FOR GOODNESS SAKE
1922
For Goodness Sake is a musical by Fred Jackson (book) with music by William Daly and Paul Lannin, and lyrics by Arthur Jackson. It featured additional music by George Gershwin with lyrics by Arthur Francis (aka Ira Gershwin).
The story takes place on the verandah of a home on Lake Content, New York. The limited plot involves rich singles who try to find love while stopping a rich engaged couple from flirting. Oh, and a guy wants to break the record for flying across the Atlantic.
The original production was produced by Alex A. Aarons, staged by Priestly Morrison, with musical staging by Allan K. Foster and additional staging by Julian Alfred. The show starred Vinton Freedley, John Hazzard, with Fred and Adele Astaire (above).
Before Broadway, For Goodness Sake played a week at the Globe Theatre on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.
It opened on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre on February 21, 1922 and played 103 performances.
"An agreeable if not brilliant musical comedy.” ~ THE NEW YORK TIMES
"Adele and I, with the help of Allan Foster, the dance director, worked out some useful dance specialties. It was around this time that I started to take hold at creating and choreographing our dances." ~ Fred Astaire, 1923
This was as close to being a Gershwin musical without being a full-fledged Gershwin musical as musicals get. Daly and Lannin were colleagues of the Gershwins and they wrote in ‘Gershwin style’. George and Ira themselves wrote two songs for the score: “Someone” and “Tra-La-La”.
“Someone” should not be confused with the Gershwins far more popular song “Someone to Watch Over Me” which became a standard. One Daly / Lannin song was particularly Gershwin-esque: “The Whichness of the Whatness.”
After Broadway, the show a twelve-week sit-down at the Garrick Theatre in Chicago with the original cast, including Fred and Adele. Meanwhile, producer Charles Dillingham beckoned the brother and sister team to Atlantic City.
The show that Dillingham wanted to chat about was The Bunch and Judy, which opened in November 1922 starring the Astaires. It was a failure and their last collaboration with Dillingham.
In August 1922, after their jaunt to AC, the Astaires departed for London, while For Goodness Sake left the Windy City for a tour of the hinterlands.
For Goodness Sake played in London’s Shaftesbury Theatre under the title Stop Flirting. It played four times as long in London, clocking in with 418 performances, although Fred and Astaire returned sooner to fulfill their contract with Dillingham. For London, the Gershwin hit “Stairway To Paradise” (originally from the George White Scandals of 1922) was added to the score. Also new was Gershwin’s “The Best of Everything”, a song written for 1919′s La La Lucille, now with new lyrics.
Sources say that “Tra-la-la (This Time It's Really Love)” was written for, but never performed in, For Goodness Sake, so it was later interpolated into the 1951 Gershwin film An American in Paris (above), which also included “Stairway to Paradise”.
In 1971, the off-Broadway Gershwin revue Do It Again! at the Promenade featured Margaret Whiting and Clifton Davis included “Stairway to Paradise”. The revue lasted just fourteen performances. “Stairway” was also heard in the 1992 Broadway musical Crazy For You, although only as a musical theme, not the lyrics.
For Goodness Sake (using the American title, but also with “Stairway”) was brought back to life as a staged reading by Musicals Tonight at the Lion Theatre in New York City in 2014.
