1942 - Music

Music

Hollywood musicals: Michael Curtiz's Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney as George M. Cohan, choreography by LeRoy Prinz; Busby Berkeley's For Me and My Gal with Judy Garland, Gene Kelly; David Butler's The Road to Morocco with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, music by James Van Heusen, lyrics by Johnny Burke, songs that include "Constantly," "Moonlight Becomes You," and the title song; George Marshall's Star-Spangled Rhythm with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Ray Milland, Veronica Lake, Beverly Hills-born actress Susan Hayward (Edythe Marrener), 23, Alan Ladd, Paulette Goddard, Cecil B. De Mille, songs that include "That Old Black Magic" by Harold Arlen, music by Johnny Mercer; William A. Seiter's You Were Never Lovelier with Fred Astaire, New York-born actress Rita Hayworth (Margarita Carmen Cansino), 23, music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, songs that include "Dearly Beloved," "I'm Old Fashioned," and the title song; the late Victor Schertzinger's The Fleet's In with William Holden, Dorothy Lamour, Betty Hutton, Eddie Bracken, music by Schertzinger (who died at age 52 while completing the film last October), lyrics by Johnny Mercer, songs that include "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry" and "Tangerine"; Irving Cummings's Springtime in the Rockies with Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, New York-born actor Cesar Romero, 35, Brooklyn, N.Y.-born comedian Jackie Gleason, 26, Charlotte Greenwood, songs that include "I Had the Craziest Dream" by Harry James, lyrics by Mack Gordon; Mark Sandrich's Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, songs that include "White Christmas," a holiday number that will break all marks for phonograph record sales.

Stage musicals: Star and Garter 1/24 at New York's Music Box Theater, with Bobby Clark, stripteaser Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Louise Hovick), 18, Georgia Sothern in an extravaganza mounted by showman Mike Todd, songs that include Harold Arlen's "Blues in the Night," 609 perfs.; By Jupiter 6/2 at the Shubert Theater, with Ray Bolger, music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, 427 perfs.; Sky High 6/4 at London's Phoenix Theatre, with Hermione Baddeley, Hermione Gingold, Walter Cresham, 149 perfs.; This Is the Army 7/24 at the Broadway Theater, with an all-soldier cast for the benefit of the Army Emergency Relief Fund, music, book, and lyrics by Irving Berlin, songs that include "I Left My Heart at the Stage-Door Canteen," the title song, and songs from Berlin's 1918 musical Yip-Yip-Yaphank, 113 perfs.; Show Time (vaudeville revue) 9/16 at the Broadhurst Theater (after 20 weeks at Los Angeles and San Francisco), with George Jessel, Jack Haley, Ella Logan, the De Marcos, the Berry Brothers, book by Fred F. Finklehoffe, 342 perfs.

Joe Weber of Weber and Fields dies after a 2-month illness at Los Angeles May 10 at age 74 (see Fields, 1941); Effie Ellsler dies of a heart attack at Hollywood October 9 at age 87; Dame Marie Tempest after a brief illness at London October 15 at age 78; George M. Cohan at his Fifth Avenue, New York, home November 5 at age 64 (he is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery—just 45 minutes from Broadway); comedienne-director Laura Hope Crews dies after a month's illness at New York November 13 at age 62.

Opera: Philadelpia-born soprano Margaret Harshaw, 33, makes her Metropolitan Opera debut 11/22 singing the role of the second Norn in the 1876 Wagner opera Die Götterdämmerung. She will remain with the Met until 1963; New York-born tenor Jan Peerce (originally Jacob Pincus Perelmuth), 36, makes his Metropolitan Opera debut 11/29 singing the role of Alfredo in the 1853 Verdi opera La Traviata.

Soprano Emma Calve dies at Millau, France, January 6 at age 83.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in Nazi Germany gives a debut recital at Berlin's Beethoven Saal; she will be the outstanding lieder singer for decades.

Ballet: Romeo and Juliet 4/6 at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, with Jerome Robbins (née Rabinowitz), 23, Hugh Laing, Antony Tudor, Alicia Markova, Sono Osato, music by the late Frederick Delius, choreography by Tudor; Pillar of Fire 4/8 at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, with Hugh Laing, Antony Tudor, Nora Kaye (as Hagar), music by Arnold Schoenberg, choreography by Tudor; Rodeo 10/16 at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, with Agnes George de Mille, 37, music by Aaron Copland, choreography by de Mille; Metamorphoses 11/25 at New York's City Center, with Tanaquil LeClerq, Todd Bolender, music by Paul Hindemith, choreography by George Balanchine; Gayeneh 12/9 at Molotov, with music (including a "Saber Dance") by Armenian Soviet composer Aram Khatchaturian, 39.

Choreographer Michel Fokine dies of pneumonia at New York August 22 at age 62.

First performances: Diversions on a Theme for Piano for Left Hand and Orchestra by Benjamin Britten 1/16 at Philadelphia's Academy of Music (see Wittgenstein, 1917); Imaginary Landscape No. 3 by Los Angeles-born composer John (Milton) Cage (Jr.), 29, 3/1 at Chicago (scored for electric oscillator, buzzers of variable frequency, Balinese gongs, generator whine, coil, tin cans, marimba); Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) by Dmitri Shostakovich (who was airlifted out of the beleaguered city last year) 3/1 at Moscow; Second Essay for Orchestra by Samuel Barber 4/16 at New York's Carnegie Hall; Lincoln Portrait (Symphonic Poem) by Aaron Copland, Mark Twain by Jerome Kern, and The Mayor La Guardia Waltzes by Virgil Thomson 5/14 at Cincinnati; Bachianos Brasileiras No. 9 for Orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos 6/6 at New York; Choros No. 6, No. 9, and No. 11 by Villa-Lobos 7/5 at Rio de Janeiro.

Stereophonic sound pioneer Alan Blumlein dies in late June at age 38 along with some colleagues and everyone else aboard when their Halifax bomber crashes while they conduct tests on what will eventually become the H2S blind-bombing radar system.

Popular songs: "Warsaw Concerto" by English composer Richard Addinsell, 38; "When the Lights Go on Again" by Eddie Seiler, Sol Marcus, Bennie Benjemen; "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" by Frank Loesser; "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" by Duke Ellington, lyrics by Bob Russell; "A String of Pearls" by Jerry Gray, lyrics by Eddie De Lange; "In the Blue of Evening" by Alfred A. D'Artega, lyrics by Tom Adair; "Tango Neighborhood" ("Barrio de Tango") by Argentinian composer Anibal (Carmelo) Troilo, 28, lyrics by Homero Manzi; "Mister Five by Five" by Gene De Paul and Don Ray (for the film Behind the Eight Ball); "My Devotion" by Ric Holman and Johnny Napton; "There Will Never Be Another You" by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon (for the film Iceland); "I've Heard that Song Before" by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn (for the film Youth on Parade); "Serenade in Blue" by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon; "Who Wouldn't Love You?" by Carl Fischer, lyrics by Bill Carey; "Jingle Jangle Jingle" by Joseph J. Lelley, lyrics by Frank Loesser; "One Dozen Roses" by bandleader Dick Jergens and Walter Donovan, lyrics by Roger Lewis and Country Washburn. North Dakota-born vocalist Peggy Lee (originally Norma Deloris Egstrom), 22, records Joe McCoy's "Why Don't You Do Right" with Benny Goodman's band; the Andrews Sisters sing "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" by Lew Brown, Charlie Tobias, and Sam H. Sept in Edward Cline's film Private Buckaroo; Texas-born vocalist Ella Mae Morse, 18, sings "Cow-Cow Boogie" for the newly-established Capitol Record label and has a million-copy bestseller (she also records "Mr. Five-by-Five").

The first "golden record" is presented February 10 to Glenn Miller, whose 1941 hit "Chattanooga Choo Choo" has been sprayed with gold by RCA-Victor in recognition of the record's having sold more than 1 million copies. Miller disbands his orchestra late in the year and will join the Army Air Force as a major, organize a large orchestra for the USO, and broadcast to troops in every theater of the war (but see 1944).

Chicago-born American Federation of Musicians president James C. (Caesar) Petrillo, 50, calls a general strike against U.S. record companies for failing to pay royalties to musicians. President Roosevelt protests that music is essential to wartime morale, but the strike will continue for 27 months until the companies agree to meet the AFM's demands. Petrillo will remain AFM president until 1958, establishing the Music Performance Trust Fund to pay for free benefit concerts nationwide, keeping musicians employed, and contributing to charitable causes while he works to protect his membership from being hurt by technological changes in the entertainment and recording industries.

Songwriter Fred Fisher hangs himself at his New York home January 14 at age 45, having suffered from an incurable disease; songwriter Frank Churchill's health fails and he kills himself with a shotgun on his ranch near Newhall, Calif., May 14 at age 41; former Duke Ellington jazz bass Jimmy Blanton dies of tuberculosis at Monrovia, Calif. July 30 at age 21 (approximate).