Original cast recordings of Broadway shows may seem like they have been around forever, but they didn't come into vogue until 1943 and the stunning success of
Oklahoma! both on stage and as a cast album.
For earlier shows - even those of such luminaries as George Gershwin - we have only an sketchy indication of how they sounded on the stage. Yes, at times the stars or even the composer would make recordings, but these often were not of the original arrangements or with their original co-stars.
In addition, the record companies had their own stars put down their interpretations of the most popular songs, and these would shape the impressions of the average person far from Broadway and its theaters.
Today I want to look at one of those Gershwin musicals -
Oh, Kay! from 1926, a Broadway success with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse. For that show, we have two recordings made by its star, Gertrude Lawrence, and the four by Gershwin himself at the piano, along with several by the popular artists of the day.
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| Ira and George Gershwin, Guy Bolton |
About Oh, Kay! Oh, Kay! was written for Lawrence, a West End favorite who had appeared on Broadway in revue in 1924 and 1925 to great acclaim. Hers was to be the first starring role for a British performer in a Broadway musical. The show ran in New York from November 1926 through July 1927, then went to London's West End for another seven months.
The musical was very much of its time, a farce involving comical bootleggers mixed up with some English aristocrats, including the Duke of Durham and his sister Lady Kay (Lawrence). Kay's love interest was Jimmy Winter, played by Oscar Shaw, and the main comic foil was the inevitable Victor Moore as Shorty McGee.
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| Oscar Shaw, Gertrude Lawrence, Victor Moore |
On stage, Lawrence sang three of the show's four big tunes - a solo on "Someone to Watch Over Me" and duets with Shaw in "Do, Do, Do" and "Maybe." The quasi-minstrel number "Clap Yo' Hands" was handled by Harlan Dixon and the ensemble.
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| 1927 West End program |
When the time came for recordings, only Lawrence was asked into the studio, and then only for "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Do-Do-Do," done for Victor. Columbia engaged Gershwin to supply piano versions of the main songs. Plus there were other recordings handled by artists under contract to the various labels.
Let's take a look at these contrasting recordings, all of which date from October-December 1926.
Oh, Kay! MedleyAlthough Victor invited Lawrence to record only two songs, it also engaged other artists to set down the best numbers. We start off the collection with an "
Oh, Kay! Medley" from the two-piano team of Edgar Fairchild and Ralph Rainger. Both were composers as well as instrumentalists, and Rainger would go on to become quite well known in Hollywood for his work with Leo Robin, before perishing in a 1942 plane crash.
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| Edgar Fairchild and Ralph Rainger |
I've included this record as a kind of overture, but also because it includes another song from the show besides the big four tunes named above - "Fidgety Feet" (not the ODJB number).
Clap Yo' Hands"Clap Yo' Hands" provides the first opportunity to hear Gershwin in this score. The rousing number is well suited to his energetic approach to his own music on the piano, which I have otherwise observed can be brisk to the brink of brusque. He seldom attempts to convey sentiment through his playing - not that this is particularly relevant in "Clap Yo' Hands."
But what he does instrumentally is fascinating; he frequently uncovers new aspects to the music by introducing asides and counter-melodies. This number in particular also demonstrates his roots in ragtime.
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| Sam Lanin |
The second version of "Clap Yo' Hands" is a Cameo recording done by the prolific Sam Lanin (Lester's brother), with an anonymous vocal. (Discographer Brian Rust identifies him as the little-recorded Arthur Hall.) Lanin passes the melody back and forth between the saxes and brass, and Hall is an effective advocate for the lyric.
Do-Do-DoWith "Do-Do-Do" we come to the first recording by the show's star, Gertrude Lawrence, accompanied by pianist Tom Waring (Fred's brother). We can speculate that this performance may be similar to what she presented on stage, and some of her coy phrasing would have worked better there in a duet setting, I imagine.
The second "Do-Do-Do" is also the second appearance by the composer, again fascinating in how he phrases his melody.
The third version is by another bandleader who was seldom out of the studios - Bob Haring, whose staccato trumpets attack the melody, with the unnamed vocalist right in tune with that march-band approach. This is another release from Cameo.
MaybeAfter that assault by Haring, it's nice to hear the sweet-toned Franklyn Baur, one of the busiest recording vocalists of the time, in "Maybe." Baur is one of my favorites among the tenors who were in the studio at the time, although modern ears will be distracted by his rolled R's, among other vocal traits long out of vogue.
Baur recorded more of this score than even Gershwin. Beside "Maybe," he did a medley from the show under his own name, separate medleys with the Revelers and with the Columbia Light Opera Company, and two duets with Virginia Rea. The latter had a backing by pianists Victor Arden and Phil Ohman, who were part of the pit band on Broadway. Baur's solo side was the best of the lot, so I used it in preference to the other sides.
Next is "Maybe" with the composer at the piano. At one point he features a counter-melody that was later lifted for a well-known theme by another composer - one that I can't place, to my annoyance.
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| Jesse Crawford |
For the final "Maybe" I could not resist transporting you to what sounds like a skating rink for a serenade by organist Jesse Crawford, along with Nat Shilkret and his Victor Orchestra. The echoey ambiance was actually created by recording these forces in an empty hall in the New York's Wurlitzer Building with Crawford at the console.
Someone to Watch Over Me![]() |
| "Someone to Watch Over Me" |
Before we close with Lawrence's show-stopping ballad version, let's hear "Someone to Watch Over Me" in two of the typically bouncy renditions that were popular then.
First was a fine arrangement from one of the best-regarded bands of the day, that of George Olsen. I am particularly partial to bass sax solos; there's a good one on this record.
The second version is another fascinating example from Gershwin himself.
After all this peppiness, we conclude with Gertrude Lawrence indulging in some emotion and rubato in her big number from the show. Lawrence sang the number to a rag doll in the staging. Originally, this song was near the beginning of the show, but
Oh, Kay! ran so long in tryouts that scenes were cut and shifted around so much that the star did not appear on stage until 40 minutes into the production and this number ended up in the second act. In the studio, Tom Waring is again Lawrence's accompanist.
These records were remastered from lossless needle drops found on Internet Archive. The sound is generally quite good. The download includes labels and more production photos.
A more complete version of the score can be found in the 1994 Nonesuch recording with Dawn Upshaw in the Lawrence role and Eric Stern conducting. There also was a 1955 studio version from Columbia with Barbara Ruick and Jack Cassidy, and a 1960 revival cast that I don't have in my collection.
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| The chorus admonishes Kay |
