Talk:Tea for Two (song)

Opening song
I think this song was used in a British tv program ages ago, but I cannot remember what it was called.--82.35.114.51 (talk) 10:38, 9 November 2008 (UTC)


 * A charming version was sung by Big Edie in the 1975 bio-documentary Grey_Gardens.198.177.27.21 (talk) 08:19, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Your account of the song says "The song is sung from the viewpoint of a lovestruck man, who plans the future with his new woman in mind." If you look at the text, which begins "Picture me upon your knee" and goes on to promise that she will bake a sugar cake, you'll see that the reverse is true. 91.135.4.221 (talk) 11:51, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

I wrote the last comment, but was wrong: in "No, no, Nanette" the song is a duet by Nanette and Tom. I've amended the article accordingly.Derekroper (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 18:19, 26 August 2009 (UTC).

Shostakovich?
I'm assuming this is the song orchestrated by Shostakovich - the Tahiti (Fox)trot? Shouldn't this be mentioned in the article? Seems noteworthy enough.--93.166.213.4 (talk) 16:26, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

I second that.I came to the Talk section to ask that very question. Thanks for confirming that it was Shostakovich, I knew it was one of the Soviets but wasn't sure he was the one. Don G Taylor (talk) 03:27, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Lyrics?
something from 1925 should be public domain by now, yes? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.129.40.88 (talk) 00:43, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't think so; the author died in 1996. – Alensha   talk  05:17, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

Dotted notes?
"The song also consists mostly of dotted eighth and quarter notes." It seems to me, that should be dotted quarter and eighth notes. But I confess, I only know the first couple of lines (I have no idea where it moves from one key to another). Uporządnicki (talk) 17:06, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

Lawrence Welk
QUOTE FROM ARTICLE PAGE: "Tea for Two" was the most played song on the Lawrence Welk TV show, with over 1000 different broadcast episodes, "Tea for Two" was played on 67 different shows due to its popularity.

I really feel this goes beyond the blanket "needs citation" message in the Uses section and should be removed until validated. I can't find any reference in my Google searching as to songs with most performances on LW, and the two sentences are ambiguous in meaning. Did the TV show have over 1000 episodes, or was the song played on 1000 episodes? Was the song played on 67 episodes of LW or was it played on 67 different TV shows? The entire thing just seems anecdotal at this point. — Preceding unsigned comment added by CaryKen (talk • contribs) 00:23, 27 May 2017 (UTC)

James Thurber
Thurber hilariously parodied this song in one of his humorous pieces (I think it was in Further Fables for Our Time), in which a wife takes the words absurdly literally. (For example, she says, "We can raise a family. You can have the boy and I'll take the girl.")  The moral is, "If life went along like a popular song, every man's marriage would surely go wrong.". Kostaki mou (talk) 21:19, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

Unsourced Material
The information on Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich is unsourced. Adamilo (talk) 17:16, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

Dates and facts
I had to change the opening line about it being introduced in a Broadway show because it wasn't. It was introduced in 1924 Chicago, May or June. I was not prepared to revise this article, I was adding publication information of the song, which totally contradicted our narrative, so I got sucked into repair work. Facts Most of the songs from "No, No, Nanette" were published in May and June 1924, in two batches. Tea for Two was in the June 10 batch. According to my research, the show first played at the Garrick Theatre, Detroit, on April 21, and opened at the Harris Theatre, Chicago, on May 5, where it ran for a year. It is described in our own "No, No, Nanette" article, and how "Tea for Two" was not written until Chicago, which gives a time frame of a month for it to be introduced and finished, as indicated by it's publication on June 10. We have two actors named as introducing it, I can confirm one so far. "It was introduced in May 1924 by Louise Groody and John Barker during the Chicago pre-Broadway run of the musical No, No, Nanette" I confirm Jack Barker. After it was published, recording artists began making their records. By the time it opened on Broadway, it was old news. I had to change that line right away. Tillywilly17 (talk) 10:16, 17 October 2021 (UTC)

Tea for two ; duet, from No no Nanette, w Irving Caesar, m Vincent Younians, of U. S. © June 10, 1924; 2 c. June 19; E 589297; Harms, inc., New York. 16189

here is other song published same day also hit

I want to be happy; duet, from No no Nanette, w Irving Caesar, m Vincent Youmans of U. S. ©June 10, 1924; 2 c. June 19; E 589296; Harms, Inc., New York. 14324

Most of the songs were published on May 3, 1924

I got Tea for Two .... Tom & Nanette

Nanette - Phyllis Cleveland Tom Trainor - Jack Barker

we had "Louise Groody and John Barker" introducing on Broadway

source

Was not prepared to revise article, this was quicky, am writing this in case there are serious 1920s musical theatre people reading. I am very good with the music and songs, not so much on Broadway shows.

Tillywilly17 (talk) 10:32, 17 October 2021 (UTC)

from No, No, Nanette

No, No, Nanette was not successful in its first pre-Broadway tour in 1924. When the production arrived in Chicago, producer Harry Frazee re-cast the show with new stars, had the book rewritten and asked Youmans and Caesar to write additional songs. These additional songs, "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy", would become the hit songs of the show. The Chicago production was a hit and ran for over a year. Frazee eagerly capitalized on this success, but Broadway was not his first priority. The London production opened in the West End on March 11, 1925 at the Palace Theatre, where it starred Binnie Hale, Joseph Coyne and George Grossmith Jr. and became a hit, running for 665 performances. The London production featured two songs that were not included in U.S. productions: "I've Confessed to the Breeze" and "Take a Little One-Step". Three touring productions were circulating throughout the U.S. when the Broadway production finally opened on September 16, 1925 at the Globe Theatre, starring Louise Groody and Charles Winninger. It ran for 321 performances.

 Venues Tryout Dates

Tremont Theatre (Boston, MA)    5/1/1925 - 9/1/1925

Garrick Theatre (Detroit, MI)        4/21/1924 - ?

Shubert Theatre (Cincinnati, OH) 4/27/1924 - ?

Harris Theatre (Chicago, IL)         5/5/1924 - 5/1/1925 [49 wks; 321 perf.]

After Detroit, the production moved to Chicago where it ran for a year. All post-opening cast replacements (see full credits page) are replacements during the Chicago run.

When the show opened in Chicago, the pressure was on. Variety published an estimate that No, No, Nanette would have to sell $14,000 worth of tickets to break even. In the second week, the show only sold $11,000. The future was dire, even though the majority of the Chicago reviews were favorable. However, the press agent, Charles Emerson Cooke, got Chicago newspapers to run stories saying that the producer believed so strongly in the show that he refused to let the Chicago critics kill it. The stories worked and the weekly gross climbed by $2,000. When Louise Groody and Charles Winninger came in to replace Phyllis Cleveland (Nanette) and Skeets Gallagher (Jimmy) during the fourth week of the run, the grosses climbed to over $15,000. The matinees, however, did slow business. In the fifth week, Frazee brought in Blanche Ring to replace Anna Wheaton as Lucille. Ring was a favorite among the club women who frequented the matinees. The following week, matinees began selling out.

With each cast change, the critics were invited back to review the show again. The notices kept getting better and better. One critic remarked that it was "worth seeing twice". And audiences kept returning to see their favorite stars. And hear songs that began to rise in popularity. Soon the show looked like it might be able to recoup the $75,000 that Frazee had sunk into it to fix it.

In mid-June, a medical convention was in town and the grossed climbed to over $20,000. Soon after, one of the Duncan Sisters who were performing in the pre-Broadway run of Topsy and Eva, had an altercation with a traffic cop. Because she had a black eye and bruises, she was out of the show for three nights and tickets had to be refunded. Angry customers went to No, No, Nanette instead. Frazee publicized the surge in business and Chicagoans seemed to wonder what they had been missing.

The Chicago run was supposed be four weeks long. It kept getting extended due to high ticket sales. Frazee cancelled plans to move the production to New York after Labor Day. Soon the show was selling out at $23,000 per week.

When the production finally left Chicago for Broadway, it had run for 49 weeks and had done $850,000 in ticket sales, quite a sum for the 1920s.

During the Chicago run, director Edward Royce had other commitments in New York. Producer H. H. Frazee had to let him go and took over direction. Ever the publicity hound, Frazee spread the rumor that he fired Royce (who was a prominent musical comedy director of the time). Frazee cut five songs and replaced them with others that have become standards including "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy". He also replaced the Phyllis Cleveland in the role of Nanette with Louise Groody, Skeets Gallagher as Jimmy with Charles Winninger, Francis X. Donegan in the role of Jimmy with Bernard Granville, and Juliette Day in the role of Sue with Muriel Hudson. He brought in Ziegfeld choreographer Sammy Lee to work with the new cast.

The Chicago run was meant to be part of the pre-Broadway tryout. However, business kept getting better and the show kept getting extended, eventually staying in Chicago for a year. In the meantime, Frazee sent out other companies. One company played Philadelphia and other eastern cities. Another company went to Los Angeles and the west. And a third company went to London for a 2-year run there.

The main song list reflects the opening night song list for the Chicago run.

Copyright status
Is the original 1924 recording still under copyright, or could the audio be linked e.g. here? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:04, 17 October 2021 (UTC)


 * No it is public domain now Tillywilly17 (talk) 13:22, 17 October 2021 (UTC)


 * recorded 9/22/1924 Camden, New Jersey, Victor 19463, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/800005109/B-30922-Tea_for_two


 * But I see this at Copyright law of the United States:
 * This situation has changed with the 2018 enactment of the Music Modernization Act, which extended federal copyright protection to all sound recordings, regardless of their date of creation, and preempted state copyright laws on those works. Under the Act, the first sound recordings to enter the public domain will be those fixed before 1923, which will enter the public domain on January 1, 2022. Recordings fixed between 1923 and February 14, 1972, will be phased into the public domain in the following decades. Specifically, works fixed 1923–1946 are public after 100 years and works fixed 1947–1956 after 110 years of fixation. Works fixed 1 January 1957 – 14 February 1972 will all become public on 15 February 2067.
 * So that would make the Helen Clark and Lewis James recording 22 September 2024? Perhaps we could ask User:Diannaa to verify this. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:35, 18 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Correct. The Hirtle chart#Sound recordings is the place to go. 100 years from publication— Diannaa (talk) 22:16, 18 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the info! So the composition is in the public domain, but not the recordings, right? Good to know.

Tillywilly17 (talk) 04:40, 19 October 2021 (UTC)

A1-A2-A3-B
What does exactly mean this sequence of letters ?

Thanks

AXRL (talk) 17:16, 14 February 2023 (UTC)