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THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK

JEROME KERN

CENTENNIAL SUMMER: “IN LOVE IN VAIN”

This explores the real pain of the lyrics. It’s a hair raising performance, backed only by piano.

Jerome’s heart attack in 1939 was a shot across his bow. Something was wrong with his vascular system, and he heeded the signs, staying away from Broadway and working in movies in Hollywood, which was less stressful.

In the fall of 1945, Jerome returned to New York to oversee auditions for a revival of “Show Boat” and began working on the score for what would become “Annie Get Your Gun,” to be produced by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

On November 5, at age 60, he was walking down Park Avenue and keeled over by the traffic light at 57th Street. His only identification was his ASCAP card, so Jerome was initially taken to the indigent ward at City Hospital. When the staff finally realized that he was the Jerome Kern, he was quickly transferred to Doctors Hospital in Manhattan. Diagnosis: cerebral hemorrhage.

Hammerstein was at his side when Jerome’s breathing stopped. Oscar hummed “I’ve Told Every Little Star” into his ear. Receiving no response, Oscar said, “He’s gone.”

Rodgers and Hammerstein then assigned the task of writing the score for “Annie Get Your Gun” to Irving Berlin.

So ends the story of a great career, ended far too soon.

Tune in next weekend for the start of Harry Warren’s entries in the Great American Songbook.