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The Vegas Voice 2-21

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By: Yvonne Cloutier / Musical Moments

Jerome Kern, 1885-1945, born in New York of

Jewish/German parents was one of the 20th

century’s most important composers, musical

innovator, and master tunesmith for 40 years of musical theatre and

popular music. He composed over 700

songs and over 100 stage works.

He collaborated with some of the

greatest librettists (writes the lyrics

and/or dialogue) and lyricists, (writes

words to the songs, including Yip

Harburg of Wizard of Oz fame.) When

listening to Kern’s beautiful music

of Showboat, audiences realized he

elevated American musical to the level

of fine art.

The story of Showboat (written by Edna Ferber, the lyrics by Oscar

Hammerstein II) with the musical performers, made Jerome Kern’s

songs of Showboat musical standards. Some of these are: Ol’ Man

River, Make Believe, Why Do I Love You? and Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat

Man.

This wasn’t Kern’s only list of beautiful classical hit melodies. Some

easily remembered are: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, All the Things You

Are, (considered to be one of the top ballads written in America,) The

Song is You, I’ve Told Every Little Star, Look for the Silver Lining, A

Fine Romance, Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Off, & Start All Over

Again, (which is good advice for divorcees).

22

Jerome Kern

News of the World

By: Renee Riendeau / Movie Revelations

Tom Hanks is Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a

veteran of three wars. He travels from town

to town sharing non-fiction stories of Presidents,

Queens, glorious feuds, and adventures of far areas of the globe.

In the plains of Texas, Cap. Kidd crosses paths with Johanna (Helena

Zengel) who had been robbed and separated from her family and left

to die. She had been stolen by a Native American tribe six years earlier

and never learned their language.

Johanna was practically a mute and Kidd’s mission was to return her

to an aunt and uncle surviving somewhere nearby, against Johanna’s

wishes. She was unhappy and didn’t want to follow her relatives rules.

Eventually, Cap. Kidd goes back to claim Johanna and promises

to look after and care for her. She and Cap. Kidd made quite a team

sharing unforgiving wilderness, tremendous challenges of nature as

they focus searching for a home.

Universal Studios made some sort of a deal with AMC theaters. My

friend and I saw “News of the World” at South Point Casino where the

theater seats are individually chosen several seats/rows apart.

The Pre-production status for this movie was April 18, 2019; and on

February 2021

Others include I’m Old Fashioned, done in the movie called You

Were Never Lovelier where Fred Astaire dances his way into Rita

Hayworth’s heart; I Won’t Dance, written for the film version of

the musical Roberta to introduce Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

to the public; and The Last Time I Saw Paris, reminiscing lyrics by

Hammerstein II, when Germans took over the French capital during

WW II, asking Kern to write the music

to them.

Kerr’s prolific writing between 1914-

1920, completed four full musicals,

(also called scores.) In 1935, he wrote

three stage hits in a row.

He was described as a whitehaired,

birdlike little fellow with a highpitched

voice, having nothing to do

with being a professional perfectionist

who disliked amateurs with pretense.

When Kern died, he was only 60 years old, dying on a N.Y. street with

no identification. Not knowing who he was, he was taken to a public

hospital on Welfare Island. Hammerstein II and other composers

identified him in time to keep him from being buried as an unknown.

Eubie Blake is quoted as comparing Jerome Kern to the moon and

stars, commenting that they were both absolutely great!

Yvonne Cloutier, a former teacher/principal, with a music

background, specializes in ragtime piano. She researches and

reports about music on SCA-TV.com/Anthem Alive! You can

contact her at www.mytimeisragtime.com.

or about Oct. 22, 2020 the

film was completed. Most of

the movie was shot in Santa

Fe, New Mexico where Tom

Hanks had to deal with the

dust, sweat, grime of pre-20 th

century period filmmaking,

an obvious departure from

his earlier work.

This was a departure from

the kind of film I usually

view but enjoyable and made

for an interesting two hours

of entertainment. I am rating

” News of the World “4 points

out of 5 on the Riendeau

movie review scale.

Renee Riendeau is the movie critic for “Renee’s Revelations”

on Anthem Alive SCA-TV. As a dog sitter she operates “ Renee’s

Roommates” out of her home and can be reached at

rriendeau@aol.com.

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