Thanks to Adam Aceto for his views about this roll. I think the story
of the show's American production history, drawn from a number of
sources, strongly corroborates the suggested creation date of mid-late
1936, aligned to the unrealised opening of show or file leading to the
roll being shelved with perhaps only some trial cuts being produced.
I also agree wholeheartedly that it's a shame that there was never
a roll of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" which really did open and was
a great success -- perhaps the most inexplicable omission in the Ampico
catalog. Given the context of this discussion, this was an American
show that transferred to London where some of the lyrics were changed
to introduce local references. Here are more familiar with these
alternative lyrics to the title song, although both lyrics were
recorded by dance bands of the time; the BBC banned the fuller
versions, this show being as racy as Nymph Errant!
Popular songs were commercial properties, and prior to through-composed
musicals it was common practice to shift good songs between shows, so
British rolls frequently refer to different shows than the American
original issue of the roll. It adds to the fun of the cataloguer.
Julian Dyer
|