What Show Tunes are these?

Cafe Society
1

Are these famous lines from show tunes? And, if so, what shows?

a) Something familar, something exciting…a comedy tonight!
b) Some enchanted evening, you will meet a stranger…
c) Hooray for Hollywood…
d) It had to be you, it had to be you…

I don’t know if they’re showtunes, or not. But, you will hear them referred to over the ages. So, what’s their origins? - Jinx

2

a) is the opening tune from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a musical set in ancient Rome.

b) is from South Pacific.

3

a) Something familar, something exciting…a comedy tonight!

  • Comedy Tonight from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Steven Sondheim

b) Some enchanted evening, you will meet a stranger…
-Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein

Funny that you asked abou these - I just auditioned for Forum last week and am currently directing a revue of Rodgers and Hammerstein music called . . . drumroll please . . . Some Enchanted Evening!

4

c) Hooray for Hollywood is a Johnny Mercer song from an old Warner Bros movie called Hollywood Hotel.

d) It had to be you. was written by Gus Kahn and I. Jones in 1924. I don’t know if it was written for a particular show but it has become a standard and has been used in movies “A League of Their Own” leaps to mind.

5

And, to slightly correct the first one, it’s:

Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone, a comedy tonight!

6

I. Jones was the noted bandleader Isham Jones, and, no, it was not written for the stage.

7

“I’m singin’ to Nelson. Ain’t I, baby.”

“You sure are.”

Great scene.