Alan Jay Lerner: A Lyricist's Letters (37 page)

    
45
Peter Shaw (1918–2003) was a producer, the head of production at MGM, and a representative for Katharine Hepburn at the William Morris Agency. He was married to actress Angela Lansbury.

    
46
Benjamin Thau (1898–1983) was MGM’s production chief.

    
47
Lord and Lady Norman Aberconwy bought 100 acres on the French Riviera in the early twentieth century. They created the villa and garden at Cap D’Antibes known as La Garoupe, and Lady Norman became a famous socialite.

    
48
Sam Zolotow, “Musical Is Made from ‘Bus Stop,’”
New York Times
, September 4, 1968, 40
.

    
49
Charles Bluhdorn (1926–83) was an American industrialist who owned the conglomerate Gulf+Western Industries. They controlled Madison Square Garden, Simon & Schuster publishing, and Paramount Pictures (from 1966). Under Bluhdorn’s control, Paramount grew to become the number one studio at the box office. Their backing of
Coco
is the reason for Lerner’s reference here.

    
50
“Dinner for Alan Jay Lerner,”
New York Times
, January 16, 1969, 46.

    
51
Louis Calta, “‘Coco,’ with Singing Katharine Hepburn, Due Dec. 18,”
New York Times
, August 6, 1969, 28
.

    
52
Mel Gussow, “After 12 Years, ‘Coco’ Is in Rehearsal,”
New York Times
, October 14, 1969, 52.

    
53
See, for instance, Vincent Canby, “Screen: Amiable ‘Paint Your Wagon,’”
New York Times
, October 16, 1969, 56.

    
54
A. H. Weiler, “Paramount Seeks a ‘G’ for ‘Wagon,’”
New York Times
, October 31, 1969, 37
.

    
55
Clive Barnes, “Theater: Katharine Hepburn Has Title Role in ‘Coco,’”
New York Times
, December 19, 1969, 66
.

    
56
Barry Farber (1930–) is one of the most respected journalists of his generation, and at the time of Berlin’s letter was the all-night host of a hit show on WOR AM radio.

    
57
Alan Jay Lerner, “Introduction,”
The New York Times Great Songs of Broadway
(New York: Quadrangle, 1973), 8
.

COLLABORATIONS OLD AND NEW
, 1970–1974

Aside from his conventional professional correspondence, Lerner regularly wrote to friends and acquaintances about his life and work. The letter that opens this chapter was written to John Lahr,
¹
critic at the
New Yorker
, after Lerner had read his biography of his father Bert Lahr,
²
Notes on a Cowardly Lion
(1969). Lahr’s many acclaimed performances include the Lion in the movie of
The Wizard of Oz
(1939) and Estragon in the first US productions of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play,
Waiting for Godot
(1956). Lerner pays tribute to the actor’s talent and warmth of personality in this letter, but he also can’t resist referring to Lahr’s review of
Coco
in the concluding paragraph (he included the new cast album of the show with his letter):

    
To John Lahr

    
January 28, 1970

    
Dear Mr. Lahr:

    
I just finished reading your book about your father and I couldn’t help but write you and tell you how deeply moved I was.

        
I knew your father quite well and he was to me one of the most extraordinary performers I have ever seen. Certainly “Waiting for Godot” was one of the rare experiences I have ever had in the theatre.
I went backstage on opening night and was still unsuccessfully trying to hold back the tears and saw him in his dressing room. I threw my arms around him and said something inadequate like: “You were magnificent.” He whispered in my ear: “Alan, will you tell me what the fuck this play is about.” There is no doubt he was not only great show business but great theatre.

        
In case you are wondering how I knew him, when I first graduated from college I wrote radio programs for a while, including variety shows, and on more than a few occasions he was the guest star. I’m glad to say he was pleased and on several occasions called me up to help him doctor a script for him. (Incidentally, we “met” at your apartment one day. I think you were three or four at the time.) I loved him dearly and one of the things I most regret is that I never found the right idea for a show for him.

        
In 1958 The Lamb’s Club gave a Testimonial Dinner to Fritz Loewe and me and your father appeared on the dais as one of the speakers. His opening line was: “Fritz Loewe and Alan Lerner have raised the standards of the musical theatre so high that I haven’t been able to get a job for eight years.” Great line.

        
I read your review of
Coco
with great interest. I would be less than human not to say that I would have preferred a more favorable one, but I thank you for being the only critic who reviewed the play. For some reason, this is the one country that insists that every play a man writes be better than his last, and when it is not it is usually either dismissed or ridiculed. So I am grateful to you for being so un-American. Enclosed is a copy of the score of
Coco
which, if you have time to listen to, you’ll either like more or less. If it is less, forgive me. If it is more, I forgive you.

        
Please give my regards to your mother.

Sincerely,

Alan Jay Lerner

    
The reviews of
Coco
had indeed been mixed and disappointing for Lerner. John Chapman in the
Daily News
headed his review “
Coco
Belongs to Kate Hepburn, Leaving Not Much for the Rest of Us,” and Martin Gottfried in
Women’s Wear Daily
noted somewhat harshly that “Alan Jay Lerner’s book isn’t a story—it’s an engraving on the side of a building. Andre Previn’s music is orchestrated for the movies, so thick you have to eat it with a spoon. Directing it is like moving an elephant. Seeing it is like riding one. And the elephant is white.” Equally condemnatory was Richard Watts Jr. in the
Post
: “A surprisingly dull show, seriously handicapped by an inferior book and a very minor score.” Hepburn, however, was uniformly praised, and Lerner’s witty book was arguably given far too little
credit for this. His lines for Hepburn were often extremely amusing, for instance, in a scene in which she dictates letters such as “Dear Pablo, I hear your wife has just left you and I want to wish you continuing good luck.” But the critics went to town in damning the show, which had the largest budget of any Broadway musical to date ($900,000).

    
Undeterred as usual, Lerner proceeded with his varied portfolio, including writing occasional articles. In February 1970, he was asked to compose a profile of Frank Sinatra for
Cue
magazine, and wrote to send the singer-actor a copy:

    
To Frank Sinatra

    
February 17, 1970

    
Dear Frank:

    
I don’t know if you know it but
Cue
has asked about one hundred critics from all over the country to name their bests over the last thirty years. It had to do with their April issue, which celebrates their 30th year in existence. As best singer, you’re the first Democrat to win anything by a landslide since Roosevelt in 1936.
Cue
asked me to write an article about you, which I did with pleasure. I am enclosing a copy. I hope you like it. I meant every word.

        
I get news about you from Silent Sam.
³
I hope I’ll get it first hand very soon.

Faithfully,

Alan Jay Lerner

The flattery of the letter and article was possibly strategic, as Lerner was soon to approach Sinatra to star in a new film.

    
Katharine Hepburn had only signed up to play in
Coco
until April 1970, and both Lerner and Brisson were keen to replace her with another movie actress. By March, nobody had been found to take over, so Hepburn agreed to extend her appearance to June 13. Their thoughts for her replacement initially went to Gloria Swanson,
⁴
star of
Sunset Boulevard
(1950), someone whose talents were different from Hepburn’s but whose presence would have undoubtedly attracted
huge audiences.
⁵
In mid-March, she traveled to Hollywood to audition for Lerner and Brisson, but the lyricist had to cancel the appointment. Swanson did not receive the message to say he could not appear in Palm Springs as promised, and on March 24 she sent him an irate telegram, capped with the words: “I’ve seen more humiliation and disrespect in these three days waiting for your arrival in Palm Springs than in all my fifty-five years as a performer.” Lerner quickly dispatched an apologetic reply:

    
Telegram to Gloria Swanson

    
March 26, 1970

    
DEAR GLORIA

    
I’M DEEPLY SORRY THERE HAS BEEN THIS CONFUSION AND THAT I WAS UNABLE TO GET TO PALM SPRINGS OVER THE WEEKEND. I THOUGHT THAT THE MESSAGE I SENT YOU MADE IT CLEAR BUT IT MUST HAVE LOST SOMETHING IN TRANSLATION. I ALSO WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT THE PROPER WORK CAN ONLY BEGIN IN NEW YORK AFTER APRIL 8TH WHEN WE CAN MEET AND WORK TOGETHER REGULARLY. IF THE JUNE 13TH DATE SEEMS SHORT NOTICE PERHAPS WE COULD EVEN EXTEND IT. IN ANY CASE, I BEG YOU TO RECONSIDER. I TRULY WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU DO IT AND I THINK YOU WOULD BE MARVELOUS AND HAVE A GOOD TIME, SO DO FORGIVE ME NOT ONLY FOR LAST WEEKEND BUT FOR STILL HOPING.

ALAN

It seems the pair managed to patch up their differences, but not to the extent of agreeing a contract; in later interviews, Swanson claimed that the producers had refused to pay her the same rate as Hepburn.
⁶

    
In April, Hepburn extended her stay to June 27, and after much persuasion agreed to record a fifteen-minute segment from the show (including her song “Always Mademoiselle”) for the Tony Awards broadcast on April 19. Lerner wrote to thank her:

    
To Katharine Hepburn

    
[undated; c. April 1970]

    
Dearest Kate:

    
You were absolutely marvelous today.

        
I thought so, the director thought so, the producer, everyone.

        
I know you hated doing it, but Sunday night will present the first good reason they invented the goddamn medium at all.

        
Thank you for doing it. I’ve had intestinal spasms ever since I asked you. But you were simply wonderful.

Always,

Alan

In June, Hepburn once again extended her contract, this time to August 1.
⁷
She was then succeeded by French actress Danielle Darrieux,
⁸
whose performance was well reviewed by several newspapers. Mel Gussow in the
New York Times
noted, “For the first time, one hears the entire score sung…[and] Alan Jay Lerner’s lyrics seem to grow in stylishness and intelligence.” He concluded, “The part and the clothes suit Miss Darrieux splendidly.”
⁹
But her run in the show was to last only four weeks, bringing
Coco
’s Broadway run to an abrupt end on October 3.

    
With the casting problems on
Coco
still brewing, mid-June had seen the premiere of Lerner’s latest stage-to-screen adaptation,
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
. Re-teaming with director Vincente Minnelli and designer Cecil Beaton (both of
Gigi
), Lerner hoped the former’s visual style and a revised script and score would help bring clarity to the troubled show, which had already been reworked several times for stock presentations. But last-minute changes, including the excision of songs like “Wait Till We’re Sixty-Five” and “Who Is There among Us Who Knows” after they had been filmed, left large portions of the movie without songs. It ran over two hours, and in spite of the vibrant performance of Barbra Streisand, the plot’s engagement with extra-sensory perception and regression still failed to provide a coherent story line.
Variety
’s review revealed an additional reason the critics might not have been in a good mood: “It turned out that the print screened for review was not the final 129 min. version but a longer 143 min. answer print, with four additional scenes, including a
song by [Jack] Nicholson and the pictures [
sic
] most elaborate musical production number, all of which were subsequently cut.”
¹⁰
Still, Vincent Canby in the
New York Times
said he was “eventually hypnotized into a state of benign though not-quite-abject permissiveness,”
¹¹
and most of the critics found something to admire. On a budget of $10 million, the film made roughly double that figure at the box office.