Alan Jay Lerner: A Lyricist's Letters (55 page)

    
Lerner also wrote to Stafford herself, assuring her that he had sent the screenplay to Carr:

    
To Margherita Stafford

    
February 7, 1985

    
Dear, dear Margherita,

    
I have met charming people in my life and I have met efficient people, but I must admit you are the only one who is both.

        
Mike Allen called me last night—thanks to you, of course—and we had a very interesting and, I think, profitable chat. He knew nothing about the lullaby and was astounded that EMI was so cavalier about it. He said he would make enquiries and get back to me today.

        
In the course of conversation,
The Merry Widow
script came up, which I have tentatively retitled
The Waltz Goes On
—and to my surprise he had read it two years ago and loved it. I also found out, before talking to him, that EMI has now some affiliation with the ubiquitous Allan Carr. How he waddles around in so many places is a wonder. Incidentally, I sent the script off to Allan with a note detailing its history and how it had been rewritten so that some of the famous songs of the operettas of the day could be used instead of
The Merry Widow
.

        
We had a long talk about my book and the plans of the BBC, Goldcrest and public television in the U.S. I am having lunch with Mike Wooller
⁸⁷
of Goldcrest tomorrow, and I will drop it into the conversation. There is no doubt that Julius
⁸⁸
would be wonderful for it and I will certainly recommend him most enthusiastically. I am also preparing a brief outline of the series for you and it will be in your hands before the weekend.

        
Between finishing the book, the television series, the musical I am writing for Allan Carr, which is to go into rehearsal in September (hopefully with Alan Bates), and another musical that I am bursting to write as soon as I can get to it, I have what is called a filled plate.

        
Liz and I would love to see you and David. I will call you next week and perhaps we can arrange a dinner.

        
Much love from both of us to both of you.

Aye,

Alan

    
Though it had only occasionally been mentioned in previous correspondence, Lerner’s next project to reach the stage was the London revival of
Gigi
. He had extensively re-conceived the show since its Broadway incarnation. This version would rearrange some of the material so that, for instance, the show would now start with “Paris Is Paris Again” rather than “Thank Heaven for Little Girls”; no doubt he hoped this would help avoid unflattering comparisons with the movie version. The key to the reconception was that whereas the Broadway production had seemed to swamp what was basically an intimate story, this London version would be more like a chamber show. Still, it was important to have some excellent actors to take on the well-loved characters. Key among these was the British
actress Sian Phillips,
⁸⁹
who had starred in a London revival of
Pal Joey
(1980), and Lerner wrote to encourage her to take the part of Aunt Alicia, enclosing a copy of the Broadway cast album:

    
To Sian Phillips

    
February 27, 1985

    
Dear Miss Phillips,

    
“
GIGI
”

        
I was delighted to hear that you were pleased with the script. My hopes would be dashed if you didn’t do it.

        
The enclosed record is from a production (ghastly, I might add) that was done on the West Coast but it does include “The Contract” in the second act—which incidentally is done much too slowly—and “Paris Is Paris Again.”

        
Aunt Alicia also does a duet of “The Night They Invented Champagne” with Mamita that ends the first act and the two ladies reprise it again in the second act just before Gigi goes to Maxim’s. So, all in all, I think there will be enough singing to keep you busy. The most important item of course is “The Contract” which does work a treat.

        
I hope you like it and, if I am not being too optimistic, I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Alan Jay Lerner

    
In March, Alan Bates agreed to appear in
Godfrey
, and this gave the production just the boost it needed. Indeed, on March 22 the show was announced in the press, and there seemed no reason to think it would not now happen.
⁹⁰
But Lerner was still unhappy with Kane’s work on the book, and the following letter is one of a number in which he gently tried to cajole her into a different direction:

    
To Kristi Kane

    
March 27, 1985

    
Kristi my love,

    
Enclosed is a copy of the lyrics to date. I will send you more as we get along.

        
I hope you will forgive me if for a moment I sound pseudo-professional, but from prehistoric experience I have found the following:

        
1. The great danger is to contribute too much. The screenplay is so bloody good. I ran into David Lean
⁹¹
in California and we were talking about it and he considered it one of the best comedies ever made on the screen—with which I agree. I know that twice I adapted plays: once I did as little as possible and had a hit and the other I did a huge re-write and had a flop! It’s really all there and just needs carefully editing. For example, the more I get into the writing of the score, the less important the maid becomes.

        
2. At this point, I beg you not to worry about music and lyrics. The ideas for lyrics after a certain point will flow from what you write rather than the other way round. My job is to take the emotion and condense it into a lyric.

        
3. And finally—run the picture as often as you can. I have seen it over twelve times myself and run it every couple of weeks. I am constantly finding in it new things that I didn’t see before.

        
It was lovely being with you in New York and I look forward to the whole project with high enthusiasm.

        
Call me any time about anything.

        
Gerard saw Allan Carr who was thrilled about Alan Bates and is coming over to see him as soon as he is well enough.

        
The weather here is lousy and I envy you.

Best love,

Alan

    
Another project in which Lerner was involved in his final year, but which has largely been overlooked, is the Broadway show
Teddy and Alice
. It told a fictionalized account of the relationship between Teddy Roosevelt
⁹²
and his daughter during
his time at the White House. The idea was to use music by John Philip Sousa
⁹³
and add lyrics by Hal Hackady,
⁹⁴
with some new songs by Richard Kapp
⁹⁵
and a book by Jerome Alden.
⁹⁶
Lerner gave some input at the early stages, no doubt because of his long-term association with the director, Stone Widney, who had been stage manager on
Paint Your Wagon
, assistant director on
My Fair Lady
, production assistant on
Camelot
, and production supervisor on
Clear Day, Coco
, and
Dance a Little Closer
. In the following letter, he offers some initial thoughts on how the piece could be sharpened:

    
To Stone Widney

    
8th April 1985

    
Widney, dear boy,

    
I can’t go through the play scene by scene because, if anything, that’s for later on when you and the fellows have read the following notes and decided if they have any validity.

        
After reading the script two or three times, I have a very strong feeling about both Teddy and Alice. Teddy first.

        
What I miss is more of Teddy the President. I think I mentioned in New York that in any dramatized biography you have to assume that the audience knows nothing about the character and/or precisely what he did, in this case, as President.

        
Specifically, he was always keenly aware that he became President by accident and was determined to be re-elected and receive the mandate of the people. In 1902 he took three steps which he did not realize at the time because of opposition in both Congress and the press, which made him so popular with the people that it practically guaranteed him re-election.

        
1) He persuaded Congress to establish a Bureau of Corporations with powers to inspect the books of all business involved in inter-state commerce. In order to get the Bill through, he promised Congress
he would ask for nothing more. Instead, he used the power of the Presidency in a way no other President since Lincoln had done before.

        
2) He brought a successful law suit against the Northern Securities Company, the huge combine of railroads put together by J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockerfeller, Harriman and James Hill. As I remember, that was the occasion that brought J. P. Morgan to the White House. I would love to see that scene, or some of it.

        
3) In order to settle the coal strike which he felt was against the public welfare, he threatened to call in the army unless both Union and Management came to the White House and mediated a solution. Which they did. Contrary to his nickname of “Trust-buster,” he was for regulation not for dismemberment. In other words, against the will of the powers that be. He really was an imperial President who used the full powers of his office. I deeply miss some of that in the play, certainly enough to understand what kind of President he really was and why the acceptance of challenge was a product of his personality.

        
As for Alice, there are many moments when I find her obnoxious. “Boo-hiss” and “scrumptious” and all such terminology that may have been indigenous to the period, makes my skin crawl. When I read that she shot the lights out from the train, she seems to me like a spoilt brat. I would like to feel a little more that she understood her father as well as went her own merry way. Fundamentally, more wit and charm to go with her self-indulgence. I don’t mean that she manipulates her father but she should be a little more irresistible.

        
I think there are too many love songs by Nick and Alice. Sousa was not a good writer of operettas. Anyhow, the love story is really between father and daughter rather than Alice and Nick.

        
When I first heard the play, “The Stars and Stripes Forever” ended the first act. It was absolutely smashing and I hope to God it can be restored.

        
In the second act, I do have a positive sequence to suggest for the last half of the second act. (Incidentally, the first act is too long as you all probably know.) The sequence is that before the election, we find out that Alice has made up her mind about Nick. Next, Teddy is overwhelmingly re-elected. Jubilation. But his jubilation is interrupted when Alice tells him she wants to get married. The idea of using “Can I Let Her Go?” as first a ballad is brilliant. He sings it and when he makes up his mind that he can’t stand in her way, the song becomes the march and the march becomes the music of the wedding. I think the combination of the wedding and the march will be both emotional and thrilling. A fantastic end to the play.

        
Parenthetically, I think Edith’s song is terrific and I love the re-enactment of San Juan Hill. The beginning is also wonderful.

        
In general, there is an embarrassment of riches. What I am aching for is the sharpening of Teddy and my desire to fall in love with Alice. There is such a danger that because of the vocal requirements you may end up with an operetta-like Alice and that would be disastrous.

        
I hope you find some of these first-blush thoughts constructive. As far as Teddy is concerned, for God’s sake don’t worry about his being too political a figure. There is nothing he did—certainly in his first term of office—that anyone can object to. The “Square Deal” is a far cry from the “New Deal”—if that’s what the backers are worried about.

        
Incidentally, I think Eleanor’s resume a la Bronte could be told in a less expository way by Alice and give us a chance to see her sympathy and understanding of her father. I would also love to find out from Alice about her father’s physical weakness as a child which made him the way he is.

        
I think that’s all at the moment. If I have any more thoughts, I will get them off to you.

Aye,

Alan

In the end, the show opened in late 1987, more than a year after Lerner’s death, and Widney left it in Washington during its disastrous out-of-town tryout. Lerner was credited as “artistic consultant.” Speaking at the time of its November 1987 Broadway premiere it was noted by Len Cariou, who played Teddy, that this billing was earned, and that the idea for the show came during Widney and Lerner’s research on
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
.
⁹⁷
In his opening-night review of the show, Frank Rich declared, “If the show’s creators had any respect for the dead, they would not give the defenseless Mr. Lerner partial artistic ‘credit’ for a show that makes his own unsuccessful Presidential musical, ‘1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,’ seem like ‘My Fair Lady’ by comparison.”
⁹⁸
Yet from the letter to Stone Widney, Lerner seems to have had passionate ideas about the piece, even if he also implies that lots of work was needed.