You Fascinate Me So: The Life and Times of Cy Coleman by Andy Propst Read Free Book Online Page A

music and artistry. His father, also a lyricist, had started his Broadway career contributing lyrics to the 1912 tuner The Wall Street Girl . And while his efforts for that show have been all but forgotten, his work on subsequent hits, such as Kid Boots , Rio Rita , and perhaps most notably Irene , lives on. Among his best-known songs are “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” and “You Made Me Love You.”
    McCarthy Jr. made a name for himself not on Broadway but through his work on pop tunes in the 1940s. He wrote several songs with John Benson Brooks, notably “A Boy from Texas, a Girl from Tennessee,” which had been performed by the likes of the King Cole Trio, Vic Damone, and Rosemary Clooney. McCarthy, with Joseph Meyer, had also written a tune called “Meadows of Heaven” that was recorded by Perry Como, Bing Crosby, and Mel Tormé.
    Whether or not Coleman and McCarthy ever began work on the adaptation of Jurgen —a fantastical tale about a man’s journeys through a vaguely medieval world after he’s wished himself to be single once again—remains a mystery. There are no records of it in Coleman’s files, and the only other mention of it in the press came a few weeks after the initial report of the project, when the Times reported that Saul Richman would serve as the show’s general manager. After that, however, the possible tuner disappeared from the public eye, even though, in the original story about the show, Coleman had indicated that “a good portion of the necessary backing was on hand.” 2
    Nevertheless, Coleman and McCarthy did begin collaborating, and two undated tunes bearing their names could very well represent their initial efforts together. One, “Whippoorwill,” sounds as if it might have been taken from the elder McCarthy’s trunk: it’s a syrupy waltz for a lovelorn soul pining to know whether or not a loved one reciprocates his or her affection. And while its title might make it sound as if it came from the same trunk, there’s a fascinating jazz syncopation to the team’s “An Old-Fashioned Christmas” that makes a pretty standard holiday ballad sound so new that Helen Reddy recorded it several decades later on a seasonal album.
    McCarthy and Coleman would continue to write together for several years, but in the interim Coleman had another new prospect on the horizon: his Broadway debut.
    Word of Coleman’s arrival on Broadway came in January 1952, when first the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and later the New York Times announced that he and the trio would be providing music for a new comedy-drama, Dear Barbarians , by Lexford Richards. Coleman wouldn’t be composing songs; rather, he would be providing incidental music for the production.
    The play centers on an aspiring composer whose well-heeled parents disapprove of the young woman he has been dating. To forestall their son’s further involvement with his girlfriend, they conspire to have him connect with an up-and-coming chanteuse, the younger sister of another woman he once dated. They select this woman not because she and the son share a love of music, but because she’s from the same social echelon as their family.
    The show, which at one point was also known by the coyly poetic title O Perfect Love , came to Broadway under the auspices of Gant Gaither, who had previously produced several plays, including tepidly received revivals of George Kelly’s Craig’s Wife and St. John Ervine’s The First Mrs. Fraser , along with two new works— The Shop at Sly Corner and Gayden —both of which lasted a mere seven performances.
    Gaither’s lack of success as a producer and the fact that Dear Barbarians would be marking his Broadway debut as a director did not stop him from attracting a first-rate cast. For the young man’s parents he turned to a pair of highly experienced performers: Violet Hemming and Nicholas Joy. Donald Murphy, who was cast as the young lover, came to the production with a healthy résumé; he would follow Dear