WEBVTT

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Welcome to The World of Woodhouse, a series of

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podcasts from the P .G. Woodhouse Society UK

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to commemorate the work of P .G. Woodhouse. I'm

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Alexander Armstrong and I have the huge privilege

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of being president of the P .G. Woodhouse Society

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UK, a literary society of enthusiasts that celebrates

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Woodhouse and his work. And it is my delightful

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duty to introduce the latest guest in this series

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of podcasts. Hello, my name's Hal Cazalet, and

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I'm delighted to have been invited to be part

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of this podcast series, celebrating the literary

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genius of my step -great -grandfather, P .G.

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Woodhouse. Well, we were just treated to a piano

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solo from my great pal, Stephen Blyer, playing

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the glorious music of George Gershwin. And it's

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on Woodhouse's Broadway career and the two significant

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American composers he worked with, Jerome Kern

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and George Gershwin, that I want to very briefly

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cast a spotlight. I think what is less known

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is that Plum Woodhouse, the nickname he was called

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by family and friends and indeed my middle name.

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had a glittering first career as a lyricist on

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Broadway, and so successful he became that in

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1917, along with librettist Guy Bolton and composer

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Jerome Kern, notched up an incredible five musicals

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running simultaneously on Broadway, a record

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not beaten to this day. So this was an era, as

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later described by Noel Coward, in which light

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music was taken seriously. And I suppose the

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dynamic I find so fascinating and charming is

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the quintessential Englishness of Plum's often

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very educated lyrics set to the music of these

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great American composers. With Plum's references

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to Shakespeare and knights of old like Sir Galahad

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and the lampooning of historical figures such

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as the sirens from Homer's Odyssey and even Cleopatra

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and Napoleon all get thrown into the mix. So

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my discovery of Plum's Broadway career was in

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my early 20s when delving through a suitcase

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full of his theater songs at home, then rushing

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down to the piano to play them through. And what

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really struck me was to see that he had written

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lyrics for such a vast array of composers. From

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the witty operetta of Victor Herbert to the thrilling

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new jazz rhythms of George Gershwin, Plum could

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simply say it all, or as he put it, he would

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just tag along with his lyric. So unlike Plum's

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mentor W .S. Gilbert, who handed his words to

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Sullivan to set to music, Plum's impulse thrived

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on hearing the melody first. so he could identify,

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as he put it, the emotional high spots in the

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music. And it was exactly the same way Plum's

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great friend and collaborator Ira Gershwin wrote

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lyrics for his brother George. The tune came

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first, the words followed. So to me, Jerome Kern

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was the Schubert. of the American song, his DNA

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very much from the German school, exquisite in

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both melody and structure. Whereas Gershwin's

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came from the sweeping grandeur of the Russians,

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of Rachmaninoff, and the sense of freedom and

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rhapsody of the French composers such as Ravel

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and Debussy. And so Gershwin, with his enormous

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hands and great reach, was constantly shifting

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the boundaries of tonality by expanding chords

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and syncopating rhythms really from his powers

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of improvisation and his virtuosity as a pianist.

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So as Irving Berlin, the great patriarch of American

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musical theatre, was to later comment on that

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golden age. George Gershwin was the only songwriter

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among us who went on to become a composer. So

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time for some music. Let's take a quick listen

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to the sound and harmony from where these things

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originated and go back a hundred years from Kern

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and Plumb's big year on Broadway in 1917 to one

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of Schubert's most beloved songs, Ande Musik

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of 1817, which is literally an ode to music.

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and Kern adopts a similar grammatic structure

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to Schubert. They're both communicating in exactly

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the same harmonic language with inner rising

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harmony, with both composers typically adopting

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simple introductions of two to four bar phrases.

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So I'm going to preface this whole thing with

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an apology to Herr Schubert and Herr Kern, and

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I'm going to sing the end of two of Kern's well

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-known songs to the end of the Schubert. So here's

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the Schubert first. Now let's play that again

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and I'll sing in the end of the chorus of Kearns

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till the clouds roll by. And now here's the end

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of Kearns chorus of the land where the good songs

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go. And so now to Gershwin and suddenly boy do

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we have rich texture and rhythm. So with similar

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grand gestures of Rachmaninoff and in the same

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sort of sound world of Man I Love and Rhapsody

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in Blue. So now let's go to where I call pentatonic

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land and hear the sound of the French influence

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a scale of eight notes Take out the fourth one

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two three four and the seventh seven and you

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get a pentatonic scale which sounds like this

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and if I just improvise around those notes were

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floating on this dreamy, Debussy -esque cloud

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of infinite possibility, which Plum might have

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described, had he not attributed the description

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to the voice of Veronica Wedge, as clotted cream

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made audible. So put very simply it's when these

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very clean chords became infiltrated over the

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years with seconds and with sixths and ninths

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but it's when that sound became this sound It

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was the moment George Gershwin arrived, and with

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him, the sound of the American musical. And I

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always loved the response Maurice Ravel gave

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to Gershwin when Gershwin asked him for lessons.

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Why become a second -rate Ravel when you're already

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a first -rate Gershwin? But it's high time for

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a song, so back to Jerome Kern and Plum for their

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hit song, Bill. So Bill was originally written

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but cut from a show in 1918 called Oh Lady Lady,

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but finally found its home in Kern and Oscar

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Hammerstein's blockbuster Showboat in 1927 as

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a lament to a lost lover. But for me, what makes

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it stand out in contrast to the epic scale of

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Showboat is that it's a composition and sound

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from the era of the Princess musicals a decade

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earlier and as such is a master class in vulnerability

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and understatement and because the song is very

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much of that time it still stops the show today.

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So here's my sister Lara accompanied by the wonderful

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Stephen Blyer to sing Plum's most celebrated

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song in its original form and how touched I know

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Plum would have been to hear Lara sing it. I

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used to dream that I would discover the perfect

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lover Someday I knew I'd recognize him if ever

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he came round my way I always used to fancy them

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He'd be one of the godlike kind of men With a

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giant brain and a noble head Like the heroes

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balled in the books I read But along came Bill

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Who's quite the opposite of all the men In storybooks

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grace and looks I know that Apollo would beat

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him all hollow and I can't explain it's surely

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not his brain that makes me thrill I love him

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because he's wonderful because he's just He can't

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play golf or tennis or polo or sing a solo or

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row. He isn't half as handsome as dozens of men

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that I know. He isn't tall and straight and slim

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and he dresses far worse than Ted or Jim. And

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I can't explain why he should be Just one, one

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man in the world for me He's just my Bill He

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has no gifts at all A motor car He cannot steer

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And it seems clear His partner takes chances

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Oh I can't explain It's surely not his brain

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That makes me thrill I love him Because he's

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I don't know Because he's just Now utterly sublime,

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and now we've all been reduced to tears. It's

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pretty much all we have time for here. But where

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did all these songs go, I hear you ask? What

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happened to Plum's shows? Well, in short, Plum,

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now with Jeeves and Bertie, had become too successful

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as the great British novelist, but he'd paved

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the way for all the great wordsmiths that followed

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him. Oscar Hammerstein, Ira Gershwin, and Alan

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Jay Lerner of My Fair Lady, Stephen Sondheim.

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I mean the list goes on and on and one only has

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to see the glowing tributes which flowed in on

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Plum's death a little over 50 years ago to realize

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how affectionately Plum was endorsed as one of

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the founding fathers of the American musical.

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So Plumb's final curtain call was writing the

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libretto with Guy Bolton for the 1934 Broadway

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production of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, and

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then anglicizing the lyrics for the London transfer

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in 1935. And the English audience must have just

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lapped up. You're the top, you're Mahatma Gandhi.

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You're the top, you're Napoleon Brandy. You're

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the green and gold and mauve of the old school

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tie. You're the brother's western. You're Harry

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Preston. You're custard pie. You're the top.

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You're the gates of heaven. You're the cream

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from the Shire of Devon. I'm just in the way

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as the French would say the trop, but if baby

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I'm the bottom, you're the top. Bolchirio. I

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hope you've enjoyed this little canter through

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Plumb's early years on Broadway, where, as he

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said himself, all his characters walked off the

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stage of the Princess Theatre and into his books.

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Well, he's certainly given me a great deal of

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joy and adventure throughout my musical career,

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for which I shall forever be grateful. And as

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the wonderful Stephen Fry said of Woodhouse,

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it's enough to be benign. And I really believe

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it is. And it's that kindness in his humour which

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sings throughout all Plum's literature and inhabits

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that world he takes us to. So I feel very confident

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in knowing that one day we shall all find our

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way to the land where the good songs go. Tinkety

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Tonk. And April showers with sunshine in between

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With roses blowing and rivers flowing Midrush

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is growing green When no one hurries and no one

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worries and life runs calm and slow and I wish

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someday I could find my way to the land where

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the good songs go the land where