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During most of this time, one of
their songs and ten cents could
buy you coffee. Then one day Ray
saw a publicity item stating
that Olsen & Johnson, then one
of the most powerful acts in
show business, were looking for
new songs for their hit show “Hellzapoppin’”.
Unfortunately, that PR item was
only true inside the mind of the
misguided publicity hack that
planted it. But, not knowing
this, Ray wrote to Olsen &
Johnson and told them that
Livingston and Evans had great
songs for them. In another
stroke of good fortune, Olsen &
Johnson had recently hired a new
secretary who, not knowing any
better, stuck Ray’s letter under
Ole Olsen’s nose during a
letter-signing blitz, and next
thing you know, Jay and Ray were
presenting themselves (as the
“invited guests” they thought
they were) backstage after a “Hellzapoppin’”
matinee. Olsen was obliged to
listen to their songs, having
signed the letter, and thus
started a new and very important
relationship. They were assigned
to write many songs for Olsen &
Johnson for numerous charity
events, and some songs even made
it into “Hellzapoppin’”. One of
these, G’BYE NOW, made The Hit
Parade of 1941, giving the guys
a much-needed shot in the arm
(and boost to the bank account).
In 1944, Olsen told Jay and Ray
that, if they would drive his
car out from Chicago to Los
Angeles, they could stay at his
house. Thus were Jay and Ray
introduced into the Hollywood
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Olsen &
Johnson were making two pictures for
Universal, and putting together a new
Broadway show, and Olsen suggested that
something might come of this for the
fledgling songwriting team. But the honchos
at Universal weren’t interested in two
unknown songwriters, and neither were the
Shuberts, who were in charge of the Broadway
show.
Olsen & Johnson ultimately went back to New
York, but Jay and Ray stayed on. They soon
got an assignment writing songs for a
picture called “Swing Hostess” starring
singer Martha Tilton, at a small,
now-defunct studio named PRC. Martha was a
Capitol recording artist, and Capitol’s
then-president Johnny Mercer (also one of
the great all-time lyricists, you might
recall) was obliged to listen to the score.
He didn’t pick any of the songs for Martha,
but one day his office called saying Johnny
wanted to do one of the songs from “Swing
Hostess”, entitled THE HIGHWAY POLKA, on his
nightly NBC radio show. With this foot in
the door, they wrote a special song for
Mercer called THE CAT AND THE CANARY. They
sat in his office for three straight days
before Mercer would see them. When he
finally heard it, he liked the song and sang
it on his radio show. They then wrote
another song called BAND BABY for Mercer.
This time, they were ushered right in.
Mercer sang this one on the show, as well as
mentioning Jay and Ray by name before each
of the three nightly performances.
Publicity....the grease that glides the
wheel.
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Still in 1944,Louis
Lipstone, head of the Paramount Pictures
Music Department, asked Johnny Mercer if he
knew any young songwriters who would write a
song on assignment (and on spec) for Betty
Hutton. Johnny suggested Livingston & Evans
(the “and” having now been traded for the
more household-name-like “&”). They wrote 3
songs for this shot, as this was their first
assignment from a major studio and they
didn’t want to blow it. But Lipstone told
them they could only play one song; the only
one he liked. The boys played it for Buddy
DeSylva, a prominent Paramount producer (and
a notoriously great audience). He laughed at
every punch line, often pounding the table
in delight, then turned to them when they
finished and said "I don’t like it".
Thud...welcome to show business.
Jay and Ray, totally disheartened, had to
wait in the outer office while the head of
the Paramount Pictures Music Department,
Louis Lipstone, did some business with
DeSylva. They knew what was going on in
there. At some point, Lipstone said to
DeSylva, ”Buddy,they had another song that I
didn’t like, but maybe you should listen to
it”. Buddy looked at his watch and thought
about lunch. Nope...too early. O.K., send
‘em in for one more. This was the turning
point for Livingston & Evans.
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