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[0:00] ♪ Musical number: "My Favorite Things" — performed by Unknown artist ♪

[0:18] Kevin David Thomas: Happy throwback Thursday, everybody.

[0:20] Robert W Schneider: Happy Thursday, everybody. How are you doing, Rob?

[0:22] Robert W Schneider: I'm doing good. We're actually doing this on a Thursday, which is amazing to me.

[0:26] Kevin David Thomas: We're actually doing it.

[0:27] Robert W Schneider: We're actually doing it. Kevin and I took a couple of weeks off.

[0:30] Kevin David Thomas: Why can't we have a little vacation?

[0:32] Robert W Schneider: We're having a we're we're gonna have a little evaluation and we'll we'll announce things soon. But we're gonna have a couple little changes here, and we haven't even discussed this, but we'll we're gonna have some adjustments along the way.

[0:41] Kevin David Thomas: Maybe we'll throw some uh some put some episodes up that we you know you know rewind episodes, so to speak, like we did the great Rebecca Lucre. Um but we're gonna we're gonna you know shift some things uh in the future, but um we will still bring you our favorite things when we have favorite things.

[0:49] Robert W Schneider: When we have favorite things, you have to understand dad daddies are tired, daddies are a little tired, and we want to make sure that we're gonna present you with the best possible stuff that we have. And we'll talk more about that in in in upcoming uh weeks.

[1:10] Robert W Schneider: Uh, but we're we're not going anywhere. We're just uh we're slowing down in our old days. Pacing ourselves, just pacing ourselves after five years and 400, 500 episodes.

[1:19] Kevin David Thomas: Do you know? Hey, you know, February 1st we begins our sixth year on the air. I just think that's uh it's amazing. I mean, I know we have, but I I can't, and I look back and see pictures of us when we because we we remember we used to meet everybody, Rob, and everyone, we used to always take a picture with all of our guests.

[1:34] Kevin David Thomas: I remember the the selfie we'd always it was a thing that was a part of our routine, and I have all these photos of these these amazing selfies, but we just don't it's it's wild that we don't do that anymore.

[1:44] Robert W Schneider: I mean, we literally saw a skyscraper being built across the street from Shuttler.

[1:49] Kevin David Thomas: No, seriously, like that skyscraper where Rosalind Ballroom used to be on 54th and 55th, like between the that we watched that thing get built, and now it's five years later and it's like inhabited. It's it's crazy.

[1:58] Robert W Schneider: And Shuttler doesn't exist anymore. I mean, it's just R I T Shetler.

[2:04] Robert W Schneider: Absolutely wild. But you know, I I'm uh I'm really proud of what we've done um for these last five years, actually. It's really really we have I uh listen, I am not not to pat ourselves on the back, but I'm impressed with what we've done.

[2:15] Kevin David Thomas: I am impressed with what we've done, and we should be proud of ourselves. And if we need to slow down a little bit because we're getting up there in age, let's let's let's do it. It's quality, not quantity, Rob.

[2:25] Robert W Schneider: It's it's quality, I think.

[2:27] Kevin David Thomas: Thank you for that.

[2:27] Robert W Schneider: Thank you.

[2:28] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I need I needed that reminder. Sorry, this is my therapy session. How have you been? How how is your uh how was your January going?

[2:38] Robert W Schneider: My January is great. I had to go to Los Angeles for two weeks where it was uh beautiful and sunny, and I got to walk in the hills and the mountains and uh it was really, really lovely. Thank you for asking. And now I'm back in New York City. I am raring to go.

[2:51] Robert W Schneider: I am ready to get my vaccine on Friday. You received your vaccine, correct?

[2:58] Kevin David Thomas: I did. Teachers in New York City. Uh we we are able to uh a lot in-person teachers in New York City.

[3:03] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, we we are on the list. So I got mine uh a week and a half ago. Um, and I waited in line for two hours outside. It was freezing, and we all had appointments, but I was so impressed how efficient they were once you got in and you got the ball rolling.

[3:15] Kevin David Thomas: I had to go all the way to the Bronx. I think you mentioned that as well. Uh you're going to. Uh, and so and then I'll get my second shot on the 13th. So I'll be all Moderna.

[3:24] Robert W Schneider: Did you get Moderna?

[3:25] Kevin David Thomas: I did, yes, that was the one I got.

[3:27] Robert W Schneider: Oh, very nice. Very, very good. Look at we're all we all know all about these things now because we're all doctors now.

[3:32] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[3:33] Robert W Schneider: We all went from being constitutional experts on Facebook to being infectious disease experts. So we're we're right, all in one month. It's great.

[3:40] Kevin David Thomas: It's very crazy. We're doing pretty we're doing pretty good for ourselves. Um so you got the vaccine. Congratulations.

[3:45] Kevin David Thomas: I was supposed to get it last Friday, but New York ran out of vaccines. So I got rescheduled for tomorrow. Fingers crossed, they don't bump me again.

[3:55] Robert W Schneider: I feel like actors do now being like, Are you seeing non-equity today? Like, I feel such hope. Like there was a great video going around of like the audit like the uh girl auditioning for you know, waiting in line over what I forget what the context was, but she was basically had her vaccination, and it wasn't the big joke of going to audition once you've been vaccinated.

[4:13] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Was it the girl who was like uh she treated the vaccine as an audition? Like she came in with her book and everything.

[4:19] Robert W Schneider: Yes, it's so good. Yeah, I don't know who that girl is, but she was very funny. How have you been? How have you been post-holidays?

[4:26] Kevin David Thomas: We are good in the house of Thomas Crawford. Uh having a child is always an adventure. Uh and Crawford is now uh approaching language skills. He's communicating more and more, and it's just it's every day is so thrilling and exciting and scary and um and lasts forever, it feels like because we get up at uh he wakes up at five or five thirty sometimes, and Sutton and I take you know take turns uh, you know, getting up with him.

[4:53] Kevin David Thomas: Um and and then oh, and uh speaking of Sutton, actually, she's been doing so many tarot card readings. Sutton has really this has really taken off this business of hers, and she's on the verge of creating a website. If it hasn't been posted yet, it will be in the next week or so. Uh Sutton Crawford.com.

[5:06] Kevin David Thomas: But I'm so proud of her, and I think you mentioned this to me, but I think we should have her on and uh do like a little mini reading uh for us because uh it's really kind of cool. And it's there's something, you know, favorite thing-ish about it, and it's it's really fun. And I think it'd be fun to have her here.

[5:20] Robert W Schneider: I would love to have her do our tarot card reading.

[5:22] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, is she gonna do wait? Uh no, no, not not astrological, right? That's not where we have to give our birthday.

[5:27] Robert W Schneider: She just she's gonna be able to do that. That's not at all cards. She the the cards like sort of spurn like ideas. Like she'll turn something over, explain it, and then it kind of like is a reason for you to sort of have a reaction to that, and then she sort of is intuitive on top of that.

[5:41] Kevin David Thomas: So it's really I'm really impressed with her and how much she's she reads these books, and she's just so dedicated to it. I'm so impressed. So maybe maybe next episode she'll she'll come on and do our do our readings.

[5:51] Robert W Schneider: Definitely. She's done all these podcasts, she's done other podcasts.

[5:54] Kevin David Thomas: Uh she's done two other podcasts, actually. Uh, you know, pretty well-known podcasts where she does the readings on on air, which is kind of cool.

[6:00] Robert W Schneider: She does other podcasts before she does us. How rude.

[6:02] Kevin David Thomas: And well known. So she's like, I'll deal with the small potatoes.

[6:05] Robert W Schneider: Right, right, right, right.

[6:07] Kevin David Thomas: I'll do the niche stuff is later. Like, if I have a moment as my charity for the year, I'll go on to my husband's little podcast.

[6:16] Robert W Schneider: Oh god. I love that. I love that.

[6:18] Kevin David Thomas: Hey, you know, uh, just first of all, it was great seeing you for trivia two weekends ago now.

[6:24] Robert W Schneider: Is it almost two weeks ago?

[6:25] Kevin David Thomas: Almost two, yeah, almost because we have another one this weekend.

[6:27] Robert W Schneider: That's right. That was one, and congratulations to our our our last uh winner uh on our what was our you know what I got?

[6:33] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my god, oh my god, what was our theme?

[6:34] Robert W Schneider: Oh my gosh, I'm no it was it was uh oh one, right? It was all of the musicals of 1920.

[6:39] Kevin David Thomas: Anniversary shows 2071, that's right, anniversary shows.

[6:42] Robert W Schneider: Anniversary shows. We were all over the place, and it was uh we had a it was a nice group of people.

[6:47] Kevin David Thomas: Well, we had a really nice time.

[6:48] Robert W Schneider: It was, and this weekend, folks, coming up on Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, uh, will be uh it's sort of we're basing a little bit on Jeopardy, it's musical theater popourry, musical theater popourry, which is a bag.

[7:03] Kevin David Thomas: It's a grab bag of of musical theater trivia.

[7:06] Robert W Schneider: Uh, but because you listen to the podcast, and hopefully you've listened to this episode, we'll give you a little clue on what the themes are gonna be.

[7:12] Kevin David Thomas: So uh, you know, there's that famous reporting thing, it's like the who, what, where, when, and why. And that's how we're basing our trivia.

[7:18] Robert W Schneider: So the first section will be who, then the second section will be when, then Kevin's musicals are where.

[7:26] Kevin David Thomas: Um be singing, yep.

[7:27] Robert W Schneider: Thank God. Then when and why. So you gotta let you listen to us.

[7:31] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah. And most importantly, all the proceeds are going to help the nonprofit York Theater, which is an institution in New York.

[7:40] Robert W Schneider: The great James Morgan is the artistic director. He's been on our podcast before.

[7:44] Kevin David Thomas: Um, they flooded, they flooded.

[7:46] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, the the what's the Saint Saint St. Peters or Marks. I forget, yeah, St. Peter's.

[7:51] Kevin David Thomas: St. Peter's, I think.

[7:52] Robert W Schneider: That church there on uh on whatever it is, Lexington and fifty-five.

[7:56] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, fifty sixth fourth, fifty-sixth.

[7:57] Robert W Schneider: We as you can tell, we love it, but we have no idea where it's yeah.

[8:00] Kevin David Thomas: We've we've been there, we got we're there all the freaking time though.

[8:02] Robert W Schneider: It's just sort of go there by road. Do you know what I mean?

[8:05] Kevin David Thomas: Like totally, and it's where new works are created and cultivated and seen, where older, less, you know, lesser known musicals that we all love to hate and love to love, they are redone.

[8:17] Robert W Schneider: If you want to see Carmelina, you know where to go.

[8:19] Kevin David Thomas: Um and I saw Carmelina.

[8:22] Robert W Schneider: Me too.

[8:23] Kevin David Thomas: I'm a woman.

[8:26] Robert W Schneider: I'm a woman.

[8:28] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, I'm a woman. We saw it was Andrea Burns was in it.

[8:30] Robert W Schneider: That's right. That's right. That's right.

[8:32] Kevin David Thomas: And I think Carmelina is the most revived show at the York.

[8:39] Robert W Schneider: Correct. I think you are correct. I think that is correct.

[8:41] Kevin David Thomas: Anyway, they're a fantastic institution. Unfortunately, there was a massive flood over this quarantine. It I think it ruined pretty much their stage.

[8:50] Robert W Schneider: But I think it also got into their archives. Um, I think a lot of like papers and stuff might be lost, but we'll see.

[8:57] Kevin David Thomas: So anyway, what we're doing is the the pro so please join us on Saturday, 8 p.m. Musical Theater Popy.

[9:04] Robert W Schneider: You can go onto our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. You can see how to play. You know the rules.

[9:09] Kevin David Thomas: But please come join us because it's really supporting not only a fantastic organization, but one that's very close to all of our hearts.

[9:15] Robert W Schneider: So please come out and support them. And it's worth saying out loud that you it's five dollars to play and to donate with us.

[9:21] Kevin David Thomas: Although you can donate more than that if you so choose, because this is a fantastic not-for-profit organization that really does need the help, uh, as all of our places, all of the locations that we've we've we've uh helped out along the way.

[9:32] Robert W Schneider: But I'm so glad that the York is is our uh our target this time around. So come help the York. They're great people.

[9:39] Kevin David Thomas: Hey, you have a favorite thing?

[9:41] Robert W Schneider: I do. I'm really excited about this. Um I've been alluding to this. Well, the last couple weeks, the last couple months that we've been talking, I I've been alluding to this phase, you know, I get obsessed with these, you know, time periods or the you know, whatever it may be.

[9:53] Robert W Schneider: I'll sometimes it's like, oh, Rogers and Hammer signs, I'm gonna listen to every show of theirs or canter it up. Well, I got really obsessed with vaudeville. I I I mentioned this like a couple months ago because I just didn't know a lot about it.

[10:05] Robert W Schneider: And the more I uncovered, the just more obsessed I I got with it and then the way it functioned and how that evolved into what we know as musical theater today. And I guess what uh kind of a I got obsessed with was that book that you that you recommended.

[10:17] Kevin David Thomas: What's it called?

[10:18] Robert W Schneider: That um I'm not gonna remember that the thick big book that I was like, oh, I'm reading those show cards.

[10:23] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, and and so the showtime covers that vaudeville era. So that's really what got this going because this woman named Nora Bays was this huge star of uh you know early 1900s, like mega mega star.

[10:34] Robert W Schneider: When she would travel, she'd have her own train car and stuff like that. And uh, and I was like, I've never heard of her, and you can't really find anything on YouTube, and it's just she's kind of lost.

[10:46] Kevin David Thomas: And and I thought, that's so wild that song could be that famous, and we don't really know who she is anymore.

[10:51] Robert W Schneider: And we and and the influence that she had. Eva Tange, same thing. Like uh these just amazing uh artists that were paid so much money, they were so famous.

[11:00] Kevin David Thomas: Um, so anyway, I mentioned that you know a couple months ago, and um Isaac Blevins, our one of our listeners, uh, thank you, Isaac. He reached out to me on the Instagram, and he's like, if you love vaudeville, you have got to read this book.

[11:12] Robert W Schneider: Uh and he recommended it, and I read it and I read it so fast, and I was so obsessed. And the book is called, and I can't believe I've never heard of this before. I'm gonna hold it up so you can see it.

[11:22] Robert W Schneider: No applause, just throw money. It's uh the book that made vaudeville famous. It's by Trav T-R-A-V S period D period. That is his sort of nom de plume. His name is Travis Stewart, but he goes by Trav S D.

[11:40] Robert W Schneider: Um, I full disclosure, I've not reached out to him, not talked to him, but he I follow him on Twitter now. I'm obsessed. I think he is amazing. He is doing the the good work.

[11:49] Robert W Schneider: I mean, he it this book, uh, you know, when you get a book and you're like, well, it's gonna have good information. It'll be a bonus if it's written well. It'll be nice if it's if it's well written.

[11:59] Kevin David Thomas: But really, I just I want the information.

[12:01] Robert W Schneider: And and in this book, I mean, there's pictures, there's all these old photographs of all these great vaudeville people. Um, and he goes in order.

[12:08] Kevin David Thomas: But the writing, it's just so well written, people.

[12:11] Robert W Schneider: Yeah. The name of the book again, Kev?

[12:13] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, it's called, it's called No Applause, Just Throw Money.

[12:17] Robert W Schneider: Great. No applause, just throw money. Uh, and and and and so he goes through, and I actually I found one on eBay that had been signed by him because I'm a weirdo like that.

[12:24] Robert W Schneider: And I was like, I want one that's signed by him. Um the book that made vaudeville famous, and and here's the other um, and of course it's he does like a bill, like it's like vaudeville.

[12:32] Kevin David Thomas: So I'm gonna read the thing.

[12:33] Robert W Schneider: The book that made vaudeville famous, a high class refined entertainment by Trav S D, um over a hundred thousand of your favorite stars providing 2,500 years of entertainment, also educational.

[12:44] Kevin David Thomas: Nine mind-boggling acts illustrated with 48 photographs for your viewing pleasure, very much like you would see like a vaudeville bill outside of the Palace Theater or something like that.

[12:53] Robert W Schneider: But I must say, uh, Trav, he and then of course the book is the the chapters are the different uh acts of a vaudeville, because each act you what what place you were on the bill really mattered.

[13:06] Kevin David Thomas: So, like the overture, the opening, who put the uh the good clean fun, birth of an industry, tooth and nail.

[13:12] Robert W Schneider: So each one sort of reflects the energy of one of those, you know, where you were on the bill. So if you were the closer, then you were like the you know, sorry, the the spot before the closer that was a big star.

[13:16] Kevin David Thomas: If you were the closer, you were like the shit act, because like that was the way you would put a crappy act at the end of the bill because you wanted to get everybody out of the out of the theater, so you just put the crappy show.

[13:32] Robert W Schneider: Um so I I I just and he's got the bibliography at the end, it's got an index, all of that. But he has such humor and playfulness and depth, and the research that this man has done in order to deliver the goods on this book is just astounding to me, especially because it's an art form that is dead.

[13:51] Kevin David Thomas: Like that's what the whole joke is of vaudeville's dead.

[13:54] Robert W Schneider: But for 40, 50 years, from 1880 to like 1930, it was the biggest art form. There was no radio for some of those years.

[14:04] Kevin David Thomas: There were no films, although, when the films started happening, then you would have films, short films, in the vaudeville acts.

[14:10] Robert W Schneider: That's how it became famous. But nobody thought film would take, nobody thought that film would take over the way it did, obviously.

[14:15] Kevin David Thomas: And so, uh, and then once it did, of course, uh, the first thing to go is this art form, this vaudeville art form. But so many, after reading the book, Rob, and I watched, you know, go back to watching regular entertainment of today. You see the influences of vaudeville everywhere, everywhere. You see, you know, not just jokes like why the chicken crossed the road kind of jokes, and you know, that sort of quick banter energy like Abbott and Costello, the Three Stooges, um, the Marx Brothers, all of them. All of them started in vaudeville. Like I watched, you know, Night at the Opera because I really wanted to see them. I don't really know a lot about the Marx Brothers. I, um, you know, John Moss would kill me.

Um, and so I watched it, and it was like, you know, they do that one part of the movie where they all fit in the room. They all, they all, all those, that's like straight up like a vaudeville comedy kind of thing, you know. And it's just, it was really, we're watching Chico and Harpo play the piano and in the artistry that they had and the playfulness, and because they've been doing it since they were seven, you know, because they've been, these, you were, that's what you did when you were in the vaudeville circuit. You, you did it all day long. You kept trying to refine your act, you kept trying to find what weird thing you did that nobody else did, whether it be juggling cats while singing a song.

That's like crazy stuff people did. Um, so the book really goes through the whole chronological chronology of this time period of each of the evolution of it, the different stars that were around. He, it's the good, bad, and the ugly. You get a lot of some of like the drama and the tea that goes, that went on with it. Um, and, uh, and it's just a great, it fills in all the blanks of what, uh, what you wanted to know. Um, and it doesn't shy away from the minstrel, you know, circuit and all of the other facts and all of the things that happen in those time periods, but he really does a great job of giving you context and understanding why things happened the way they did, how they evolved, how it changed, and how we got to where we are today in many, many ways.

Um, and so it was more than just a historical, you know, book, uh, or like a textbook. It's not like that at all. It really reads like a really, really fun page turner, to be honest. It was really, really fun. So, uh, my favorite thing this week is the book, No Applause, Just Throw Money, the book that made vaudeville famous by Trav S.D. Incidentally, uh, I encourage everybody to check out his, um, uh, website, which is TravSD.com. Again, I've got no money in this race. I just really respect the work that he's doing. And also follow him on Twitter if you're a Twitter person at TravSD, because he puts these links up to these articles he's written on his WordPress on his blog, the WordPress that he has, that are just, again, so in-depth, so fun, so, you know, curious, um, and really gives you the fun context, uh, to understand why some of these, you know, events happen and these people were around at this time period. So it's, it's really bringing, um, things, uh, 120 years ago to today and giving it sort of importance. Um, so thank you, Trav. Uh, and check out the book and his writings.

[17:09] Robert W Schneider: I'm looking at his website now. I already purchased the book while you were talking. I got my, I got a Kindle edition. So you convinced me. You can, I learned so I feel like I've learned so much, uh, and, and, and such a, uh, I just couldn't wait to read it. Every time I have a moment, I just couldn't wait to pick it up. So I hope I'm not overselling it, but it's, that's the way it was.

[17:27] Kevin David Thomas: No, thank you. Thank you so much for that. I really, I greatly appreciate it. And what do you have, my friend?

[17:33] Robert W Schneider: Oh, okay. So mine, uh, is, is I think it was this, I think it was interesting. So, you know, I love me a root YouTube rabbit hole. And one of the, one of the YouTube rabbit holes I went on was, uh, the Royal Variety Performances, um, which is done in, uh, England. It's done once a year. It's a very big event where there's just, it's like a potpourri of entertainment that's done for the royal family. Uh, and they've been filmed, I'm sure they've been filmed longer. It's not my favorite thing this week. It'll make sense in a second. Um, they've been filmed since like 1970, and somebody has uploaded pretty much all of them to their YouTube channel. They're very fascinating to watch. It's very, uh, British heavy humor, uh, uh, and British entertainment.

So it's a lot of like, you know, pseudo Benny Hill's being like, oh now I pour the trico in my nickels again, you know, stuff like that. Um, which you can either find, you know, funny or, or, or not. They still love a good pantomime, you know. They love, they love a pantomime. They love a man in, you know, a man in a dress being, oh I'm the sugar plum fairy. And everyone laughs and stuff. Anyway, so I was watching them, but I fell asleep. And when I woke up, um, I saw that some other video had popped up on this person's channel, and I was watching it and I said, What? What is this? I've never even heard of this. So, um, in the 1970s, in the late 1970s, there was a, um, a wonderful singer by the name of David Kernan.

Uh, David Kernan was asked, uh, by, by the great Cleo Lane, the great actress and singer Cleo Lane. Is she still with us? I think she's still with us, right? Oh boy, I'm, I think so. Yes. Someone will correct us. I think Cleo Lane is still with us. Anyway, um, she wanted to do a fun, uh, a fundraiser for a company, and she asked David Kernan, Do you have any ideas? So he got together with the director Ned Sherrin, and they created, um, as a benefit, uh, a musical review celebrating the works of Stephen Sondheim. And the review was called Side by Side by Sondheim. Thank you so much. Um, and this tiny little review, which starred, uh, David Kernan and Millicent Martin and Julia McKenzie, with, and, and it was, uh, directed by and also narrated by the great Ned Sherrin, uh, somehow went from being a review to a Broadway musical.

Um, it went through London. Cameron Mackintosh brought it over to, uh, to New York. Uh, I'm sorry, Cameron Mackintosh brought it in London, Hal Prince produced it in New York. Uh, it's the one of the very few musicals that has the distinction of the entire cast being nominated for a Tony Award, which is, which is really, really cool. Every single one of them got a Tony nomination. Anyway, this was such a, you have to also remember at this time this was not being done too often. There weren't a lot of reviews of songwriters' works in the 1970s. Why? Because there were so many songwriters that were still alive and that were pumping out material. Uh, and if they were, it was gonna be a dead songwriter. It was gonna be here's a, you know, a Cole Porter tribute, or here's, it was relatively new too. The art form was still like only since Oklahoma, like 30 years. So what's it exactly?

[20:47] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[20:49] Robert W Schneider: And so for, uh, for a lot of people, this didn't seem like the best idea, but it turned out to be this fabulous idea. Now, once again, Side by Side by Sondheim is not my favorite thing this week. I'm leading you down this garden path. Because David Kernan and Ned Sherrin thought this was such a fascinating idea of celebrating a songwriter's work, they brought this idea to television, and this is what I did not know existed. And thank God I started watching these Royal Variety performances. Otherwise, I would not have found this television show. From 1977 to 1980 on the BBC, the British Broadcasting Company over in England, there was a television anthology series called Song by Song by Fill in the Blank.

And every episode featured three performers, most often, uh, uh, uh, uh, David Kernan and Millicent Martin, and then a random third person, sometimes a guest star, like Elaine Stritch shows up in one of them. Um, and they sell and they do a whole review celebrating a specific composer's work. So they took the side-by-side model and they moved it over to the BBC. So they do a side-by-side by Hammerstein, I'm sorry, song by song by Hammerstein, song by song by Hart, by Harburg, by Deitz, that's season one. Um, and they only did four seasons. Now, the ones that are posted online, the one that's, uh, that you can find in its entirety, is they do one of Song by Song by Noel Coward, where it's a celebration of Noel Coward, and then they have one where they do, um, a celebration of British lyricists, British lyricists.

You can then go to the YouTube channel You're Gonna Love Tomorrow. That's the name of the channel, You're Gonna Love Tomorrow. And I think it's a picture of Harvey Evans as the icon. I don't think it's Harvey Evans, but there you go. Um, where someone has taken, uh, sections of this show and posted it online. So you can see, uh, ones by Sheldon Harnick or Song by Song by Dorothy Fields. Oh, yeah. And it's, and it's very much like Side by Side by Sondheim, in which Ned Sherrin sort of narrates and walks you through these songs, and these three actors just sit up there and they, you know, they playfully play with one another and sing the songs. Uh, but I think it's absolutely fascinating, and I think that it's a really great celebration of these writers' works.

But I was most particularly interested by the song, uh, the song by song by British lyricists, um, because they're gonna sing you a lot of songs, folks, that are not really known to us over in America because the British, uh, have such a rich history of their own musical theater heritage, starting with very much like the music hall, like you were talking about, which was the British equivalent of American vaudeville, um, as well as a very unique and flavorful taste. And there's the, you know, the same way that we can, you know, rattle off individuals like Jerry Herman and Candor and Ebb, the British have their own individuals that they can rattle off, like Ivor Novello and Sandy Wilson.

[23:58] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, right.

[23:58] Robert W Schneider: And when he did Salad Days the other day, like a couple months ago, like those, those teams and stuff.

[24:03] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[24:03] Robert W Schneider: Exactly. And so this I think is just, it's a really fantastic show. I've only been able to find two complete episodes. Like I said, there are other episodes out there, but they've been, uh, segmented. They, we don't see the full episode. So if anybody knows where I can find these full episodes, please let me know. But it's, like I said, it's pretty much the same original team as Side by Side by Sondheim, and they're just doing this thing called Song by Song. It lasted, uh, three seasons.

[24:27] Kevin David Thomas: Three seasons.

[24:27] Robert W Schneider: I can't wait to check it out. So that was, uh, that was mine. That was mine. And it is, and, and I will say, you know, it's very 70s, and it's, it's, it's some people might go, oh, it feels a little, uh, club act-y and schmacting. Um, I, you know, but I enjoy that stuff. I really enjoy the putting over a song. I love that when they would say, oh, you're putting over a song, like it's just selling it, just passing over the song, yeah.

[24:51] Kevin David Thomas: And I would encourage you to please watch, uh, at least the one that has the lyrics of Dorothy Fields because the final number is, uh, uh, all of the individuals, including guest star Elaine Stritch, doing some very odd choreography to the closing number, which out of all of Dorothy Fields' songs, the closing number you, what would you think? I'm just gonna ask you, what would you think might be a great closing number for a Dorothy Field show?

[25:16] Kevin David Thomas: I believe yours.

[25:16] Robert W Schneider: Well, you know, it's not where you start, it's where you finish.

[25:19] Robert W Schneider: As is Cleo Lane as well.

[25:19] Kevin David Thomas: Amazing sunny side of the street, maybe, you know, the early Dorothy, yeah.

[26:25] Robert W Schneider: They, uh, all do the oddest choreography and, uh, quartet of the rhythm of life.

[26:31] Kevin David Thomas: Sweet Charity.

[26:33] Robert W Schneider: Well, it was, you know, disco was the 70s, you know. I'm sure they tried to like, you know, hearken back to those hippy-dippy days.

[26:41] Kevin David Thomas: It was, it was so maybe that's it.

[26:42] Robert W Schneider: Um, and, and then in the meanwhile, you can read, uh, No Applause, Just Throw Money by Trav S.D.

[26:43] Robert W Schneider: So, folks, mine this week, uh, we'll post the YouTube, uh, links, obviously, on our social media and in our show description. But it's called Song by Song. It's, it's a British television series. And if anyone has access to the full episodes, please reach out to us because I would love to see them. In the meantime, you can at least watch the ones that people have been kind enough to post onto YouTube. I'm sorry that was such a long winding track to get there. But make sure you check out Royal Variety performances and check out David Kernan, who is still alive, by the way. He's still alive, as is I believe Millicent Martin and Julia McKenzie, right?

[26:47] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I can't, I cannot wait to read that. Like I said, I ordered it while we were talking.

[26:51] Robert W Schneider: So, um, thank you so much, folks. Please join us again on, uh, please join us up for Saturday Night Trivia. Uh, once again, it's musical theater potpourri. You can go to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to figure out how to play with us. Like Kevin said, it is a $5 suggested. It's a $5 donation. However, if you want to give more, I'm sure the York Theater would greatly appreciate it. Think about all the wonderful memories that they've given us over the past 50 years. The least we can do is pay them back in this way.

[27:15] Kevin David Thomas: Um, and then, uh, we will see you on Monday for our new episode. We will drop a new episode on Monday, uh, with the great Tony Award winner, Nathan Lane, who was a hoot, a hoot and a half. So great, so wonderful.

[27:27] Robert W Schneider: All right, and then, and Kevin, one more time, give us Sutton's, uh, website if we think it's up.

[27:34] Kevin David Thomas: We think it might be up, right?

[27:36] Robert W Schneider: I think it'll be up by now. If not, you just find her on social media, but it's Sutton S-U-T-T-O-N, like Sutton like button. Uh, Crawford, SuttonCrawford.com.

[27:44] Kevin David Thomas: And check her out. Or go to social media as you'll find her there. We'll have her as a guest, four favorite things, and we'll, uh, share a little tarot with you guys.

[27:50] Robert W Schneider: Yes, let's get that going for next week, I think.

[27:53] Kevin David Thomas: That would be fantastic. I want, I want to see what 2021 holds for both of us.

[27:57] Robert W Schneider: All right, our friends, take care. Next time. Have a great weekend.

[27:59] Kevin David Thomas: Bye everybody. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings.

[28:14] Robert W Schneider: These are a few of my favorite things.