Marilyn Maye with Will Friedwald and Harvey Granat – Sparkling

In what we can only hope will turn into a series, raconteur/historians Will Friedwald and Harvey Granat, both of whom have their own entertaining 92nd Street Y programs, joined forces this afternoon to illuminate and celebrate the great Marilyn Maye. Deemed “the finest singer in America” by Ella Fitzgerald, the vocalist/actress/ educator can clearly hold  her own with any interviewer. She’s charming, honest, warm, saucy and remembers simply everything in a career that got its first boost hosting a Kansas radio show at the tender age of 9.

“Was yours a typical stage mother?” Granat asks. “No, I’d be a star if she had been,” retorts Maye. The audience titters. Highly lauded by a bastion of fans and the industry in which she’s toiled over 70 years, the astonishing talent might have had, one conjectures, an even bigger career. Still, fitting the description, Mom ferried her daughter to lessons and talent contests always admonishing “Don’t let me down.”

Harvey Granat, Marilyn Maye

The performer’s first big break occurred when a thespian cousin arranged for Maye to sing for Hugh Martin and Ralph Lane who recommended her to Steve Allen. “It’s because of him I’m here, or anywhere.” She began to ricochet from a 40-seat boite in Kansas City to national television appearances on that show and others. Most  tapes have been short-sightedly erased. Later, with Billy Stritch at the piano and in duet, we hear songs by the prolific Mr. Allen whom Maye clearly holds in high affection.

Two record albums later, a second turning point arrived at The Living Room in New York, in the person of Ed McMahon. “You’ve got to do The Johnny Carson Show,” he told her. “I certainly do,” she responded.  And she did. 76 times, garnering a record. Granat asks how it was to work with Carson. “He didn’t want to hold a conversation before show time because it hampered spontaneity.” It seems Maye was given a choice to do one song and converse or perform two numbers and invariably chose the latter.

Friedwald treats us to an early Scopotone of the vocalist. These were 3 minute, twenty-five cent jukebox videos shown “in iffy bars”, mostly abroad. A red-haired, tiny-waisted Maye sings “Cabaret,” which she introduced before the Broadway musical. Surrounded by scantily-clad dancing girls and ersatz vaudeville performers in a parody-looking environment that must’ve put comprehension of the genre back years, Maye is nonetheless wonderful. “It paid a lot of money,” she tells us grinning.

“I don’t know anyone today who puts so much into a lyric,” Grant observes. “A lyric is all important,” Maye responds. “It’s the story you have to tell, a character, and I love choosing songs that follow…(Her medleys reflect scope and skill.) The most important thing to me is connecting with an audience. I sing to you not for you.”

Marilyn Maye, Will Friedwald

“The first few times I saw Marilyn, she never did a ballad all the way through and I realized she can make you sad even singing up-tempo,” Friedwald comments introducing the next clip from a 1966 Hollywood Palace hosted by Bing Crosby. We hear “Misty” with a richness of voice that belies her age. Distinctive interpretation showcases sophisticated octave changes and phrasing. Sometimes a word hosts internal trill creating frisson. Friedwald marvels at the combination of melodic improvisation, harmonic improvisation, and attention to the lyric.

The decline of supper clubs turned Maye towards musicals. Her very first role was as Can Can’s Pistache in a 9000 seat amphitheater! The next year, and the next, and the next…she played Dolly Levi  (Hello Dolly) breaking house records. Then, Sally in Follies. “I loved it, but I got bored singing the same song every night and you can’t connect to an audience from a theater stage.” “Would you do Dolly on Broadway now,”Friedwald challenges. “In a hot minute.”

Maye met longtime MD/friend Billy Stritch at a small club in Houston, Texas, his home town. She’d do two shows a night at a small club, working the room between, chatting with customers. The musician, who was “17 going on 31,” followed her around like a puppy asking questions. Her MD didn’t know who the boy was, but agreed he was driving them both crazy. “And now I have his job,” Stritch proudly quips from the audience.

Billy Stritch, Marilyn Maye

Eventually, Maye returned the favor going to his show. Stritch was thrilled and asked whether she’d like to sing something. “Oh no,” she characteristically replied, “We’re here to see you.” “But I know all your arrangements,” the youngster protested. One of the warmest, most symbiotic partnerships in the business would grow from the cinematic moment.

A Kraft Music Hall clip with Maye playing legendary performer/saloon owner Texas Guinan finds her in a tiara and flapper dress singing the hell out of “Bill Bailey.” The number starts slowly evolving to mid-tempo, hot jazz. It’s a completely original arrangement. And she moooves. Friedwald watches the screen with his back to us, unconsciously rotating his shoulders. The voice soars. Apparently Maye had never seen the performance.

In what we might identify as chapter five, Granat notes Maye’s “rediscovery,” by New York after 16 years working elsewhere. “I just did my 61st summer in Iowa.” In the early 1980s, Stritch introduced Maye to The Metropolitan Room where she found a home until its recent closure. Her MD also brought her to the attention of Donald Smith, founder of The Mabel Mercer Foundation and New York’s annual Cabaret Convention. New audiences responded (and continue to respond) with enthusiasm that might’ve carried her on their shoulders in another era.

Marilyn Maye

“Let’s talk about another facet of your life, teaching young people,” proffers Granat. Maye holds 5 hour Master Classes with 12 students at a time. Some just want to sing, others hope to turn professional. A recent example of the fruits of these labors is the remarkable, 16 year-old Joie Bianco who floored us all at the last two Cabaret Conventions, earning the 2017 Julie Wilson Award. “I love the process. A lawyer from the New York Times came to me with less than a great singing voice but great energy and personality. It’s her joy in life and my joy to help her.”

At Granat’s request, Maye and Stritch perform the signature “Guess Who I Saw Today.” It’s completely empathetic, all the more having Ms. Maye 10 feet away. I’ve called out this number in several reviews. She never does it quite the same, but it always seems- personal.

Asked about her bucket list, Maye comes up with only one wish besides more travel: “I want to do my symphony show with The New York Pops, but I understand it costs a great deal…and I’ll be 90 in April.” Alerting producers everywhere!

Granat’s questions, Friedwald’s video and comment, and live performance make this ‘show’ entertaining, intimate and edifying. Marilyn Maye makes it memorable.

“Harvey and I are fossil fuel and Marilyn Maye is sheer electricity” Will Friedwald.

 

Photos by Stephen Sorokoff
Opening: Harvey Granat, Marilyn Maye, Will Friedwald

Marilyn Maye with Will Friedwald and Harvey Granat
Billy Stritch-MD/Piano
October 23, 2017
92 Street Y
92nd and Lexington Avenue  

Marilyn Maye’s web site

Songs and Stories with Harvey Granat
Clip Joint with Will Friedwald

About Alix Cohen (1706 Articles)
Alix Cohen is the recipient of ten New York Press Club Awards for work published on this venue. Her writing history began with poetry, segued into lyrics and took a commercial detour while holding executive positions in product development, merchandising, and design. A cultural sponge, she now turns her diverse personal and professional background to authoring pieces about culture/the arts with particular interest in artists/performers and entrepreneurs. Theater, music, art/design are lifelong areas of study and passion. She is a voting member of Drama Desk and Drama League. Alix’s professional experience in women’s fashion fuels writing in that area. Besides Woman Around Town, the journalist writes for Cabaret Scenes, Broadway World, TheaterLife, and Theater Pizzazz. Additional pieces have been published by The New York Post, The National Observer’s Playground Magazine, Pasadena Magazine, Times Square Chronicles, and ifashionnetwork. She lives in Manhattan. Of course.