Among one of Lucius Beebe's many beats at the New York Herald Tribune was Broadway theatrical reviews and interviewing playwrights and show-runners in the 1930s. This was the era of Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart who remain regarded as Broadway royalty today. Beebe rubbed elbows with these theatrical legends and many others during the 1930s and 1940s, be it at opening night at the Met or closing time at the 21 Club.
Beebe's frequency of attendance at the best shows Broadway had to offer, paired with his garish dress, made him a prime subject for inclusion in many musicals of his day. While Beebe didn't actually sing, dance or act in any of these shows*, A-list theatrical actors of the day like Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante and Harold Nicholas (of the Nicholas Brothers tap dance duo fame) would drop Beebe's name while they broke a leg on stage.
From Cole Porter to Kay Kyser, here are the songs that tip their top hat to Lucius Beebe.
Maestro, if you please!
"Zip" by Rodgers & Hart
From Pal Joey
1940
Here's a titillating number from the musical Pal Joey by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart ("Manhattan" and "Blue Moon"). It premiered Christmas Day of 1940 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater and starred Gene Kelly as the titular Joey Evans. The musical produced such hits as "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" later made into a classic by Frank Sinatra in the film version of Pal Joey.
This number, "Zip", is inspired by Gypsy Rose Lee, an iconic burlesque dancer of the era, and incidentally a friend of Beebe's. It intends to show--through Herald reporter Melba Snyder--that there's more to Ms. Lee than her more obvious assets and talents, as the lyrics list off intellectualisms to the beat of a strip tease.
"I adore the great Confucius,
And the lines of luscious Lucius.
Zip! I am so eclectic!"
"Give it Back to the Indians"
by Rogers & Hart
From Too Many Girls
1939
Too Many Girls opened on Broadway on Oct. 18, 1939. Written by the iconic songwriting duo Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, the musical is credited with giving Desi Arnaz a big leg up in showbiz (The 1940 film version cast Arnaz with Lucille Ball and the two fell in love on set and would go on to form a legendary duo of their own right).
One of the more memorable tunes from Too Many Girls in its day was "Give it Back to the Indians". Of course the song has faded from popularity today even amongst the most nostalgic of cultures, arguably for its choice of language and subject matter in regards to Native Americans.
The reference isn't too favorable to Beebe either, as the song points out the more unsavory aspects of New York City life circa 1939. Their proposed solution?
"Men wear clothes like Lucius Beebe's--give it back to the Indians!"
“I’ve Still Got My Health”
by Cole Porter
From Panama Hattie
1940
Panama Hattie premiered on Broadway on Oct. 30, 1940. It featured music and lyrics by Cole Porter ("You're the Top", "Anything Goes") and starred Ethel Merman as the titular Hattie. Merman was one of the biggest comedians of her day and was a favorite of Porter and a friend of Beebe's.
So when it came time for Hattie (played by Merman) to show the audience how unpopular or passé she is, the line "When I give a tea, Lucius Beebe ain't there--but I've still got my health so what do I care?!"
"It tickled Porter to allude to friends in a way that was jokey but intimate too," writes Cole Porter biographer William McBrien.
Of Porter's lyrics, Beebe mused in the Herald Tribune: "Nothing in the Broadway year creates quite the excitement among the town’s glamour folk as the evolution of a new Cole Porter musical. Its first inception [is] usually accomplished on a canoe trip down the Rhine or from his elaborate Hollywood chateau ... About that time it has been named for the third time ... heralds appear in the person of [Cole's wife] Linda Porter or [the producer] Dwight Wiman or Roger Stearns, whistling some of the more memorable tunes and quoting the catchier lyrics . . . [including] the rhyming of Elsa and seltzer and Colony and felony.”
Or, as Beebe put it more succinctly in April 1939: Cole Porter is the "creator of smart and glittering theatre lyrics of his time."
"When I give a tea, Lucius Beebe ain't there--but I've still got my health so what do I care?!"
"What a Priceless Pleasure" a.k.a. "The Waiters" by Cole Porter
From You Never Know by Cole Porter
1938
This Cole Porter musical was based on the play By Candlelight by Siegfried Geyer and reimagined for the American Broadway audience with all new Porter tunes, including the now-classic "At Long Last Love". Before a play debuts on Broadway, it's not uncommon to try it out on a smaller market to iron out any kinks before bringing it to NYC. Several songs, including "The Waiter Song", didn't make it through that ironing process, and were dropped for the Broadway debut.
And it's a shame, too, because this sounded like a fun one!
"Would you like to see the pheasant?"
"And the bread crumbs?"
"And the jelly?"
"What a very fitting present for Lucius Beebe's belly!"
"Oh a spectacle so pleasant,
Would inspire Keats or Shelley,
An entire roasted pheasant in Lucius Beebe's belly!"
(Lyrics source: "The Cole Porter Songbook" by Cole Porter, edited by Robert Kimball.)
I do not know of any recording of "The Waiters" (contemporaneous or otherwise). So here's a 1938 era recording of "At Long Last Love" which was arguably the biggest "hit" from "You Never Know".
"What a very fitting present for Lucius Beebe's belly!"
"Fugitive from Esquire" sung by Jimmy Durante, Lyrics by Howard Dietz
From Keep off the Grass
1940
According to The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals by Dan Dietz, Beebe gets a nod on the sartorial song "Fugitive from Esquire".
Sung by Jimmy Durante, author Dan Dietz says in his book that Beebe snubs "The Schnoz's" choice of attire in the song. I've not been able to locate lyrics for this song that include Beebe yet, but if you listen to this later version of the song--still sung by Durante--you can here several places where a Beebe reference would fit nicely.
(I wonder if perhaps the society and fashion reporter mentioned in the song in this version was originally Lucius Beebe?)
“Mister Beebe”
Music by Jule Stein & Dudley Brooks. Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
From “Carolina Blues"
1944
Of course we've saved the best for the last: this is an all out spectacle of song and dance. And yes, it's all about Lucius. In each of the above numbers, Beebe gets a line or two.
But in "Mister Beebe", from the 1944 film Carolina Blues, starring big band leader Kay Kyser, there's a seven minute song and dance routine dedicated to Beebe in all his sartorial splendor.
Kay Kyser and his orchestra play while Harold Nicholas sings the rendition in the film (and included below). It was co-written by Jule Styne ("Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend"), Sammy Cahn ("Let it Snow!") and Dudley Brooks
("(Everybody's Waitin' for) The Man with the Bag").
Stealing the scene is Harold Nicholas, one half of the legendary Nicholas Brothers tap dancers, dressed in the style of Beebe: "fancy cravats and those knocked out spats--Beebe's the man who knows!" sings Nicholas.
Absolutely nothing I say will adequately explain this one: it simply must be experienced rather than explained.
The following year, 1945, the film I Love a Bandleader starring Phil Harris (The Jungle Book) featured the song "Mister Beebe" as well. This rendition, according to IMDB, is sung by Barbara Ames. The film was directed by Del Lord, who's most known for directing The Three Stooges' movies.
I'll come back and add more about this version of "Mister Beebe" once I've gotten my hands on a copy and watched it. The show goes on!
Footnotes
* That's not to say Beebe didn't attempt to dip his toe into the Broadway songwriting world, albeit unsuccessfully. Since Beebe studied poetry at Harvard & Yale to some acclaim, it's not too much of a stretch for Beebe to make the leap from writing a poem to writing a song.
Evidence of this can be found at the New York Public Library's archives in songwriter Jay Gorney's papers. Gorney (who wrote "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" and is credited with discovering Shirley Temple) wrote the unproduced musical "Make Mine Manhattan" in 1938 and it featured a poem by Beebe called "A Testament to Gotham". Whether this was set to music or not (which would make it a song, no?), we may never know.
Commentaires