Jewish Stereo Types

Or to put it another way, I am chasing a deadline and don't have time to write a new blog post, but it is Valentine's Day and I already posted a very good Valentine song four years ago , so I'm going to cut-and-paste, with a few tweaks here and there (because it is impossible not to find a few things to tweak when you reread your own work). So here is my Special Repeat Post about "My Funny Valentine" by Rodgers and Hart, here sung by the great Ella Fitzgerald: Video posted by YouTube for the subject Ella Fitzgerald You'll note that I chose to use a version sung by a woman, even though the Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker covers are probably the most well-known. That's because the song was written for the Broadway musical Babes in Arms , in which it was sung by a girl about her new boyfriend, a young man named Valentine. The lyrics, it seems to me, make a lot more sense when you consider that they are describing a boy, and one whom the singer considers hop...

Here, have a happy for the new year: Video posted by A Great Big World That video is just reportedly just as unscripted as it looks, according to Chad King and Ian Axel (aka A Great Big World), in a Reddit AMA . They were at a friend's holiday party when Lief Parton (another friend) came up with the idea, so they just filmed it there and then, using the partygoers present. In their words, "[W]e just wanted to capture pure, unscripted joy," and who can't use some of that? In a 2014 Huffington Post interview , the two had this to say about the song: In 2008 we went to the most epic New Years party ever in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. On our way back, we felt incredibly inspired by life. This song came from a place where making changes and resolutions in our lives seems to only happen once a year, and we feel like they should be and can be made every day. *** King's birth name is Chad Vaccarino ( he changed it in 2015 ), and I have no reason whats...

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," sung by a 13-year-old Brenda Lee: Video posted by Christmas Music "A Holly Jolly Christmas," sung by Lady Antebellum: Video posted by ChristmasEve12345 "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," sung by Ben Rector (in a slightly less familiar fashion than other covers): Video posted by Ben Rector Although he wrote 175 published songs , these three massive hits--and the over twenty other Christmas songs he wrote--led songwriter Johnny Marks to name his music publishing company "St. Nicholas Music." Despite this very public acknowledgment of the importance of Christmas to his career, Marks was Jewish . Here's a little from the man himself--Ian Whitcomb Interviews Johnny Marks: Video posted by adamgswanson I'm afraid that Mr. Marks was being just a wee bit disingenuous there about the inspiration for the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," since it came from a booklet writt...

I bet you thought this was going to be about "Baby, It's Cold Outside," but no. Not tonight. Tonight we're spotlighting "Santa Baby," written by Philip Springer and Joan Javits, which was controversial enough when it came out in 1953 to be banned by some stations, because--*gasp!*--it was too sexy. (One wonders what those stations would have made of, oh, say, "WAP"...ah, well, autre temps and all that.) Here's a cover by Kelly Clarkson singing "Santa Baby," full dressed and doing nothing untoward to her mike: Video posted by The Kelly Clarkson Vault "Santa Baby" was another of the Christmas classics written to order --in this case, it was a record company wanting a Christmas number for Eartha Kitt, who surprised absolutely no one when she later titled her memoir Confessions of a Sex Kitten . Philip Springer, who had written a few hits by then, and Joan Javits, a Brill Building staff writer, came up with a list for S...

"The Christmas Waltz," by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, sung by She and Him (Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward): Video posted by SheandHimOfficial According to Sammy Cahn, it was written during a hot California summer, because Frank Sinatra called and asked for a Christmas song . Wanting to at least not compete directly with Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," they wrote a waltz. And since Sinatra used it as the B side to "White Christmas," it was just as well. As I have mentioned before (and as is strongly suggested by their names), both Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne (pronounced "Julie Stine") were Jewish, with Styne writing mostly for Broadway, Cahn writing mostly for movies, and both writing SO MANY SONGS, both with each other and with others. Lyricist Sammy Cahn was born on the Lower East Side of New York to Jewish immigrants. He started writing lyrics at about age 16 , which (spoiler alert!) ended well: He won four Oscars for Best Song ...

Here's the thing: In a proper book musical, all the songs have to be part of the story. And yet, if the song is TOO much part of the story, it stays in the show, rather than becoming a classic. And if the New Deal is in your lyrics, let alone the title, your song is really quite solidly embedded your play. So, not a holiday staple. But it is also stuck in my head, thanks to one of those live-on-TV productions 10 days ago, so..."A New Deal for Christmas" from Annie , by Strouse and Charnin: Video posted by BroadwayTVArchive As I've mentioned before, both Charles Strouse (music) and Martin Charnin (lyrics) are Jewish. "Tomorrow" notwithstanding, the show won seven Tony Awards, two Broadway revivals (so far), three movies (not counting sequels), and the aforementioned live-on-TV production, starring Harry Connick, Jr. as Daddy Warbucks, so it's doing pretty well without spawning a Christmas standard. (But I confess to being a bit sorry that FDR'...

...It's "I Have a Little Dreidel." Never mind that it's literally a song about a game played by spinning a tiny little top, which is no more exciting than it sounds. It's THE Chanukah song, and it Must. Be. Sung. So here are the Maccabeats, looking for a way to sing it: Video posted by the Maccabeats (I am okay with a Bohemian Dreidel Rhapsody. That is not a bad option.) *** As ubiquitous as the song is, you'd think that it had always been around. Okay, not as "always" as yesterday's 13th Century lyrics set to a 15th Century folk song--it IS in English, for one thing--but still, always. Well, it hasn't been, not unless your definition of "always" is 1927, which is only (almost) Irving Berlin "Always" (1925). We also know who wrote it--one Samuel E. Goldfarb . And as an interesting sidenote, his brother, Israel Goldfarb , composed the equally ubiquitous melody to "Shalom Aleichem" in 1918. Some been-a...

Well, another holiday, another song or two. I was mulling over a few options, and then I had a little conversation with my mother about how on July 4th, people across the US used to gather in public spaces to hear the Declaration of Independence read aloud, and how unfortunate it is that that isn't common any more. So here is a song about the Declaration of Independence: Video posted by Illinois Policy The Schoolhouse Rock! song Fireworks was one of those written by Lynn Ahrens, a highly successful ( and Jewish! ) Broadway lyricist and libretticist. Together with her collaborator Stephen Flaherty she has written the songs for Ragtime , Seussical , Anastasia , Once on this Island and others, picking up an Emmy, 3 Grammy nominations, and a Tony (plus two more Tony nominations) along the way. And of the 37 Schoolhouse Rock! songs, Ms. Ahrens wrote 15 , including her first, and probably best known, "Preamble," which I include because why not? Video posted by T...

...because they were faced with more than their fair share of "too sweet" critiques: You may have to bump up the volume for this recording of Kelli O'Hara singing "I Whistle a Happy Tune" Video posted by Rodgers & Hammerstein Then there's the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald singing the now-controversial "Happy Talk" (but surely the message of South Pacific should count--or should it? Drop a line in the comments if you've got some thoughts about that, please) Video posted by A Trip Down Memory Lane And there's Julie Andrews bringing us a list of what makes her character happy, "My Favorite Things" Video posted by Fox Family Entertainment Hello to you, too! *** As I've written before , Richard Rodgers (his father changed the family's last name from Abrahams) was Jewish, and one of the most influential composers on Broadway, first with Lorenz Hart, then with Oscar Hammerstein, and lastly, in a series of one...

"Shakin' the Blues Away" by Irving Berlin: Videos posted by The Marriott Theatre And hey, do not skip the rope skipping! Video posted by Great Performances/PBS That interrupted number was from the 2018 revival of Holiday Inn , but it was originally written for The Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 , was used again in 1948 in Easter Parade as a number by Ann Miller, and was used yet again in 1955's Love Me or Leave Me , in which it was sung by Doris Day, playing the role of Ruth Etting, the original 1927 singer. I guess it's a really good tune for a dance number? But, hey, no complaints here, I always do love a good tap number! *** If it weren't for the fact that we've got a holiday (Shavuot) starting in a few hours, I'd try to come up with some new factoid about Irving Berlin, but since we do, I shall just put in some links to what I've already said about Irving Berlin: For those who are celebrating Easter... It's been a little minute....

I really should have thought of this one before: Video posted by Sophia BP I mean, it was good enough for Lin-Manuel Miranda, right? Video posted by usnavi (Is this what happens at every Tony winner's wedding? Because this has not happened at any wedding I've been at. I feel like this should happen at more weddings.) *** I cannot help but feel that it is a trifle unnecessary to say that Jerry Bock (the composer) and Sheldon Harnick (the lyricist) of Fiddler on the Roof were Jewish. (As were the book writer, Joseph Stein ; the producer of the original Broadway production, Hal Prince ; and the director/choreographer of that same production, Jerome Robbins . So much for Mel Brooks and his "phalanx of Jews" !). Both Bock and Harnick wrote with others, but together they wrote the songs for at least eight Broadway musicals, including Fiorello! , the under appreciated She Loves Me , and The Rothschilds , and along the way picked up three Tonys. L'Chaim! *...

I don't suppose you can really call it a dance, can you--more a routine. But who cares? Video posted by ozabbavo77 Talk about classic comedy! And if you want to brave a Russian site, you can see Joseph Gordon-Levitt interpret/recreate the number on SNL , which while considerably less frenetic is at least as impressive an accomplishment considering that he made it all the way through on live TV--and then did the rest of the show--while when Donald O'Connor performed that tour de force of physical comedy he was so bruised and battered he had to retreat to bed for several days after filming the number. Ouch! Of course, there is a teensy little problem with the song itself. Arthur Freed was a producer at MGM, responsible for many of the best musicals to come out of Hollywood, but before that he was a lyricist, and together with composer Nacio Herb Brown had written a nice catalog of songs that he thought could be put to good use in a movie. Being an excellent producer, his wh...

Guilt doesn't seem like a promising direction. Let's try something else entirely: Video posted by omarov No, no, NO, they can't stop there! You can't have Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers not dance! (Go ahead, go full screen for it, you know you want to.) Video posted by UberDurable That was "Pick Yourself Up," music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and it was written for the 1936 movie these clips came from, Swing Time . It's been covered and recovered , and was (almost) quoted by Barack Obama in his first Inaugural Address . *** We've run across Dorothy Fields before , but I hadn't mentioned that her father, Lew Fields (born Moses Schoenfeld), started out in theater as half of Weber and Fields --one of the most popular comedy teams in vaudeville--and then became a successful theater producer . Despite this show business background, Dorothy did anything but coast--even though a female lyricist and librettist was a rarity in her...

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...