Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-04-18
Irving Caesar
Working Hard
OnNew Show
Closed II for Rewriting
Soon After Opening
BY DAMON RUNYON

IRVING CAESAR, famous song
writer, put in several years
thinking up and writing out a
stage show that was TO be all
his own as far as authorship and
presentation was concerned, bar
only the music.
II was, as he explained 10 me,
a sort of musical revue with a
real story running through il. /
thought it was all swell. though
perhaps my critical judgment
may have been tempered 10
some extent by my friendship
for Irving, and my susceptibility
TO his craftsmanship.
But the songs were undeniably
great. They had TO have some
thing far out of the ordinary to
come through Irving's singing
unscathed. He sings with great
vehemence. his right arm fail
ing the ozone, his right foot
beating the resin out OF the
floor, and he does not abate -his
vigor whether he is singing his
celebrated rs 1t True What
They Say About. Dixie" or his
Songs of Safety" written for
the Riddles.
LIARS more sensitive unsteady
~ than mine might fault Irv-
ing's chest tones, but / like that
kind of singing. like to see a
man sing as we'll as hear him. if
you get what i mean,, And l
loved 10 hear Irvine read his
lines. He reminded me of John
Barrymore, though / forget in
just what role.
Well. after considerable trav-
all. Irving got his show financed,
which was no minor item. as
sembled a big cast, did much of
the directing himself, and finally
went on the road on a sort of
shake-down cruise while out in
Los Angeles confidently awaited
news of a staggering triumph.
The name of the show, by the
way. was my Dear Public"
Then recently l received
telegram from Irving stating
that after appearing in few
cities. he had decided 10 close
the show down for rewriting.
before taking ii TO New York.
Knowing the hopes and heart
aches and the hard work that
went into the production, l was
somewhat depressed by this
news. 1t does not follow that
because il is found necessary to
suspend show for rewriting
that il is complete flop, be-
cause many an apparently hope
less show has been rejuvenated
by this process, but IL does mean
added sorrows for the producer.
1t means added expense.
7 REMEMBER another show
L that Irving was connected
with that shaped up for a time
as a vast Bustola and became
hit only through sheer acct
dent and perhaps the memory
will encourage him. The show
was called mo, No Nannette. -
out of which came Caesars best
known song, Tea for Two"
which is widely played to this
very day.
The late Harry Frazee. ia
nous theatrical man of his day
and owner Of the Boston Red
Sox, was the producer of mo,
No, Nannette" and in midwest
ern tryouts the show looked so
bad that il was agreed by the
staff in charge of the thing that
II ought 10 be closed.
An attempt was made to get
in touch with Frazee TO advise
him of the decision but he could
not be located. So the show was
kept going because no one on
the ground wanted to take the
responsibility of ordering the
closing, especially as Frazee had
so much7money at that time that
finances were no consideration.
1t was a couple of weeks be-
fore FraZee could be found and
meantime mo. No, Nannette"
had wandered into Chicago TO
open as such a prodigious hit
that the producers were able to
ignore New York for over a
year.
They felt II better TO keep
running 10 sure money in Chi
cago than to risk the possibility
of flop in the big town. When
II did open in New York. the
tunes were old stuff but il was
an even bigger hit than in Chi
cago. 1t crossed an enormous
sum.
Copyright. 1s47. by King Features
Distributed by International News Service