I have been recording a few old black and white tv-shows in order to enjoy them with my daughter, specifically Hazel, The Joey Bishop Show, and The Burns and Allen Show. It’s fun to laugh at the old shows and to marvel at how formally they dressed back then.
I have been searching for a song, and at this point, I would settle for knowing that it was just a title and a line or two created for the show. George Burns makes many mentions of a song, In the Heart of a Cherry. I have searched everywhere I can think of and have come up with absolutely nothing. Does anyone here know of this song, or of its non-existence? Finding out has become a bit of an obsession with me, and I would certainly appreciate getting the straight dope.
I did some searching and found one reference that said that Burns took this song from a musical called The Gaieties of 1919. I found several references to this musical. It appears to be something that played on Broadway in 1919.
Thomas S. Hischak’s book Broadway Plays and Musicals says this about the Shubert Gaieties of 1919:
“(7 July 1919) Musical revue by Edgar Smith, Harold Atteridge, Ed Wynn (skts), Jean Schwartz (mu), Alfred Bryan (lyr) 44th St Thea; 87 p. A quickly tossed together entertainment that often resembled a vaudeville show, the revue featured Henry Lewis, Gladys Walton, Jimmie Fox, Jack Bohm, Gilda Gray, and Stewart Baird. Irving Berlin’s “You’d Be Surprised” from the current Ziegfeld Follies was the only notable song and the production numbers paled in comparison to the other revues. All the same, the show ran eleven weeks. Other songs: A Maid Like You; Little Boy Blue; This Is The Day; Crazy Quilt (Dippy-Doodle-Um).”
Further searching shows that there was something in 1919 called The Shubert Brothers’ Gaieties of 1919 which Ed Wynn" was in. The Shubert Brothers were part of a family which established Broadway as the theater center of the U.S. The family still owns a number of theaters in various places. It’s possible that Eubie Blake didn’t write the musical I mentioned but merely recorded some songs from the musical that are now available on a single album.
Several sources I’ve looked at say that Burns used a bunch of names in his early years. This includes the period of The Shubert Brothers’ Gaieties of 1919. Even if we could find a complete list of everyone appearing in it, Burns might be listed under a different name.
Thank you Wendell Wagner, Prof. Pepperwinkle, and MrKnowItAll, I knew that it was going to be a long shot, and that if I couldn’t find it this would be the place where someone could. Apparently it will remain one of those mysteries I never solve. Or, maybe someday I will! Again, thank you, you are kind to have looked around for the answer I was seeking.
Take a look at this PDF. Internet Broadway Database lists the show and includes the song Cherry Blossom Lane. It includes a cast list which doesn’t have the name George Burns or Nathan Birnbaum. A search of the song title with the name of the show led me to the site where this 1919 song (so certainly out of copyright) is found. The chorus is:
In the heart of a cherry, stony heart of a cherry
There’s a song of the bluebird that tells of happiness
From the lips of the Maytime it was stolen one daytime
It’s a tuneful, Tuneful, croonful, melodyness.
Which may explain why Van Halen never recorded it.
Well, how about that! I thought it was a lost cause, it has been a nagging earworm, just the two lines that George sings every now and again. So I typed it in Google to do some more looking around just now, and lo and behold, Julius Henry solved the puzzle! I cannot express how grateful I am, this has been nagging at me for months! Thank you everyone for making the effort, and extra special thanks to Julius Henry for finding the prize, you rawk!
