Trivial Pursuit #97

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:30pm

Most Theatre Critics Historians agree that NO, NO, NANETTE was THE most successful musical of the 1920s.

It had a long run, was made into a movie THREE times, and was a huge hit all over again when it was revived in 1971.

Yet, believe it or not, the show almost folded out of town before it even made it to Broadway!

However, it was saved--due to extensive rewriting (five new songs were added.)


ONE of these new songs became a HUGE standard and is still frequently heard today--I'm told Tap Dancers like to use it for their auditions.


What song am I thinking of?


GOOD LUCK, Everybody!!!

[luvliza89]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:34pm

Hmmm, tap dancers eh?

Then I'd have to say "Tea for Two".
Updated On: 4/3/05 at 09:34 PM

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:39pm

luvliza--YOU GOT IT.


YES, the addition of "Tea for Two" to the score of NO, NO, NANETTE was one of the things that ensured its success.


CONGRATULATIONS, luvliza--and--WELCOME to the Trivial Pursuit Winner's Circle!!!


And now for your bonus points:

Who played Nanette in the 1950 film version of the show? (The film was called TEA FOR TWO).

[luvliza89]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:40pm

Hehe, I own this movie!

Drum roll...Doris Day!

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:46pm

You pick your films WELL, luvliza, because YES, it was indeed our Doris who played Nanette in the 1950 film TEA FOR TWO.

Job well done!


And your prize?


Well, you want to spend the weekend in Atlantic City to be with your boyfriend--but your Aunt and Uncle won't let you!

So, you're going to sneak away, but WATCH OUT--it seems as if a lot of OTHER FOLKS you know are going to turn up in Atlantic City as well!


Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, folks!!!

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:53pm

"Tea for Two":

I'm discontented with homes
That are rented
So I have invented
My own

Darling this place is a lover's oasis
Where life's weary chase
Is unknown

Far from the cry of the city
Where flowers pretty
Caress the streams
Cozy to hide in
To love side-by-side in
Don't let it abide in my dreams

Picture you upon my knee
Just tea for two and two for tea
Just me for you and you for me
Alone!

Nobody near us
To see us or hear us
No friends or relations on weekend vacations
We won't have it known, dear
That we have a telephone, dear

Day will break
And you'll awake
And start to bake
A sugar cake
For me to take for all the boys to see!

We will raise a family
A boy for you
A girl for me
Oh, can't you see how happy life would be?

You are revealing a plan so appealing
I can't help but felling
For you

Darling, I planned it
can't you understand it
Its yours to command it
So do

All of your schemes I'm admiring
They're worth desiring
But can't you see

I'd like to wait there
For some future date dear
it won't be too late, dear
For me

Picture you upon my knee
Just tea for two and two for tea
Just me for you and you for me, alone!

Nobody near us
To see us or hear us
No friends or relations on weekend vacations
We won't have it known, dear,
That we have a telephone, dear.

Day will break
And you'll awake
And start to bake
A sugar cake
For me to take
For all the boys to see

We will raise a family
A boy for you, a girl for me
Oh, can't you see how happy life would be?


Music: Vincent Youmans
Lyrics: Irving Caesar



Copyright © ASCAP. All rights reserved.

[luvliza89]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:56pm

Damn Aunt and Uncle! They never let me do anything! Come on Toto, we'll show them and run away!

Haha I love being a geek.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 4:49pm

And tell me, Mary_Ethel, how long did it take Youmans to write the music for this classic song?

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 4:53pm

I just saw an episode of Punky Brewster the other day where there's a tap class, and they dance to Tea for Two:)

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 5:13pm

Paraodx--Youmans and Caesar completed writing "Tea for Two" in about thirty minutes--they wrote it at a piano in a Hotel in the city in qhich NO, NO, NANETTE was currently trying out--I believe it was Detroit.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 5:16pm

Thirty minutes for the whole song, music and lyrics.

It has been rumoured that Youmans wrote the piano part in just over Two Minutes...

Nothing gets past you Mary_Ethel!

(except perhaps Wicked, Avenue Q, Rent and Caroline, or Change)

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 5:22pm

I think what's interestng to note that the Lyric Caesar initialy wrote was what they called a "Dummy" or "Demonstration" Lyric--just something to show to the show's profucer, Harry Frazee.


As Caesar himself said, "How can they be having tea if the girl is sitting on the guy's KNEE?"


But Frazee ADORED the song and wouldn't let them change one NOTE or LYRIC--and the "dummy" lyrics have survived to this very day!!!

[paradox_error]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 5:25pm

I love it!



Gotta love the classics!

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 5:27pm

Oh, Paradox, if only 90% of those who post on The Main Board shared that sentiment...

[paradox_error]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 5:29pm

10%?

I think that's pushing it...

Probably more like 5%...

[sabrelady]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 5:53pm

I tried to be a tap dancer...but I kept falling into the sink!

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 9:42pm

i have heard that some of Sondheim's "dummy" lyrics survive in some of the shows in which he was "just" a lyricist, including parts of GYPSY (he was never given a chance to rewrite them for various reasons). Anyone know for sure?!?? and can give us a list? i have some very uneducated, unscientific, entirely intuition-based guesses.

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 9:47pm

I love the song. I sang it, 8 show per week, for 7 months. Of course, it's a ballad in the show. It became a popular instrumental as a cha cha!

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 9:50pm

Sondheim wanted to change the lyrics of "I Feel Pretty".

After reading his first draft, he realized the internal rhyming scheme utilized ("Its ALARMING how CHARMING how feel") sounded too "Noel Coward" for an Hispanic Immigrant newly arrived to America.

However, everyone else LOVED the song and so it stayed in as initially written...

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 9:53pm

i have also felt the lyrics to "Somewhere" and "One Hand, One Heart" were not up to the typical Sondheim high standard, but i could be wrong.

And there are quite a few anecdotes that "The Merm" froze some GYPSY lyrics before Sondheim thought them finished. Strangely, however, the anecdote of "call me Mrs. Birdseye" has been attributed to GYPSY when some records indicate the remark happened on CALL ME MADAM (a Berlin show).

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 9:59pm

It was on CALL ME MADAM, Tx.


They made EXTENSIVE changes out of town and wanted to make MORE in previews until finaly Merman exploded and said, "Call Me Miss-Bird's Eye! This show is FROZEN!"