Remembering "Buddy" Strouse: PLAYBOY AFTER DARK May 14, 1970 - Part 2
An All Star Cast Celebrates a Great Songwriter and Broadway Legend
continued from part 1
A few years ago, my friend Katharine Kaplan - wife of the formidable Harvey Kaplan (“Psychoanalyst and Psychologist in Private Practice”) - informed me that the two of them were living immediately downstairs from Charles and Barbara Strouse. This was the instigation for a series of events that the Kaplans threw in honor of the Strouses, and to which I had the pleasure of being invited. I believe that this particular occasion occurred in the Spring of 2019 - shortly before Martin Charnin died in July of that year - but I can’t pinpoint the exact date.
On this particular occasion, the guests included not only Charlie and Barbara, but Wally Shawn and his life companion Deborah Eisenberg (Katharine’s cousin), as well as David Rosen, the wonderful Kat Edmonson, Jon Weber (playing keyboards), Andrew J. Lederer, Andrew Poretz, the excellent film-maker Jim Burns, and a few surprise guests, among them the inestimable Marilyn Maye. (Marilyn was three months older than Charlie.)
This also was the only opportunity I ever had to hang out with Martin Charnin, who, as I mentioned, left us a few months later 2019. I remember Charlie was impressed that I had actually seen Annie Warbucks (aka Annie 2) - at the old Variety Photoplay Theater on the Lower East Side. (“Geez,” he said, “nobody saw that!”)
Songs were sung, stories were told, beverages were leveraged - and I also broke out my projector and offered an informal Clip Joint.
Our main event, video-wise, was this episode of Playboy After Dark, in which host and producer Hugh Hefner devoted an entire show to Charlie Strouse and his songbook. (This would be the very last episode of the series, show #52, dated May 15, 1970.)
In loving memory of Charlie, I wanted to share that episode with Substack readers
(All Songs in this episode: Music by Charles Strouse | Lyrics by Lee Adams)
PLAYBOY AFTER DARK - (#52) May 15, 1970 - continued from part 1
Charles Strouse & Lee Adams Medley:
Tommy Oliver & Charles Strouse - “This is the Life” (GOLDEN BOY)
Jack Cassidy - “You’ve Got Possibilities” (SUPERMAN)
Frankie Randall - “One Girl’ (One Boy)” (BYE BYE BIRDIE)
Buddy Rich - “Kids” (BYE BYE BIRDIE)
Hal Frazier - “I Wanna Be With You” (GOLDEN BOY)
Company - “Put on a Happy Face” (BYE BYE BIRDIE)
A very cute medley in which Frankie Randall, a semi-regular on the Playboy show (he’s in at least six episodes), makes his only appearance in this particular outing. I wish all the songs in the medley had been staged as complete numbers, but it’s still gratifying to have this medley.
Hal Frazier “Once Upon a Time” (ALL AMERICAN)
The best reason we remember All American is for this beautiful ballad, which Tony Bennett - who had already had a hit with “Put on a Happy Face” - made into an all-time classic (as Don Adams recounts later in the show, it was the A-Side of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”) and continued singing for the rest of his career. This show was my first real exposure to Hal Frazier, and I think he does a marvelous job with this great ballad. He made two fine LPs of his own around this time, neither of which has been reissued on CD, but both are onYouTube. I’ll link below.
Talk segment 2 - Don Adams, Hugh Hefner, Charles Strouse
This episode aired at almost the exact same time that Don Adams’ long running spy spoof / sitcom Get Smart! was coming to an end. I don’t know how extensive his career as a talent representative was, but he was managing Hal Frazier at this moment. He also tells some very cute stories about his long-standing career with “Buddy” Strouse - Mickey Leonard also referred to him as “Buddy” - and somehow it progresses to Adams singing Broadway’s version of a college football song, “Buckle Down Winsocki” from Best Foot Forward. Adams, who also was on the original Hugh Hefner series Playboy’s Penthouse, is a very entertaining shpieler even when he’s not being William Powell or Maxwell Smart.
Charles Strouse, vocal & piano, performs four songs from APPLAUSE:
”Applause”
”Hurry Back”
”But Alive”
”Think How It’s Gonna Be”
”Applause” (Reprise)
Considering how successful Applause was in its original run -- nearly 900 performances, a London production, several national tours and a Tony win --it’s surprising that it never received a full-on Broadway revival. This medley is a valuable sample of Charlie doing his own key songs, and he also plugs Tony Bennett’s forthcoming single of “Think How It’s Gonna Be.”
Show ending - including “Hymn for a Sunday Evening’ (parody BYE BYE BIRDIE) Tommy Oliver, Charles Strouse & company
We wind up with a number from Birdie that originally satirized the almost-religious level of devotion that nearly all of America felt for that most beloved of television hosts, Ed Sullivan, explaining why this is not your usual hymn for a Sunday morning. Sullivan himself was delighted with this number, fairly beaming when Paul Lynde and Susan Watson and the rest of the MacAfee family sang it in choir robes on his show, and even made a cameo appearance in the 1963 movie version of Birdie. Here Strouse and co. retool it for Hugh Hefner, and even though it doesn’t scan as well, Hef seems equally delighted.
coming next: the greatest Charles Strouse / Sammy Davis Jr. song you’ve never heard!
fun bonus! the fine singer, Hal Frazier, who is highly impressive on this episode of Playboy After Dark, made two albums around this time. As far as I can tell, they’ve never been reissued on CD, but they are both available as LP rips on youtube.
Here’s an episode of Sing! Sing! Sing! from 2023 in which we featured a jazz-and-pop mixtape of Charlie’s songs - and we only got up to Golden Boy!
The Charles Strouse Jazz & Pop Mixtape (RIP 1928-2025)
(SSS #062 2023-09-02)
download: <or> play online:
also highly recommended: The Charles Strouse Tribute by our buddy Larry Maslon on BROADWAY TO MAIN STREET! click here
(Very special thanks to Elizabeth Zimmer & Dan Fortune for their expert proofing, hey!)
Coming on Wednesday May 28 @ 7:00PM, THE NEW YORK ADVENTURE CLUB presents STARDUST MELODIES: LEGACY OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK webinar (All presentations are available for replay viewing for one week after the live event. For more information & reservations, please click here.)
Sing! Sing! Sing! : My tagline is, “Celebrating the great jazz - and jazz-adjacent - singers, as well as the composers, lyricists, arrangers, soloists, and sidemen, who help to make them great.”
A production of KSDS heard Saturdays at 10:00 AM Pacific; 1:00 PM Eastern.
To listen to KSDS via the internet (current and recent shows are available for streaming) click here.
The whole series is also listenable on Podbean.com; click here.
SING! SING! SING!
Let's Spring One! (Sing Sing Sing goes Spring Spring Spring!)
(SSS #149 2025-05-24 - Spring 2025, Part 2)
download: <or> play online:
The Charles Strouse Jazz & Pop Mixtape (RIP 1928-2025)
(SSS #062 2023-09-02)
download: <or> play online:
Mother's Day - Mama I Wanna Make Rhythm!
(SSS #148 2025-05-17)
download: <or> play online:
Cinco de Mayo 2025 - Swinging Singers Go Latin!
(SSS #147 2025-05-10)
download: <or> play online:
The Bing Crosby Birthday Special - Call of the South
SSS #146 2025-05-03.
Download: <or> play online:
In the Garden with Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn
(SSS #145 2025-04-26 Spring Show #1)
Download: <or> play online:
Pop! Goes The Ella - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Great Hits of Today
(SSS #144 2025-03-19)
download: <or> play online:
Religion In Rhythm - Book 3 (Songs of Faith)
(SSS #143 2025-04-12)
download: <or> play online:
April Fool's Day Special - Great Jazz Novelty Songs
(SSS #142 2025-04-05)
Download: <or> play online:
SLOUCHING TOWARDS BIRDLAND is a Substack newsletter by Will Friedwald. The best way to support my work is with a paid subscription, for which I am asking either $5 a month or $50 per year. Thank you for considering. (Thanks as always to Beth Naji & Arlen Schumer for special graphics.) Word up, peace out, go forth and sin no more! (And always remember: “A man is born, but he’s no good no how, without a song.”)
Note to friends: a lot of you respond to my Substack posts here directly to me via eMail. It’s actually a lot more beneficial to me if you go to the Substack web page and put your responses down as a “comment.” This helps me “drive traffic” and all that other social media stuff. If you look a tiny bit down from this text, you will see three buttons, one of which is “comment.” Just hit that one, hey. Thanks!j
Slouching Towards Birdland (Will Friedwald's Substack) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.