Sure, I like camp, glamour, old movies, beefcake, dance songs and glossy things.  But stereotypes be damned, I’m not a big fan of Broadway OR musicals.  A bit is on my radar, and I have tons of collectibles around Broadway and Musicals, but this story starts with one of my magical $1 finds.   

Limelight was a bookstore in San Francisco’s Castro district that was a major hangout for anybody who loved film or theater history, coffee table books, biographies, etc. When they had a liquidation sale, I was all over it.  Looking around the front section of the store, I noticed that some of the books were heavily slashed, but most were simply at a modest discount.  With my usual nosiness, I asked the clerk if there was more inventory, not on the floor, that was also for sale.  “Oh yeah, we have boxes in the back filled with books we haven’t gone through yet.”  I asked if I could look back there and he said “PLEASE! We have so many copies of a lot of that stuff.”  $1 each.   

Bobby says to himself “Grab ‘em while they’re hot”.  I walked out of there with dozens of books that day.  What they had failed to notice in the boxes of duplicate books was that so many of them were autographed.  I found books signed by Joan Fontaine, Kirk Douglas, Joan Collins, Lauren Bacall, Carol Burnett, Jane Russell and on and on.  It was a treasure trove!  Normally I would have skipped Broadway Musicals, but a nice big coffee table book for $1 could either be a present or sold.  

It wasn’t until I was grouping some Broadway books to sell on ebay (years later) that I cracked the book open and immediately noticed that it was signed by multiple Broadway stars! 

LEONARD BERNSTEIN 

Bradley Cooper is nominated as Best Actor this year (2024) for playing him in “Maestro”.  I haven’t seen “Maestro” and I don’t really intend to.  I’ve got tons of original playbills and programs from productions associated with Bernstein.  He’s a legend. “West Side Story” and so much more. Yes, I get it. I understand his impact. Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, Kennedy Center Honor.  But I don’t know or like most of that stuff.  Shrug; sorry. 

BETTY COMDEN & ADOLPH GREEN 

Comden & Green carry a little more cache with me because I do love “Singin’ in the Rain” and I’m familiar with “The Bandwagon” and “The Barkleys of Broadway”.  As per usual with me, it’s a back alley or side-road that I find more interesting.  I love them for writing this “Just in Time”, providing material for this fun/funny version by the inimitable Frances Faye.

JOSHUA LOGAN 

This autographed page of the book shows Joshua Logan watching stage auditions for “South Pacific”, which he co-wrote.  His Hollywood contributions are much more interesting since he directed Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray (stories about him and “Bus Stop” later) in “But Stop”, along with Mitzi Gaynor (yes, I have great stories about meeting her too) in the movie version of “South Pacific” and Marlon Brando in “Sayonara” – amongst others. 

Even more interesting about Josh logan is his personal life.  Being briefly married to first wife Barbara O’Neill the actress that played Scarlett O’Hara’s mother in “Gone with the Wind”, having a crush on Anthony Perkins while filming “Tall Story” and serious mood swings requiring prescription meds.   

A talented male that is sexually fluid and perhaps a bit hectic?  Step right up. 

LAUREN BACALL 

Boy, I boy, do I have stories about Lauren Bacall.  I’ll create a separate entry just to talk about my encounter and TTM experiences with Bogey’s Baby.  For now, we’ll focus on this photo from Broadway Musicals where she is onstage in “Applause” for which she won a Tony award.   

FYI “Applause” IS a Broadway musical that I should be interested in and will be digging into since it is a play based on the movie “All About Eve” – which does fall in a stereotypical sweet spot.  Aging actress/person threated by younger admirer who wants to take their place?  Whoever heard of such a thing?!!?!  

BARBARA COOK 

Years of thrifting and sifting through records and I’m always running across Barbara Cook albums.  Who IS this woman?!?!  No name recognition for me, no extra cool covers or campy glam shots.  I just flipped past her.  I’ve never bothered to check until I got this book. 

This page of the book has her autograph above a photo in her Tony nominated role in “Candide”.  She won a Tony for playing Marian (Madame Librarian) in “The Music Man”.  Hence the big deal.  Yeah, I’m aware of the movie and may have seen it or fast forwarded through it.  I like Shirley Jones.  But I’m still traumatized by having to learn “Seventy-Six Trombones” in school.  Oh wait ... I did like learning “chicks and ducks and geese better scurry”.  But that’s “Oklahoma”.  Hated it.  I digress. 

LEE ADAMS 

Lee Adams gave us “Bye Bye Birdie” so I got nothing but love for him.  That’s one musical that I love – whether it’s the original Broadway soundtrack or the 1963 movie and soundtrack.  Hell, I think I’ve even seen local productions with friends in the lead roles and still liked it.  Not only did he win a Tony for “Bye Bye Birdie”, but also for “Applause”.  

AND he wrote the theme song for “All in the Family” – “Those Were the Days”.  Everyone sang along to that song:  

“And you knew where you were then.  

Girls were girls and men were men.   

People seemed to be content.  

Fifty dollars paid the rent.  

Freaks were in a circus tent.” 

I can hear the 2024 uproar now. Those WERE the days, indeed. 

P.S. I was going to mention that Gen Z can take note of their passion to create “passive income” and Lee Adams would be a good example of how it’s done with those two hits shows that are constantly being revived and their music being sold.  But then I see that there are online articles regarding legal wranglings around his royalties and illegal downloading, etc.  Life fuckery is always in the details. 

RAY STEPHENS 

Page 76 of “Broadway Musicals” had an interesting surprise for me.  It’s an autograph of Ray Stephens with a photo from “On the Twentieth Century”.  I had to research him and was intrigued to see that he was briefly the lead singer for The Village People!  It was on their last album (until 2018) called “Sex Over the Phone” (which I surprisingly don’t have!) but includes the song “New York City” which I do have (shown here).  The song charted only one place: in the UK at #97 in 1985.  Unfortunately, he died 5 years later at age 35 from AIDS complications. 

ANDRE De SHIELDS 

Just an O away from EGOT winner.  Andre DeShields busted out with “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and playing the title role in “The Wiz”.  Most importantly he is a role model and survivor – not only still working after 50+ years in show business but also an HIV survivor of over 40 years who does not shy away from this tough topic.  Standing O. 

MARTIN GOTTFRIED 

Lastly, in the front of the book, there is an inscribed autograph from the author, Martin Gottfried, who was a well-known drama critic, author and biographer (Arthur Miller, Bob Fosse, Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury, etc.)  He was also the son-in-law of The Cowardly Lion, Bert Lahr and brother-in-law of John Lahr, who wrote “The Autograph Hound”. (Hi!)  

So many connections and stories.  And all for a dollar.