Author's Note: Last Saturday,
May 27 would have been the late Broadway composer & lyricist Harold
Rome's 98th birthday. For the past year, I have been acting as a Production Advisor for the 60th anniversary revival of the master's post World War II smash revue, Call Me Mister, being performed for five performances only (June 15 - June 18) by The American Century Theater in Arlington, VA. Consult their website: www.americancentury.org for further details. Although
"Hecky" died only thirteen years ago, his work is but a hazy memory
for most of today's theatergoers. Hopefully, this article written
as a handout for a musical theatre history class I was teaching to senior
citizens a few years back will explain why recognition for the contributions
Rome made to the American Musical Theater is long overdue.
The
passing of Composer-Lyricist Harold Rome (of Pins & Needles,
Call Me Mister, and Fanny fame) Oct. 26, 1993
at age 85 marked the end of a 21 year casual acquaintance, which was
originally sparked by my attendance in 1958 at a summer stock production
of Rome's musical, Wish You Were Here, my very first
live theatrical experience.
Admittedly,
the presence of a swimming pool on stage at that theatre in the round
under an enormous circus tent was what fascinated me most about
Wish You Were Here at age 5 ?.. My appreciation for Mr. Rome's
invaluable contribution to this show began the following year when a
family friend presented me with a gift of Wish You Were Here's
original cast album. I couldn't wait to listen to it. When I did,
I could pick out several songs that were quite pleasing to my youthful
ears.
One
number (Where Did the Night Go?) became the first
song lyric from a musical that I memorized for singing purposes. Another
tune, Don Jose of Far Rockaway, began my passion for tango
rhythms (You should have seen how I acted out the Hernando's
Hideaway sequence from the movie version of The
Pajama Game at home during my childhood!).
From
Wish You Were Here, I began the practice of collecting Mr. Rome's
musicals' original cast albums (Destry Rides Again;
I Can Get It For Wholesale, The Zulu and the Zayda;
and Gone With The Wind). When I was 12, through my best
friend at the time's influence, I began writing to musical theatre
and film celebrities for their autographs. This period was my first
direct contact with Mr. Rome, who obliged me with an answer, thanking
me for my letter and my interest.
As
an undergraduate at Syracuse University in the early 1970's, one semester
I elected to take an independent study of the musical theatre for course
credit. I thought immediately of interviewing Mr. Rome about his career
for the final research project. He agreed to a meeting at his impressive
Fifth Avenue apartment with his collection of African art sculptures
on display in his living room, having recently returned from London
where his musical, Gone With The Wind, based on the Pulitzer
Prize-winning Margaret Mitchell novel and Academy Award-winning Best
Picture of
1939, had been playing in the West End theatre district.
The
Harold Rome I met with that day in the Spring of 1972 was very opinionated
and very informative about his own particular approach to writing songs for musical theatre. I'm always trying to write what is best for the
show. I have never consciously written a hit song. If it happens to
work out, that's fine; but I cannot write what I think the public
will like," Mr. Rome told me.
During
our nearly 90 minute session, there was evidence given by Mr. Rome's
comments that although he was proud of the outcome of his numerous musical
efforts through the years, beginning in 1937 with the vastly successful
International Ladies Garment Workers Union revue, Pins & Needles,
that his songs, in general, were not sung nearly enough by popular recording
artists and that critics did not frequently understand or sufficiently
appreciate the approach he took in writing.
