Alan Jay Lerner: A Lyricist's Letters (27 page)

    
More encouragingly, Julie Andrews arrived very early for rehearsals on this show, getting into New York on August 21,
⁴³
and the cast began work at the start of September. A two-page spread in the
New York Times
on September 18 shows photographs of the company at the first reading, early dance rehearsals, and costume fittings. Most striking of all are two pictures of Julie Andrews, side by side, being kissed in one by Lerner and in the other by Loewe. The caption underlines the reunion of the star of
Fair Lady
with its creators and the article’s title—“And Now Fair ‘Camelot’?”—provocatively continues that idea, though the question
mark rightly reminded readers that the success of the earlier show didn’t guarantee that of the next Lerner-Loewe effort.
⁴⁴
Lerner, too, it seems was already having his doubts and was busy making changes to the show when he wrote the following letter to playwright and screenwriter S. N. Behrman:
⁴⁵

    
To S. N. Behrman

    
September 21, 1960

    
Dear Sam:

    
I always seem to wait until I have too much to do before I do anything at all. At this moment we are three weeks into rehearsal, I have all sorts of lyrics to write, [and] the show seems to me as indecipherable as an Eisenhower press conference, so naturally this is the ideal moment to answer my mail.

        
You were so kind to write me about
Fair Lady
, and I cherish your letter. I must tell you it couldn’t have come at a more ideal time. I was right in the middle of one of those lovely periods when I was absolutely convinced I could not write a line and was seriously considering taking up dentistry. So I am doubly grateful, not only for your thoughtfulness but your typically marvelous sense of timing.

        
We are off Sunday for Toronto and the long out of town junket, returning to New York in mid-November. We open the 19th, and God have mercy on us all.

        
Will you be here during the winter? I would so much love for us to have an evening together. I shall call you the moment I have recovered from success or failure.

        
’Til then, with many thanks again,

Fondly,

Alan

    
After another week’s work on the “indecipherable” musical, the entire production made the enormous move to Toronto, where the show had its first preview on October 1, inaugurating the O’Keefe Center. The show opened at 8.50
PM
and finished at 12.20
AM,
leaving the writers with the job of cutting down the epic show. In Lerner’s own words, “Only
Tristan and Isolde
⁴⁶
equaled it as a
bladder contest.”
⁴⁷
However, it is striking that the length of the tryout is often exaggerated: Lerner (the source for most accounts of the night) writes that it lasted “four and a half hours,” but the original newspaper reports agree that the national anthems of Canada and the USA were played from 8.40, that the performance itself started at 8.50, and that the curtain came down at 12.20, totaling three and a half hours.
⁴⁸

    
Various aspects of the show were quickly cut at the next available rehearsal, including some of Lancelot’s quests, but just as the show itself started to improve, the production’s next disaster struck. On October 4, Lerner collapsed from a bleeding ulcer, and was bedridden for over a week, leaving Hart to cut the show down to three hours, fifteen minutes (which was the running time by October 8, as reported by
Variety
).
⁴⁹
On the day he was discharged, October 15, he walked down his hospital ward to the elevator, looked back while waiting for it to arrive and “saw a hospital bed, obviously occupied, being wheeled into the room” he had just vacated, and discovered it was Hart, who had suffered a heart attack that morning.
⁵⁰
Although not fatal, the attack was his second and his anxiety was intensified by his father’s death on October 5, later reported in
Variety
; he decided not to attend the funeral because he needed to work on the show.
⁵¹

    
But Hart’s illness put him out of action for the foreseeable future; since the director had refused to make changes to the show’s written content without Lerner’s presence, the lyricist had to go to work on
Camelot
two days after he left the hospital (it was not the same evening, as he described in his book).
⁵²
The news spread throughout the entertainment community, and Lerner received a telegram from Robert Lewis, director of
Brigadoon
, offering to step in and help out. However, Hart had requested not to be replaced for the time being, so Lerner had to refuse the help, even though it came from a favorite, experienced collaborator:

    
Telegram to Robert Lewis

    
17 October 1960

    
DEAREST BOBBY,

    
I WAS SO TOUCHED BY YOUR TELEGRAM. MOSS HAS ASKED ME TO DO NOTHING FOR THE MOMENT UNTIL THE FULL EXTENT OF HIS ILLNESS
IS DETERMINED BECAUSE HE IS HOPING TO REJOIN THE SHOW IN BOSTON. WHETHER THAT WILL BE POSSIBLE OR NOT I DON’T KNOW, BUT IN THE MEANTIME I MUST ABIDE BY HIS REQUEST. I’LL CALL YOU FROM BOSTON. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.

MUCH LOVE,

ALAN

Hart’s suggestion was that Lerner should take up the directorial reins until he could himself return to the show, hopefully during its next set of previews in Boston (where it was due to open on October 27). In his memoir, Lerner candidly admits that this caused a rift with Loewe, who believed they needed immediate help from a new source, but both the stars of the show and Hart had confidence in him, so Lerner decided to complete the cutting down of the show in Toronto.
⁵³

    
It soon became clear, however, that Hart was not going to be able to return before the Broadway premiere, and all he could do was send messages, such as the following telegram (which wryly references King Arthur’s “proposition” speech), to encourage Lerner to keep going:

    
Telegram from Moss Hart

    
[Undated; c. November 1960]

    
I AM SO SORRY THE DOCTOR CLAMPED DOWN BUT PROPOSITION, IT’S BETTER TO BE ALIVE THAN DEAD. PLEASE BE OF GOOD CHEER. I AM CERTAIN THE NEW WORK IS GOING TO TURN THE TIDE
.

YOUR USELESS BUT LOVING FRIEND
,

MOSS

    
In spite of the continuing problems, public anticipation for the show’s Broadway opening ran high, and by the end of October over 40,000 mail orders for tickets had been filed; the show was said to have attained the highest advance box office in Broadway history.
⁵⁴
Further work was done on the show in Boston, then it moved to New York for an opening on December 3. Perhaps inevitably, the critical reception was disappointing. Robert Coleman in the
Daily Mirror
summed up the general view in saying “it’s no
My Fair Lady
,” while Howard Taubman in the
New York Times
suggested that Lerner, Loewe, and Hart “badly miss their late collaborator—Bernard Shaw,” thereby carping even at their earlier
success by suggesting it was all down to the quality of
Pygmalion
. Outraged by the dismissiveness of the journalists, Lerner’s erstwhile collaborator Arthur Schwartz wrote to express his support for
Camelot
’s achievements:

    
From Arthur Schwartz

    
[Undated]

    
Dear Alan,

    
I am shocked by the notices. I just don’t understand Taubman or Kerr or Watts.

        
You and Fritz have done a superb job and should have been acclaimed. The performances and production are fabulous!

        
I do believe your run won’t be affected by the critics because audiences are bound to react warmly to the feast you have provided.

        
Mary [Schwartz, his wife] joins me in sending love to you, and will probably write to you too.

Ever,

Arthur,

But Lerner was not too discouraged, initially at least. Sweeping aside the mixed notices, he managed to arrange for Hugh Beaumont to buy the London rights for
Camelot
, with the intention of staging it at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, at the end of 1962, which was when the London production of
Fair Lady
was predicted to finish.
⁵⁵
With Loewe, he announced the formation of an independent film company, Rosebund Productions, with the intention of making a movie out of Anne Piper’s novel
Marry at Leisure
.
⁵⁶
Then on December 28, the writers declared their intention in both
Variety
and the
New York Times
to work on a new show: “Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, their musical ‘Camelot’ firmly ensconced at the Majestic, will do a musical based on the life of Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel,
⁵⁷
the famous French couturiere.”
⁵⁸
Frederick
Brisson
⁵⁹
was announced as the producer, and his wife, actress Rosalind Russell,
⁶⁰
was named as Lerner and Loewe’s ideal star.

    
This, however, marked the end of the main period of the Lerner-Loewe partnership. Until their brief repairing in the mid-1970s, their only remaining work together comprised revisions to
Camelot
, joint television appearances, and the film adaptations of
My Fair Lady
and
Camelot
. Initially, it was not clear that there would be no follow-up to
Camelot
. On January 9, 1961,
Fair Lady
celebrated its 2,000th performance on Broadway,
⁶¹
and during the following week Moss Hart was able to go back to work by attending
Camelot
and briefly meeting the cast.
⁶²
He planned to return (with Lerner) a month later with some revisions to the script and score. Then on February 6, Loewe declared he would take “a sabbatical of twelve to eighteen months to rest and travel.”
⁶³
On the face of it, this was not particularly ominous: after all,
Camelot
had only just opened, and with
Fair Lady
still running and
Gigi
having returned to cinemas, Loewe had no financial worries. There had been a long period between finishing work on
Gigi
and the opening of
Camelot
, and a year of rest at this point did not appear to represent a permanent rift. Yet the strain of
Camelot
was showing on both sides. Loewe had returned to his home in Palm Springs, California, while Lerner had sought refuge in Switzerland. The lyricist had also announced a new solo venture to the press, producing television films.
⁶⁴
Clearly, the pair needed to get away from one another.

    
Of course, Lerner’s regular correspondence continued as usual. The following letter, though just a casual note to wish lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green good luck on their show at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, is another reminder of his position in the theater world at the time. Lerner may have met Green through their mutual friend and fellow Harvard graduate, Leonard Bernstein. Here we get a sense of Lerner having been so taken up with
Camelot
that he was unable to engage with much else going on, as well as of his state of exhaustion after illness and manic work:

    
To Betty Comden and Adolph Green

    
February 7, 1961

    
Dear Betty and Adolph,

    
Having missed Christmas, New Year’s and the opening of
Do Re Mi
, I was delighted to find out a few days ago that you were opening at the Waldorf because it gave me a marvelous opportunity to write you and wish the good luck for the first three that I missed and also to thank you for your opening night wires to me.

        
I hear
Do Re Mi
is the biggest thing since Boulder Dam and I can’t wait to see it. Many congratulations.

        
I have been resting my body on top of an alp and as soon as they dig New York out, I’ll be back.

Thanks again and much love,

Alan

Returning to New York, on March 20 Lerner and Hart (but not Loewe, who stayed away “on vacation”) took the cast back into rehearsal and made various changes to
Camelot
, including the removal of the song “Take Me to the Fair.” This brought down the running time by about ten minutes, according to
Variety
, with seven minutes excised from Act 1 and three from Act 2.
⁶⁵
Audience reactions to the show early in the run had not been good, but with Hart’s tightening of the book and direction, suddenly there was new hope for it, if only suitable publicity could be found. By good fortune,
The Ed Sullivan Show
had already planned to have a Lerner and Loewe tribute on March 19, showcasing their main shows (partly in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of
My Fair Lady
on March 15). At Lerner’s suggestion, very little of
Fair Lady
was shown, giving way to the stronger aspects of
Camelot
. Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet, and Richard Burton performed several of their numbers, and Lerner reports that on the next morning “there was a line halfway down the block” at the Majestic Theatre, with people suddenly demanding tickets in droves.
⁶⁶

    
Back on a high after success, Lerner played his typical move and planned several new ventures. First, a rumor leaked out on March 29 that he was considering writing his autobiography for Random House, though this idea was short-lived.
⁶⁷
On April 6, he abruptly announced that he was to start a new show with Richard Rodgers, who was now seeking a new collaborator after the
death of Oscar Hammerstein the previous year. Unexpectedly, it was divulged that Lerner and Loewe’s separation “might be permanent, as far as the stage is concerned,” though they planned to work together on the films of
Fair Lady
and
Camelot
. It is notable that suddenly Rodgers was named as the composer of the possible Coco Chanel musical, if it was to go ahead—the first occurrence of Loewe literally being replaced by another composer on a Lerner project.
⁶⁸
Another idea was to make a musical out of the Audrey Hepburn-Gregory Peck movie
Roman Holiday
, with direction by Gower Champion.
⁶⁹
Elaborating on the working methods of the new pairing, Rodgers said he was “flexible” as to whether he planned to set Lerner’s lyrics to music (which was mostly, if not always, the case during his collaboration with Hammerstein) or provide Lerner with music before the lyrics were written (as tended to be the case in the Rodgers-Hart and Lerner-Loewe collaborations).
⁷⁰
Soon after, the film of
Camelot
was announced. In the wake of the
Ed Sullivan Show
special, the daily intake at the box office had risen from $4,000 to $8,000, and the number of mail orders had likewise doubled. Consequently, Warner Bros. quickly recognized the show’s potential as a film, and bought the rights in early April for $1.5 million plus 25 percent of the net profit.
⁷¹
Lerner left for Europe in mid-April. In Paris, he met with Coco Chanel to discuss the musical about her life.
⁷²
Variety
quoted him as saying that he “liked being in a country where none of his shows is playing,” and certainly France was one of the few major European countries that were slow to embrace
My Fair Lady
and
Gigi
.
⁷³
In early May he took the opportunity to celebrate
Fair Lady
’s third birthday in London
⁷⁴
and also appeared on TV in New York to present a two-part program on his career to date, for WCBS-TV’s
American Musical Theatre
series. The show included songs from rarities such as
What’s Up?
and
The Day before Spring
.
⁷⁵
On July 11,
My Fair Lady
overtook Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
Oklahoma!
and became the longest-running musical of all time on Broadway—something of an irony, since the composer of
Oklahoma!
was now planning to team up with the lyricist-librettist of
Fair Lady
.
⁷⁶
Lerner was abroad at the time, and he spent the summer developing new ideas for projects; in one article, he was even connected with writing lyrics for the new songs for the
remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
State Fair
, though in the end Rodgers’s own lyrics were used.
⁷⁷