Jewish Stereo Types

After all, we've already tried giving orders and offering sweet reason, so... Video posted by renatorw1165 "I Want to Be Happy" is from the Broadway musical No, No, Nanette , but wasn't in the original score. The show was unsuccessful in its out-of-town tryouts, so the producer asked Vincent Youmans (the original composer) and Irving Caesar (not the original lyricist) to come up with some new songs . The ones they came up with were "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy," and they turned out to be the big popular hits from the show, and both have been covered a LOT. *** Vincent Youmans, who died young , was not Jewish , but the legendary Isidor Keiser (aka Irving Caesar) was . He wrote the lyrics for over 700 songs, including "Tea for Two" (yes, that one ), "Swanee" (with George Gershwin), and the English lyrics to "Just a Gigolo," not to mention the songs for over 30 Broadway shows and revues. Not enough? He wa

Even if it's not the best of all possible worlds, surely it's enough that it's the best of times! Video posted by BroadwayJLM (Which actually is not so far away from carpe diem, but still.) *** I've written a little about Jerry Herman, the composer and lyricist of La Cage Aux Folles (and Hello, Dolly! and Mame ) and his Jewish-summer-camp childhood before . Of course, those were not his only Broadway shows--he scored a dozen of them, plus five Off Broadway revues--but with those three he became the first composer-lyricist to have three musicals run more than 1500 consecutive performances on Broadway --the best of times, indeed! * * * * * And another happy-making thing from my sister (thank you, Sarah!): Live cams from the Bronx Zoo ! There are sea lion feedings at 11:00am and 3:00pm EDT; lemurs starting at 10:00am EDT; and aquatic bird feedings at 12:30pm and 3:30pm EDT--and if you keep scrolling down, there are some feeds from the New York Aquarium , too

Video posted by arnau884 Of course, this "Best of All Possible Worlds" is from Leonard Bernstein's operetta based on Voltaire's satire Candide , and thus it is extremely tongue-in-cheek. You could even call it a bit mean-spirited, because, being a satire of Leibniz's optimism it is extremely broad and the philosophy it is satirizing is more subtle. (...But it is not entirely an unfair critique, either!) *** A positive raft of lyricists ultimately worked on Candide , but I believe that John Latouche wrote the lyrics for this iteration of "The Best of All Possible Worlds [The Lesson Song]," and although he apparently never mentioned it, Latouche was indeed Jewish, since both his maternal grandparents were . He died young (at age 41), but before that wrote the lyrics for some very well-known songs, such as "Taking a Chance on Love," and a number of musicals, plays, and even an opera. Of course, Leonard Bernstein was famously Jewish . And

Happy Days!: Video posted under Pratt & McClain (topic) (That's the single, so it's not exactly the same as the Happy Days theme.) *** "Happy Days" was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, neither of whom I had heard of before, but that's just my ignorance showing. The ( Jewish ) composer Charles Fox has written over 100 film scores (collecting 2 Oscar nominations); scored and theme-songed TV shows such as "The Love Boat," "The Paper Chase" (with Gimbel), and "Laverne and Shirley" (with Gimbel) in addition to "Happy Days," picking up two Emmys and two additional nominations; and dozens of pop hits, including the Grammy-winning "Killing Me Softly with His Song" (with Gimbel). Jewish lyricist Norman Gimbel collaborated on two Broadway musicals; wrote English lyrics to a number of Brazilian songs (including "The Girl from Ipanema"); wrote the lyrics to songs for over 70 films (picking

It's late, so here's a short one--"High Hopes," as sung by Frank Sinatra and Eddie Hodges: Video posted by Night Owl TV And that was an Oscar winner for Best Original Song, no less! *** James Van Heusen, the composer, was not Jewish, but as I have noted once or twice before, the lyricist, Sammy Cahn, definitely was . Cahn wrote with numerous composers, picking up 30 Oscar nominations (and four statuettes). His songs include some of the best known in the Great American Songbook: "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," "Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of the Week," "Time after Time," "It's Magic," "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow," "Three Coins in a Fountain," "Love and Marriage," and many others.

...you can always try a little incentive: Video posted by Bomborarius Of course, if sugar doesn't do it for you, you can always try a vacation: Video posted by Ikenna Mokwe Although, you really don't want to take it too far... Video posted by Master Okay, so Mary Poppins was a childhood favorite (I know all the words to "The Perfect Nanny" by heart, and I mean EVERY WORD) and it's is still one of my favorite movies. If you haven't anything else to fill your time this weekend, I heartily recommend a rewatch. ... There are PENGUINS! *** The songs for Mary Poppins (and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Jungle Book and Bedknobs and Broomsticks , among others) were written by the Sherman brothers, Robert and Richard. They were the sons of Tin Pan Alley songwriter Al (Avrum) Sherman and like their father, were Jewish . For Mary Poppins , I forgive them for writing this: (And now you'll have that stuck in your head all weekend. Shabbat sha

So if you happen to be stuck singing one of the more annoying "BE HAPPY" songs, playing around with it is not a bad way to go: Video posted by Bootleg Better (Trust me, some of the more, um, family-friendly versions are exquisitely painful to listen to. Especially with banjos.) "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive," by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, was, believe it or not, nominated for an Oscar ; Mercer said the lyric came from a sermon : "I went to hear Father Divine and he had a sermon and his subject was 'you got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.' And I said, 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase.' " *** Lyricist Johnny Mercer, although completely amazing ( he wrote the lyrics for over 1500 songs , including "Blues in the Night" (also with Harold Arlen), "One for My Baby" (also with Harold Arlen), and "Moon River" (not with Harold Arlen--that's a Henry Mancini melody)), was not Je

After all, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile"! Video posted by anniemovieVEVO (Manhattan will look like that again. I promise.) (Only grumpier, unless you come equipped with dancing moppets.) (Maybe even if you come equipped with dancing moppets.) (Maybe especially if you come equipped with dancing moppets, because come on.) Well, that's the 2014 cover by Sia. The original, from the first Broadway run of Annie , went more like this rendition from the 1977 Tony Awards: Video posted by LMFA (I miss the reference to Beau Brummell. It made me feel smart in high school to know who Beau Brummell was--thank you, Georgette Heyer!) *** As we've already established, Charles Strouse (the composer of Annie , is Jewish , and so was the lyricist , Martin Charnin, the man who had the idea for Annie . A pretty good idea as it turned out--not only did it run forever (not counting the two movies, the TV movie, and the various revivals), but the original picke

Happy Easter! And for the most Easter-appropriate song I can think of, I refer you to my earlier post on "Easter Parade" and other related Irving Berlin songs . (Please do click through ; the song was already 85 years old when I posted it originally, it surely hasn't aged appreciably in an extra year or two.) (No, I still cannot write a sonnet. Don't judge me!) * * * * * Have you seen the dancing healthcare workers ? CHECK THEM OUT! You'll have to click through to the CNN article for the TikTok vids--and you should!--since I am insufficiently hip for that app. However, I know how to embed from Instagram, so...: View this post on Instagram Seeing the Doctors and Nurses of @Tjuh_pool do the #LevelUp Dance brings me so much joy. Grateful for each and every one of you! You all are on a whole nother level for how you’re working so hard and sacrificing so much to take care of everyone! LevelUp Champs. #WereInThisTogether 💪🏽❤️ A post shared by Ciara (@ciara

So apparently all pandas want is a little alone time--or maybe it's the lower pollution levels?: Stuck at home with no visitors and not much else to do, a pair of pandas in Hong Kong finally decided to give mating a go after a decade of dodging the issue https://t.co/GiA5wg6N90 — AFP news agency (@AFP) April 7, 2020 * * * * * Tonight is the first night of Passover, so instead of bringing you a "happy song," here are the Maccabeats asking "Mah Nishtanah" or "The Four Questions," which are asked at every seder: Video posted by Maccabeats Tomorrow and Friday are the first days of Passover, followed by Shabbat, so have a good weekend and I'll see you Sunday!

Here's Esperanza Spalding showing us what a jazz musician does with a standard such as "On the Sunny Side of the Street" by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields: Video posted by muslin I don't have a separate "making me happy" thing tonight, but that is a joyful performance if there ever was one! *** Jimmy McHugh wasn't Jewish, but the lyricist Dorothy Fields was , and if the name isn't familiar to you, I bet her songs are : "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby," "I'm in the Mood for Love," "I Won't Dance," "A Fine Romance," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Big Spender," and many others.

First is something that is making me happy: Patrick Stewart is reading #ASonnetADay : We've reached Sonnet 17, a mini landmark in these 154 sonnets. #ASonnetADay pic.twitter.com/tVBxrrW1fE — Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) April 5, 2020 Shakespeare is a long way back but as he reads them they are as fresh as today. (Thanks for finding this for me goes to my sister, Sarah. Thank you, Sarah!) * * * * * Also, today's song calls back to yesterday's song, being that the same people--Milton Ager and Jack Yellen--who wrote this song also wrote "Happy Days Are Here Again." And the title of the song, of course, harks back to Friday's post: "Happy Feet": Video posted by warholsoup100 (Yes, I know. That song is not in the movie with the dancing penguins. But the title is the same!) (Okay, yes, I only know because I looked it up. And I'm not perfectly sure that that is a movie with dancing penguins. It looks like it's a movie with dancing pe

Ever notice how often "happy" songs are, strictly speaking, not happy? If you actually listen to the lyrics of "Get Happy" by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, you'll see that umm, well, hmmm, really, I mean...look, it's about dying. In a manner of speaking. But, you know, get happy! Nevertheless, this performance makes me happy every time anyway--Judy Garland singing "Get Happy" against Barbra Streisand singing Milton Ager and Jack Yellen's "Happy Days Are Here Again": Video posted by TheJudyRoomVideos *** We have a bunch of Jewish songwriters here: Harold Arlen ("Over the Rainbow," "Stormy Weather," "The Man That Got Away") was the son of a synagogue cantor ; I can't find much about Ted Koehler ("Get Happy," "Stormy Weather," "Moon Over Dixie")'s personal life, but he seems to be counted among Jewish lyricists ; and both Milton Ager ("Last of the Red Hot Ma

With thanks to my brother, who sent these to my mom and me: Video posted by Shedd Aquarium Video posted by CBS Chicago I think the whales enjoyed that more than the penguin, actually! * * * * * And since "things that make me happy" is a wee teensy bit unstructured, I shall add happy songs--not necessarily songs that make me happy, just songs (preferably those that meet the overall brief of this blog) ABOUT happy. Like this one--"Put on a Happy Face" from Bye Bye Birdie : Video posted by LPL musicals Hey, I am an adult speaking to you, and when I say "smile" I expect you to SMILE! (Besides, the physical act of smiling can really make you feel cheerier .) *** The songs for Bye Bye Birdie were written by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, and while I have no reason whatsoever to think that Lee Adams has Jewish roots, Charles Strouse is Jewish , and Bye Bye Birdie was his first full-length Broadway musical --for which he won his first Tony Awa

There are a couple of holidays coming up in the near future (I see you, Passover and Easter!), but in these days of coronavirus, I thought I'd spend a little time today and going forward with songs that bring me joy in the hopes that they will do the same for you. Today's song is "You Will Be Found" from the musical Dear Evan Hansen , and this collaboration totally made me tear up: Video posted by The Late Late Show with James Corden (If I did it right, I've set it up so the video starts playing at the start of the song, but James Corden's intro is worth listening to, too.) You are not alone! *** And I only looked this up after choosing to highlight the song, but...The music and lyrics for Dear Evan Hansen were written by besties Pasek and Paul, and while Justin Paul is Christian, Benj Pasek is Jewish --and so is Ben Platt . So how could I not post it?