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...