THE POWER BROKER - THE MUSICAL! Part 2: Tony Bennett Meets Fiorello LaGuardia (& Robert Moses): "Marching Along Together"
Or “In the words of George Bernard Shaw, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet”
The Boy in the white suit: Anthony - sometimes known as “Antonio” - Dominick Benedetto, later known professionally as Tony Bennett, circa 1936
Okay - not exactly a Broadway musical adaptation of The Power Broker - although that’s not a bad idea! (Marc Shaiman, Maury Yeston, Jason Robert Brown - are you reading? This would be a great production for Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom.) Rather, I’ve been reading Robert Caro’s masterful biography - in fact, I just wrote a story for The New York Sun about my experiences both with the book itself and a wonderful new podcast series from 99 Percent Invisible that does a wonderfully deep dive into Caro’s masterpiece. This short substack series is about musical references to and from The Power Broker and Robert Moses of the kind which I am proud to say are much too miniscule and trivial for even the Mighty Bob Caro himself to have paid any attention to. (Special thanks to the late and much-missed Roger Sturtevant for calling my attention to both The Decca All Star Revue 78s and the original cast album to Arabian Nights.)
Check out The 99% Invisible Power Broker Book Club here.
Check out my New York Sun essay on The Power Broker and 99 Percent Invisible here!
There was one detail regarding the life and achievements of Robert Moses that I was very curious to see if Caro would mention in The Power Broker. Tony Bennett told me this story a zillion times; in fact, he would always mention it whenever anybody asked him about what he remembered from his childhood in Astoria.
The story goes as follows: On July 11, 1936, the Triboro Bridge opened. It was a major day in the history of both New York and America, the biggest construction project certainly since the start of the Depression, if not of all time - considerably more expensive even than the construction of Boulder Dam in Nevada, dedicated in 1935.
Tony - who was nine years old at the time - vividly remembered that he was not only there in the crowd, but was a part of the ceremony. As he recalled, a teacher of his in Astoria, one Mrs. McQuade, had a connection of some sort to City Hall. Apparently both the Mayor of New York, the Honorable Fiorello H. La Guardia, and Robert Moses himself thought it would be cute to have a little kid sing as part of the celebration.
(This was a key moment in the Moses saga - the event that cemented, you should forgive the expression, his reputation as The Master Builder. Caro’s description of that day is a highlight of the book.)
Tony could remember all the details: he was wearing a white suit, and he was standing a few feet away from Mayor La Guardia. When The Little Flower cut the ribbon, Tony was the first to march down the bridge. He led the crowd singing a 1932 popular song called “Marching Along Together.”
I have no doubt that Tony’s memory was completely genuine; in his seventies and eighties, like many senior citizens, he could remember the events of decades earlier better than what he had been doing that morning. He was completely sincere, and I have absolutely no doubt that it happened.
This was one of the most well documented and publicized events of the 20th century; everybody was there, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. And yet, I can’t find any reference in the historical record to a little kid from Astoria being there, no photos, no mention in the papers, no mention in Caro. If anybody has any light to shed on this incident, I would love to know about it.
“Marching Along Together” was a perfect song for the occasion; it’s a lively 6/8 march or one-step. (In the 1960s, 6/8 became the time signature for salsa, mambos, and boogaloos, but in the pre-swing era, 6/8 indicates a military parade-style march.)
The song was credited to three different writers, and we might say it represents the solidarity of the nations - reflecting the diversity of New Yorkers of different backgrounds and points of origin. Of the three writers, one, Mort Dixon, was American; another, Eddie Pola, was British; and the third, Franz Steininger, was German. Okay, this is a bit of a stretch: Pola was actually born in New York, but spent most of his glory years in London, where he not only wrote songs but had the opportunity to make recordings himself, including a very funny two-sided novelty titled “America Calling” - “A Burlesque American Radio Program” - which features an unbilled Al Bowlly announced as “Bang Horseby.” (“In the words of George Bernard Shaw, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”)
Pola and Steininger originally wrote the song in London, and the original British edition of the sheet music and the first recordings, all made in London, credited just the two of them. There are about six recordings of the song from the fall of 1932, starting with Jack Hylton:
Jack Hylton and his Orchestra
September 7, 1932, recording for British Decca.
Lots of singing here. Hylton’s regular band vocalist, J. Pat O’Malley - later a character actor in Hollywood - sings the verse and the first chorus, joined by the band. A second soloist sings another chorus; it’s listed in Brian Rust’s discography as one David Kidd, although it sounds to me more like a female singer. You tell me!
Ambrose and his Orchestra
Ambrose and his Orchestra, recording for Zonophone under the nom-de-band of “The Blue Lyres.” Also recorded on September 7, 1932, vocal by Sam Browne. (Courtesy Alan Miles.)
Ray Noble and the New Mayfair Orchestra
This is the version that most of us know, Ray Noble and his New Mayfair Dance Orchestra with vocal by the legendary Al Bowlly, October 11, 1932:
One more British version, just because it happens to be on the youTubes:
Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra
November 19, 1932
Vocal by Les Allen, arranged by Tony Lowry
In 1933, the American publisher Jack Robbins picked up the song for the United States and, apparently, commissioned Mort Dixon (best known to history as Harry Warren’s key lyricist during his New York / Broadway years in the 1920s) to adapt the song for American audiences. On the American sheet music, the credit reads “Entire American lyric by Mort Dixon.”
Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
Vocal Refrain by The (New) Rhythm Boys, New York, July 20, 1933.
The first American version appears to have been made by Paul Whiteman; as you’d expect, Whiteman gets the full flavor, and the vocal quartet is ace. (Peter Mintun gets credit for identifying the four New Rhythm Boys: Ray Kulz, George MacDonald, Al Dary, and Jimmy Noel.) Despite the rather vivid illustration on the Robbins edition, Kate Smith does not appear to have ever recorded the song - although it would have been a great one for her.
Ted Weems and His Orchestra
Chicago, August 4, 1933
I don’t think this is anyone’s favorite Ted Weems recording! A pretty stiff outing by what is usually one of the great snappy-peppy American bands. (The vocal trio of Dudley Fosdick, Wes Vaughn, and Elmo Tanner isn’t up to Whiteman’s ….)
Ben Bernie and All The Lads
Ben Bernie (Manny Prager & Ben Bernie, vocal)
Chicago August 21, 1933
Thank you, “78 Prof!” Transferred from the original 78rpm: Columbia 2804-D - Marching Along Together (Sixon-Steininger-Pola) by Ben Bernie and All The Lads, vocal by Manny Prager and Ben Bernie, recorded in Chicago August 21, 1933
Bernie brings a bit more humor to this, and also gets in a dig at Walter Winchell, his longstanding radio rival:
Irv Aaronson and his Commanders.
New York, September 8, 1933. The vocalist is either named Henry Nelson or Harmon Nelson, per Tom Lord, who references American Dance Bands (Johnson & Shirley, 2010). (This is one of Aaronson’s relatively rare releases on Vocalion - courtesy of the late and very great Jeff Healy.)
This is the version that has the singer loudly interjecting the names of major American Presidents, as follows:
“Washington! Jefferson! Jackson! Lincoln! Teddy Roosevelt! Wilson! President Roosevelt! “
Frankie Masters and his Orchestra
August 16, 1940
I know that’s too many already, but here’s one final version, by Frankie Masters and his Orchestra for Okeh (ARC) Records, recorded August 16, 1940. Apparently, it caught the patriotic mood of the country right before WW2 - the flip side is “God Bless America.” Billed as an “Instrumental with Vocal Ensemble” the band-as-choir sings the verse and the chorus. The march has more of a militaristic tone here.
Coming soon:
The Power Broker - The Musical, Part Three: “Robert Moses, Guy Lombardo, and the Teeny Weeny Genie”
Very Special thanks to the fabulous Ms. Elizabeth Zimmer, for expert proofreading of this page, and scanning for typos, mistakes, and other assorted boo-boos!
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Apologies to Tony, but I'm skeptical about his account of singing and marching at the Triborough Bridge opening. As you say, there are no references in any account to his participation (and the contemporary accounts are pretty thorough); it also seems unlikely he would remember LaGuardia's presence but not Roosevelt's. The event was also organized by Moses's office, not LaGuardia's--and a kid singing "Marching Along Together" hardly seems like something Moses would care about. My guess is that it was some other--smaller--dedication he remembered, and confused it with the bridge dedication, but I obviously don't know for sure.