I just finished reading "Most Remarkable Fella", Susan Loesser's biography of her dad, composer and lyricist Frank Loesser. And I received "The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser" for Christmas.

Two Sleepy People (lead sheet) Sheet Music cover

Hurrah, I'm the winner!!! I've just won the EBay bid for a lovely copy of the 1938 sheet music to Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser's "Two Sleepy People". The winning bid was one cent, plus reasonable shipping and handling, thanks to 3 other copies being offered at the same time. "Two Sleepy People" was written for the movie "Thanks For The Memory" in 1938. It was sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the movie. The sheet music cover shows a funny picture of Bob Hope and Shirley Ross. Bob and Shirley sing alternate phrases in the song, with Bob delivering perfectly timed wisecracks. There are new Smithsonian recordings available with Bob Hope and Shirley Ross singing "Two Sleepy People".

I learned "Two Sleepy People" in 1986 from a Fats Waller recording made back in 1938. Thomas 'Fats' Waller was one of the greatest stride pianists and organists from the 20s and 30s, having a large impact on pianists today. He was a very capable experienced artist, and he recorded most songs with no rehearsal in one take with his touring band, "Fats Waller and His Rhythm". Few black men back in the 1930s had any control of the recording process. Fats Waller was forced to record and sing many popular songs and novelty songs of the day that he did not care for. So he would mock the songs singing instant parodies as he recorded them. Many bands recorded new songs at the same time (6 bands recorded "Two Sleepy People" in 1938), but people would buy the Fats Waller recordings just to hear what he did with the songs. The RCA Victor producers for the black artist Bluebird label were right in this one, for the best-selling Fats Waller recording of "Two Sleepy People" stayed at #1 for two weeks in 1938.

Be sure to catch the Fats Waller review "Ain't Misbehavin'" at the Weathervane theatre in January and February this year. I've seen this show 3 times in other venues.

Heart and Soul (lead sheet)

Another Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser song I'll introduce is the old standard "Heart and Soul". You may be surprised that this piano piece has romantic lyrics. "Heart and Soul" was introduced in the 1938 Paramount film "A Song is Born". Hoagy tells us "The song was used at Paramount by a vocal coach to test the singing ability of aspiring actors. Anthony Quinn was on the lot then, and Frank and I heard him sing it so many times before it was even published that by the time it was a hit, we were sick of it." Frank's daughter Susan was surprised to hear that her dad had written "Heart and Soul". She thought it was written by the same guy who wrote "Chopsticks".

The 1938 recording by Bea Wain singing with Larry Clinton and his orchestra hit the #1 spot. If you listen to the orchestra accompaniment, you can hear where the tedious piano riff that amateurs play. But I first heard "Heart and Soul" sung by Livingston Taylor (James' brother) in a medley as he played piano. And I played it on piano like Livingston. My little stray cat Hoagy Catmichael used to settle in my lap as I played his favorite song on piano. I learned to play it one-handed so I could pet and hold him. So come sing this charming romantic song with me for Hoagy!

Baby, It's Cold Outside (lead sheet) Sheet Music cover

This song is a conversational duet sung by a man and a woman, a form that Loesser often used. Frank Loesser wrote the song in 1944 for Frank his wife Lynn to sing.

Frank and Lynn liked to throw parties. As part of the Hollywood set, they had many actors, composers, singers, and the near-famous as friends. This circle of people would throw a series of parties. The Loesser's large home was often the site for these parties. Everybody smoked and drank too much. Since almost all of the attendees were singers and performers, they all had songs and skits they could (and would) perform. The parties were scripted: "Arthur can do his Greek theatre skit, then Judy can sing "Over the Rainbow", then we'll sing "Isle of Capri", then .... Lynn was a singer, and she and Frank would sing duets together.

Susan Loesser writes:

"My father had written "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in 1944, in New York. Shortly after my parents moved into the Navarro Hotel, they decided to give themselves a housewarming party, including the requisite performances. When their turn came, Lynn and Frank went to the piano and introduced "Baby, It's Cold Outside" to their friends.

Well, the room just fell apart [my mother remembered]. I don't think either of us realized the impact of what we'd sung. We had to do it over and over again and we became instant parlor room stars. We got invited to all the best parties for years on the basis of "Baby." It was our ticket to caviar and truffles. Parties were built around our being the closing act.

For several years my father held on to the song, which he and my mother performed regularly at parties on both coasts. They would sit together at the piano and act out the lyrics with great charm. They even made a recording of it then, as now, a collector's item.

My mother treasured that song. She loved performing it. She loved the fact that it was theirs alone to perform for adoring audiences. Then, in 1948, my father decided to sell it to MGM for the film "Neptune's Daughter", starring Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban.

I felt as betrayed as if I'd caught him in bed with another woman. I kept saying "Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban!" He finally sat me down and said, "If I don't let go of 'Baby' I'll begin to think I can never write another song as good as I think this one is." He had to let go of it. "

"Baby" was a smash hit. It won the Academy Award (Frank used the Oscar as a doorstop). Over a dozen artists have recorded it, including a James Taylor (!!) recording and a Rod Stewart (uggh) recording this year.

Now this song is a little risque and perhaps in bad taste, and you are wondering how such a sophisticated gentleman such as myself would introduce such a song. Well I have an idea -- role reversal.

The song is written as two parts, a MOUSE part and a WOLF part. The traditional recordings have a man singing the WOLF part and a woman singing the mouse part. Well this is clearly very old-fashioned. In my personal experience, I have always been a very shy man who waits for the aggressive woman to take the lead. Thus in my customary role, I would like to sing the mouse part with my powerful bass voice and have a roomful of women sing the wolf part. I hope we can find some brave women to sing the wolf part, and maybe another shy man who will sing the mouse part with me.

My Finale arrangement is a lead sheet with two voices, notated "Mouse" and "Wolf". I have transposed it into C, which gives us a range of G to A, a little over an octave. The mouse part is in the bass clef, which is a little high but singable for my bass voice. My Yamaha P80 electric piano has a transpose switch (like Irving Berlin's piano) so I can play it in any key.

Once In Love With Amy (lead sheet) Sheet Music cover

Last year I purchased the sheet music to the humorous Frank Loesser song "Once In Love With Amy". Private Frank Loesser was in the army in 1942 in the states. He worked in a crew on a radio show produced for the soldiers. He and his wife shared a house in Santa Ana with another couple, Peter Hayes and Mary Healy. While in uniform, Frank continued to write songs, writing for over 20 movies during the war. An early riser, he would work with a small electric organ and headphones. When Mary Healy arose at 6:00 AM, she would often find Frank hard at work on his electric organ. Every day she would bring him a pot of strong coffee. He was so grateful, that he wrote a song for her in 1942 called "Once In Love With Mary". But he didn't use it right away.

English playwright, Brandon Thomas, wrote a series of humorous farces for the theater. While his work has been consigned to theater dustbins, his comedy "Charley's Aunt" has been popular since it first opened at the Theatre Royal in London on February 29, 1892. It is still being performed regularly by regional and amateur theaters (try an internet search for "Charley's Aunt" or "Charlie's Aunt"). It has been filmed at least six times: a 1915 silent; a 1925 silent starring Syd Chaplin, brother of Charlie Chaplin; a 1930 sound film starring American Charlie Ruggles; a 1940 U.K. spoof called "Charley's Big-Hearted Aunt" with Arthur Askey, and a 1941 U.S. version with Jack Benny, and "Charley's Aunt" also spawned a television show with Art Carney (1957) and countless stage productions.

Charley's Aunt, a wealthy millionairess, is to chaperone a lunch that Oxford students Jack and Charley plan for their fair ladies. She fails to arrive as expected ("from Brazil -- where the nuts come from"). In the original "Charley's Aunt" Jack and Charley persuade a friend, Lord Fancourt Babberly who has a woman's costume for a play to don female garments to pose as Charley's aunt, Donna Lucia. In the Broadway musical and movie, the role of Lord Fancourt Babberly was combined with Charley, so Charley plays his aunt dressed in a costume for a student theatrical. Meanwhile, Jack's widowed father reveals they have no money and Jack's practical advice is to marry Charley's soon-to-arrive Aunt. Sir Frances, ready to woo the heiress, is introduced to the bogus Donna Lucia. Amy's uncle, Stephen Spettigue intends to woo her too. The real Aunt Donna appears and the mad romp continues until all ends well as Charley's masquerade is revealed, Amy and Kitty are free to marry Charley and Jack and Donna Lucia and Sir Francis join.

This play was transformed in 1948 into Frank Loesser's first musical, "Where's Charley", starring Ray Bolger. Certainly you remember the rubber-legged Ray Bolger from his role as the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. Now any musical with Ray Bolger was guaranteed to break even, but the musical when it opened in Philadelphia was not a success. Bored audiences walked out. "Once in Love with Amy" was a perfect song for Ray Bolger. He did it as a soft-shoe routine "down-in-one", which is played at the footlights in front of a curtain which hides the scenery change going on behind it. The audiences liked the number well enough, but it was no show-stopper, even with the soft-shoe routine. Then one day producer Cy Feuer's seven-year-old son Bobby Feuer attended the Saturday matinee with a friend.

Producer Cy Feuer relates the story: Bobby knew Ray Bolger, who used to come to their house. They had Frank Loesser's demo records for the show, and they used to play them all the time. That day, Ray somehow forgot the start of the second verse. To cover, signaled the conductor to start again saying, "Hold it, hold it, Mr. Conductor, let's start that again. Now how does it go?" Bobby gets up and gives him the next line. And the audience laughs. "Oh, good," Ray says, "You know the song? You want to join me?" He doesn't know who the little boy is. "Yes, Ray," Bobby said. The singing is awkward, so Bolger turns to the audience and says, "Okay, everybody, let's all sing." They sang, all right, and when Ray got off the stage he said, "You know, maybe I can do something with that community singing. I got a feeling there for a minute." Ray stuck it into every matinee until he had it rolling, and then he did it at night. He developed it and embellished it and played games with the orchestra. "Ray could conduct. They would go on and on and come to a musical climax, and then start all over again. The audiences loved it. On closing night the number ran twenty-five minutes."

"Where's Charley" was a monster hit, running for 792 performances. "Once In Love With Amy" turned into a showstopper, with Ray Bolger leading a long singalong with the crowd. The role won Ray a Tony award in 1949 for "best actor in a musical." Ray Bolger also starred in a 1952 U.K. musical film version of the Broadway hit.