DESCRIPTION:
JUDY KAYE and WALTER WILLISON sing "Strange Music" [by Wright & Forrest, adapted from themes by Edvard Grieg] at The ASCAP Foundation/Richard Rodgers Award ceremony honoring her friends and mentors, songwriters Robert Wright & George Forrest in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the American Musical Theatre, on April 20, 1992. From Hollywood to Broadway to the Hit Parade of all-time standards, Robert "Bob" Wright and George "Chet" Forrest were and no doubt always will be "The Uncontested Longest-Running Songwriting Collaboration in Show Business History!" During the seven decades of Bob & Chet's esteemed collaboration they worked with some of the Greatest Stars in Show Business, and they had their special favorites. Among them, Judy Garland [they first wrote songs for her at MGM when she was just 12 years old], their leading men of choice during The Golden Age of Broadway, Jose Ferrer and Alfred Drake, and in their final decades, Judy Kaye [their favorite leading lady of all-time] and I were all honored to be at the top of their list. Ms. Kaye received a Theatre World Award for "ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY", a Tony Award for THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Tony Award nominations for "MAMA MIA!" and "SOUVENIR", and also starred on Broadway in "GREASE", "THE MOONY SHAPIRO SONGBOOK", "OH, BROTHER!", "RAGTIME", and most recently "SWEENEY TODD". She can be heard singing other Wright & Forrest songs on recordings including "ANASTASIA": The Musical, "A BAG OF POPCORN AND A DREAM", "DIVA BY DIVA", "MAGDALENA", and various versions of "KISMET". It was an honor when Judy and I were asked to pay tribute to our friends and mentors, accompanied by their favorite Musical Director, Jack Lee ["GRAND HOTEL", "MY ONE AND ONLY", "MY FAIR LADY", "PETER PAN", "IRENE", "SWEET CHARITY"] at this memorable event, co-hosted by Marilyn Bergman and Mary Rodgers. When Chet passed, on November 10, 1999, they were celebrating the 70th Anniversary of their lifetime of collaboration. Bob followed on July 27, 2005. Although they were never partners in a romantic sense, theirs was a marriage in every other way possible. They met when students at Miami High, in 1929, at ages 14 and 15. While still in their teens, Bob played piano for the likes of Helen Morgan, had his own dance band, and was Musical Director of The Original Walt Disney's Micky Mouse Club. They arrived in Hollywood at ages twenty and twenty-one, after touring the county with notorious comedian/female impersonator Ray Bourbon, for whom Chet was accompanist. They enjoy an impressive heyday at MGM where, while still in their early twenties, they wrote such standards as "The Donkey Serenade" [introduced by Allan Jones in "The Firefly"], and three Academy Award-nominated songs: "Always and Always" [introduced by Joan Crawford in "Mannequin", 1938]; "It's a Blue World" [introduced by Tony Martin in "Music In My Heart", 1940]; and "Pennies for Pepino" ["Fiesta", 1942]. and contributed songs and scores for over 60 films, ranging from "The Our Gang Follies of 1938" to their series of classic Jeannette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy musicals ["Maytime", "Sweethearts", "Rose Marie", "I Married An Angel", etc.]. In 1942, Bob & Chet moved from Hollywood to New York, where they wrote, produced, and directed all-star revues with Imogene Coca and others at Camp Tamiment, as well as a series of nightclub revues at the Copacabana, plus nightclub acts for such stars as Jane Froman, Celeste Holm, and their discoveries Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling. In addition, they wrote and produced shows for the radio program "U.S. Treasury Star Parade", with Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Ethel Merman, Danny Kaye, Mary Martin and others; wrote and produced their own weekly 'IV variety show, "Star Time", and landed on Broadway with "SONG OF NORWAY" ["Strange Music", "I Love You"], "MAGDALENA", their Tony Award·winning score for "KISMET" ["Stranger in Paradise," "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," "And This is My Beloved"], "KEAN" ["Sweet Danger," "Willow, Willow, Willow"], the latter two written for Alfred Drake, Geoffrey Holder's hit staging of "TIMBUKTU" starring Eartha Kitt. "THE GREAT WALTZ" at Drury Lane in London. In 1989, they re-emerged with their longest-running Broadway hit ever: "GRAND HOTEL": The Musical, the Landmark musical directed by Tommy Tune, which received 15 Tony Award-nominations, winning 5, and earned a place on the list of Broadway's longest-running shows. Bob Wright & Chet Forrest were both true gentlemen of the theatre and are greatly missed, especially by those of us who loved them.
Walter Willison 2010
[Mr. Willison is a Tony Award nominee & Theatre World Award winner for "TWO BY TWO", and also starred in "PIPPIN", "NORMAN, IS THAT YOU?", "GRAND HOTEL", "KEAN", Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Schwartz' "MASS", "McDuff, The Talking Dog", "Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women", "Harry and Walter Go To New York"]