Loverly:The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Broadway Legacies)

by McHugh, Dominic

  But still the trouble remained that Rex Harrison could not leave Bell, Book and Candle and therefore the musical could not proceed. On June 28, Levin, Loewe, Lerner, and Louis Dreyfus met to discuss the situation and decided to approach Beaumont with the idea of releasing Harrison from his contract in return for a cash payment. It was put to Beaumont that Levin could not “arrange theatre bookings in America, may lose his director, choreographer, as well as other important production personnel. It is further complicated because Harrison is so anxious for a holiday during August that there is some danger that he will agree to continue in the show from September on if [you] will give him the holiday he seeks.”88 Just over a week later, Levin spoke to Laurie Evans on the phone and clarified his position in a letter written immediately afterwards: “Here it is: I am perfectly willing to fly to London if there is a reasonable chance of coming to a deal with Beaumont … I am willing to take part in any Byzantine charade whatever, if a satisfactory solution can be found … I assure you that if the amount can be agreed upon, I will recompense Rex’s company for the payment to Beaumont. I think Beaumont is entitled to receive what can reasonably be anticipated as the loss occasioned by closing. If, after your talk with him and with Rex, it makes sense for me to come over, I’ll do so at once.”89 Evidently, Levin was optimistic about the outcome of this deal, for the very same day he wrote to Beaton: “It looks to me as if everything will work out on the rehearsal date—the middle of November—so the time element and conflicts should all be smoothed out.”90 Levin also reported that “Alan and Fritz will certainly be in London in about a month” and that “Alan is preparing a rough scenic layout and I am sure we will send it out within the week.”

  Yet the frenzy was far from over, as a series of telegrams between Levin and Evans on July 12 and 13 prove. First Levin asked Evans desperately: “HAVE YOU ANY NEWS? LAST WORD I HAVE IS THAT BEAUMONT WILL DO NOTHING. CAN YOU GIVE US ANY HOPE?” Evans replied that the situation was unchanged but that he was hopeful of a satisfactory outcome that week. The next day Levin replied that he would come to London when the moment was propitious, and that Lerner would come in a couple of weeks’ time if Evans thought it helpful. Later on July 13, Evans wired back to say that Beaumont would not discuss a closing date but that he was negotiating for Harrison to have the right to give notice after the gross of the play had dropped below £1,700 for two consecutive weeks. On July 15, Levin wrote to Evans to agree to this, “though, of course, it does not solve our problem. Nothing is a final solution except the fixing of a date when Rex can leave Bell, Book and Candle.”91 Levin also enclosed a letter that he had written to Beaumont to say that he intended to come to London between August 12 and 15 in the hope of meeting him; the timing was important because while starring in Bell, Harrison was also directing a play called Nina, which was due to open early in August (though it was eventually brought forward to July 27).92 Levin wrote another letter to Evans the same day, reiterating his intention expressed to Beaumont that it would be better to arrive after Nina had opened and requesting that Evans book hotel rooms for him, Lerner, and Loewe.93 On July 18, the producer answered Evans’s letter, stating that since Nina was opening on July 27, the team might as well come to London on August 5 as planned since “Time is important to all of us.” Levin asked him again to call Lillian Aza and calm her down. “She is concerned about a starting date for Holloway, and I must say, with some justification. She should have a signed contract by now, but how can I give her one?”94 Aza herself received a letter from Levin sent on July 18, in which he stated his plan to come to London on August 5 and bring Holloway’s contract with him: “I know this is difficult for you—it is difficult for me also,” he said. “I don’t know what else I possibly can do.”95

  Although the next day Levin informed Evans that he had made reservations to leave New York for London on August 6, on July 28 Levin wired him to postpone the trip.96 In the meantime, Levin had received word from Beaumont that he would be happy to have a meeting, but that his responsibility was to protect everyone associated with Bell, Book and Candle.97 Evans informed Levin that Harrison was leaving London on August 7 for a two-week vacation and suggested delaying the Pygmalion trip until August 21, but Levin was initially reluctant.98 However, on July 28 Levin sent Evans a telegram cancelling the trip and the hotel rooms.99

  Curiously, another leading British actor, John Gielgud, sent a letter to his friend Hugh Wheeler that same day, in which he stated: “Oliver Smith rang from N.Y., would I like to do Higgins in the musical of Pygmalion as Rex is now problematical. I remain flattered but refuse to be rushed.”100 It is difficult to know how serious an offer this was, since the plans of Lerner, Loewe, and Levin still revolved around Harrison’s presence in London, and Smith was only the designer (albeit a sometime co-producer of other Levin projects); it is possible, perhaps, that Levin was tentatively exploring names other than Harrison if the latter continued to be unavailable.

  LEVIN VS. BEAUMONT

  August 1955

  Harrison continued to dominate the producer’s activities in August. On the first day of the month, Levin cabled Evans to tell him that he was trying to work out a deal with MGM for a film project they were hiring Harrison to do. It was possible that MGM could give Levin a lever for removing Harrison from Bell, Book and Candle and setting a rehearsal date for Pygmalion. “However,” continued Levin, “we [are] concerned [about] his doing [a] film and immediately begin[ning] rehearsals [for a] big musical. Is he aware [of the] magnitude of [the] physical undertaking?”101 Finally, some headway was achieved on August 12, as Evans informed Levin that Beaumont was asking for £10,000 in return for Harrison’s release on November 19—the hint of a concrete date at last.102

  Five days later, Levin recorded a conversation he had had on the telephone with Charles Moskowitz of MGM, discussing the penalty provision in the anticipated deal for Harrison’s release.103 The next day, Evans called Levin to discuss the latter’s insistence on several conditions before he would allow MGM to make a deal with Beaumont to release Harrison to make the film. Levin was adamant that Harrison be delivered on January 2, 1956, or that MGM would have to pay a penalty for every day thereafter if he were late; he also wanted assurance that the actor would be able to leave Bell, Book and Candle in time for him to spend a week in New York with Lerner and Loewe for the preparation of the Pygmalion musical. Levin also felt that unless he could get a specific rehearsal date as part of MGM’s deal with Beaumont, he may as well negotiate directly with Beaumont himself.104

  Ultimately, this is precisely what he decided to do. The way he broke the deadlock at this point was vital to the progress of the show. Evans sent Levin a telegram on August 26 to confirm his reservation at the Savoy and an appointment with Beaumont on the following Monday, indicating that Levin was to arrive in London on Sunday.105 The meeting took place. A memorandum of August 30 indicates two possible deals: either (a) Beaumont would release Harrison on October 29 in exchange for first right of refusal of the British Rights of Pygmalion and one-half of 1 percent of the gross of the New York production (though these terms would not apply if Harrison were able to leave Bell, Book and Candle under the terms of his original contract); or (b) Beaumont would release the actor on December 3 under the same terms, except that the payment of the percentage of the gross would cease after Beaumont had been paid $25,000.106 The latter option was agreed upon on September 1. At last, Levin could plan to begin rehearsals in early January with the assurance that Harrison would be available.107

  CONTRACTS

  September 1955

  With this news, the producer could set to work finalizing Equity contracts with the production team and actors. Rex Harrison signed on September 2.108 Julie Andrews signed on September 8.109 and Stanley Holloway signed on September 13.110 Levin also managed to find his Freddy Eynsford-Hill in John Michael King, whose contract is dated September 23.111 On September 27, Robert Coote agreed to play Colonel Pickering, a curiosity of the initial terms being that t
he management could require Coote to understudy Henry Higgins, although this never came to pass.112 In June Levin had made a deal with the Trebuhs Realty Company to move into either the Imperial, St. James, Majestic, or Shubert Theatre for the Broadway run, and he maintained a hope even on September 2 that the Imperial might still be an option; on September 9 he signed a contract with Anthony Brady Farrrell of the Mark Hellinger Theatre.113 The following week, a contract was drawn up with the Shubert Theatre in New Haven for the first of the out-of-town tryouts between 4 and 11 February.114 Levin then proceeded to book the Shubert Theatre in Boston for the second, longer tryout, but on 2 November this contract was cancelled and he made a deal to hire the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia between February 13 and March 10 instead.115 In an interview with the Boston Daily Record in November 1957, the producer would explain a “sentimental” reason for the change: “I happen to be a Philadelphia boy, that’s the only reason we played there instead of Boston.”116

  Levin worked mesmerizingly fast during September. On September 12, he drew up Franz Allers’s contract as conductor of the show, following an initial agreement of June 27.117 A veteran of Broadway, Allers had been musical director of the original productions of previous Lerner and Loewe shows The Day Before Spring, Brigadoon, and Paint Your Wagon, and would go on to do the same job for Camelot, the 1980 and 1981 revivals of Camelot, and the 1981 My Fair Lady revival, which would once again star Rex Harrison and Cathleen Nesbitt (as Mrs. Higgins). Also on the musical front, a letter of September 20 from Dr. Albert Sirmay of Chappell and Co. Publishers confirmed that Robert Russell Bennett would take charge of the orchestrations for the show; Chappell had already signed up to produce and publish the sheet music on August 31.118 Cecil Beaton and Oliver Smith’s final contracts were also drawn up during this period, as was Abe Feder’s for the lighting and Hanya Holm’s for the choreography.119

  True to form, Rex Harrison continued to make Levin anxious during this time. He started to drag his heels regarding the record contract with Columbia, who had entered into an agreement on September 7 to finance the entire production.120 On September 13, Levin wrote to Laurie Evans to hurry the signing of the record album rider for Harrison’s contract, and he received an answer two days later. “I am afraid Rex is quite adamant that he will not commit himself before he arrives in New York,” said Evans. Levin assured him that “the terms of compensation for him are the same as those paid Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, etc.”; it seems this issue was the reason for Harrison’s delay.121 Levin also asked Evans “whether Rex is working on his voice. Did you contact Roy Lowe at the Drury Lane? Is he working with Rex now?” In reply Evans said that Harrison had not yet worked with the vocal coach because there was no actual material to study yet; and in any case, “he doesn’t ever want to become a light baritone and he doesn’t feel there is any value in simply doing scales, vocal exercises etc.”122

  Mention was made at this time of a forthcoming trip to London by Lerner and Loewe, who had not visited England in August as planned. On September 27, Levin informed Evans that the pair would be leaving for England on October 15, later advising him to “keep Roy Lowe on call, available to meet with Lerner and Loewe as soon as they get to London.”123 Eventually, Levin persuaded Harrison to sign the record company contract, which was sent to him on October 12. Levin also informed Evans that Beaton intended to go to London on November 1, partly to order Harrison’s costumes; this is confirmed by Beaton’s diaries from the period.124

  PROGRESS

  October–November 1955

  Developments continued in October. The veteran actress Cathleen Nesbitt (whose Broadway appearances in the early 1950s included the plays Gigi, Sabrina Fair, and Anastasia) agreed to play the role of Mrs. Higgins, signing her contract on October 4. Christopher Hewett was hired as a lead understudy on October 10 but resigned from the show around opening night.125 While Lerner and Loewe were in England, Hanya Holm planned to go to London, Paris, and Berlin to do some research for the choreography and, as mentioned earlier, Beaton went to England to arrange for Harrison’s costumes to be made “authentically” in London.126 To Oliver Smith, Levin suggested exploiting the connection with CBS by borrowing “some ancient-looking phonographs and recording equipment for Higgins’s study” from them, one of a number of imaginative ideas made by the evidently excited producer during the show’s later gestation period.127

  Levin was also good at taking care of the press. To Laurie Evans he wrote: “As soon as you know when Rex is arriving here, I will appreciate knowing that as well. I think we can arrange a pretty good publicity break.”128 Evans informed him that Harrison intended to have a vacation in North Africa, spend Christmas in Paris, and leave Europe by air on December 27, arriving in New York the next day; he also mentioned that Harrison’s vocal training with Roy Lowe was taking place daily.129 Similarly, Lillian Aza was asked when Stanley Holloway was to arrive. In her reply, she mentioned a meeting that had taken place with Lerner and Loewe, in which she found them “as charming as ever.”130 She informed Levin that Holloway would fly into New York on December 28, but with only three weeks to go before rehearsals, the actor suddenly decided to go by sea instead because “he finds he has a lot of baggage and also feels the rest will do him good.” He now intended to get to New York on December 27.131

  The arrival of Julie Andrews for rehearsals, however, was less straightforward. In her autobiography Andrews explains how she had only three months between the end of The Boy Friend and the beginning of My Fair Lady’s rehearsal period, and that this time was further reduced by a period back in America to film the Arthur Schwartz television musical High Tor in which she starred with Bing Crosby. Desperately needing to spend more time with her family (whom she had barely seen in over a year and would in all probability rarely see in the ensuing two-year run of My Fair Lady), she decided to spend both Christmas and the New Year in England, even though the two male leads intended to arrive on Broadway in late December.132 This caused some consternation for Levin, Lerner, and Moss Hart. On November 18, the producer wrote to Charles Tucker, Andrews’s agent, to urge her to consider coming on December 28 instead of January 2, the day before rehearsals were due to begin. “It would seem to me that this makes sense,” he wrote sternly, “not only from the standpoint of the show but from the standpoint of her relationship to the rehearsals, her part and the show itself. The few extra days may be enormously valuable.”133

  But Levin’s importunacy was in vain. Tucker defended Andrews at length in a letter of November 23, assuring Levin that he would do anything he could to help, but that the request was impossible. He reminded Levin of Andrews’s youth, and informed him that she had been very homesick during the Broadway run of The Boy Friend; she wanted to spend the New Year with her family because she did not know when she might see them again.134 Things came to a head on December 5 when another letter was dispatched from New York directly to Andrews in London. “I am sure you know in advance that our desire to have you here on that date is no capricious whim on our part,” wrote Lerner, before launching into a lengthy explanation of why Andrews should arrive in New York at the same time as Harrison and Holloway. “You are a star now, Julie,” he said somewhat portentously, and “it would be most impolitic to have them, who are two great and established artists, follow the usual pattern and you not do so.” He told her that “much can be accomplished in those few days,” such as “freshening” her Cockney and dealing with publicity, and later expressed concern about her being rested and about potential delays to flights around the New Year if bad weather occurred.135 The letter closed: “Will I see you December 27th? Please. Please.” But emotional blackmail and rough handling did not work on Andrews, who took the holiday, which she needed and to which she was entitled, and arrived as she originally planned on the second day of January.

  Casting continued apace as, among others, Levin hired Philippa Bevans as Mrs. Pearce on November 15; Rod McLennan as a member of the ensemble (he went on to play a Bystander in
the opening scene, as well as Jamie and the Ambassador) and understudy on December 5; Olive Reeves-Smith as Mrs. Hopkins and Lady Boxington on December 9; and Viola Roache (as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill and Mrs. Higgins’s understudy) on December 12 (the date when Robert Coote’s final contract was also signed).136 Richard Maney was hired as the company’s Press Agent on November 26, commencing on January 9, 1956; he would be an active participant throughout the show’s original Broadway run, as a lengthy folder of material in Levin’s papers proves.137 An agreement was drawn up with Trude Rittman on November 30 to be the Dance Arranger, and on December 2, Ernest Adler was signed on to create “all hair stylings and coiffures” for the production.138 The signing of Rittman was especially important: she had arranged the dance music for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Carousel, and South Pacific, and the “Small House of Uncle Thomas” ballet from The King and I. After working together on Brigadoon, Loewe brought her in again for Paint Your Wagon as well as the later stage adaptation of Gigi (1973). In Fair Lady, she was so completely trusted by the composer that he allowed her to create the lengthy choreographic sequences without his intervention, nor was her work confined merely to the dance music.139

  The recording of the original cast album, with (left to right) Robert Coote, Rex Harrison, and Julie Andrews (Photofest/Columbia Records)

  Meanwhile, although Cecil Beaton had successfully ordered the costumes he required for Rex Harrison, there was a question of how to get them from England to the United States. Beaton felt it was awkward for him to ask Harrison to take them there himself as a favor and suggested that Levin should ask the actor.140 Levin replied that since Harrison was traveling by plane, this was impossible, and asked whether it would be possible to send them by “some other means, perhaps air express or air freight?”141 The producer also made a suggestion regarding Julie Andrews’s hair: “It occurs to me that it might be a good idea if it were made an auburn shade.” Within the following week the problem with Harrison’s clothes was solved, as the actor himself volunteered to carry them in his luggage; the producer wrote to Harrison to thank him and to promise to pay the excess baggage, which came to around $450.142 To Beaton, Levin also followed up his comment about Andrews’s hair: “My idea was only a suggestion,” he informed Beaton. “I gather from your letter that you have brightened the tone of her hair considerably. I thought that her own hair seemed rather drab.”143 During December, Levin also approached several companies regarding the construction of the scenery for the show. The contract went to the Nolan Brothers of West Twenty-fourth Street, who provided the sets for $65,000.144