George Abbott

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.

Speaker 10:05

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in 1984, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:29

This week our Castaway is a distinguished man of the theatre.

Presenter0:33

Director, playwright, producer, and actor, George Abbott.

Presenter0:37

mister Abbott, it seems general that most theatrical producers retire at the age of about ninety or ninety one but here are you you're ninety seven and still going strong, and still at it.

George Abbott0:48

I enjoy it and and I've always enjoyed working.

George Abbott0:51

That's the only reason I can give you.

Presenter0:54

Now what brings you to London on this occasion?

George Abbott0:56

On this occasion I came to direct

George Abbott0:59

A production of On Your Toes.

George Abbott1:02

which has just finished a run in New York and is on the road there.

Presenter1:07

I remember seeing the the original London production. That was, what, back in about 1937, wasn't it?

George Abbott1:12

1936 was the

George Abbott1:14

First production of

George Abbott1:16

A play by this name.

Presenter1:18

And it's still going strong.

Presenter1:20

Have you ever visited a desert island?

George Abbott1:22

No, I can't say that I have.

Presenter1:24

Do you think you could put up with it for a few weeks?

George Abbott1:27

I could I think I could adjust, yes.

Presenter1:29

Now you have just eight discs to take with you. Do you play discs a lot? No.

George Abbott1:34

Oh

Presenter1:34

Have you any musical skill yourself? Do you play the piano?

George Abbott1:37

No, no, no.

George Abbott1:39

I like to dance. That's as far as I can get.

Presenter1:42

As an actor, did you have to sing occasionally?

George Abbott1:45

Yes. I sang cowboy songs in a show that I was in. What was the show? Well, I couldn't tell you the name of the show, but the song

George Abbott1:54

was on the streets of Laredo. Well, you were at one time.

Presenter1:58

I'm a cowboy yourself, which is something I've been doing.

George Abbott2:01

Uh, when I was a boy, about fourteen years old, yes.

Presenter2:04

We'll talk about that in a minute. Let's have your first record. What's that to be?

George Abbott2:08

My favorite record is easy to pick.

George Abbott2:11

And it is falling in love with love. And it can be sung so that it makes no sense.

George Abbott2:17

But if it's sung beautifully, it has a beautiful lyric and it's very moving, both in the music and in the words.

Presenter2:25

Then who would you like to sing it?

George Abbott2:26

Ellen Hanley.

Presenter2:27

Ellen Hanley, she sang it in the New York production, The Boys from Syracuse.

George Abbott2:30

Yeah.

Speaker 12:33

Falling in love with love is falling for make-believe.

Speaker 22:42

Falling in love with love is playing the fool.

Speaker 12:51

Caring too much is such a juvenile fancy.

Presenter2:57

Falling in Love with Love from the American musical play The Boys from Syracuse sung by Ellen Handley. You in fact wrote the book for that show, didn't you?

George Abbott3:06

I did, but it was based upon Shakespeare, so we had a pretty good collaborator.

Presenter3:11

Now you were born in a small town in upstate New York. Do you remember the very first time you visited a theater?

George Abbott3:18

I do. It was in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

George Abbott3:21

And it was a farce about a minister who went to a prize fight and was fainting with his fists the next day, and that's all I can remember about it.

Presenter3:29

How old were you?

George Abbott3:30

Twelve, maybe. Are you one of a large family?

George Abbott3:34

I had uh one brother and one sister.

Presenter3:36

By courtesy of your grandfather, you had a lot of Civil War relics to play with.

George Abbott3:41

Oh, well.

Presenter3:43

They used to be a very good one.

George Abbott3:43

I don't know how you know that.

Presenter3:45

So you used to stage battles.

George Abbott3:47

Well, I can remember that we took an old Civil War musket and bought powder at a store and thought we were going to light it with a match, and it's a wonder we didn't blow ourselves up.

George Abbott3:58

We went out shooting at crows, but we never succeeded in getting any ignition.

Presenter4:04

Now, you mentioned just now Cheyenne, Wyoming. The family moved out. Yes.

George Abbott4:07

My father became government land agent of Wyoming.

George Abbott4:12

when I was about in the fourth or fifth grade. And we moved to Cheyenne and lived there for five years.

Presenter4:19

The Cheyenne was real Cowboys in Indian country from that time.

George Abbott4:21

My mother's on.

Presenter4:22

Uh

George Abbott4:22

Remembrances getting off the train, being taken to a hotel, and seeing a herd of horses driven down Main Street.

Presenter4:31

In fact, you worked on a ranch.

George Abbott4:33

I did. I spent two summers as a cowboy.

Presenter4:36

What f

George Abbott4:36

Uh

Presenter4:36

Mm.

Presenter4:41

Yes.

George Abbott4:42

The unloader it it takes the alfalfa and throws it up on top of the heap.

Presenter4:47

And after five years

Presenter4:49

Back east to New York?

George Abbott4:51

Yes, I came to my grandfather's home, which was in Hamburg, New York, outside of Buffalo.

Presenter4:57

Yes.

George Abbott4:58

And I lived there one year and then I went to college in Rochester.

Presenter5:01

Rochester, New York.

George Abbott5:03

Uh

Presenter5:03

Uh

George Abbott5:03

Uh

Presenter5:03

Yeah.

George Abbott5:03

What was your ambition? What did you want to be? I thought I would be a writer.

George Abbott5:07

I thought journalist had a dandy sound.

Presenter5:10

Right, well, we've got to you at college with all the future before you. Let's have another record. What shall we have now?

George Abbott5:16

How about one from my current show?

George Abbott5:19

On your toes called Quiet Night.

Presenter5:22

Quiet night from on your toes which you

George Abbott5:24

I'll tell you the reason is people ask you, what is your favorite show?

George Abbott5:29

And you haven't any really favorite, but you always say the last one. And so Now On Your Toes is my favorite show, and so I must pick a song from that.

George Abbott5:40

Which got neglected in the first version because it wasn't part of the plot. Now it has been made part of the plot and it becomes more important.

Speaker 25:57

And bye.

Speaker 25:58

Be well good.

Speaker 16:02

Quiet night, no other sound, but hearts that beat together.

Presenter6:14

Quiet Night from On Your Toes sung by Michael Beta and the chorus as they sang it in last year's Broadway Revival.

Presenter6:22

So, getting back to your story, you were at the University of Rochester.

Presenter6:27

What were you good at?

George Abbott6:29

The only thing I was good at was what they called English.

George Abbott6:32

which was writing. And that's what made me think I'd like to be a writer of some sort, because I was so bad at everything else.

Presenter6:41

Did you get mixed up in university theatricals?

George Abbott6:43

Yes, I did. I was a good amateur actor.

George Abbott6:46

So I wrote a play to star myself, naturally.

Presenter6:49

Of course.

George Abbott6:50

And we performed it at the University of Rochester.

George Abbott6:54

Then later I went down to Harvard to take Professor Baker's course.

George Abbott6:59

And there I won a price for my play.

Presenter7:01

Professor Baker's course was in playwriting, wasn't it?

George Abbott7:04

Yes, it was.

Presenter7:04

And you want

George Abbott7:06

Won an award? I won an award given by a theatre there and uh had my play produced.

George Abbott7:13

and thought I would

George Abbott7:15

Conquer the World on Broadway.

George Abbott7:18

and went down and became an actor.

Presenter7:20

You worked for a while in a theater in Boston.

George Abbott7:23

Uh

Presenter7:23

Uh

George Abbott7:23

That's that's where I won the prize.

Presenter7:25

At the Bejo Theatre.

George Abbott7:26

Yes, you're well informed.

Presenter7:28

What were your duties on the staff?

George Abbott7:30

Ah, acting?

George Abbott7:32

Writing

Presenter7:33

And sweeping up.

George Abbott7:34

No, no, they had somebody to do that. I didn't have to do any stage handwork.

Presenter7:39

And when you left the Bijoux Theatre, Boston, what was your next job?

George Abbott7:42

Well, I went to New York and there

George Abbott7:45

Luckily I got a job in a show

George Abbott7:49

Fairly soon.

George Abbott7:51

The leading lady, it was called, and Lewis Stone was the leading man.

Presenter7:56

Oh yes, he was a great movie actor later, wasn't he?

George Abbott7:59

I don't remember.

Presenter8:00

Yes, he was.

Presenter8:02

And that was your first job in New York.

George Abbott8:03

That was my first job in New York. I played a drunken college boy.

Presenter8:08

Yeah.

Presenter8:10

For a man who never touches alcohol, that's nice.

George Abbott8:12

We all thought it was very funny.

Presenter8:14

Yeah.

George Abbott8:14

But I claim acting is by observation, not by experience.

Presenter8:20

Now what's your third record?

George Abbott8:23

Oh, it is called Begin the Begin, and of course it's a

George Abbott8:27

Big success now, but when it came out it was unnoticed.

Presenter8:31

Mm-hmm.

George Abbott8:31

It was in a show which was a failure.

Presenter8:31

Yeah.

Presenter8:34

Show called Jubilee according to the CR

George Abbott8:36

I wouldn't remember that.

George Abbott8:38

All I know is that I saw the show.

George Abbott8:41

and didn't hear the music.

George Abbott8:44

And it illustrates how you have to hear things twice sometimes.

George Abbott8:49

or have a reason to listen to them. I think if that song had been so placed

George Abbott8:56

In the musical, that something was at stake or emotionally involved, I would have remembered it, but I didn't.

Presenter9:04

Who would you like to hear sing it on this occasion?

George Abbott9:07

How about one of the greatest of all singers, Frank Sinatra?

Presenter9:20

When they begin or begin

Presenter9:25

It brings back the sound of music so tender.

Presenter9:32

It brings back a night of tropical splendour.

Presenter9:37

Begin the begin.

Presenter9:39

By Cole Porter from a show that didn't do terribly well, called Jubilee, and it was sung by Frank Sinatra.

Presenter9:46

mister Abbott, you worked for some of the the great characters in the American theatre, producers like David Bulasco and Jed Harris. Which of them do you remember?

George Abbott9:56

Well, Jed Harris wasn't anybody I worked for. He was somebody I helped get started. But really Pulasko I worked for, and he was a real character, although he was Jewish.

George Abbott10:08

He wore a Roman collar, which he affected, and he was a great dramatist with his caste.

George Abbott10:15

One time he took an axe and chopped the scenery to pieces, and I learned from the stage manager that they'd decided to change it so he could put on this act of fury to affect us all.

Presenter10:27

He was an actor himself.

George Abbott10:28

He was just what they think a theatrical producer.

George Abbott10:33

Yeah.

Presenter10:33

What was your first play to be done on Broadway?

George Abbott10:36

The Fall Guy

Presenter10:37

Yeah.

George Abbott10:38

I wrote it with Jimmy Gleason.

George Abbott10:40

And uh I didn't intend to direct it, but it was pushed into my hands and so I got a chance to direct also.

Presenter10:47

You've always preferred to collaborate rather than write on your own. You've you've collaborated with a lot of very interesting and fascinating people.

George Abbott10:57

I don't think that I preferred it, it just happened that the things that I wrote didn't get s sold and the things that I collaborated on did.

George Abbott11:06

And Jimmy Gleeson and I were in a show together called Dulcie. Lynn Fontaine was the leading woman. And while we were out on the road, we planned

George Abbott11:15

to write this show and uh that was how I happened to have a collaborator.

Presenter11:20

You had two big successes very early on, Coquette, which was a a rather sentimental play, and and Broadway, which was a rather tough play, which is

George Abbott11:30

Yes, they are quite different.

Presenter11:32

Mm-hmm.

George Abbott11:32

But Vaudrey was a melodrama, and Coquette purported to be a a realistic drama.

Presenter11:39

Did you like to direct your own plays? Yes, I did. And sometimes play in them as well.

George Abbott11:43

By the time I started

George Abbott11:46

Being a playwright I quit acting.

Presenter11:48

And how soon did management come into it? How soon did you like to put on your your own?

George Abbott11:53

Oh, I I'd never liked to put on my own shows, but I didn't like managers hanging over my shoulder when I was trying to do something, so I became a manager to get rid of managers.

Presenter12:07

And you've always been a celebrated play doctor. If anyone had a play that didn't quite work, there was something wrong with it. You could sit through it and

George Abbott12:16

I'm sort of reckless. I would go in and fix anything, practically.

Presenter12:16

I was on the right

George Abbott12:20

And then sometimes I would get

George Abbott12:23

involved and find that there were obstacles I didn't know about, such as they had put all the people under run-of-the-play contracts and not only that, but promised them they'd never change them.

George Abbott12:35

And uh the whole play depended upon recasting.

Presenter12:39

See you's not much you can do in those caves.

George Abbott12:41

No, yeah, there's not much in that case.

Presenter12:43

What was the first musical that you became concerned with?

George Abbott12:47

That was on your toes on the first version.

Presenter12:48

On the other hand.

George Abbott12:50

Rogers and Hart came to me and said they were working on a musical to be called On Your Toes.

George Abbott12:57

which was about a jazz dancer getting into ballet.

George Abbott13:01

They had already written some of it.

George Abbott13:04

Rogers had done the slaughter on Tenth Avenue.

George Abbott13:08

which she now told me years later

George Abbott13:10

considered the best piece of music he ever wrote.

George Abbott13:14

And so I went to work with them on that.

Presenter13:17

Let's have your fourth record. What's that to be?

George Abbott13:20

I think I'll cheat and get another one from On Your Toes, and this has been a big hit for many, many years. It's a very tender song, as so many of Larry Hart's songs are, called Small Hotel.

Speaker 113:38

And a small hotel Breathe a reaching glare. I wish that we were there.

Speaker 113:53

There's an old bride screen.

Speaker 213:56

Smooth. Uh

Speaker 113:57

One room, bright and neat, complete for a sculpture.

Speaker 214:00

Yeah.

Presenter14:00

Need complete for us.

Presenter14:04

There's a Small Hotel from On Your Toes, sung by Christine Andreas and Lara Teeter. And once again that recording is from last year's New York production.

Presenter14:16

You didn't direct on your toes, did you?

George Abbott14:18

I was supposed to direct it, but they kept delaying.

George Abbott14:21

So I said get someone else and I went south.

George Abbott14:26

Then one day, weeks later, Dick Rogers called me from Boston, said, We're in terrible trouble. You've got to come up and I said, No, I've got engagements and so forth. I gave you my chance.

George Abbott14:38

And he said, You're a collaborator, you've got an obligation, you come up here.

George Abbott14:43

So I did.

George Abbott14:45

And luckily I could see what was the matter with the show right away.

Presenter14:48

What was the matter?

George Abbott14:50

Well, it was unclarified. The director had twisted some scenes around so that

George Abbott14:55

The audience didn't quite understand the story.

George Abbott14:58

And I've forgotten in what detail, but I know that I could fix it in one day.

George Abbott15:03

So I was considered a miracle man for the brief time.

Presenter15:06

Was this before it opened in New York? Was this when it was opened?

George Abbott15:08

This was when it was in Boston.

Presenter15:10

Mm-hmm.

George Abbott15:11

And I stayed with it for the New York run.

Presenter15:13

And of course you have

Presenter15:15

Reproduced it several times, haven't you?

George Abbott15:17

No, I've rep produced it

George Abbott15:19

in the forties sometimes. But we made some mistakes.

Presenter15:21

A whip.

George Abbott15:23

and casting and

George Abbott15:25

We made a mistake in not rewriting it, because it was very old-fashioned, and in this new production it's been completely rewritten.

George Abbott15:33

Three sets have been taken out, for instance.

Presenter15:35

And uh you have directed again yourself.

George Abbott15:38

Uh

Presenter15:38

Yeah.

George Abbott15:39

Let's have a

Presenter15:39

Another record, number five, whatnot.

George Abbott15:41

How about You're just in love?

George Abbott15:44

From Comme Madam.

Presenter15:45

Did you have any interest in calling me madam?

George Abbott15:48

Yes, I directed it.

Presenter15:49

You directed it in New York.

George Abbott15:51

Uh

George Abbott15:52

The reason I like this song

George Abbott15:54

I suggested it.

George Abbott15:56

We were stuck for a number in the second act, and I remembered a song of Irving Berlin's called Sing Something Simple, which was counterpoint a slow number against a fast number.

Speaker 116:03

What

George Abbott16:08

So I suggested to him he try to write something like that, and this is what came out of it.

Speaker 216:13

You don't need analyzing, it is not so surprising that you feel very strange, but night

Speaker 216:23

Your hot goes pit a pattern I know just what's the matter Because I've been there once or twice

Speaker 216:34

Put your head on my shoulder. You need someone who's older. A rub down with a velvet lawn.

Speaker 116:34

From here Where are my

Speaker 116:37

It's so

Speaker 116:40

No.

Speaker 116:41

A bell bell

Presenter16:44

You're just in love from Call Me Madam, sung by Ethel Merman and Dick Hames.

Presenter16:50

You've worked with all the great composers of the American musical state.

Presenter16:56

Were they easier to work with? How did you get on with Irving Berlin?

George Abbott16:59

Oh, Irving Berlin is one of the

George Abbott17:02

Sweetest man that ever lived. All composers are not like their music.

George Abbott17:07

But Irving is. He's a happy man and he writes happy music.

Presenter17:12

You and he must be pretty well exact contemporaries, aren't you?

George Abbott17:15

Well, we're about the same age, yes.

Presenter17:17

Yeah.

Presenter17:17

What about Rogers and Hurd? What were they like?

George Abbott17:20

They were very different.

George Abbott17:21

Rogers was a business man.

George Abbott17:24

He looked as if he was going to the office.

George Abbott17:26

But Larry Hart was a

George Abbott17:29

Wiggly little man in a wrinkled suit who

George Abbott17:32

Wanted no part of the best people.

George Abbott17:34

His great poetic streak was hidden under a bohemian exterior.

Presenter17:40

If an extra number was wanted in a score, could they provide it quickly?

George Abbott17:44

I think they could. I had an experience once.

George Abbott17:47

We were working on Boys from Syracuse.

George Abbott17:50

And Larry came in late and hung over.

George Abbott17:53

And Dick said, You got that verse?

George Abbott17:56

And Larry said, Well, yeah, it's here somewhere, and he searched his pockets, but

George Abbott18:01

We could tell that he was faking.

George Abbott18:04

So he said, Just give me a minute, I'll go in the other room, and I'll remember it.

George Abbott18:08

So he went in the other room, came back in about fifteen minutes with some words scrawled on a paper, and gave it to Rogers.

George Abbott18:14

Dick said, Okay. He went in the other room, stayed about fifteen minutes, and came back with the music.

George Abbott18:20

Now that may not be the best verse they ever wrote, but I'm sure it was one of the quickest.

Presenter18:24

I'm sure.

Presenter18:25

What about cold porter?

George Abbott18:26

Coal Porter

George Abbott18:27

Was

George Abbott18:29

A very affete man, a very

George Abbott18:31

Strange man. When he went on the road, for instance go to the Ritz Hotel in Boston, which most of us think a nice place to live.

George Abbott18:40

He would take his own silk sheets for the bed and his own pictures to hang on the wall.

Presenter18:46

Well, that's rather nice. I mean, that's really the way to do it.

George Abbott18:49

And he always ate in his room and he invited us up and it was very pleasant.

Presenter18:53

And of course Leonard Bernstein, you've done several shows with him.

George Abbott18:56

I lived on the town with Leonard Bernstein. At the time, all the people involved in that were beginners.

George Abbott19:03

Bernstein had never had a show on Broadway.

George Abbott19:06

nor Jerome Robbins, nor Oliver Smith, nor Comden and Greene. And uh so I was kind of papa to that group. And we had a hit, which was fortunate, and uh all of them went far thereafter.

Presenter19:20

What is he like from point of view of composer? Does he turn up with everything beautifully orchestrated and ready, or does he have to be chaste?

George Abbott19:28

No. Bernstein is a very workmanlike fellow. He's on time and he's there with the work and he's willing to redo and all the rest of it.

Presenter19:37

Oh, there have been so many other musicals you've been connected with. Where's Charlie? A very, very funny version of Charlie's Art.

George Abbott19:44

Well Where's Charlie? It was uh one of the shows I did with Balancing. See, I did four shows with Balancing and I did about ten shows with uh Jerome Robbins as choreographers.

George Abbott19:56

And uh Where's Charlie with um

George Abbott19:59

Nothing challenging to Balancing, but he was there.

Presenter20:02

And so many others. Right off the top of one's head one thinks of the pajama game, Fiarello,

Presenter20:08

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum.

Presenter20:11

Well, out of that lot, which is your favorite?

George Abbott20:14

I think it's nearly impossible.

George Abbott20:16

to have a favorite. Sometime you have one

George Abbott20:20

that you don't like because you had troubles with it.

George Abbott20:23

But mostly it's the last one that you like best.

Presenter20:28

Well, your next record on the list I've got here is from the pajama game.

George Abbott20:32

In the pajama game, the big hit was Hey There.

George Abbott20:36

And this needs some explaining and as far as the record goes. In the show,

George Abbott20:42

John Wright sang to the Dixophone about this girl that he thought was giving him a hard time.

George Abbott20:50

And then he played back his record, and he talked to it, and then he sang with it.

George Abbott20:55

So that most of the voices you hear are rapes.

Presenter21:01

Stars in your eyes

George Abbott21:04

Welcome to

Presenter21:05

Uh

George Abbott21:05

Ready?

George Abbott21:06

Look.

Presenter21:06

Love never made a

Speaker 221:06

Love never hate us.

Presenter21:08

I'm not sure. Yeah.

George Abbott21:10

Not to

Presenter21:10

Till now.

Presenter21:12

You used to be too warm. Yeah, I was once.

Presenter21:19

Hey there.

Presenter21:21

I hear ya. You all are.

Presenter21:26

John Rait in The Pajama Game.

Presenter21:30

mister Abbott, do you regret having given up acting? It's quite a few years since you acted, isn't it?

Presenter21:35

Are you referring to m

George Abbott21:36

My return to the stage? Or don't you know about that?

George Abbott21:40

No, I played the lead in The Skin of Our Teeth after I hadn't been on acting for thirty years.

Presenter21:46

Really?

George Abbott21:47

The government was sending

George Abbott21:49

Helen Hayes and Mary Martin and uh another character woman uh whose name I forget.

George Abbott21:57

to Paris to perform Thornton Wilder's Skin of Our Teeth, and they didn't have a leading man.

George Abbott22:04

So we were at a party, and suddenly they said, Well, how'd you like to go back on the stage again?

George Abbott22:09

I said, I don't know. I was attracted to play with them and so forth.

George Abbott22:13

I said, Let me audition myself. So I went out to the country where I lived, and I went out to the swimming pool. I learned one of the speeches and I said it, and it sounded all right. So I said, All right, I'll do it.

George Abbott22:24

And I went to Paris with them and th then I was very noble. They wanted to play in New York and they went to Washington, Chicago and New York and I stayed with it all summer.

Presenter22:35

You also did a television version, didn't you?

George Abbott22:37

Oh yes, we did.

George Abbott22:39

You have directed some films, in fact quite a number of I had a couple of trips to Hollywood. The last time we made Pajama Game and Damn Yankees.

Presenter22:48

But before that you directed quite a lot of the early films when they just started talking and they thought it a good idea to have some people in Hollywood who knew about dialogue and act as well.

George Abbott22:57

I w I I went out there and I worked one winter.

George Abbott23:00

And I think the only thing...

George Abbott23:03

That anyone would remember was that I did the adaptation to All Quiet on the Western Front.

Presenter23:08

Did you? That was a fine film.

George Abbott23:10

Yes, that was a good show.

Presenter23:12

And, um, television. You've directed some television.

George Abbott23:14

Just one little try at it.

Presenter23:17

Uh what are you going to do next? You're going back to the States having got on your toes safely launched?

George Abbott23:22

Oh, I don't know either.

George Abbott23:24

various possibilities and

George Abbott23:27

That's one thing it's foolish to talk about.

Presenter23:29

Are you still based in New York City? Do you still have your office going?

George Abbott23:33

Yes, I have an office with Hal Prince. You see, Hal was a stage manager for me, originally.

George Abbott23:39

and then when he became a producer

George Abbott23:41

He and Bobby Griffith I saw that they were fine and they used my office. Now time goes by and Hal rents me space in his office.

Presenter23:51

You spend quite a lot of time in Florida.

George Abbott23:54

I live in Florida in the winter. One day, on a cold, drizzly winter day.

George Abbott23:59

I suddenly said to myself, I'm going to award you winters in Florida for the rest of your life.

Presenter24:06

Unless there's a workable

George Abbott24:07

I accepted the award.

Presenter24:08

Except if there's some work about that you want to do.

George Abbott24:11

Yeah.

Presenter24:12

We've got to record number seven.

George Abbott24:14

Or or we're going to do uh a funny one for a change.

George Abbott24:18

Let's do it.

George Abbott24:19

We've got a wonderful lyric to cheer you up.

Presenter24:21

And who's to sing it?

George Abbott24:22

Uh aliphasier.

Speaker 224:30

Birds do it.

Speaker 224:33

Please do it.

Speaker 224:37

Even educated sleep

Speaker 124:40

He's doing.

Speaker 124:43

Let's do it.

Speaker 124:46

Let's fall in love.

Presenter24:51

Coleporter's Let's Do It sung by Ella FitzGerald.

Presenter24:55

mister Abbott, you like cruising, don't you?

George Abbott24:58

I haven't been very many, but I like it, yes.

Presenter25:00

Yes. I'm just working out the plot of this production. How we get you onto the desert island. We can assume that it happened as a result of a cruise. Um could you look after yourself?

George Abbott25:10

I think if you take a young version of me, I could get along fine. Done any fishing?

Presenter25:10

Yeah.

George Abbott25:15

I'm not a fish enthusiast, no, but if I'm on the desert island, I'd have to learn. I realize that.

Presenter25:21

Either that or live on cocoanuts. Are you a good cook?

George Abbott25:24

I'd be in trouble that way.

Presenter25:25

Would you try to escape? Assuming that a raft was washed up, could you navigate it?

George Abbott25:30

Yes, I'm a good swimmer.

Presenter25:32

Yes, you are a good swimmer. In fact, you did once save somebody's life.

George Abbott25:36

I did, when I was a boy, yes.

George Abbott25:39

I'll tell you why. He was my what we call the hired man. Is that a phrase you use here?

Presenter25:44

Not really, but

George Abbott25:45

That means the fellow that works for you in the

Presenter25:46

In the garden or whatever.

George Abbott25:47

No worries.

George Abbott25:49

He was my grandfather's hired man, and I lured him off to go swimming with a group of us when he ought to have been working.

George Abbott25:56

and he saw us all jumping off this raft and swimming.

George Abbott25:59

And he s suddenly thought he could do that too, and he jumped off, and then he began to scream and flounder. And I was the smallest boy there, and the big boys all waited and watched him. And I thought, I'll let him go down three times so he can't grab me, and then I'll get him. Because if I go home without him, I'm going to get hell. And so I swam out and took him, and I kept him under water till I got him ashore. I knew if he he was a big, strong fellow, he would have sunk me. And they pulled him over the raft, and he got a lot of slivers in his stomach, and that's the worst that happened to him.

Presenter26:35

We've got your last record.

George Abbott26:36

Oh, I think a a good way to finish is optimistically with you gotta have heart. From Damn Yankees. Yes. Adler and Ross wrote it and they they had frequently

George Abbott26:48

unique titles to their shows, you know, like Commanders Hide Away and

George Abbott26:53

So this is a baseball manager trying to buck up four discouraged players.

Presenter26:59

Gotta have

Presenter27:02

Heart, all you really need is heart.

Presenter27:08

When the odds are saying you'll never win, That's when the grin should start You gotta have hope Mustn't sit around and bope

Presenter27:23

Nothing's half as bad as it may appear. Wait till next year and

Speaker 127:28

Uh

Presenter27:30

You've Gotta Have Heart sung by Russ Brown and the ball players in Damn Yankees.

Presenter27:36

If you could take only one of the eight discs you've played us, mister Abbott, which would it be?

George Abbott27:41

Falling in love with love

Presenter27:42

Right.

Presenter27:44

And you're allowed to take one luxury to the island, one object of no practical use which would give you pleasure to have.

George Abbott27:50

Well, I say that I take the writing paper.

Presenter27:52

You did write an autobiography all about twenty years ago. I suppose it's time you updated it.

George Abbott27:57

But I think if you were alone on an island, to be able to write would be company which would keep you from being lonely and and make you feel useful.

Presenter28:07

And one book. You already have the Holy Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare. Name one other book you would like.

George Abbott28:12

Well, I'm pretty well fixed, but I think the thing that would give me the most pleasure would be the encyclopedia.

Presenter28:19

All right, you shall have a good encyclopedia. And thank you, George Abbott, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

George Abbott28:26

Well, it's been a pleasure.

Presenter28:27

Thank you.

George Abbott28:28

I hope on the island it's just as happy.

Presenter28:31

Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 128:40

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.