AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE: REVUES (TV)

Summary

One in this educational public affairs series that traces the origins and development of the American musical theater and examines the careers and contributions of the creative artists who have made the musical a native American art form. In an informal workshop setting, New York City high school students meet the composers, lyricists, and performers who have shaped the American musical and question them about their work. This program, hosted by Jim Morske, examines the musical revue of the 1920s. Here Morske concentrates, not on the big, lavish revues popular on Broadway, but on those produced on a smaller scale, beginning with the All-Negro Revue. John Bubbles reminisces about one of the first of that genre, Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake's "Shuffle Along," and he and Bibi Osterwald perform the show's hit song, "I'm Just Wild About Harry," after which Bubbles performs the Charleston dance step as introduced in 1923's "Running Wild." Morske then discusses Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields's hit revue "Blackbirds of 1928," and tells the story behind the origin of that show's "I Can't Give You Anything but Love," which Bubbles then performs in song and tap. Next, Morske focuses on popular foreign imports such as "Chauve Souris" from Moscow featuring the numbers "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" and "Dark Eyes" as played by the CBS Orchestra. An import from London, "Charlot's Revue," which introduced Beatrice Lillie and Gertrude Lawrence to America, featured "Limehouse Blues" as sung by Osterwald in this program. Following this, Morske concentrates on the intimate Off-Broadway revues, such as the "Greenwich Village Follies" which satirized celebrities and customs of the day. Bubbles sings and taps to Ted Lewis's signature song "When My Baby Smiles at Me" from the 1919 edition, Osterwald sings "I'm in Love Again" from Cole Porter's 1924 version, and the CBS Orchestra plays "Three O'clock in the Morning" from the 1921 "Greenwich Village Follies." Similar in nature was the "Grand Street Follies," which used talent and imagination in lieu of money, and the 1925-1926 "Garrick Gaieties" with a score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Bubbles and Osterwald close the program with one of that show's popular numbers, "Manhattan."

Cataloging of this program was made possible by a grant from the GRAMMY Foundation.

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