"A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1919 which became the theme song of the Ziegfeld Follies . The first verse and refrain are considered part of the Great American Songbook and are often covered as a jazz standard.
The portion of the song composed entirely by Berlin and published as sheet music contained the first verse and refrain of the original stage number. The refrain begins, "A pretty girl is like a melody / That haunts you night and day", a summary of the song's extended simile. The refrain is better known than the introductory verse, which critic Josh Rubins called "mercifully little-known". [1]
The later verses from the original 1919 stage show were patter lyrics by Berlin to the air of classical tunes; this was a common Tin Pan Alley trick. These verses were comical vignettes of the singer's past trysts, successful or otherwise. Their lyrics were long believed lost, but survived in the show's unpublished script, and were also recalled by cast member Doris Eaton Travis (1904–2010). The source music was: [2]
| Composer | Piece |
|---|---|
| Antonín Dvořák | Humoresque op.101 no.7 |
| Felix Mendelssohn | "Spring Song" op.62, no.6 |
| Jules Massenet | "Elegy" from Les Érinnyes |
| Jacques Offenbach | Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann |
| Franz Schubert | "Serenade" from Schwanengesang |
| Robert Schumann | "Träumerei" from Kinderszenen |
Magee concludes, from Travis' lack of memory of the Träumerei, that it was dropped from the number during rehearsals. [3]
Berlin had agreed with Florenz Ziegfeld to write one act of the 1919 follies, including a "Ziegfeld Girl number" to showcase the showgirls. [4] He first conceived of the classical portion, to match costumes the girls would be wearing. [4] He needed a framing device for the entire sequence, and so subsequently wrote the initial verse and refrain which would become famous. [4]
In the 1919 Follies, the song was sung by the tenor John Steel. [5] He sang the first verse and chorus alone on stage; then each of the remaining five verses while a showgirl sashayed by in costume appropriate to the quoted air. [5] The final refrain saw Steel surrounded by all five beauties. [5] This format was the template for similar numbers in many musical revues of subsequent decades. [6]
"A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" was the hit song of that year's Follies, and became the theme song for all later Follies. [5] [7] [8]
In the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld , the song was the centerpiece musical number performed on a huge set containing a spiral staircase, which has been compared to a wedding cake [9] [10] or "giant meringue". [11] The scene reworked the original stage number on a far grander scale, with many dancers in various period costumes and a wide array of classical music references. [12] The scene became famous and was included in the 1974 anthology film That's Entertainment! [9] [13]
"An Experiment in Modern Music", the 1924 concert where George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue premiered, also featured a "Semi-Symphonic Arrangement of Popular Melodies", combining three Berlin tunes: "Alexander's Ragtime Band", "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" and "Orange Blossoms in CA". [14]
The song was used frequently in the annual Miss America pageant prior to 1955, when "There She Is, Miss America" by Bernie Wayne became its new theme song. [15] In 1963, Tom Prideaux wrote in Life magazine that the song "has been played ever since [1919] for God knows how many beauty contests, debutante cotillions and strip-tease acts." [16] It was also often used in catwalk fashion shows. [8] [1]
Fred Astaire danced to the song in the film Blue Skies in 1946. It was the theme song to the 1950s television game show The Big Payoff and "The Dream Girl of 1967" (19 December 1966 – 28 April 1967) on ABC-TV Daytime USA, and it was performed and remade for instrumental by Percy Faith before being replaced by Chuck Barris' New Theme of the show "(The) Hunk O'Love" to the end of the series.
Among the singers who have recorded the song are Pat Boone, Bobby Vinton, Bing Crosby, Vic Damone, Ethel Merman, Rudy Vallée, Bobby Gordon, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. Jazz versions have been recorded by musicians including Paul Whiteman, [17] Louis Armstrong, [18] Toots Thielemans, Eddie Heywood, [19] Artie Shaw, George Shearing, [19] Django Reinhardt, Mose Allison, Earl Hines, Coleman Hawkins and Don Byas. A clarinet version performed by Woody Allen with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is on the soundtrack of his 2000 movie Small Time Crooks . [20]
In 1947, Berlin called the song one of his five most important songs structurally, saying he used the "same rhythmic pattern" in other songs. [12] Later he called it "the best individual song written for a musical". [21]
Josh Rubins wrote in 1988 that "'A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody'—one of Berlin-the-composer's best things—has been seriously damaged by overexposure and insensitive handling". [1] He states that by the 1960s "the song's first four chords devolved into a vaudeville gag: musical shorthand for any reference to overt female sexuality (or transvestism)." [1]
Jeffrey Magee in 2012 argues for a reappraisal in the light of the rediscovered classical verses, writing that "a scene usually understood as an earnest hymn to feminine pulchritude had an unmistakably comic element". [22]
Several of Berlin's later Follies songs, including "The Girls of My Dreams" and "Say It With Music", have been described as having been "cloned" from "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody". [23]
In the 1960s Mad magazine published a collection of parody lyrics of well-known songs, including "Louella Schwartz Describes Her Malady"; in Irving Berlin et al. v. E.C. Publications, Inc. the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that this did not violate Berlin's copyright. [24]
Stephen Sondheim wrote the song "Beautiful Girls" from the 1972 stage musical Follies based on this song. In fact, since the play is supposed to be set on a former theater (based on the Ziegfeld Follies ), some of the songs of the show are pastiches of tunes from this same time, written by such composers as Berlin himself, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Sigmund Romberg and others.
The album 69 Love Songs includes a song "A Pretty Girl is...", whose final verse begins "A melody is like a pretty girl". The first verse begins "A pretty girl is like a minstrel show". The 1919 Follies' had also featured a song called "I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show". [6]
"A Pretty Boy Is Like a Melody" is an episode of The Brady Brides . [25]
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Song Is You", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Long Ago ". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg.
The Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 American musical drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and produced by Hunt Stromberg. It stars William Powell as the theatrical impresario Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., Luise Rainer as Anna Held, and Myrna Loy as Billie Burke.
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is a Tin Pan Alley song by American composer Irving Berlin released in 1911; it is often inaccurately cited as his first global hit. Despite its title, the song is a march as opposed to a rag and contains little syncopation. The song is a narrative sequel to Berlin's earlier 1910 composition "Alexander and His Clarinet". This earlier composition recounts the reconciliation between an African-American musician named Alexander Adams and his flame Eliza Johnson as well as highlights Alexander's innovative musical style. Berlin's friend Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing African-American bandleader, inspired the title character.
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907–1931), inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat. He was known as the "glorifier of the American girl". Ziegfeld is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Yip Yip Yaphank is a 1918 musical revue by Irving Berlin. He wrote and produced the show during World War I, after he was drafted into the United States Army and was serving in 152nd Depot Brigade at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York. The military revue was performed by the soldiers of Camp Upton, and moved to Broadway after a brief tryout at the camp.
The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century.
Glorifying the American Girl is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film produced by Florenz Ziegfeld that highlights Ziegfeld Follies performers. The last third of the film, which was filmed in early Technicolor, is basically a Follies production, with appearances by Rudy Vallee, Helen Morgan, and Eddie Cantor.
The Passing Show of 1918 is a Broadway musical revue featuring music of Sigmund Romberg and Jean Schwartz, with book and lyrics by Harold R. Atteridge. The show introduced the hit songs "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" and "Smiles".
Louis Achille Hirsch, also known as Louis A. Hirsch and Lou Hirsch, was an American composer of songs and musicals in the early 20th century.
"You'd Be Surprised" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1919 which Eddie Cantor interpolated it into Ziegfeld's Follies of 1919. Cantor soon recorded it and it became a major hit. Other popular versions in 1920 were by the All-Star Trio and by Irving Kaufman.
John W. Steel was an American tenor. He was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 and 1920 and Irving Berlin's Music Box Revues of 1922 and 1923.
"Love Is Here to Stay" is a popular song and jazz standard composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin for the movie The Goldwyn Follies (1938).
"Easter Parade" is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin and published in 1933. Berlin originally wrote the melody in 1917, under the title "Smile and Show Your Dimple", as a "cheer up" song for a girl whose man has gone off to fight in World War I. A recording of "Smile and Show Your Dimple" by Sam Ash enjoyed modest success in 1918.
"Supper Time" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1933 musical As Thousands Cheer, where it was introduced by Ethel Waters. The song is about racial violence inspired by a newspaper headline about a lynching.
"Mandy" is a popular song by Irving Berlin, published in 1919.
"That International Rag" is a song composed by Irving Berlin in 1913. Berlin wrote the song the night before its debut, when he needed a new opening number for his act while on tour in England.
"Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 that gives a comic perspective on military life. Berlin composed the song as an expression of protest against the indignities of Army routine shortly after being drafted into the United States Army in 1918. The song soon made the rounds of camp and became popular with other soldiers, partly because hatred of reveille was universal.
The Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 was a revue produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Billed as the thirteenth edition of the Ziegfeld Follies series, it had a tryout at Nixon's Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on June 10, 1919 and opened at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre on June 16, 1919 and closed on December 6, 1919. It is often considered to be the best and most successful of the Follies series produced by Ziegfeld.
