Alexander Woollcott, Harpo Marx, Reinald Werrenrath (1930)
In this privately produced recording from
1930, announcer
Alexander Woollcott introduces "The
Neysa McMein Memorial Record" with
Harpo Marx and
Reinald Werrenrath performing "
Mighty Lak' a Rose". The segment closes with
Christmas Greetings.
Neysa McMein (
January 24,
1888 - May 12, 1949), an
American artist, born
Marjorie Moran in
Quincy, Illinois. She attended the
Art Institute of Chicago and in 1913 went to
New York City. After a brief stint as an actress, she turned to commercial art. On the advice of a numerologist, she adopted the name Neysa, and she thereafter credited the name change with her rapid success. From 1923 through
1937, McMein created all of McCall's covers.
General Mills commissioned her to create the image of "
Betty Crocker", a fictional housewife whose brand name was intended to be a seal of solid middle-class domestic values. She became a regular member of the
Algonquin Round Table set, along with Alexander Woollcott,
Alice Duer Miller, Harpo Marx, and
Jascha Heifetz.
Franklin Pierce Adams,
Robert Benchley,
Edna Ferber,
Irving Berlin,
George Gershwin, and
Bernard Baruch were friends.The full wikipedia article can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neysa_McMein
Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (
January 19, 1887 --
January 23, 1943) was an American critic and commentator for
The New Yorker magazine and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. He was the inspiration for
Sheridan Whiteside, the main character in the play
The Man Who Came to Dinner (
1939) by
George S. Kaufman and
Moss Hart, and for the far less likable character
Waldo Lydecker in the
1944 film Laura (
1944). He claimed to be the inspiration for
Rex Stout's brilliant detective
Nero Wolfe, but Stout, although he was friendly to Woollcott, said there was nothing to that idea. In his early twenties he contracted the mumps, which apparently left him mostly, if not completely, impotent.
He never married or had children, although he had a large number of female friends, most notable of whom were
Dorothy Parker and Neysa McMein, to whom he actually proposed the day after she had just wed her new husband,
Jack Baragwanath. Wollcott once told McMein that "I'm thinking of writing the story of our life together. The title is already settled." McMein: "
What is it?" Woollcott: "Under Separate
Cover." The full wikipedia article can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Woollcott
Adolph "
Harpo" Marx (later
Arthur "Harpo" Marx) (
November 23, 1888 --
September 28, 1964) was an American comedian and film star. He was the second oldest of the
Marx Brothers. His comic style was influenced by clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish wig, and never spoke during performances (he blew a horn or whistled to communicate).
Marx frequently used props such as a walking stick with a built-in bulb horn, and he played the harp in most of his films. The full wikipedia article can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpo_Marx
WERRENRATH, REINALD (1883-1853). His father,
George Werrenrath, was a
Danish tenor who taught singing in the
United States. The son first studied with
Percy Rector Stephens in New York City. In 1907 he made his concert debut at the
Worchester Festival, and he then had a highly successful career as a concert and oratorio singer. After 1912 he was for many years the director of the
University Heights Choral
Society. In
1919 he made his stage debut at the
Metropolitan Opera as
Silvio in
I Pagliacci. He remained a member of the
Metropolitan until
1921. He appeared on
Broadway in
The School for Scandal (1923),
The Beaux Stratagem (1928) and
Music in the Air (1932). He visited
England (1921-24; 28) where he sang chiefly on the radio. In 1932 was was awarded an honorary doctorate by
New York University. He composed several works for male chorus. (A Concise
Biographical Dictionary of
Singers, by
K.J. Kutsch / Leo Reimens [translated by
Earl Jones] / The Chilton
Book Company,
1969;
Internet Broadway Database) --
"Mighty Lak' a Rose" is a
1901 song with lyrics by
Frank Lebby Stanton (1857-1927) and music by
Ethelbert Nevin (1862-1901). The lyrics are written in an approximation of an
African American accent; such "dialect songs" were common in the era. The title thus means "
Mighty (very much) like a rose"; this assessment is addressed by a mother (or perhaps an observer) to her newborn son. The dialect has been modified by some singers, such as
Frank Sinatra. The song was Nevin's final composition. Nevin died on
February 17, 1901, shortly after composing it, never living to realize the song's success.
Stanton died in
1927. The full wikipedia article can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Lak'_a_Rose
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