"There's a Small Hotel" | |
---|---|
Song | |
Published | 1937 |
Composer(s) | Richard Rodgers |
Lyricist(s) | Lorenz Hart |
"There's a Small Hotel" is a 1936 song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart. Originally written for but dropped from the musical Billy Rose's Jumbo (1935), it was used in On Your Toes (1936), where it was introduced by Ray Bolger and Doris Carson, and repeated by Jack Whiting and Vera Zorina in the London West End production that opened on 5 February 1937, at the Palace Theatre.
Betty Garrett sang it in the 1948 film Words and Music, and it was interpolated in the film version of Pal Joey (1957) with a Frank Sinatra-Nelson Riddle collaboration.
According to the biography of Lorenz Hart by Frederick Nolan (Lorenz Hart - A Poet on Broadway, 1994; Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-510289-4), [1] the song was inspired by a visit that Richard Rodgers made to the Stockton Inn, in Stockton, New Jersey. [2] Hart reputedly found the melody insistently cloying and often ad-libbed raunchy parody verses, much to Rodgers' chagrin.
Another claimant to be the inspiration for the song is the Belmond El Encanto in Santa Barbara County, California. [3] [4] Renovations to the hotel in the 1950s replaced the wishing well, mentioned in the song, [5] by a floral fountain. [6]
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music.
Lorenz Milton Hart was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon"; "The Lady Is a Tramp"; "Manhattan"; "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"; and "My Funny Valentine".
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart's death in 1943.
Jumbo is a musical produced by Billy Rose, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and book by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.
"Lover" is a popular song composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Lorenz Hart. It was sung in the movie Love Me Tonight (1932) by Jeanette MacDonald.
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Pal Joey is a 1940 musical with a book by John O'Hara and music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The musical is based on a character and situations O'Hara created in a series of short stories published in The New Yorker, which he later published in novel form. The title character, Joey Evans, is a manipulative small-time nightclub performer whose ambitions lead him into an affair with the wealthy, middle-aged and married Vera Simpson. It includes two songs that have become standards: "I Could Write a Book" and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".
"Wait till You See Her" is a popular song. The music was written by Richard Rodgers, the lyrics by Lorenz Hart.
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It was then performed by Trudy Erwin and Richard Carlson in the 1940 film adaptation produced by RKO. The song was later interpolated into the score of the 1957 film Pal Joey, sung by Frank Sinatra, and has become a jazz standard.
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Sinatra '57 in Concert is a 1999 live album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It is a complete recording of a concert performed at the Seattle Civic Auditorium on June 9, 1957. Arranger Nelson Riddle conducted the 26-piece orchestra at the event.
Pal Joey is a 1957 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney, loosely adapted from the Rodgers and Hart musical play of the same name, and starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak.
"Thou Swell" is a show tune, a popular song and a jazz standard written in 1927.
"Spring is Here" is a 1938 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical I Married an Angel (1938), where it was introduced by Dennis King and Vivienne Segal.
"It Never Entered My Mind" is a show tune from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical Higher and Higher, where it was introduced by Shirley Ross.
"Glad to Be Unhappy" is a popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart. It was introduced in their 1936 musical On Your Toes, sung by Doris Carson and David Morris, although it was not popular at the time, as there was only one recording of the song. In the 1937 London production, it was sung by Gina Malo and Eddie Pola. The song was performed in the 1954 Broadway revival by Kay Coulter and Joshua Shelley.
Sarah Vaughan Sings Broadway: Great Songs from Hit Shows is a 1958 studio album by Sarah Vaughan.
Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Rodgers & Hart is a 1995 compilation album by Frank Sinatra. In this album, Sinatra sings his renditions of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.
Sinatra: Best of the Best is a 2011 double compilation album by American singer Frank Sinatra.
Pal Joey is a jazz album by pianist André Previn & His Pals, bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Shelly Manne, recorded in 1957 and released on the Contemporary label. The album features Previn's jazz interpretations of songs from Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's broadway musical, Pal Joey and followed the success of Manne's 1956 album, My Fair Lady. The album was recorded around the same time as the release of the motion picture.
'There's a Small Hotel' - This musical number with lyrics by Lorenz Hart and tune by Richard Rodgers was inspired by the charming (and still existent) Stockton Inn in Stockton, New Jersey. Though cut from Jumbo, the show for which it was originally intended, the song instead found a home in On Your Toes (and another home, later, in Pal Joey).
For rejuvenation, pick the Montecito Inn, a 60-room hostelry that inspired Rodgers and Hart to write "There's a Small Hotel". Built by Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle...