Jewish Telegraph Jewish Telegraph 74 FEATURES | Friday September 19, 2014 Friday September 19, 2014 | FEATURES 75

The show will be subtitled ‘The Misadventure of ’.” � HERBERT’S THREE INTERVIEWS WITH OLIVER! WRITER SHOWS LIONEL’S RISE AND DRAMATIC FALL WITH TWANG!! Mr Bart and I took lunch in his spacious study. Between courses NEWS EXTRA he threw back his dark, earnest hood remain with him. These are head and sang me a couple of the things he has poured into numbers from Twang!! Blitz! The first song was titled Lock- “I wanted to do something par- smith For The Lady, and will be ticularly British. Something that sung by a line of leggy girls owes nothing to American influ- encased in iron chastity belts by Bart: Jews need approval ence. What I remember of the war their husbands, who have gone off - and that to the Crusades. is the wonderful blitz spirit. It didn’t matter if you were Jewish, The main burden of the song is or black or yellow. You had one concerned with the determina- common enemy. tion of the lonesome wives to “You laughed at the same jokes. secure the services of a locksmith You sang the same songs. It to liberate them from their frus- shouldn’t be necessary to have trations. bombs dropped on our heads Mr Bart followed up with is why they entertain so brilliantly before we learn to live with each another song in which the wives, other and love each other. I hope now emancipated and unlocked, Blitz! says that. I think it does. sing a ditty proclaiming their of needing to be approved of, than man who dearly loves to see his ✭ immediate availability. BEST known as the award-winning lyricist of Les minority groups like Jews and name in the papers. The title of this song is self- Blitz! had a respectable, but hard- explanatory: Thou Hath It Made. Miserables and ’s hit She, negroes. That is why they make Not one in 10,000, I suppose, ly sensational, run of 568 perfor- such brilliant entertainers. They could name the writers of Irma La Both songs were pithy, wittily mances. It contained no outstanding rhymed, and promise well for the has had an equally need all that approval, all the Douce or Espresso Bongo or The hit songs and is seldom revived. applause. rest of Twang!! Music Man (all musicals running ✭ noteworthy career in journalism. Snapshots: “It’s a kind of love, isn’t it? in the West End at the time). But “What we are doing in Twang!!,” March 6, 1965 LINK-UP: Robert Weiner People like me who come from everybody has heard of Lionel said Mr Bart, “is to satirise the Encounters with Twentieth Century Legends Songwriter is the gutters of the East End, we Bart. Crusades, the attitude of the about to write a musical based on Church and, above all, human (The Robson Press, £25) brings together some haven’t got time for all that sur- The buzz is not always compli- the legend of Robin Hood. The gullibility, which can turn an out- face chi-chi like Salad Days (a mentary. Bart has something of a of his interviews. The book features his musical about a magic piano by show will not follow the party lawed con man like Robin Hood Alliance reputation for conceit and arro- line about the merry outlaws of into some kind of heroic saint. Julian Slade). We have seen too gance. Bart is not unaware of encounters with Matt Busby, Spike Milligan, Leni much that is real.” . this. “Personally, I find con men very Bart now plans to go into hiber- “It is going to be a naughty colourful,” he allowed. “They are, Riefenstahl, , Walt Disney and Billy Wilder, to name a “Man, what do they expect me will allow nation for a year. His major pro- show,” Lionel Bart told me in con- and have to be, chameleon char- few. Here, we reproduce three interviews with musical writer ject for the next year is a massive to do? I can’t be a nice guy to the spiratorial tones. acters, and that is very good the- folk opera, conceived on the scale whole world. I can’t recognise “A very naughty show. Robin atrically.” Lionel Bart in 1960, 1961 and 1965. everybody in the street. I have no movements to of Porgy and Bess, which will Hood is a con man, a Robin will be played by James delusions of grandeur. describe the life of ’s East nympho and an abject Booth, veteran of con men roles. “I was happier when I was playing a triumphant invasion of the End under bomb fire. “I’m not an intellectual like coward. You might describe it as Twang!! is being written in a hur- ‘speak with washboard for .” London stage for the third time The show, ready in 1961, will be Peter Ustinov. I’m just a simple a satirical girlie show that is defi- ry. Mr Bart started work on songs in 1960 with the opening of Oliver!, called quite simply Blitz! guy. They just don’t know what nitely not for the family trade.” ORN Lionel Begleit- a musical based on Dickens’ Oliv- Bart writes songs with remark- the pressures are.” I was talking to Mr Bart in his er Twist, for which Bart wrote the er in 1930, youngest able speed (maximum time per ARROGANT: Lionel Bart Another attitude towards Bart newly acquired house off the Ful- one voice’ of eight children of book, music and lyrics. song: 60 minutes), but claims that seeks to nail him as a copy-cat ham Road — a rambling, 25- I find con THE Movement for Reform an Austrian Jewish He lives today in a plush mews he needs days and months, even Blitz!, he told me, was the composer. A Bart tune, say his roomed mansion with minstrel Judaism is creating an alliance house near the South Kensington years, of thinking the song out biggest thing he had ever critics, is an old tune tricked up galleries, carved stonework and with Liberal Judaism. tailor, he grew up in tube station (which he never uses) to sound new. men very ,B London. before he reaches the point of cre- attempted. stained-glass windows, not to The link-up will allow them to and has found solace in the own- ation. He would not describe him- Bart says, “Listen, mate. Fings mention a hand-painted mural of “speak under one voice,” accord- His youthful ambition was to ership of expensive automobiles. “The story covers, like, the self as a happy person. whole canvas of the German air is deliberately derivative of the the Battle of Agincourt, and sev- colourful ing to MRJ chairman Robert be a painter, but a natural, I called to see him at his home “I was happier,” he said, “when I raids on the East End,” he said. Thirties. And Blitz! will be delib- en lavatories, one of them done up Weiner. unforced talent for popular some hours before the curtain erately based on the musical as a panelled throne room. melody soon revealed itself. was playing washboard for Tom- “It takes place in the Under- a fortnight ago. He says he will “This is a big opportunity in went up on the first night of Oliv- my Steele in the early days, and mood of the Forties. The wartime “I’m on a big medieval kick,” not only appealing to all our He wrote the early hits of Cliff ground shelters and in Petticoat have the entire first draft of the er! He was extremely nervous loafin’ around Soho with 15 bob in songs . . . You’ve got yourself a Mr Bart explained. “Both my next members, but also to the unaffil- Richard, Tommy Steele and Lane. The leading lady is a big show written in another week or about the prospects of the show. my pocket.” good popular song when the audi- two musicals are set in medieval iated,” he said. “We can offer a . In 1959 he wrote Jewish mama. two. “I tell you straight, mate,” he ence can almost feel the next times. First, the Robin Hood bit. more compelling and meaning- the lyrics (to ’s Now when he sits in his £4,250 “I already got someone in mind. “In one single night last week I said. “If anything goes wrong on note, the next lyric. I want my Then a massive spectacular about ful message.” music) of the Mermaid Theatre’s Mercedes Benz convertible (regis- Real matriarchal. She’ll be wild.” wrote❝ four new songs. That’s the the stage tonight, I’m going to songs to sound familiar.” the Hunchback of Notre Dame in inaugural production Lock Up tration plate LB 4), Lionel Bart way it comes sometimes, in a The alliance will see an walk out of the theatre and wan- knows that he has come a long The story goes back to Bart’s By adhering to such simple which every line of the dialogue Your Daughters. kind of flood. I can’t always write expansion of collaboration der around Trafalgar Square way. But he knows something own roots. Born within a shout of rules, Bart has made a fortune. will be sung by up to 100 voices. between the two movements in Bigger things were to follow . . . music that way, of course; I have until it’s all over.” else too, that at 27 he is just Petticoat Lane, he was a 10-year- He says he cannot estimate his “There will be,” Bart added as areas such as student chaplaincy, ✭ Eleven hours later Bart stood beginning. old awaiting evacuation when the income. an afterthought, “no orchestra.” to enjoy doing it. It has to be a social justice and social action. bombs began to fall. He saw Lon- labour of love, not a love of labour. July 3, 1960 backstage at the New Theatre ✭ “I’ve got a mental block about He talked about the Robin Hood But its leaders stress it is not THE most successful British being kissed, backslapped and don burning. “I can’t sweat on lyrics. If I With three consecutive hit shows figures. At school, when the musical, commissioned by a com- a merger — and the two move- songwriter since and hand-pumped in a delirium of It is no coincidence that both teachers wrote sums on the pany headed by Peter Sellers. write a song, and it is basically a ments will retain their autono- congratulation after one of the to his name, the unstoppable Bart Noël Coward is a small, dark ex- Oliver! and Blitz! are spelled with blackboard, I kind of blanked “We are calling the show good song, and for the moment I my and distinct identities. most ecstatic first-night recep- now turned his attention to an epic slum dweller with a chip on his exclamation marks. Bart likes to over. I don’t add up my money. I Twang!! with two exclamation cannot find a good line or a good tions London has witnessed since musical that, he boasted, would Mr Weiner, who implemented shoulder, three cars in the think in superlatives. just use it.” marks. On the posters we shall rhyme, I don’t beat my brains Oklahoma! came to town. COLLECTED WORKS: Herbert Kretzmer dwarf its predecessors. Conceived the idea with Liberal Judaism He describes his new show as But certain things of his boy- have an arrow quivering in a tree. out. I just let it go. It will come chairman Lucian Hudson, said: Bart accepted the idolatry with on the scale of grand opera, Blitz! “Everything I do must be big- children — four boys and four would re-tell the story of the Ger- something the size of Porgy and later, maybe during rehearsals. “Our message is a modern, inclu- a succession of quick, nervous Bess. The thing to do is not to panic.” sive message which empowers Headache grins. Perspiration filmed his ger and better than anything I girls. We were all of us brought up man air raids on London in 1940. It have done before. That’s my kick, in one tiny slum near Petticoat would be a tribute to the fighting “Folk opera!” he says. “Orches- After Twang!! and the Hunch- members to be involved. forehead. He glistened like a gar- tra of 35! Cast of 60! Maybe 70! 25 back musical, Mr Bart plans to den gnome after a shower. mate.” Lane. Sometimes I was neglect- spirit of London’s East End. “It is very much a current deciding what The ivory telephone rang at his ed, being the youngest. Other ✭ songs, plus seven repeats. The stop working altogether and take view of Jewish life, as opposed But all this — and the banner- times, I was loved to distraction. second act came fast. Finished it a year or two off to relax and recu- to the traditional one, which can waving press notices next morn- elbow. Bart spoke into the September 30, 1961 mouthpiece. “When I was 12 my old man gave in 10 days. When it flows, man, it perate. be more problematic. We want to to turn down ing — still lay ahead of him when A few minutes after 11 o’clock flows.” “Who wants seats for the show? me a fiddle as a present. I gave it last Tuesday morning, in his lit- He said: “I haven’t stopped galvanise a lot of people.” Bart and I talked in his mews Bart jumped up from his chair. garage, and an income of some- flat. Lord Whom? OK, tell him he can up after six months. It was hope- tle mews house in South Kensing- working for eight years. I now He added: “The mechanism is have two.” less. I still can’t read a note of Then sat down again. He is full of for our movements to better thing like £50,000 a year. He drank a cup of hot tea and ton, Mr Lionel Bart reached for a receive about a dozen projects a music. Can’t play a note, either. quick, unexpected moves. understand how we can work His name is Lionel Bart. It is stubbed out a half-smoked ciga- Bart replaced the phone, lit fat pencil and scribbled 10 words week. I turn them all down.” “When I compose a song I just “I’ll tell you,” he said. “The together for the betterment of an easy name to remember, and rette. Success has turned him another cigarette, juggling with of a song lyric on a large sheet of Mr Bart looked pleased and hum it into a tape recorder. Then show is full of kids. Listen . . .” progressive Judaism in the UK.” that’s the way Bart likes it. He into an anxious man. a heavy silver table lighter, which white paper. calm and assured. The world is was reluctant to ignite. somebody else puts the dots down writes❝ songs that are easy to “I am always worrying about “No more bunking over walls,” He rested his lean, tanned knocking on his heavy oak doors. remember, too. “Where was I?” he said. “Basi- on paper. What’s the difference, he wrote, “Duty calls, hallelujah, hands on his knees and sang an He can afford to be choosy. what comes next,” he said. “It’s a mate? It’s working out, isn’t it?” Some envious rivals decry Bart dodgy lark, I tell you. Some peo- cally I’m successful because I duty calls!” appealing little song at me called ✭ JNF shelters as ‘dead commercial’, but any of never write into a void. I always As a Jew, Bart has had to brave He underlined the words and Mums and Dads. He sang it with a ple get dizzy with success. Not Twang!! was a famous disaster. them would trade their teeth for know just who I’m writing a song prejudice and stupidity on his sat back. Another Bart musical soft, childish voice, dropping me. I get apprehensive. That’s the Lionel Bart rashly tried to save the his common touch and royalties. for. way to the top. But unlike was done. aitches all the way. word . . .” Frankie Vaughan, whose manly show by trading his Oliver! royal- It is practically certain that, at “When I write a Tommy Steele After six years of planning, “I think it’ll go,” he said. for Bedouin Bart rubbed the side of his nose shoulders seem to be free of any ties. He spent the next 20 years, some stage in the past few years, song, like Handful of Songs, I four months of actual writing, The most successful British JNF UK has bought three with his knuckles. It is a long, chips, Lionel Bart carries in him more or less, lost in a stupor you have hummed or whistled a thin nose that is poised over his write it specifically for Tommy Blitz!, to be presented in London songwriter alive was unknown mobile bomb shelters to protect Bart melody (Fings Ain’t Wot They and nobody else. It works better an inborn caution and a sharp- two years ago, hanging around induced by drugs and drink, though members of the Negev’s Bedouin mouth like a permanent excla- ened awareness on matters of in the spring of 1962, was in the Used T’Be, Livin’ Doll, Little White mation mark. that way, mate. It really does.” bag. Oliver! had a successor. Soho, churning out tumpty-tum he occasionally surfaced to community. race and social conscience. announce grandiose new musicals, Bull) without giving a second “The phone never stops ring- Lionel Bart talks in a soft Yesterday Mr Bart was still ditties for guitar-strumming boy The charity has linked with which existed only in his head. thought to the identity of the ing,” he mock-complained. “I am sandpaper voice with more than a He agreed that most musical pretty wound up about the enter- wonders. the Municipality of Rahat to author. inundated with offers. People suggestion of a lisp. shows from the days of George prise. The expected elation fol- Then came the stage shows — His only ‘hit’ (you could hardly purchase them. Lionel Bart has won so many want me to write songs for shows, He comes from London’s East Gershwin and to lowing the completion of a big Lock Up Your Daughters, Fings call it that) in 20 years was Happy Rahat, which has a population Ivor Novello Awards (the Oscars songs for films. End, a notable crucible of Jewish the present era of West Side Story show had not materialised. Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be and Oliv- Endings, a 30-second advertising of 60,000, is the largest Bedouin of British songwriting) that the artistic talent. and Guys and Dolls were written He paced the floor like a small, er! — three hits in a row. The jingle for Abbey National featuring settlement in Israel. “It’s a headache deciding what by Jews. annual prize-giving event at the to take on, what to turn down. I “I was born,” he told me, “in a nervous ant-eater. money began to roll in, and the Bart sitting at a piano, singing to The shelters will be delivered Savoy has become known, rueful- have just rejected a Hollywood maternity home we called Moth- “I feel that all life is a search “Man, it’s finished. But it’s just publicity stories began to roll children. on Monday. Two will be situated ly, as ‘Bart’s Benefit’. offer to write all the songs for er Levy’s. for love, a desire to be loved. And beginning. Now we start pulling out. The buzz was fuelled by Bart Lionel Bart died of cancer in 1999 in schools, with the third at a Just three nights ago he staged Elvis Presley’s next picture. “I was the youngest of eight nobody is more guilty of this vice it to pieces.” himself, who, despite occasional FLOP: Actress talks to Lionel Bart during rehearsals for Twang!! and was cremated at Golders Green, nursery. protestations of humility, is a in 1965, but the show was a ‘famous disaster’ London.