Alan Jay Lerner: A Lyricist's Letters Read Online Free PDF Page B

the sign it’s a vaudeville.
    WEILL : That’s right, it is.
    MAN : You mean it has vaudeville acts?
    WEILL : Lots of them.
    MAN : That’s fine. Then I don’t have to worry about following a plot. That’s a relief.
    LERNER : No. There’s a plot.
    MAN : I thought you said it was a vaudeville.
    LERNER : It’s a vaudeville with a plot.
    MAN : How does that work?
    WEILL : Well, the sketches and the vaudeville acts have a continuity and supplement each other.
    MAN : (Scratching his head) Did you understand?
    WEILL : I did.
    LERNER : So did I. 116
    Unfortunately, the tone of this conversation was an indication of things to come. Even on the day of the opening, Lerner was still desperately explaining that it was “an experiment with form,” and a “serious subject treated, most of the way, lightly.” 117 He elaborated that this “serious subject” was “the decline of American home life in the past century or so and the resultant unhappiness and confusion of the average family.” Hours later, it was branded by the critics as a “disappointment…cute, complex and joyless,” 118 and it only lasted one season (252 performances). 119 A musicians’ union strike resulted in no cast album being recorded, and in spite of its huge ambition it remains an obscure, rarely heard show that Lerner was always reluctant to allow to be revived (perhaps in part because he reused some of the material from one of the numbers, “I Remember It Well,” in the movie
Gigi
).
         Lerner spent the early weeks of 1949 in Hollywood writing a film musical for Fred Astaire 120 and Ginger Rogers, an intended follow-up to their reunion movie
The Barkleys of Broadway
, though in the end only Astaire appeared in the movie, which became
Royal Wedding
. 121 As it became clear that
Love Life
was faltering, the collaboration with Weill was severed and their second project abandoned. Looking around for a replacement writing partner, Lerner discussed a project with Leonard Bernstein, a fellow Harvard graduate whose work he admired. But within four weeks after the closure of
Love Life
, Lerner and Loewe buried the hatchet and decided to collaborate on another show. 122 Indeed, they seem literally to have set to work immediately on the show that became
Paint Your Wagon
, because on July 20 it was revealed that Cheryl Crawford had agreed to oversee the production, which would be “set in the United States in the nineteenth century.” 123 This ability to move on from a disappointing situation very quickly would set the model for Lerner’s entire career, motivated by his imagination and unflagging optimism.
         First, though, he had to complete work on two Hollywood projects that were demanding urgent attention:
Royal Wedding
, which was now to star the young Jane Powell 124 opposite Astaire, 125 and
An American in Paris
, which would provide a vehicle for Gene Kelly, using the song catalogue of George and Ira Gershwin. His contract with producer Arthur Freed 126 at MGM would become increasingly pressing over the course of the 1950s, because he was obliged to write several movie musicals for an industry in swift decline, and at the same time he was pursuing various Broadway projects on the opposite coast. Though
Paris
was always to have a Lerner screenplay and
Royal Wedding
was also in the works, the third film was to prove elusive. For instance, he was offered
Mr. Imperium
, a vehicle for Ezio Pinza 127 (the star of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
South Pacific
), which would have brought him a new collaborator in composer Harold Arlen 128 (
The Wizard of Oz
), but Lerner rejected the idea. 129 Additionally, Lerner was briefly named as screenwriter of the remake of
The Belle of New York
, perhaps as a result of his successful ongoing relationship with Astaire (the intended star) on
Royal Wedding
, but he quickly passed on the option. 130 Eventually, Lerner did complete the songs and screenplay for a film version of
Huckleberry Finn
with Burton