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[0:00] Paul Lazarus: Hi, this is Paul Lazarus. In the 1980s, I produced and hosted a radio series called Anything Goes, a celebration of the American musical theater. Now the Broadway Podcast Network is bringing back these shows. This is the conclusion of a four-part program paying tribute to legendary lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner. Lerner is best known for writing award-winning classics like Brigadoon, Camelot, and one of Broadway's most enduring shows, My Fair Lady. This program originally aired in November of 1979.

[0:52] Paul Lazarus: Lerner and Lowe, although Lowe begrudgingly, because he had to be convinced into this one, went on back to Hollywood to do a film entitled Gigi.

[1:28] ♪ Musical number: "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" — performed by Marie Chevalier ♪

[3:04] ♪ Musical number: "It's a Bore" — performed by Alfred Drake and Daniel Massey ♪

[5:36] Paul Lazarus: Several selections from the Lerner and Lowe collaboration Gigi. First you heard Marie Chevalier from the film singing Thank Heaven for Little Girls. And then from the stage version, which in this case came after the film version, you heard Alfred Drake and Daniel Massey singing It's a Bore. After Gigi, Lerner and Lowe went on to write their next smash, which became sort of the signpost of the 60s, a show entitled Camelot.

[6:10] ♪ Musical number: "I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight" — performed by the cast of Camelot ♪

[7:46] ♪ Musical number: "I Loved You Once in Silence" — performed by the cast of Camelot ♪

[9:37] ♪ Musical number: "How to Handle a Woman" — performed by the cast of Camelot ♪

[10:53] ♪ Musical number: "Camelot" — performed by the cast of Camelot ♪

[11:39] ♪ Musical number: "Camelot" — performed by Richard Harris ♪

[13:22] You are listening to Anything Goes about noted writer Alan Jay Lerner. After Camelot came out, of course, President Kennedy was assassinated on November 23rd, 1963, and in an interview about the assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy talked about how the president had enjoyed one particular lyric from the show, and it was, "Don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." It became a watch cry of the whole Kennedy era, and Camelot, the show, became almost the way the '60s was represented—the idealism. Lerner, who was so moved by this, that what he had written had become sort of a symbol for a whole era in America, has had trouble ever since even seeing the show because of the memories that he recalls about the president. Anyway, after Camelot, Lerner went on to collaborate with Burton Lane again on the show On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

[14:46] ♪ Musical number: "Hurry! It's Lovely Up Here" — performed by Barbara Streisand ♪

[17:43] ♪ Musical number: "Come Back to Me" — performed by John Cullum ♪

[19:51] ♪ Musical number: "On a Clear Day" — performed by Barbara Streisand ♪

[21:56] Several selections from the Lerner and Lane collaboration On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Let me tell you a little bit about On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. It had been first announced as I Picked a Daisy, and it was the first musical, I think, to ever attempt to handle the story of extrasensory perception. As you just heard Barbara Streisand singing, "Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here," she's singing to her flowers, and that's the way she makes them grow, and apparently it seems to work. And then you also heard John Cullum singing "Come Back to Me," and then you heard Barbara Streisand, an incredible version of the title song "On a Clear Day" from the film version. Lerner then went on to do several projects that were not considered smash successes.

He wrote a show for Katherine Hepburn entitled Coco, and he also did one more film score with Lowe. Lowe came out of retirement to write it, and it was entitled The Little Prince, and has several nice surprises in it. And it is the last score that Fritz Lowe ever wrote, and the last collaboration between Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Lowe.

[23:19] ♪ Musical number: "I Never Met a Rose" — performed by Richard Kiley ♪

[25:13] Alan Jay Lerner: Singing as the flyer in the Lerner and Loewe score to The Little Prince, singing "I Never Met a Rose," a wonderful pastiche number. Lerner's current work, Carmelina, is already opened and playing. I'm fortunate to have two selections from that show.

[25:40] ♪ Musical number: "It's Time for a Love Song" — performed by Alan Jay Lerner ♪

[27:15] ♪ Musical number: "I'm a Woman" — performed by Georgia Brown ♪

[30:46] Alan Jay Lerner: First, you heard "It's Time for a Love Song," and then Georgia Brown, who is better known as Nancy, in all of her singing "I'm a Woman." And I just thought that I'd end this Lerner tribute with Alan J. Lerner himself introducing and singing a song from Gigi, "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore." I've always enjoyed writing songs for sort of old Rueys. I never thought of myself as an old Ruey. I don't know, there's something about the whole male vanity, the male image of himself, which is so distorted and so open for nonsense and for satire. And I've written a few of them, but this is the one that I think I like the best. It was done for a film.

[31:02] ♪ Musical number: "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore" — performed by Alan Jay Lerner ♪

[34:54] Alan Jay Lerner: Thank you for watching!