Alan Jay Lerner: A Lyricist's Letters (22 page)

    
Levin replied amicably, indicating that he understood Lerner’s point of view regarding the translation and promising to leave the matter up to Lerner and Loewe. He also reported that on the Fourth of July holiday,
Fair Lady
was the only Broadway show to completely sell out; that he, his assistants, and Moss Hart were on their way to Chicago to work on the touring production of the show; and that he had gained permission for Michael Allinson to remain in the show:

    
From Herman Levin

    
July 7, 1958

    
Dear Alan

    
The last thing I want to do is talk you and Fritz into my idea for the English language version tour. I see your point and of course I cannot deny that the risk exists. I did not know about the Figaro notice, but that illustrates your point very well. I assure you that I am as much concerned that the show receive an enthusiastic reception artistically as I am about making the money.

        
However, Hurok feels that the reaction to the show critically throughout Europe and South America, in English, would be enthusiastic. Of course, there is only one precedent—
Porgy and Bess
. Hurok told me that Moiseyev thought the show was fabulous and said that it should be done in Russia just as it is done here. Incidentally, it was our idea to provide librettos in the local language in every case. As to the
lyrics, however, it is not a question of simple translation. The problem, as you point out, would be to provide their actual quality.

        
I am not going to urge that you do it. As a matter of fact, I have not gone into the financial side of it at all and have no real opinion as to whether or not it is feasible from that viewpoint. You are certainly in a better position to get some opinions from your French friends. I am going to leave the matter up to you and Fritz. When you have a definite opinion, please let me know.

        
Business in New York remains at absolute capacity. I don’t think we will have an empty seat this summer. We get plenty of returns from the brokers each night—even though we cut them way down—but we sell out just the same. Incidentally, last Wednesday night, according to my information, we were the only completely sold out show in New York. This includes
Sunrise at Campobello, The Music Man
, etc. Chicago varies from a low of 64 to a high, week before last, of almost 72. Last week we did over 65. Our Chicago business during the summer will depend upon the conventions. This week we will probably do 64 or 65; next week, with a convention of Lions International, probably over 70.

        
Moss, Biff [Liff, the Production Stage Manager], Phil [Adler, Stage Manager] and I are going to Chicago Wednesday, Moss and Biff to work with the company (especially Evans), Phil and I to look over the situation generally as well as to try to make some decision as to when we are likely to close so that we can begin setting up the tour to follow. I would guess that we will close in Chicago sometime in March, play our way to California, replay Los Angeles and San Francisco, then go North West (Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Vancouver, etc) and then work our way back to the Middle West.

        
The Allinson matter is settled on the following terms. He will be a standby understudy and we will get a new Karpathy. This is the worst that can happen. It may be that in the final analysis he will play Karpathy as well. Moss and I are going to look at the understudy who is playing Karpathy now and if he is good enough we will retain him in the part. Otherwise we will have to get someone else.

        
As I told your office, I am negotiating for Elizabeth Larner
¹¹³
to follow Anne Rogers in November in the National Company. Rogers has definitely refused to continue. Not having heard from your office,
I assume this is okay with you, but if for any reason it is not, please let me know at once.

        
Little remains to be told. New York is, as the paper says, a “Summer Festival.” We have stayed in town so far but will begin weekending it soon and may go up to Nantucket during some part of August.

        
With all the best to you, Fritz, and Micheline—

Sincerely,

Herman

    
In his response, Lerner mentions a subsequent conversation about the possibility of a European tour of
Fair Lady
and also reveals the derivation of the word “Aye,” with which he often closed his letters:

    
To Herman Levin

    
July 17th, 1958

    
Dear Herm:

    
Thanks for the letter.

        
Will be home July 26th and we can talk further about the European idea. Binkie wrote me that he is very much opposed to it because he wants everybody who speaks English in Europe to come to London. I see his point.

        
You probably heard that Rex was out of the show for a couple of days. They hailed Max Oldaker
¹¹⁴
like he was Michael Evans. Ha! How lovely it’s not our problem.

        
Give my love to Dawn. Hope you both haven’t melted. Will call you when I get in.

Aye (Scottish for “always”),

Alan

More than anything, this sequence of letters shows how a hit Broadway musical can bring as much trouble as joy to its creators. Tensions were rising, and truthfully neither side could be sure of the most successful strategy, though each was stubborn in his opinion.

    
Over the summer,
Gigi
gradually opened across America. Arthur Freed kept Lerner informed of its progress in a series of telegrams that expressed his elation
at the film’s success in the face of the collapse of the movie musical genre. The first said that the film had “opened to the most aesthetic reviews I have ever seen in a motion picture,” adding, “They all acclaim Lerner and Loewe.” The second also mentions the possibility of Louis Jourdan coming in to re-record the soundtrack of the movie in French and then record the songs for a special French soundtrack album, though ultimately he did not participate in either. The costs were to be extensive, including $1,300 round trip airfare plus $350 per week in expenses, as well as Jourdan’s fee of $1,000 per day.It is ironic that such detailed negotiation should be gone into regarding an album involving Jourdan, whose singing ability was severely limited, while Leslie Caron’s singing voice was dubbed (by Betty Wand)
¹¹⁵
in the original film.

    
The rest of 1958 was spent quietly and comparatively unproductively for Lerner. Fritz Loewe had suffered a heart attack on the eve of the London opening of
Fair Lady
, and passed the summer recuperating, which meant their next project had to be put on hold.
¹¹⁶
The final existing piece of Lerner’s correspondence from this year is the following amusing letter from Arthur Schwartz, his sometime collaborator of 1953, with whom he had remained on friendly terms:

    
From Arthur Schwartz

    
December 29, 1958

    
Dear Alan,

    
I had a brief note from Ben Welles this morning which contains the following quote: “If you see Alan, tell him he always reminds me of Yul Brynner in a turtle-neck sweater; and he’ll know what reminds me of Yul Brynner in a turtle-neck sweater even more!”

        
This is undoubtedly a reference of pornographic important between you, and long live pornography.

        
Also, long live the Lerners.

Ever,

Arthur,

    
P.S. I have been attaching my turtle-neck sweater to photographs of Yul Brynner during the last hour, and have gotten nowhere.

    
1
Nancy Olson (b.1928), Lerner’s wife, who appeared with Andrews and Bing Crosby in the then-recent television musical
High Tor
by Arthur Schwartz and Maxwell Anderson.

    
2
Lou Wilson, Andrews’s representative in London.

    
3
Alfred Dixon (dates unknown) was a high-profile dialect coach, who worked on
My Fair Lady
with both Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn (in the movie version). Although Andrews was brought up in and near London, she had to be careful to control her cockney accent as Eliza Doolittle in order to make sure the Broadway audience could understand everything she said.

    
4
For Andrews’s explanation of her late arrival and her account of the subsequent rehearsals, see
Julie Andrews,
Home
(New York: Doubleday, 2008), 382
.

    
5
Hanya Holm (1893–1992) was one of the most influential choreographers of American ballet in the twentieth century. Her Labanotation (choreographic notation) for
Kiss, Me Kate
(1948) was the first choreography to be copyrighted in America.

    
6
Sam Zolotow, “Many in ‘Debut’ to Bow Tonight,”
New York Times
, February 22, 1956, 23
.

    
7
Sam Zolotow, “Guiness to Star in London Farce,”
New York Times
, March 6, 1956, 27
.

    
8
Arthur Gelb, “N.B.C. May Finance Musical, Offer It Later as a Spectacular,”
New York Times
, March 12, 1956, 23
.

    
9
Alan Jay Lerner, “Shavian Musical Notes,”
New York Times
, March 11, 1956, 129
. The omitted passages merely detail the genesis of Shaw’s
Pygmalion
in a cursory way, and do not really add to the discussion of Lerner’s work.

    
10
Brooks Atkinson, “My Fair Lady,”
New York Times
, March 25, 1956, X1
.

    
11
Alistair Cooke, “Shavian Source of a Delicious Daydream,”
Manchester Guardian
, March 20, 1956, 5
.

    
12
Louis Calta, “Critics Doff Hats to ‘My Fair Lady,’”
New York Times
, March 17, 1956, 11
.

    
13
The letters come from a small scrapbook kindly loaned to me by Liz Robertson, Lerner’s widow.

    
14
Augustus Goetz (1897–57) was the co-author (with his wife, Ruth) of the play
The Heiress
(1947).

    
15
Gene Lees,
The Musical World of Lerner and Loewe
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 137
.

    
16
The letter is quoted in Lerner,
Street
, 74. Thanks to Rex Bunnett and The Overtures Trust for allowing me to hear a recording of Lerner’s talk at BASCA in 1985, in which he reads out the letter.

    
17
Hart perhaps means actor Richard Hearne (1908–79), famous for his portrayal of the bumbling character Mr. Pastry on television (including
The Ed Sullivan Show
) and film.

    
18
Sam Zolotow, “‘Fair Lady’ Team Is Out of Action,”
New York Times
, April 11, 1956, 30
.

    
19
Robert Fryer (1921–2000) was the producer of the original productions of
Wonderful Town
(1953),
Mame
(1966),
Chicago
(1975), and
Sweeney Todd
(1979). Lawrence Carr (1917–69), known as Jimmy, was his co-producer on several projects, including
Redhead
(1959) and
Sweet Charity
(1966).

    
20
Howard Keel (1919–2004) was a leading actor and singer on the West End (
Oklahoma!
) and Broadway (
Saratoga, No Strings
) stages. His fame rests mainly from the series of movie musicals he made in the 1950s, including
Annie Get Your Gun
(1950),
Show Boat
(1951),
Calamity Jane
(1953), and
Kiss Me Kate
(1953). He also appeared as Henry Higgins in a production of
My Fair Lady
at the St. Louis Muny in 1996. When
Saratoga
reached the stage in 1959, Keel was its star, as Lerner and Loewe had intended.

    
21
Audrey Hepburn went on to star in the 1964 film version of
My Fair Lady
. Curiously, it is often assumed that Lerner and Loewe did not want her for the role—though they would have tailored the music differently had they written the stage version for her—but here we learn that she was in the running even for the Broadway production.