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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 three-part program paying tribute to composer Harry Ruby. Ruby is known for his collaborations with Burt Calmer and Ted Snyder. He wrote countless hit songs like "Nevertheless, I'm in Love With You," "Who's Sorry Now," and "Three Little Words." Perhaps he is best remembered for the zany songs he wrote for Groucho Marx and his brothers. This program was originally broadcast in 1981.

[0:59] Paul Lazarus: Ruby and Calmer hit Hollywood in the early 30s and started writing for many, many films, and not the least of which, of course, is the Marx Brothers movies, but they also provided songs for many other great stars of the period, and many songs for many different films, including the next three songs, "What a Perfect Combination," performed by Eddie Cantor, a song that Calmer and Ruby wrote with Oscar Hammerstein and was used in a film called The Strip in 1955, and that was called "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," and here it's performed by Louis Armstrong, and then another song called "Who's Sorry Now," which Ruby collaborated with Burt Calmer and Ted Snyder in 1923.

[2:08] ♪ Musical number: "What a Perfect Combination" — performed by Eddie Cantor ♪

[4:22] ♪ Musical number: "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" — performed by Louis Armstrong ♪

[6:54] ♪ Musical number: "Who's Sorry Now?" — performed by Gloria DeHaven ♪

[10:09] Paul Lazarus: Three songs by Harry Ruby and his collaborators for films. We started with Eddie Cantor singing "What a Perfect Combination" from a film entitled The Kid from Spain, and that was collaborated with Bert Calmar and Harry Axt. Harry Ruby wrote that with those two, and then Louis Armstrong performed "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," which was featured in the film The Strip in 1955, and that was Harry Ruby writing with Bert Calmar and Oscar Hammerstein II, and finally, Bert Calmar, Ted Snyder, and Harry Ruby wrote "Who's Sorry Now," and that was performed by Gloria DeHaven from Three Little Words, the soundtrack and film biography of the life of Harry Ruby and Bert Calmar. Ruby was involved in many bizarre things, and I suppose perhaps the most bizarre is he wrote the song which became the TV theme for The Real McCoys.

We used that in the show Harry Ruby's Songs My Mother Never Sang, and Michael Roth did a wonderful orchestral version of it using the talents of our five-piece chamber ensemble, which featured Michael Roth at the piano, Michael Ellert, Jim McElwain, Marshall Coyd, and Don Mickelson.

[11:27] ♪ Musical number: "My Love is Waiting" — performed by Zero Mostel ♪

[16:55] Paul Lazarus: I'm your host, Paul Lazarus. Sarah Mostel recorded many of the Ruby songs in a collection called Songs My Mother Never Sang, a record that's long out of print that came out on Vanguard. On that record, there was a little quoted conversation between Mostel and Ruby, and it went, Sarah Mostel, did you ever contemplate suicide? Ruby, of course. Mostel, what happened? Ruby, I was out of town so much.

[17:20] Paul Lazarus: I have some more of the zanier side of Harry Ruby for you from the show, Harry Ruby's Songs My Mother Never Sang, a collection of short pieces by Harry Ruby, and some of them with his partner Bert Calmar, including a song that he wrote for the Marx Brothers in Animal Crackers called The Three Musketeers, and then a song called Whoopie, a song entitled Hold Me Dustly, a very, very little-known sketch that he wrote for the Marx Brothers in Animal Crackers. It's a little-known sketch that Ruby sent as a present to Groucho Marx called A Streetcar Named Desire, and I think it was written in 1972, and we found it for the show, Harry Ruby's Songs My Mother Never Sang. And finally, there's a girl in the heart of Wheeling, West Virginia, Harry Ruby's attempt at a rot song, and wrapped up by a reprise of The Three Musketeers. This is, once again, from the original cast of Harry Ruby's Songs My Mother Never Sang, featuring I.M. Hobson, Peter Frechette, Marshall Coyd, and Indira Stephanie Ann Christofferson.

[19:01] ♪ Musical number: "The Three Musketeers" — performed by I.M. Hobson, Peter Frechette, Marshall Coyd, and Indira Stephanie Ann Christofferson ♪

[20:41] ♪ Musical number: "Hold Me Thusly" — performed by I.M. Hobson, Peter Frechette, Marshall Coyd, and Indira Stephanie Ann Christofferson ♪

[22:03] ♪ Musical number: "A Streetcar Named Desire" — performed by I.M. Hobson, Peter Frechette, Marshall Coyd, and Indira Stephanie Ann Christofferson ♪

[22:55] ♪ Musical number: "Show Me a Rose" — performed by Groucho Marx ♪

[29:32] ♪ Musical number: "Nevertheless, I'm in Love with You" — performed by Groucho Marx ♪

[31:55] ♪ Musical number: "Three Little Words" — performed by Groucho Marx ♪

[33:32] Paul Lazarus: That's what I know.