By Robert Heide with John Gilman
One of the favorite theater musicals of all time for many people including myself is The Fantasticks, which opened in the Village May 3, 1960. It attained a record of the world’s longest running musical after 42 years and 17,162 performances. The book and lyrics by Tom Jones are first-rate all the way and the music by Harvey Schmidt is top notch. The opening song Try to Remember sung by Jerry Orbach was captivating and it was reprised at show’s end. I had met Jerry at Northwestern University in the 1950s and we became colleagues in the theater department; and so it was amazing for me to see and hear him singing that great autumnal song and the words really touched the audiences:
Try to remember
The kind of September
When grass was green
And grain was yellow
When life was so tender
Deep in December
It’s nice to remember
The fire of September
That made us mellow
—in the Village at the Sullivan Street Theatre which was built by Lee Paton who later became Lee Paton Nagrin after her marriage to the dancer Daniel Nagrin. Lee inaugurated the theater with the introduction of Eugene Ionesco to American audiences with The Bald Soprano and Jack, or the Submission with Salome Jens. After renting the Sullivan Street Playhouse to the Fantasticks she went on to build a new theater at the corner of 3rd Street and Thompson called New Playwrights where she produced my first two plays Hector and West of the Moon.
Back in 1960 and onward I attended The Fantasticks many times because a good friend of mine was the stage manager Ron Link. I got to hang out in the Village with the stars Rita Gardner who played ‘The girl’, Jerry, and other members of the cast. I first met ‘Ronnie’ as we called him, at a popular gay cellar dive named Lenny’s Hideaway on 10th Street between West 4th and 7th Avenue (now Smalls Jazz Club). Regular patrons there included Edward Albee, Ian Orlando MacBeth (in Renaisance garb), H. M. Koutoukas, and composers Ned Rorem and Jerry Hello Dolly Herman. Adding to the mix Tallulah Bankhead or socialite Hope Hampton would often show up. Ronald Bruce Link was so named by his mother Rita who idolized the film stars Bruce Cabot and Ronald Colman. During his stage managing days Ronnie did the same for two other big hit Village musicals Little Mary Sunshine on Macdougal Street and a revival of the old-time Leave it to Jane that had a long run at the Sheridan Square Playhouse. Ronnie also had a great sense of theater design and in 1965 he executed the white-on-white set for my play The Bed at the Caffe Cino, which was enacted by two top young actors Jim Jennings and Larry Burns. He also became a stage director for my new opus in 1966 Why Tuesday Never Has a Blue Monday starring the stunning blonde actress Marilyn Roberts playing a Marilyn Monroe type on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The two-character play featured the shattered star being confronted by her therapist (Patrick Sullivan), and it was produced by Ellen Stewart at La Mama on Second Avenue. Ron directed many off-Broadway plays including Women behind Bars and Neon Woman with John Waters’ film superstar Divine. Ronnie died in Hollywood June 7, 1999 and is survived by his brother Carson who still lives on Bleecker Street at the old ‘Mills Hotel.’
And now that autumn in New York is approaching—it begins officially in 2021 on September 22 which is the Autumn Equinox and does not end until December 21—my partner John decided to start playing and singing along with the autumn songs which often seem to be sadly remembering the passing of Summer, i.e. Try to Remember, but that also burst out with references to the color foliage when the leaves turn brown, red, yellow, and orange. It’s also a time of, God help us, back to work, back to school, getting our sweaters out, and one can’t ignore COVID, COVID, COVID. September has, in addition, two important holidays. They are Labor Day, which is the 6th, and what they call Patriot Day, September 11 this year marking the solemn 20th anniversary of the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Still, in the Village, we must have fun, fun, fun.
With music by Kurt Weill and book and lyrics by playwright Maxwell Anderson, Knickerbocker Holiday opened on Broadway in 1938 with the great Walter Huston introducing September Song, which, recorded by Decca, went to the top of the charts; Huston’s unique version of the song hit the charts again in 1950 in the film September Affair starring Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotton. Nelson Eddy did his own singing in a World War II film of Knickerbocker Holiday in 1944, and over the years many others also picked up on the sad strains of September Song, including Lotte Lenya, Jimmy Durante, Sarah Vaughan, Willie Nelson and a rock n’ roll version by Lou Reed.
But it’s a long long while from May to December
And the days grow short when you reach September
And the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
And the days turn to gold as they grow few
But I haven’t got time for the waiting game
September …. November …
Autumn in New York –
Why does it seem so exciting
Autumn in New York
It spells the thrill of first nighting
Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds
In canyons of steel
They’re making me feel I’m home
Autumn in New York brings a promise of new love
Autumn in New York is often mingled with pain
But it’s good to live it again
Autumn Nocturne—
This is also the title of a 1954 LP recording of all autumnal songs beautifully sung by the Ray Charles singers
When autumn sings her lullaby
And green leaves turn to gold
Then I remember last September
You and I said goodbye
Whispering that we would be returning
When autumn comes again
Now autumn roams the hills once more
But you forgot your vow
Now here am I alone with only memories
Autumn Leaves—
The falling leaves drift by my window
The falling leaves of red and gold
I see your lips the summer kisses
The sunburned hands I used to hold
But I miss you most of all
When autumn leaves start to fall
Autumn Leaves was sung by Nat King Cole over the opening and closing credits of a 1956 film noir also entitled Autumn Leaves starring Joan Crawford about a May to December romance and the mental illness of Joan’s co-star Cliff Robertson.
Shine on Harvest Moon—
was composed in 1908 by Nora Bayes (whose story is told in the 1944 film starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis Morgan) and over the years it was recorded by many including Ruth Etting and Kate Smith
The night was mighty dark
So you could hardly see
For the moon refused to shine.
So shine on, shine on harvest moon
Up in the sky
I ain’t had no lovin’
Since January, February, June or July
Indian Summer—
And I remember the Indian summer
When the leaves bid the trees goodbye
How you held me in the moonlight
And if I’d known I’d lose you
The moment I found you
I’d love you all over again
Well, that’s all for now folks but stay tuned for the upcoming month of October and our recollections of a week-long blackout caused by Hurricane Sandy which also cancelled the Halloween Parade and how we hid out one night in St. John’s Church on Christopher Street, and then driving around in the dark with our friend Gordon Ramsay and his family.
Robert Heide and John Gilman are the authors of many books on American popular culture. Robert’s most recent publication is Robert Heide 25 Plays, available on Amazon.
