Kalmar-Ruby Song Book, The

RUBY, Harry; KALMAR, Bert

Published by New York: Random House, 1936

About this Item

"Glad You Like Our Zany Songs." A Warmly Inscribed Copy of The Kalmar-Ruby Song Book with an Exceptional Letter from Harry Ruby to Leslie Bricusse RUBY, Harry. KALMAR, Bert. The Kalmar-Ruby Song Book. With "reasonably accurate dissertations" by Franklin P. Adams, Robert Benchley, Irving Berlin, Marc Connelly, Moss Hart, Ben Hecht, Nunnally Johnson, Groucho Marx, and James K. McGuinness. New York: Random House, [1936]. First edition. Large quarto (12 1/4 x 9 3/8 inches; 311 x 238 mm.). [10], 111, [1, blank] pp. Publisher's original quarter tan buckram over pictorial red boards decoratively printed in black and cream with whimsical musical symbols and notation. Edges worn, as usual with this fragile production, yet still a very good example. Inscribed by Harry Ruby on the front free endpaper to Leslie Bricusse: "To Leslie Bricusse - What a joy & 'privilege' it is to sign this crazy book over to you. So glad you go for my 'non-sensical' songs.Thanks a lot -Sincerely Harry Ruby" The inscription is embellished with a hand-drawn musical phrase and concludes with the playful postscript: "P.S. - Please sign something of yours over to me -" Loosely laid in is an excellent typed letter signed from Harry Ruby to Leslie Bricusse, dated February 24, 1970, on Ruby's personal stationery from Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles. In the letter Ruby responds warmly to Bricusse's admiration for the songs he wrote with Bert Kalmar, writing: "He was a wonderful man." Ruby then reveals a remarkable personal detail concerning Kalmar's death: "He died, by the way, two days after he signed the contract for MGM to do the movie: Three Little Words - based, as it said, on the songs and lives of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby." The letter is filled with Ruby's characteristic comic warmth and self-deprecating humor. Explaining the faded typing, he jokes: "The black ink part of the typewriter ribbon has faded. I shan't buy another ribbon until I write another hit song." He also comments affectionately on the pair's comic compositions: "Glad you like our zany songs. I love doing them. even more than I love writing regular songs. that help pay the rent. provide food, clothing and shelter." Ruby further notes that he would contact "Happy Goday" regarding the book, offering a small but evocative glimpse into the network of theatrical and Hollywood music personalities surrounding Bricusse during this period. An especially appealing association between two generations of distinguished songwriter-lyricists. Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar were among the defining creators of Broadway and Hollywood's comic musical sensibility during the interwar years, while Leslie Bricusse would become one of the great composer-lyricists of the postwar era. The volume includes many of Kalmar and Ruby's most celebrated songs, including Three Little Words, Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You), and material associated with the Marx Brothers and Animal Crackers. The contributor list itself forms a remarkable gathering of American literary and theatrical wit, including Robert Benchley, Irving Berlin, Ben Hecht, Moss Hart, and Groucho Marx. A delightful and deeply personal musical-theater association copy linking the sophisticated comic songwriting of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway's golden age with one of the last great writer-composers of the modern stage.

Seller Inventory # 06693

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Kalmar-Ruby Song Book, The
• Publisher: New York: Random House, 1936
• Signed: Signed
• Seller catalogs:
  • Music
  • Autographs
  • Inscribed Copies