1957

The Follies, first presented in 1907, were literally star-studded with dozens of top names making their first Broadway hit under the Ziegfeld banner, among them Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, Bobby Clark, W. C. Fields, Ruth Etting, Marilyn Miller, Ann Pennington, Ed Wynn and Mae Murray. However, Ziegfeld’s most lasting claim to fame was his glorification of the American chorine. His discriminating eye for beauty made the words Follies Girl synonymous with glamour. The producer also appreciated beauty in his private life. His first wife was the vivacious musical comedy star Anna Held who divorced him in 1912. His second wife was the equally lovely and talented stage and motion picture actress Billie Burke. A list of the big name song writers associated with the Follies down through the years reads like an ASCAP Honour Roll of Hits. For instance, The Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 introduced such great Irving Berlin standards as A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody, Mandy, and You’d Be Surprised. Berlin also penned Shaking The Blues Away, rendered by Ruth Etting in The Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. The Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 produced three poignant Vernon Duke songs—Suddenly (lyrics by Billy Rose), I Like The Likes Of You, and What Is There To Say—plus Billy Hill’s moving western classic The Last Roundup. Duke also wrote the wonderful Bunny Berrigan hit I Can’t Get Started With You for The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 which starred the late Fanny Brice. Miss Brice of course, scored one of her greatest triumphs in The Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 with the tender French torch song My Man. The bouncy novelty Row, Row, Row was written by William Jerome and Jimmy Monaco for The Ziegfeld Follies of 1912, while the hit Follies song in 1915 was Gene Buck and Louis Hirsch’s Hello Frisco!

Ziegfeld’s life was full of spectacular ups and downs, and the lavish nature of his successes was only equalled by the king-sized scale of his failures. He lost two fortunes on Broadway, and in 1929, the Wall Street crash cost him more than $2,000,000. He died in 1932 at 63, and the last Follies produced under his personal supervision was presented in 1931. However, in 1934 his widow granted the Schuberts permission to use the name Ziegfeld Follies, and two more editions were subsequently produced on Broadway in ’36 and ’42. The Great Ziegfeld has been dead almost 25 years, but his name still stands for the ultimate in glamorous entertainment, feminine perfection and all-time great musical scores.

My Fair Lady opened at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven February 4, 1956, at the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia on February 15, and at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in. New York on March 15.

My Fair Lady, a musical adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, is beautiful, delightful, tuneful and funny, that even the great “Shaw” would have approved this production.

Henry Higgins, an English professor, is taking notes on British dialects. He is especially impressed with Eliza – a Cockney flower-girl. He tells Eliza that he and his friend, Colonel Pickering, can teach her to speak like a lady, and become successful as a shop-owner and not remain a flower-girl.

The next day she appears at the professors home to ask him to teach her proper “English” and he agrees. However, her Cockney ways and ideas almost make the professor give up his experiment. However, Eliza learns correct pronunciation and the professor introduces his “protege” to society at the Ascot Races. At the races she attracts the attention of Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a wealthy Englishman, who follows her home hoping to see her again.

After months of hard work, Eliza is ready for the great experiment. She is taken to a ball where she is a success. The people at the ball assume she is of great wealth or nobility.

The professor and his friend are elated over their successful experiment and completely for-get their “protege”. Eliza, hurt and angry, leaves the house and runs into Freddy. Freddy professes his love for Eliza.

The day after the ball, the professor realizes that Eliza is gone. He finds Eliza at his mother’s home where she has gone for comfort and sympathy. The professor offers Eliza a truce which she refuses.

On his way home, he thinks about the way she has affected his life. Later in the evening as the professor sits quietly at home listening to a recording of Eliza’s voice, Eliza returns “home.”

“THE KING and I”

Also received immediate acclaim by public and critics alike immediately upon its opening March 29, 1951. Here was another achievement of the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, creators of “Oklahoma!”, “South Pacific”, “Carousel and other triumphant musical pro-ductions that have made their names synonomous with beautiful music.

Rodgers and Hammerstein have that rare ability to integrate the score with the theme. In “The King and I” which is an adaptation of Margaret Landon’s “Anna and the King of Siam”, Rodgers and Hammerstein capture every emotion from humor to pathos in their melodious tunes, yet continue to maintain an accurate musical picture of the situations in the play. How lovely are “Something Wonderful”, “Getting ;o Know You”, Shall We Dance”, and how truly in-dicative they are of each situation they present. This album of “The King and l” will occupy a cherished part of your music-listening hours.

AL GOODMAN famous conductor and musician has devoted all his life to music. His love for music and his inherent musical ability were manifest at an early age when he sang soprano in his father’s choir, became a musician in the pit of a local “movie house”, and was awarded a scholarship to the Pea-body Conservatory in Baltimore.

In 1915 Al Goodman was selected by Earl Carroll to accompany him to California as arranger and conductor. That was Goodman’s official entry into show business . . . the start of an illustrious musical career which brought him into personal contact with the all-time “greats” of show business . . . as the conductor of many shows and musical productions whose successes were due in great measure to his outstanding ability. Al Goodman produced musical comedies with Earl Carroll . . . never-to-be forgotten hits like “So Long Letty” and “Canary Cottage”. He became Al Jolson’s personal conductor and arranger, then J. J. Shubert made him general musical director and composer of all Shubert musical productions.

He later became associated with various Radio and TV Shows as musical consultant and director such as the Hit Parade & the Colgate Hour. In his wide and varied career he was associated arranger, conductor, recording artist or musical supervisor for about 200 famous musical shows and programs. He has worked with the biggest names in the history of Broadway: Earl Carroll, Al Jolson, George White, Sigmund Romberg, Jack Benny, Fannie Brice, George Jessel, Flo Ziegfeld, James Melton, Max Gordon, Bob Hope, and many, many others. The name of Al Goodman, arranger, conductor, musician is one of the brightest lights of show business on Broadway.

TECHNICAL DATA (RIAA)
The recording you have just purchased was made on an Ampex Tape Recorder, Model 600, with Altec and Telefunken Microphones. The Masters were cut on a Scully Lathe with Grampion Feedback Cutter Heads driven by specially designed 200 Watt Amplifier. Mastering was done with maximum stylus velocity consistent with minimum distortion realizing the ultimate in signal to noise ratio. Although the total frequency range of 16 CPS to 20,000 CPS on this record is not within the range of ordinary hearing, microscopic examination will reveal the etchings of the upper dynamic frequencies. However, it is the opinion of the producers of this record that the inclusion of these inaudible frequencies does convey a certain warmth of tone that is lensed by the listener rather than usually heard.
This recording may be played on any 331/3 RPM record playing instrument; but the wide range and fine technical features incorporated in this record will be most fully realized on playback equipment of extremely high fidelity.
Low Frequency Limit 16 CPS High Frequency Limit 25,000 CPS Crossover 500 CPS Rolloff 13.75 DB at 10KC

HOW TO PLAY THIS RECORD

In order to enjoy this recording to its fullest, set the volume control at the point at which the sound seems to fill the room and is not objection-ally loud.
The Bass Control should be set so as to pick up only the fullness and mellowness of the rhythm instruments without thumpy reverberation.
The Treble Control is set for best results when the music comes through without a static interruption and the sound comes through without distortion.
Naturally a diamond stylus will in-sure more perfect sound reproduction but this record will provide hours of enjoyable listening when played with any other type of reproducing styli.

“You were never lovelier”, “I’m old fashioned” and “Dearly beloved” were all featured in the 1943 film “You were never lovelier”, which starred Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth.

From “Showboat” which was first presented in 1927, two numbers are included —”Make believe” and “Why do I love you?”

“Smoke gets in your eyes” and “Lovely to look at” are from the 1935 production “Roberta”, starring Fred Astaire and Irene Dunne, although the first title was originally from a musical show “Gowns for Roberta” in 1933.

“Moon love” was written for “The Beauty Prize”, a show produced in 1923.

In 1940 Jerome Kern wrote a haunting melody that was to win an Academy Award film “Oscar” as the best tune of 1941—a tune that recalled the capital of France before its war-time occupation. The film was “Till the clouds roll by”. The tune—”The last time I saw Paris”.

“They didn’t believe me” is the earliest of Jerome Kern’s many hit tunes, dating back to 1914, when it brought happiness to many people during the first World War. It was in a show called—”Tonight’s the night”.

“All the things you are” was composed for a show called “Very warm for May”, in 1939, and was later featured in a Hollywood film “Broadway rhythm”.

“All the things you are” was composed for a show called “Very warm for May”, in 1939, and was later featured in a Hollywood film “Broadway rhythm”.

“A fine romance” and “The way you look tonight” both came from one of the early Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire successes “Swingtime”. Incidentally “The way you look tonight” also won an Academy Award “Oscar” as the best film tune of 1936.

In 1942 he wrote the music for what was to be his last film score; Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly were the stars, and the film was called “Cover Girl”. Even if you find it hard to remember the film, one tune from it has become a standard favourite—”Long ago and far away”.

These, then, are the melodies featured on this record—melodies by one of the greatest composers of all time. Victor Silvester has paid tribute to a famous American by presenting these tunes to you in a way we think you will long remember, and, we hope, enjoy over and over again.

THE NAME of Victor Silvester is synonymous with dancing and music for dancing throughout Europe and South America, and in large sections of Asia and Africa. In addition, many G.I.’s returning home after the war from places as far apart as Chung-king and Casablanca carried with them memories of his inimitable music.

At the age of 22 Victor won the World’s Dancing Championship, an outstanding feat as he had only begun dancing three years before. His success was due to intensive training and exceptional ability.

He then opened his own dancing school in London’s famous Bond Street, and this became the largest and most famous in the British Isles. People from all parts of the world came to learn dancing there, and these included many notable personalities, such as Madeleine Carroll, Merle Oberon and Belita—to mention only a few. It was his experience as a dancer and his association with Columbia which led to the formation of his Ballroom Orchestra.

At his Dancing Academy—in common with other teachers at the time—Victor found that it was difficult to obtain satisfactory records suitable for dancing, and so he hit upon the brilliant idea of forming his own orchestra. He had learned to play the piano as a boy, and his studies at a London College of Music were to prove of great value. His records were best-sellers from the first issue.

The popularity of Victor’s Ballroom Orchestra led to the formation of an entirely different unit—the Silver Strings—and this combination, featuring the music of Latin-America—soon emulated the popularity of its ballroom counterpart. Today he is one of the few artists in the entertainment world who has at least three records issued every month! He has a seven year contract with Columbia (English label), and a three-year contract with the B.B.C., for whom he has provided a regular programme called “The Television Dancing Club” since 1948. He also undertakes well over 100 broadcasts a year in B.B.C. radio series, among which is a request programme “Music for Dancing” which has been heard regularly on the North American Service of the B.B.C. for the past ten years. Recently Victor has begun to open dancing studios throughout the British Isles in association with the Rank Organisation, and it is estimated that over two hundred studios will be in operation within the next three years.

He has written a book “Modern Ballroom Dancing” which has sold over a million copies in 50 different editions! With his pianist Ernest Wilson, who is also his arranger, and who so brilliantly orchestrated the music for this record, he has written over 150 dance tunes, including Tangos, Rumbas, Sambas, Viennese Waltzes, Mambos, Calypsos, and Rock and Roll! Victor decided to extend its range to encompass the more general field of popular music.

His Orchestras play, and have always played, for those who like to dance, as well as those who like to listen. The musical sound he has achieved is as distinctive in its own right as that of the late Glenn Miller, with whom he formed a close personal friendship during the war, which continued until Glenn’s tragic death in 1944.

Perhaps the best summing-up of the principles which Victor believes in, was given by the maestro himself when he said “The basic essentials of true dance music are melody, simplicity and a consistent rhythm. Join these three entities together and you have music that is nice to dance to and pleasing to listen to.” These principles are clearly defined on this record, and we feel sure that you will find many hours, days and years of enjoyment with this record.