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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 conclusion of a three-part program paying tribute to acclaimed lyricist Howard Dietz. Dietz is best known for his collaborations with composer Arthur Schwartz on memorable songs like "Dancing in the Dark," "By Myself," and "That's Entertainment." This program originally aired in 1983 and was hosted by associate producer Jeff Lunden. The next show that Schwartz and Dietz worked on was called At Home Abroad, and it opened in 1935, and it was a review by the Schubert's. And working with the Schubert's was slightly difficult, as well as working with Vincente Minnelli, who was at that time 26 years old.

And Dietz writes in his autobiography, Vincente Minnelli was the director. He was doing an adept job considering that it was his first show, but his staging was not entirely to my satisfaction. I went down the aisle and spoke to him in a low voice, then took a seat in the back of the orchestra. Minnelli didn't accept the correction I had made in the scene. I shouted, "Vincente, what are you doing?" He said, "I'm doing the same thing for At Home Abroad that Hassard Short did for Three's A Crowd and your other shows." I said, "You're not a Hassard Short, you're just a hazard." I found out that I had a contract with the Schubert's, which stated that I was in charge of the show. Vincente Minnelli had the identical contract.

A deal with Lee Schubert is a deal indeed. It would be a faint statement to say that the Schubert's were difficult to deal with. Yet there was something likable about Mr. Lee, as he was called. It was his consistency as an unreasonable trader. Mr. Sam was spotty in his sense of justice. He was more apt to fit the coffin to the corpse, what they call procrustean. We're going to listen to several songs from At Home Abroad and start with a song called "That's Not Cricket," sung by Eleanor Powell. Stanley Green describes it in the Smithsonian Archival Reconstruction. He says, "The scene is Eton, where the ensemble ladies, clad in properly Etonian top hats, short jackets, and enormous buster brown collars and striped trousers, are playing a game of leapfrog.

Similarly clad, Eleanor Powell makes her entrance by leaping over four of her fellow students. She then bends down and receives a kick in the rear. Shocked at such a breach of traditional British manners, Miss Powell reprimands the others in a frisky song and tap routine."

[3:07] ♪ Musical number: "That's Not Cricket" — performed by Eleanor Powell ♪

[5:56] Paul Lazarus: Eleanor Powell tapping her way through "That's Not Cricket" from the Dietzen-Schwartz review At Home Abroad in 1935. Next, we're going to listen to two more selections from At Home Abroad: "Paris," sung by Beatrice Lilly, and "Got a Brand New Suit," sung by Eleanor Powell.

[6:11] ♪ Musical number: "Paris" — performed by Beatrice Lilly ♪

[9:12] ♪ Musical number: "Got a Brand New Suit" — performed by Eleanor Powell ♪

[12:09] Jeff Lunden: Howard Dietz Tribute 4. Eleanor Powell singing and tapping "Got a Bran' New Suit" from At Home Abroad. And before that, we heard Beatrice Lilly singing "Paree." The next show that Dietz and Schwartz worked on was a show called Between the Devil, and this was their second attempt at a book musical as a team. It didn't last particularly long. It lasted only 93 performances. But from the score, which was about a bigamist actually, came two very famous songs that probably became even more famous when they were included in The Band Wagon, the Hollywood movie in 1953. And here singing a song originally from Between the Devil, "By Myself," is Fred Astaire.

[13:23] ♪ Musical number: "By Myself" — performed by Fred Astaire ♪

[15:59] Jeff Lunden: You're listening to a tribute to Howard Dietz. Another song that came out of Between the Devil in 1937 was a song which also made its way into The Band Wagon, and that's "Triplets." Here is Arthur Schwartz performing "Triplets."

[16:11] ♪ Musical number: "Triplets" — performed by Arthur Schwartz ♪

[18:26] Jeff Lunden: "Triplets," sung by Arthur Schwartz from the 1937 musical Between the Devil. Dietz and Schwartz were not to write another show for another 11 years, and when they came back in 1948, it was a show called Inside USA, inspired partially by Dietz's cross-country drives going between New York and Hollywood. He thought he could do a show that took place all over America. And in Gerald Boardman's book American Musical Theater, he mentions Inside USA, that one outside event which conceivably prevented more tunes for the show from becoming popular was the ASCAP strike. Composers and lyricists withdrew radio and recording privileges until their demands for better terms were met. As a result, the airwaves, long the principal method of popularizing a song, played largely uncopyrighted music, so new shows whose music was written after the strike went temporarily or permanently unrecorded.

Inside USA recorded its original cast album just before the deadline, but since it had to be produced in advance of the opening, it was in the unique position of including a song cut during its tryout. We're going to listen to Beatrice Lilly sing "Come, O Come," and we're going to follow that with Arthur Schwartz singing "Rhode Island is Famous For You."

[19:45] ♪ Musical number: "Come, O Come" — performed by Beatrice Lilly ♪

[23:19] Jeff Lunden: Rhode Island has something it can boast of, a product that the state produces the most of. Rhode Island is little but oh my, it has a product anyone would buy. Copper comes from Arizona, peaches come from Georgia, and lobsters come from Maine. The wheat fields are the sweet fields of Nebraska, and Kansas gets bonanzas from the grain. Old whiskey comes from old Kentucky, ain't the country lucky, New Jersey gives us glue. And you, you come from Rhode Island, and little old Rhode Island is famous for you. Cotton comes from Louisiana, gophers from Montana, and spuds from Idaho. They plow land in the cow land of Missouri, where most beef and for roast beef seems to grow. Grand canyons come from Colorado, gold comes from Nevada, divorces also do.

And you, you come from Rhode Island, don't let them drive Rhode Island, it's famous for you. Pencils come from Pennsylvania, vests from West Virginia, and tents from Tennessee. They know mink where they grow mink in Wyoming, a camp chair in New Hampshire, that's for me. And minnows come from Minnesota, coats come from Dakota, but why should you be blue? For you, you come from Rhode Island, we'll sing about Rhode Island, and dance it, you enhance it, more than Providence, Newport, Narragansett, Rhode Island famous for you. You come from Rhode Island, sung by Arthur Schwartz, from the musical Inside USA from 1948.

[26:02] Jeff Lunden: Dietz and Schwartz didn't collaborate again until 1961. In that time, Dietz became afflicted with Parkinson's disease, and in the 50s was compelled to resign from his post at MGM, which he had been steadily working at all the time all of these shows were going on. But they were reunited in 1961 with a show called The Gay Life. It wasn't terribly successful, it lasted only 113 performances, but Alec Wilder, in his book American Popular Song, called it their best score since the 30s. Little thing about it in Dietz's autobiography, he says, Barbara Cook and all the singers liked their parts, but our leading man couldn't act, dance, sing, or speak English, which was a handicap. Here is Barbara Cook singing Magic Moment from The Gay Life by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz.

[27:01] ♪ Musical number: "Magic Moment" — performed by Barbara Cook ♪

[31:10] Jeff Lunden: Arthur Schwartz himself performing one of his most famous collaborations with Howard Dietz, Dancing in the Dark.

[31:16] ♪ Musical number: "Dancing in the Dark" — performed by Arthur Schwartz ♪