You could check The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin, ed. Robert
Kimball, Da Capo Press, 1998.
Dear
List,
Show
Girl is a 1929 American musical play.
Like the 1928 silent comedy-drama film (with soundtrack)
bearing the same title, it tells of a "show-crazy girl" (as
Humbert would put it) and indeed she rises to fame "in an
essentially grief-proof sphere of existence wherefrom death
and truth [are] banned" as a sugardaddy eventually finances
her in a show "on fabulous Broadway". That musical could boast
music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin (whom Nabokov
would come to know around 1960) and Gus Kahn, and an orchestra
directed by Duke Ellington.
But what
interests me is (probably) quite coincidental: among the
musical numbers in it, one finds "Lolita (my Love)" and "How
could I forget [Lolita]" (the first title seems to have
inspired Barry and Lerner with that of their own ill-fated
1971 musical adaptation). Just for curiosity's sake, does
anyone know where one could find the lyrics of those two
numbers? The plot provided opportunities to include numbers
from earlier works but I cannot tell who that Lolita is in the
musical.
Many
thanks!
Didier
Machu
All private editorial
communications are read by both co-editors.