Editing Jerome Kern (section)

===Princess Theatre musicals===
[[File:Jerome-Kern-1918.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Jerome Kern in 1918]]
Kern composed 16 Broadway scores between 1915 and 1920 and also contributed songs to the London hit ''[[Theodore & Co]]'' (1916; most of the songs are by the young [[Ivor Novello]]) and to revues like the [[Ziegfeld Follies]].  The most notable of his scores were those for a series of shows written for the [[Princess Theatre, New York City|Princess Theatre]], a small (299-seat) house built by [[Ray Comstock]].  Theatrical agent [[Elisabeth Marbury]] asked Kern and librettist [[Guy Bolton]] to create a series of intimate and low-budget, yet smart, musicals.<ref name=bordman/>

The "Princess Theatre shows" were unique on Broadway not only for their small size, but their clever, coherent plots, integrated scores and naturalistic acting, which presented "a sharp contrast to the large-scale [[Ruritania]]n operettas then in vogue"<ref name=grove/> or the star-studded [[revue]]s and extravaganzas of producers like [[Florenz Ziegfeld]].  Earlier [[Edwardian musical comedy|musical comedy]] had often been thinly plotted, gaudy pieces, marked by the insertion of songs into their scores with little regard to the plot.  But Kern and Bolton followed the examples of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] and French ''[[opéra bouffe]]'' in integrating song and story.  "These shows built and polished the mold from which almost all later major musical comedies evolved.  ... The characters and situations were, within the limitations of musical comedy license, believable and the humor came from the situations or the nature of the characters.  Kern's exquisitely flowing melodies were employed to further the action or develop characterization."<ref name=bordman/>  The shows featured modern American settings and simple scene changes to suit the small theatre.<ref name=Kenrick>Kenrick, John. [http://www.musicals101.com/1910bway.htm ''History of The Musical Stage 1910-1919: Part I''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009095512/http://www.musicals101.com/1910bway.htm |date=October 9, 2018 }}, accessed May 11, 2010</ref>

[[File:An Old-Fashioned Wife cover.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Sheet music from [[Oh, Boy! (musical)|''Oh Boy!'']]]]
The team's first Princess Theatre show was an adaptation of Paul Rubens' 1905 London show, ''Mr. Popple (of Ippleton)'', called ''Nobody Home'' (1915).<ref name=grove/>  The piece ran for 135 performances and was a modest financial success.<ref name=baker/>  However, it did little to fulfill the new team's mission to innovate, except that Kern's song, "The Magic Melody", was the first Broadway showtune with a basic [[jazz]] progression.<ref name=bordman/>  Kern and Bolton next created an original piece, ''[[Very Good Eddie]]'', which was a surprise hit, running for 341 performances, with additional touring productions that went on into the 1918-19 season.<ref name=baker/>  The British humorist, lyricist and librettist P. G. Wodehouse joined the Princess team in 1917, adding his skill as a lyricist to the succeeding shows. ''[[Oh, Boy! (musical)|Oh, Boy!]]'' (1917) ran for an extraordinary 463 performances.<ref name=Bloom>Bloom and Vlastnik, pp. 230–31</ref><ref>''Oh, Boy!'' was staged in London as ''Oh, Joy!'' in 1919 at the [[Novelty Theatre|Kingsway Theatre]], where it ran for 167 performances: see Jasen, p. 279</ref>  Other shows written for the theatre were ''Have a Heart'' (1917), ''[[Leave It to Jane]]'' (1917)<ref>Because ''Oh Boy!'' was a hit at the Princess, ''Leave It to Jane'' opened at the [[Longacre Theatre]] instead.</ref>  and ''[[Oh, Lady! Lady!!]]'' (1918).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/ohladylady00kernj|title=Oh, Lady! Lady!|first1=Jerome|last1=Kern|first2=Guy|last2=Bolton|first3=P. G. (Pelham Grenville)|last3=Wodehouse|date=October 8, 1918|publisher=New York : T.B. Harms|website=Archive.org|access-date=October 8, 2019}}</ref>  The first opened at another theatre before ''Very Good Eddie'' closed.  The second played elsewhere during the long run of ''Oh Boy!''<ref name=bordman/>  An anonymous admirer wrote a verse in their praise<ref>The poem is patterned after "[[Baseball's Sad Lexicon]]", about the [[Chicago Cubs]]' infield. See Frankos, Laura. [http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/08/27/musical-month-oh-boy "Musical of the Month: ''Oh, Boy!''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101013625/http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/08/27/musical-month-oh-boy |date=November 1, 2015 }}, [[New York Public Library]], August 27, 2012, accessed September 11, 2015</ref> that begins:
[[File:Not Yet cover.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Sheet music from ''[[Oh, Lady! Lady!!]]'']]
{{poemquote|
This is the trio of musical fame,
Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern.
Better than anyone else you can name
Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern.<ref>Steyn, Mark. "Musical debt to a very good Guy", ''[[The Times]]'', November 28, 1984, p. 12</ref>}}

In February 1918, [[Dorothy Parker]] wrote in ''[[Vanity Fair (American magazine 1913-1936)|Vanity Fair]]'':
{{blockquote|Well, Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern have done it again. Every time these three gather together, the Princess Theatre is sold out for months in advance. You can get a seat for ''Oh, Lady! Lady!!'' somewhere around the middle of August for just about the price of one on the stock exchange. If you ask me, I will look you fearlessly in the eye and tell you in low, throbbing tones that it has it over any other musical comedy in town. But then Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern are my favorite indoor sport. I like the way they go about a musical comedy. ... I like the way the action slides casually into the songs. ... I like the deft rhyming of the song that is always sung in the last act by two comedians and a comedienne.  And oh, how I do like Jerome Kern's music.  And all these things are even more so in ''Oh, Lady! Lady!!'' than they were in ''Oh, Boy!'' <ref>''quoted'' in Green, Benny, p. 110</ref>}}

''Oh, Lady! Lady!!'' was the last successful "Princess Theatre show".  Kern and Wodehouse disagreed over money, and the composer decided to move on to other projects.<ref>Suskin, Steven. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_usBBxC_TQC&q=Kern+wodehouse+%22Princess+Theatre%22+%22Lady+Lady%22+%22continued+to+work+individually+with+Bolton%22&pg=PA10 ''Show tunes: the songs, shows, and careers of Broadway's major composers''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628064043/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_usBBxC_TQC&q=Kern+wodehouse+%22Princess+Theatre%22+%22Lady+Lady%22+%22continued+to+work+individually+with+Bolton%22&pg=PA10 |date=June 28, 2023 }}. Oxford University Press U.S., 2000,  p. 10 {{ISBN|0-19-512599-1}}</ref>  Kern's importance to the partnership was illustrated by the fate of the last musical of the series, ''Oh, My Dear!'' (1918), to which he contributed only one song: "Go, Little Boat". The rest of the show was composed by [[Louis Hirsch]] and ran for 189 performances: "Despite a respectable run, everyone realized there was little point in continuing the series without Kern."<ref name=Kenrick/>