Free Alan Jay Lerner: A Lyricist's Letters by Dominic McHugh Page A

projects without his old partner. A new collaborator was needed, and Lerner found one in the person of Arthur Schwartz, composer of 1930s hits such as
The Band Wagon
as well as producer of movies including
Cover Girl
. Schwartz’s witty, elegant style was the perfect foil for Lerner’s lightness of touch as a lyricist, and a slew of projects was announced. First up was the movie adaptation of
Paint Your Wagon
. Only a few of the original Lerner-Loewe songs were now to be retained, and Lerner and Schwartz wrote nine new numbers; although they were never used, copies of the songs are held in the Library of Congress’s Arthur Schwartz Collection. This was the surest sign yet that the rift between Lerner and Loewe was serious. On February 11, 1953, it was suggested in the press that the movie would be “the first feature-length entertainment film to be made in the Cinerama process.” It was due to go into production in June and be released in October, with Louis B. Mayer still onboard as producer 17 .
         A month later, a further Lerner-Schwartz venture was announced: “Arthur Schwartz and Alan Jay Lerner have reached an agreement with Al Capp to make a musical of his popular cartoon,
Li’l Abner
,” reported Louis Calta. 18 The article also claimed that Lerner was writing a play for Schwartz to produce on Broadway with him, though there is no evidence that he ever began work on it. By June, yet another production was on the cards for the new team: Lerner was to create the script and lyrics for an MGM movie of
Kismet
, to music by Schwartz. Cyd Charisse was lined up to star in this revamp of the old 1944 film of the same name, but the studio went on to make the film as a straightforward adaptation of Wright and Forrest’s Broadway hit version of the story, which opened out of town in the summer of 1953 and reached Broadway in December of the same year. 19 With so many plans for the future, Lerner was evidently happy with his new creative partner, though the article also mentionstwo forthcoming MGM-Lerner projects that did not involve Schwartz, namely,
Brigadoon
(whose Frederick Loewe score was to be left largely intact), due for production in September, and
Huckleberry Finn
(still with its Burton Lane music), tentatively scheduled for February 1954.
    Figure 2.1
Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner in the early 1960s. Credit: Photofest
         But the cracks started to show only a few weeks later. On July 15,
Li’l Abner
was suddenly postponed to the 1954–55 season—more than a year ahead. 20 This was the first indication that insufficient work was being produced. Lerner and Schwartz were supposedly “busy” with unspecified “Hollywood matters.” In reality, personal worries had begun to stunt Lerner’s progress. The first was health related, as he told his good friend Irene Mayer Selznick 21 in mid-July:
        
To Irene Mayer Selznick
         July 20, 1953
         Dear, dear Irene:
         Just so you won’t think I am in California and haven’t called you, I wanted you to know there’s been a change in my plans. Chances are I won’t leave for the Coast for at least two weeks. There is also the possibility that I may not come at all.
             The reason for the change is that I just spent three enchanting weeks in the hospital with an old fashioned case of spinal meningitis. Considering the fact that this is the first time I have been sick since I was eleven years old, you can imagine how irksome the whole business has been. I’ve always taken it as a personal affront when anybody I know is indisposed, and I have absolutely no sympathy for myself when it happens to me. However, aside from feeling as weak as a whore when the Navy is in town, I am my old alarming self again, and, outside of a few missing reflexes in one leg, which should return shortly, all parts of me function as usual.
             I do hope I’ll be able to get to the Coast. I would love to see you and the