So anyway Harold Rome

atsarisborn · Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Posts: 24

A song I always enjoy is "Mene, Mene, Tekel" from PIns & Needles. Such
a witty lyric, such an irresistible rhythm and melody -- he said it
was his kids' favorite nighty-night song, though it would keep me
awake, bouncing, not send me off to sleep.

And I got to wondering about poor Harold: he was always on the also-
ran list. He never wrote a standard (did he?), he never had a hit show
after Pins & Needles, he never really scored. What held him back? What
did he have a great big lack of? (as Alan Lerner would say).

More to my purpose: what other good songs of his have been generally
overlooked?

Jean Coeur de Lapin

Archived from group: rec>arts>theatre>musicals

Harlett O'Dowd · Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Posts: 115

On Feb 19, 5:56 pm, atsarisb...@hotmail.com wrote:
> A song I always enjoy is "Mene, Mene, Tekel" from PIns & Needles. Such
> a witty lyric, such an irresistible rhythm and melody -- he said it
> was his kids' favorite nighty-night song, though it would keep me
> awake, bouncing, not send me off to sleep.
>
> And I got to wondering about poor Harold: he was always on the also-
> ran list. He never wrote a standard (did he?), he never had a hit show
> after Pins & Needles, he never really scored.

well, no. CALL ME MISTER, WISH YOU WERE HERE and FANNY were all hits.
DESTRY RIDES AGAIN also ran a year. "South America, Take it Away" and
"Wish You Were Here" were certainly covered and received airplay. I'm
not sure if they would count as standards, but were certainly released
as singles. There surely were others.

he was never as successful as, say, R&H, but I'd be perfectly happy to
have his career today.

Robert Bouton · Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Posts: 67

Harold Rome's one of my favorites, particularly Fanny, and I included
him in a cabaret benefit featuring blacklisted musical theatre writers
I put together last fall (Don Jose From Far Rockaway and Fanny-the
song-were the hits of the evening). The first Rome song I was aware
of was Be Kind To Your Parents, recorded by Pete Seeger on an album
for children that was constantly on my turntable when I was 8 or 9.
Before childhood was over, I got to meet him, and he was very friendly
and encouraging of my aspirations.

One of his more famous songs, Miss Marmelstein, is credited with
launching Barbra Steisand's career. She also recorded many of the
songs from Pins and Needles, the longest running musical of the 1930s,
and is particularly funny on Nobody Makes a Pass At Me. Judy
Garland's Greatest Hits include her rendition of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Jones. And if I were asked to name the greatest contralto rendition
of a torch song, it would be Delores Gray's exquisite I Say Hello.

One possible reason Rome isn't more well-known today is that his style
is often reflective of his Green Mansions roots: At times, he's too
cute, too eager-to-please, and, I'll go out on a shaky limb and say
too Jewish, to be more widely popular. And have you ever noticed how
often his lyrics repeat themselves? How many "I Hate Him"s appear in
"I Hate Him"? Or "Wish You Were Here" in "Wish You Were Here"? "I
Know Your Kind" always sounded like Steiner's Tara theme to me.

A friend of mine recently told me her parents were celebrating some
major anniversary, and her father wanted to sing an appropriate song
to her mother, to celebrate. I instantly thought of two great Rome
ballads that aren't hard to sing: To My Wife, and Have I Told You
Lately?

Sometimes I wonder what Rome would think of the theatre world today,
with a new musical of Gone With the Wind being prepared (Rome did one
in the 70s), a recent play called The Little Dog Laughed (title of one
of his musicals) and everyone calling a current revival Sunday in the
Park (an early hit that got lots of air-play).

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Rome's birth. I find I think
of him often, how he seemed to lack a certain depth until David
Merrick took a chance on him, on the very first musical he produced,
and the gorgeous Fanny was the result. Whenever I hear flattery, I
hum Flattery. Whenever I eat octopus, his Octopus song comes to
mind. I love all his counterpoint songs, like Blissful Christmas and
Are You Ready, Gyp Watson. Rome was, in a word, Oisgetzaichnet
(translation: out of this world).

Steve Newport · Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Posts: 1415

chris.connelly@worldspan.com (Harlett O'Dowd) CALL ME MISTER, WISH YOU
WERE HERE and FANNY were all hits. DESTRY RIDES AGAIN also ran a year.
---------------------------------------
And I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE is a fantastic flop which was revived
off-Broadway.

David Levy · Joined: 04 Dec 2007 Posts: 46

On Feb 19, 5:56 pm, atsarisb...@hotmail.com wrote:

> And I got to wondering about poor Harold: he was always on the also-
> ran list. He never wrote a standard (did he?)

In addition to the songs already mentioned, I'd say "Be Kind To Your
Parents" qualifies as a standard.

Steve Newport · Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Posts: 1415

From: dlevy@post.harvard.edu (David Levy) In addition to the songs
already mentioned, I'd say "Be Kind To Your Parents" qualifies as a
standard.
--------------------------------------
I remember "The Sound of Money" on several TV variety shows. David Frost
did a show with Rome performing his own songs, including "To My Wife."

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