Question about "Just Leave Everything To Me"

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 5/15/10 at 1:16pm

So I think I remember reading somewhere (perhaps on here, though the search and google are both failing me) that Jerry Herman wrote "Just Leave Everything To Me" for one spot in the "Hello, Dolly!" movie and Gene Kelly decided to bump it up to the first song in the film, much to Herman's chagrin.

Assuming that I'm right, my question is where did Jerry Herman intend the song to go? Given that it was written to replace "I Put My Hand in There" it more or less makes sense for to go there, and I'm trying to figure out precisely where Herman thought it worked better. Did he just want it after the little overture-y train music?

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/15/10 at 1:39pm

You are correct that it was written for somewhere else in the show.

I have no idea where it could have been placed. Possibly either when she first arrives IN Yonkers?

Just a side note, I LOVE this song, and the more uptempo version of "So Long Dearie". With the orchestrations making it such a big, and bold number, I think it works better than the slower ones used on stage. Although, could this just be is Streisand singing the song vs. Carol Channing trying to sing...the song.

[noradesmond]

Posted: 5/15/10 at 1:59pm

"On one of the few occasions when Gene Kelly would even let me speak with him, I tried to tell him something about 'Just Leave Everything to Me,' which was the opening song that I wrote for Barbra Streisand. I had written it for a specific place, very early in the movie. But instead of using it where it belonged, he put it in the main titles. I was very polite and did not lose my temper, but I quietly pointed out to Mr. Kelly that if he took that song out of the scene I wrote it for, there would be no music for the first half hour of the movie. He gave me the could shoulder, which offended me deeply, because I was giving good advice and I knew it. Gene Kelly knew it, too. But he wouldn't admit it until we were sitting together at the Hollywood premiere in the Rialto Theater. It was a wonderful opening sequence--beautiful titles, gorgeous photography, and a grand entrance from Barbra--followed by a solid half-hour of talk. I sat there fuming. He had the gall to turn to me and say, 'You know, I should have put the song there.' I wanted to kill him."

found here:
http://barbra-archives.com/films/hello_dolly_streisand.html

I can only assume the song was written for her arrival in Yonkers. Maybe after "It Takes A Woman"

Updated On: 5/15/10 at 01:59 PM

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/15/10 at 2:18pm

Also, from that link posted above, I 100% agree with what Jerry Herman said,

" And it's a great credit to Barbra because she knew she was too young. She's a smart cookie. She knew she was 27 years old playing a 60 year old woman. And she devised a way to do it that works today, that's lasted. She used that kind of pseudo Mae West, you know, whatever she devised. She's just so clever. And my God, she sang the hell out of it. I love the film much more than I did when it was released."

[nmartin]

Posted: 5/15/10 at 2:35pm

As Mae West once said, "Barbra, what you want to do is stop imitating me and Fanny Brice and get your own personality."