From Broadway To 52nd Street

Red, Hot And Blue! opened the Alvin Theater stage on October 29, 1936. The music and lyrics, composed by Cole Porter, rendered the tune “It’s De-Lovely” sung by Ethel Merman. Though the show only ran for one hundred and eighty-three performances, the song became an enduring jazz standard. The story taken from the book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse goes as follows:

The Story: Loud and brassy manicurist Nails O’Reilly Duquesne is a newly wealthy young widow. Organizing a benefit for her favorite cause, the rehabilitation of ex-convicts, she teams with her ex-con sidekick Policy Pinkle and her “square” boyfriend, lawyer Bob Hale. Soon she embarks on a nationwide search for Bob’s old girlfriend, which is really the reason for the enterprise. However, the national lottery that Nails starts gets the attention of the Finance Committee, winding up in Washington DC in an even more complicated situation, with the Supreme Court declaring the lottery unconstitutional, because it would benefit the people.

Jazz History: The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life. The street was convenient to musicians playing on Broadway and the “legitimate” nightclubs and in the CBS studio. Musicians who played for others in the early evening played for themselves on 52nd Street.

In its heyday from 1930 through the early 1950s, 52nd Street clubs hosted such jazz legends as Miles Davis, Harry Gibson, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Hoiday, Nat Jaffe, Marian McPartland, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Louis Prima, Art Tatum, Fats Waller and numerous  more. Although musicians from all schools performed there, after Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem, 52nd Street was the second most important place for the dissemination of bebop. In fact, a tune called “52nd Street Theme” by Thelonious Monk became a bebop anthem and jazz standard.

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