me, O My, and then Bob Quint singing Dolly. The show came along soon after Two Little Girls in Blue called Shuffle Along, and it's an important show in the 1920s for several reasons, but let me read Robert Kimball's notes to the Shuffle Along album on New World Records, and he states it so much more eloquently than I could. Shuffle Along was a miracle. In the spring of 1921, hardly anyone believed that a musical written, performed, produced, and directed by American blacks could be presented on Broadway, but on May 23rd, Shuffle Along opened at New York's 63rd Street Theater, which was then part of Broadway and promptly made theatrical history.

The show restored authentic black artistry to the mainstream of the American theater. A daring synthesis of ragtime and operetta, it had an enormous impact on the development of the Broadway musical during its most vibrant years. It featured jazz dancing, was the first black musical to play white theaters across the United States, and was a vital part of the black cultural renaissance of the 1920s. The triumph of Shuffle Along and its creators, Noble Sissel, who wrote the lyrics, Eubie Blake, music, Flournoy Miller, and Aubrey Lyles, who wrote the libretto, was a beacon of hope to every black artist in America. Blacks were never again systematically barred from the Broadway stage, as they had been in the decade before the play's opening.

I'm going to feature two selections from Sissel and Blake's score to Shuffle Along. First, you'll hear from the original cast, Noble Sissel, the lyricist himself, with his group, the Sizzling Syncopators, singing In Honeysuckle Time, and this was recorded in May of 1921. Then, that will be followed by a version of I'm Just Wild About Harry from the recent Broadway review, Eubie.

[5:17] ♪ Musical number: "In Honeysuckle Time" — performed by Noble Sissel and the Sizzling Syncopators ♪

[7:24] ♪ Musical number: "I'm Just Wild About Harry" — performed by Linny Godfrey, Janet Powell, and the girls' chorus of Eubie ♪

[9:56] Paul Lazarus: Two songs from Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake's score to Shuffle Along, a show that was a huge success in 1921. You first heard In Honeysuckle Time, performed by lyricist Noble Sissle himself, followed by I'm Just Wild About Harry, performed by Linny Godfrey, Janet Powell, and the girls' chorus of a review that was recently on Broadway of Eubie Blake's music entitled Eubie. One of the features of the Ziegfeld Follies was always the use of the headliners of the day, many, many big stars, and one of those stars that we're going to be looking at today is

[10:33] Alfred Simon: Most identified with the Ziegfeld Follies is Fanny Bryce, who was born on New York's Lower East Side in 1891 to parents who were saloon keepers, and her first performances were in those saloons warbling for pennies. She was discovered by George M. Cohan, who fired her from the chorus of his show The Talk of New York. Many people feel that he fired her because she couldn't dance, but some have insisted that it was her clownish antics that lost her the job. Anyway, later on, Irving Berlin spotted her and gave her a song called Sadie Salome, and it was the comic rendition of that song that attracted the attention of Florence Ziegfeld, who put her into his Follies of 1910. In the Follies of 1921, she sang two songs that have filtered down to the ages as Fanny Bryce standards, My Man and Secondhand Rose.

[11:50] ♪ Musical number: "My Man" — performed by Fanny Bryce ♪

[13:59] ♪ Musical number: "Secondhand Rose" — performed by Fanny Bryce ♪

[18:07] Alfred Simon: You're listening to Anything Goes with Paul Lazarus and guest Alfred Simon with the first part of our four-part series examining Broadway of the 1920s, and that was Fanny Bryce singing two of her most famous songs and two songs that she performed in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921, Secondhand Rose and My Man. You are listening to Anything Goes with a look at Broadway in the 1920s. Next, we come to a song called Sweet Lady, which is one of the biggest hits in 1921. It's from a short tangerine, which is nothing very special, but it was introduced by Julia Sanderson, who was a great musical comedy favorite, and she sings it along with a co-star, Frank Crommett, to whom she was married, incidentally.

[19:01] ♪ Musical number: "Sweet Lady" — performed by Julia Sanderson and Frank Crommett ♪

[21:05] ♪ Musical number: "Sweet Lady" — performed by Julia Sanderson and Frank Crummett ♪

[21:25] Alfred Simon: Frank Crummett also was one of the composers of that song.

[21:30] Paul Lazarus: Al, we were talking about how operetta was on its way out, but there are many shows in the '20s that go contrary to that opinion.

[21:36] Alfred Simon: Yes, one of the greatest smash hits ever in Broadway history is "Blossom Time," which Sigmund Romberg based on the music of Franz Schubert, and it was also, of course, kind of a very fictionalized version of Schubert's life. And this song, you're going to hear it, is "Song of Love," based on Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. It's sung by Earl Wrighton and Lois Hunter.

[23:10] ♪ Musical number: "Song of Love" — performed by Earl Wrighton and Lois Hunter ♪

[25:18] Alfred Simon: Earl Wrighton and Lois Hunt performing "Song of Love" from Sigmund Romberg's "Blossom Time." Another show opened one month later with another score by Sigmund Romberg, and it was entitled "Bombo" and starred Al Jolson. But it wasn't the Romberg songs that became big hits from "Bombo," but rather the interpolations in that score, including a song written by Gus Kahn, Ernie Erdman, and Dan Russo, "Toot Toot Tootsie, Goodbye."

[25:59] ♪ Musical number: "Toot Toot Tootsie (Goodbye)" — performed by Al Jolson ♪

[27:56] Alfred Simon: Al Jolson sang "Toot Toot Tootsie, Goodbye" from "Bombo." Our next number is a title song from a very good score, a Jerome Kern score, "Good Morning Dearie." The best-known tunes were "Kahlua" and the "Blue Danube Blues." This one is a title song sung by Barbara Cook, Harold Lang, and Cy Young.

[28:26] ♪ Musical number: "Good Morning Dearie" — performed by Barbara Cook, Harold Lang, and Cy Young ♪

[30:55] Paul Lazarus: You've been listening to "The 20s Part 2," the second of a three-part series. "Anything Goes: Backstage with Broadway's Best" is produced and hosted by Paul Lazarus. For more information, visit anythinggoespl.com.

[31:11] Paul Lazarus: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate and follow us. Thanks for listening.