15/6/2013 9:48 pm  #1


Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby

Hi everyone,

After recently watching the Fred Astaire-Red Skelton movie Three Little Words with my wife, I decided to write a little article about the songwriting team of Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby for my blog, The Vintage Bandstand. The movie is a 1950 biopic of Kalmar & Ruby, who were responsible for writing great songs in the 1920s and '30s, tunes such as "Who's Sorry Now," "Three Little Words," "Nevertheless," and "A Kiss to Build a Dream on," among others.

Bing recorded some of their songs, so I thought perhaps some of you might find the article interesting. If so, you may read it by clicking on the following link:

http://vintagebandstand.blogspot.com/2013/06/more-than-song-and-dance-man-three.html

I hope you enjoy it!

 

16/6/2013 7:05 am  #2


Re: Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby

Thanks for this Anton. Very interesting.  I see incidentally that over on the British Dance Bands site you have had some quite positive reaction.

Alistair Cooke had a series on BBC radio many years ago named the Alistair Cooke Collection, in which he profiled a series of writers and composers of slightly lesser prominence than Gershwin/Berlin/ Rodgers et al and who he felt deserved to be better known.

Harry Ruby emerged as a likeable, impish little man who wrote reluctantly in order to earn his living, but was mainly interested in watching baseball. The wish was that he might have been more keen to focus his natural talent and devote more time to the songwriting side of his life.

But what we have is still a pretty impressive bunch of songs.
Where are the likes of "The Golden Age" today? 




 

 

 

16/6/2013 4:53 pm  #3


Re: Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby

Richard,

Thanks for your very nice comments about my article on Kalmar & Ruby. I totally agree with Alistair Cooke: there are several songwriters who are a part of what we now call the Great American Songbook that, for some reason, happen to be very overlooked these days. Kalmar & Ruby are among these, and it really is a pity, because they wrote some pretty impressive songs, some of which were huge hits and endured the test of time, being recorded by different types of artists many years after they were first introduced. "Who's Sorry Now" is the clearest case of this.

Harry Ruby was a very talented songwriter, but as you say, he seemed to be more interested in the National Pastime than in sitting at the piano to compose. Even so, he produced an incredible amount of simple, catchy tunes that certainly captured people's imaginations in the twenties and thirties. Moreover, he was around to give input on his partnership with Bert Kalmar when the movie Three Little Words was made and even made radio appearances to promote the film, one of which is included as a bonus in the DVD edition of Three Little Words.

In my opinion, Kalmar & Ruby (and others, such as Jimmy Monaco, Johnny Burke, &c.) deserve more attention than they have received over the years—dismissing them as mere Tin Pan Alley hacks, which often happens (that is, when they are mentioned at all), is a terrible mistake.

Last edited by Anton G.-F. (16/6/2013 4:54 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

24/6/2013 5:46 am  #4


Re: Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby

Anton, those songwriters crafted some songs which became standards. Like many others, they are rarely remembered, at least compared with the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter etc. who probably got kudos for writing many songs for Broadway musicals. I was a regular movie-goer (in Australia, of course) in the early 1950s and probably saw THREE LITTLE WORDS then but probably had no idea of who Kalmar and Ruby were until then. I present a weekly session on our local community radio station, featuring popular music of the 1930s to 1950s and make a point of playing recordings of songs written by those 'lesser' composers and lyricists, usually around the anniversaries of their birth.

 

26/6/2013 12:48 pm  #5


Re: Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby

Dear Graham,

Thanks for your comment. I really enjoyed the movie Three Little Words, and it made me rediscover the great body of work that we owe to Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby. They really wrote some enduring songs and deserve more credit than they have received over the years. I am not necessarily saying that Kalmar & Ruby are at the same level as the Gershwins, Porter, Berlin, &c., but they certainly did create some great songs that have stood the test of time. It is wonderful that you give credit to all songwriters on your radio show, because that is what I used to do when I hosted a weekly radio show in Nashville several years ago, and I believe it is the right thing to do. By the way, is your show streamed on the internet? If so, I'd love to listen to it! 

     Thread Starter
 

18/7/2013 2:12 am  #6


Re: Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby

Yes Anton, you could listen on the station's website www.2mce.org when it goes to air Monday mornings from nine until eleven East Australian Time. Please let me know how you ghet on when you do so. Cheers from Graham

 

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