Musical Comedy -- Tonight III, 2

In early January, I wrote about three Musical Comedy Tonight specials done on PBS between 1979 and 1985.  All of them were written and hosted by Sylvia Fine Kaye, the wife of Danny Kaye, who wrote a lot of his specialty material and is credited with shaping his career – and who got two Oscar nominations on her own for Best Original Song. 

The three PBS shows were loosely based on a class she taught at USC.  I embedded the first of them here.  And happily, the third of those specials, made in 1985, has been tracked down.

(I actually attended one of these with a friend, held at the Wilshire Ebell Theater, in Beverly Hills.  But for the life of me, I can’t remember which.  I do have a recollection of looking forward to attending, having seen at least one of these on TV – which of course means I was at either the second or third.  If I was forced to bet, it would be this one, because Danny Kaye was in the second, and I don't believe that he was in the show that I saw with a friend.)

This one looks at the early days of musicals and what made the art form stick.  They recreate songs and elaborate production numbers as close to the originals as they can, and her narration tying it all together is insightful and fun.  And once again, it all features a great cast, including --

Dick Van Dyke, Eddie Albert, Elaine Stritch, Clive Revill (who starred as ‘Fagin’ in Oliver! on Broadway), Florence Henderson, Kaye Ballard, Patti LaBelle, Peter Noone (Herman of Herman’s Hermits), Beth Howland, Donna McKechnie, Roberta Peters – and others.  Now, that's a good cast!  The special also includes a wonderful, extended sequence from the original 1936 film of one of my favorite musicals, 1927’s Show Boat, with actors who had played the roles in Broadway productions, including Helen Morgan, Irene Dunne and the great Paul Robeson, singing what I think may be the greatest song written for a musical, “Ol’ Man River.”

And (speaking personally) it also includes what may be my favorite comic song in a Broadway show, overflowing with ethereally clever triple rhymes, “To Keep My Love Alive,” written by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers from A Connecticut Yankee.  (Also, speaking personally, I have great affection for this show and song since it’s because of them that I won my only bet with my father.  He would only bet if was absolutely sure of something – and I had said that not only was Lorenz Hart still alive when Richard Rodgers teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein to write Oklahoma!, but that Rodgers and Hart even wrote another show together after that!  It was a revival of A Connecticut Yankee, for which they wrote...“To Keep My Love Alive.”  He was absolutely positive I was wrong, and so we bet – and I won.  I think I won a dollar.)

Unfortunately I can't embed the video of the TV special on an outside website, but you can watch it on YouTube here.