Ship Without a Sail

Zusatztext "Smart and sympathetic. . . . Marmorstein brings to life the Manhattan of Hart's youth." Informationen zum Autor Gary Marmorstein has written about film, theater, and popular music for The New York Times , The Los Angeles Times , and Stagebill , among other publications, and is the author of two previous books. He lives in New Jersey. Klappentext A deeply sympathetic biography of Lorenz Hart, the talented, troubled lyricist of film and Broadway fame. Marmorstein has done an enormous service for fans of stage and movie musicals (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).Blue Moon, Where or When, The Lady Is a Tramp, My Funny Valentine, Isn't It Romantic?, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewilderedthese are just some of the unforgettable songs that lyricist Lorenz Larry Hart wrote together with composer Richard Rodgers. A Ship Without a Sail is the story of the exuberant yet troubled Hart, who wrote so knowingly about the love that eluded him in his own short life. Despite their highly successful collaborations for Broadway and Hollywood, Rodgers and Hart were an odd couple. Rodgers was precise, handsome, heterosexual, and eager to be accepted by Society. Hart was barely five feet tall, alcoholic, homosexual, most at home in a bar or restaurant, and prone to unexplained disappearances. His lyrics spin with wit, brilliance, and sophistication, yet at their core is an unmistakable wistfulness and yearning; they are all the more remarkable considering that he never sustained a romantic relationship, living virtually his entire life with his mother until his death at age forty-eight. Gary Marmorstein's revelatory biography brings Hart and his colorful world vividly to life, and includes many of the lyrics that define Hart's indelible legacy. PROLOGUE I'm a Sentimental Sap, That's All ON THE morning of November 29, 1943, one week after the death of Lorenz Hart at age forty-eight, several people gathered at the Guaranty Trust Company, on the southwest corner of Forty-Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, to open the decedent's safe-deposit box. Hart was considered by many to be the greatest of all American lyricists. Hart's attorney Abraham M. Wattenberg arrived with his young associate Leonard Klein, bearing an order, duly made by Surrogate James A. Foley, to open the box with the express purpose of removing Hart's will. A representative of the state tax commission agreed to be there at 11:45 A.M. to oversee the task. Already present were the two executors named in the will: William Kron, who had been Hart's accountant for the past five years; and Richard Rodgers, the composer with whom, over the course of twenty-five years, Hart had written more than eight hundred songs, including My Funny Valentine, Isn't It Romantic?, My Heart Stood Still, Blue Moon, My Romance, With a Song in My Heart, The Lady Is a Tramp, Thou Swell, I Didn't Know What Time It Was, Mountain Greenery, Manhattan, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, I Could Write a Book, and Where or When. Expected at the bank were Hart's younger brother, Theodore, an actor known personally and professionally as Teddy, and Teddy's wife, Dorothy. Teddy had lived with Lorenzor Larry, as he was calledand their mother until January 1938, when he married Dorothy Lubow and the couple moved to an apartment in the West Fifties. Never living far from Larry, the Harts often looked after himand few intelligent, able-bodied men have needed such looking afterespecially in the six months following the death of the boys' mother, Frieda, in April 1943. When they arrived at Guaranty Trust, they did not know what was in the will. The others did. 1 The state tax commission representative was delayed. Teddy Hart, who had always played up his lack of book knowledge in clowning contrast to the erudition of his brother, now asked Abe Wattenberg if he had a...

"Smart and sympathetic. . . . Marmorstein brings to life the Manhattan of Hart's youth."

Autorentext

Gary Marmorstein has written about film, theater, and popular music for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Stagebill, among other publications, and is the author of two previous books. He lives in New Jersey.

Klappentext

“A deeply sympathetic biography of Lorenz Hart, the talented, troubled lyricist of film and Broadway fame. Marmorstein has done an enormous service for fans of stage and movie musicals” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

“Blue Moon,” “Where or When,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Isn’t It Romantic?,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”—these are just some of the unforgettable songs that lyricist Lorenz “Larry” Hart wrote together with composer Richard Rodgers. A Ship Without a Sail is the story of the exuberant yet troubled Hart, who wrote so knowingly about the love that eluded him in his own short life.

Despite their highly successful collaborations for Broadway and Hollywood, Rodgers and Hart were an odd couple. Rodgers was precise, handsome, heterosexual, and eager to be accepted by Society. Hart was barely five feet tall, alcoholic, homosexual, most at home in a bar or restaurant, and prone to unexplained disappearances. His lyrics spin with wit, brilliance, and sophistication, yet at their core is an unmistakable wistfulness and yearning; they are all the more remarkable considering that he never sustained a romantic relationship, living virtually his entire life with his mother until his death at age forty-eight.

Gary Marmorstein’s revelatory biography brings Hart and his colorful world vividly to life, and includes many of the lyrics that define Hart’s indelible legacy.

Leseprobe
**PROLOGUE

I’m a Sentimental Sap, That’s All

ON THE morning of November 29, 1943, one week after the death of Lorenz Hart at age forty-eight, several people gathered at the Guaranty Trust Company, on the southwest corner of Forty-Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, to open the decedent’s safe-deposit box. Hart was considered by many to be the greatest of all American lyricists. Hart’s attorney Abraham M. Wattenberg arrived with his young associate Leonard Klein, bearing an order, duly made by Surrogate James A. Foley, to open the box with the express purpose of removing Hart’s will. A representative of the state tax commission agreed to be there at 11:45 A.M. to oversee the task. Already present were the two executors named in the will: William Kron, who had been Hart’s accountant for the past five years; and Richard Rodgers, the composer with whom, over the course of twenty-five years, Hart had written more than eight hundred songs, including “My Funny Valentine,” “Isn’t It Romantic?,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “Blue Moon,” “My Romance,” “With a Song in My Heart,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “Thou Swell,” “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was,” “Mountain Greenery,” “Manhattan,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “I Could Write a Book,” and “Where or When.”

Expected at the bank were Hart’s younger brother, Theodore, an actor known personally and professionally as Teddy, and Teddy’s wife, Dorothy. Teddy had lived with Lorenz—or Larry, as he was called—and their mother until January 1938, when he married Dorothy Lubow and the couple moved to an apartment in the West Fifties. Never living far from Larry, the Harts often looked after him—and few intelligent, able-bodied men have needed such looking after—especially in the six months following the death of the boys’ mother, Frieda, in April 1943. When they arrived at Guaranty Trust, they did not know what was in the will. The others did.1

The state tax commi…