Evening star. [volume], January 15, 1961, Page 3, Image 163

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
WERE LONG ONES
IV PRODUCER
quickly checked all tapes and
breathed easier when he discovered
that the Ethel Merman sequence
was OK.
“We’ve switched things here.” he
explained. “This is the Gershwin of
political satire and for ’Of Thee I
Sing,’ we have Ethel playing Winter
green Cornelia Wintergreen, a
woman running for president.”
Rest assured, too, that no one will
sing “I Got Rhythm” except Ethel.
This is done for the finale.
Hayward countered Miss Farrell's
defection by adding Maurice Che
valier, who once squired a wide-eyed
young Gershwin around Paris.
It is in this sequence that Hayward
plans to employ “a new trick” to set
the mood. Remember his use of still
photos for “The Fabulous Fifties” last
season? That's out.
“People would have said I was
copying myself and couldn’t come up
with a fresh idea.”
The 90-minute special is NOT a
biography of Gershwin, even if CBS
bought “The Gershwin Years." a book
by Edward Jablonski and Laurence
Stewart with that in mind.
"What's we’ve tried to do here is
take the Gershwin years—l9l6 to 1936
—and use his songs to show how
Americans changed after World
War I from a narrow, insular people.
Why in New York, people were sing
ing French songs; when Gershwin
went to Paris, they were singing
American songs.”
One of Richard Rodgers’ duties as
host, incidentally, will be to introduce
the stars and segments from a “Sights
BELTING THE BLUES—EtheI Merman
joins Singer Ron Husmann in duet.
and Sounds Room,” decorated with a
player piano, ostrich feather wraps,
theater posters, trolley bells and other
symbols of the time.
He will also try to prove that
Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” is an
impossible song, musically speaking.
“It started out as a ragtime num
ber and was yanked out of three
shows. It wasn't until the tune was
slowed down—in Paris —that it be
came a hit," Hayward said. “Julie
London will sing it all right.”
One thing certain, no Gershwin
show would be official without La
Merman, who became a star the first
moment her talented lamyx engaged
a Gershwin tune.
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