From Broadway To 52nd Street
A Connecticut Yankee opened on November 3, 1927 in the Vanderbilt Theatre and ran for four hundred and eighteen performances starring William Gaxton, Constance Carpenter and Nana Bryant.Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart composed the music for this delightful romp and from the body of music came two jazz standards Thou Swell and My Heart Stood Still. Based on the Mark Twain fantasy.
The Story: A modern man is thrust back to King Arthur’s Court in a dream caused by a blow to the head given by his fiancée for flirting with a girl. In his dream appear all the people important in his life, each taking on the personality he perceives in real life. While at court he falls in love with the girl, his attempts to woo her are thwarted by Merlin and Morgan le Fay. When he awakens he leaves his fiancée and decides to marry the girl.
Jazz History: Four clubs were pivotal in setting up The Street. 21 brought glamour, high society, top politicians and the columnists who spread the fame of The Street. Tony’s at No. 57-59 attracted the literary and theater set of the famous Algonquin Roundtable. At No. 33 Leon & Eddie became home for the tourists, cloak and suiters and show biz folk who couldn’t make it at 21 or Tony’s. At Joe Helbeck’s Onyx, originally an “in” spot for studio musicians at No. 35 triggered the awareness and influx of the public through its song hits.
In the early thirties, humorist Robert Benchley along with Jack Kriendler, one of the founder-owners of 21 drank their way west to 6th Avenue and back up the even numbered side of the street east to 5th counting the number of speakeasies and coming up with no less than 38.
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