Rida Johnson Young; Dorothy Fields, Part I (1928-1935)

Class Preparation

• To get a sense of the history of the musical from 1893 to 1930 (roughly the period covered in the first class), skim/browse/explore the first two chapters of Broadway: The American Musical.
• Handout of class slides
• Selected Lyrics of Rida Johnson Young
• Selected Lyrics of Dorothy Fields (Part I)

YouTube Links & Playlists

YouTube Playlists:

• Naughty Marietta Selections (Lyrics by Rida Johnson Young, Music by Victor Herbert)
• "Mother Machree" (A variety of artists perform this song with lyrics by Rida Johnson Young and music by Ernest Ball & Chauncey Olcott.)
• Blackbirds of 1928 (A selection of songs recorded by various artists over the years)
• "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" (A variety of artists perform Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh's first hit song.)
• Dorothy Fields: Songs, Part 1 (1928-1935)--includes performances of all of the songs in the Selected Lyrics handout above.

Other Links:

• ​"Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" (Extended clip from the 1935 film of Naughty Marietta with Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy)
• "Will You Remember?" (The "big hit" from the operetta Maytime with lyrics by Rida Johnson Young and music by Sigmund Romberg, sung by Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald This is a clip from the 1937 film--the only RJY song to make it into the movie. Although RJY wrote the libretto for the operetta, the dialogue you hear in this scene is not her work, which was totally replaced.)