“Men die but an idea does not.”"
Responsible for shows such as
Brigadoon,
Gigi,
An American in Paris,
Royal Wedding,
Camelot,
Paint Your Wagon,
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and
My Fair Lady; songs including
I Remember It Well,
Take Care of This House,
Almost Like Being In Love,
Come Back To Me,
If I Ever Would Leave You,
On the Corner of the Rue Cambon,
One More Walk Around the Garden,
Wand'rin' Star,
The Night They Invented Champagne,
Show Me,
I Could Have Danced All Night and hundreds more - Mr Alan Jay Lerner, who was born 95 years ago today, was a powerhouse of the great American musical tradition.
He collaborated with great composers such as Kurt Weill, André Previn, John Barry, Leonard Bernstein, Burton Lane and Charles Strouse, but - of course - it was for his five-decade partnership with Frederick Loewe that his name will forever be remembered.
Here is a small selection of Alan Jay Lerner numbers, in celebration...
Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, goofing it up on
How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life:
The incredible tonsils of Dame Shirley Bassey on
If I Ever Would Leave You:
And finally - the classic combination of Bing, Frank, Peggy and Louis, with a never-to-be-repeated version of
I'm Glad I'm Not Young Any More:
Facts about Mr Lerner:
- In his fifty-year writing career, he won three Tony Awards, three Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, the Johnny Mercer Lifetime Award for lyric writing and a Kennedy Center Honour.
- His show Lolita, My Love (with John Barry), which opened and closed in 1971, lost $900,000, much of it Mr Lerner's money. Its lead song was Going, Going, Gone.
- Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted Alan to write the lyrics to The Phantom of the Opera (he did write Masquerade), but he had to leave the project due to the effects of an undiagnosed brain tumour.
- He turned down an invitation to write the English-language lyrics for the musical version of Les Misérables.
Alan Jay Lerner (31st August 1918 – 14th June 1986)
[My tributes to Mr Loewe are
here and
here.]
