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Sondheim has seldom been accused of schmaltz.

David Lewis (President of the Rula Lenska International Fan Club) Louis Auchincloss Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis

Col. Klink Werner Klemperer Otto Klemperer

Tommy Valando The Flying Wallendas The Fly

Mayor Pete Louis B. Mayer Ginny Simms

Henry Threadgill Bill Needle Trevor Pinnock

And in fairness to Broadway, it had no choice but to write insularly, since the days when radio would play even the most wonderful songs from Broadway ended in 1967.

Mark, thank you for sharing this treasure. I don't agree about his songs lacking memorable organic melodic meaning, but one I think you'd find has it is "Good Thing Going," from Merrily We Roll Along. Sinatra covered it (on his She Shot Me Down album), and it's one of the best Sinatra performances from his later period. Another Sondheim song I bet you'd agree has a strong melody--that might be the best Irving Berlin song Irving Berlin never wrote--is "The Best Thing That Has Happened," from his last show, Bounce. His main complaint with Hart was not Hart's cleverness per se, but the way he would write un-colloquially for the sake of a rhyme. (Wrenching around word order to antiquated forms, for example.) For Sondheim, if a character ought to sing un-colloquially (if the character were a highly educated academic, for example), that's how you should write lyrics for him, but if the character is a regular Joe or Jane, you find a way (without sacrificing strict rhyming) that sounds like something they might actually say, or sing.

Phineas T. Bluster Princess Summerfallwinterspring Judy Tyler

Leon Schlesinger Robert Clampett Buddy Ebsen

Alexander Payne Clay Aiken George Soros

Speedy Gonzales Sylvester the Cat Friz Freling

Van Johnson Esther Williams Hamilton Fish

Sir Lancelot Sir Mix-a-Lot Sirhan Sirhan

Wednesday Addams Billy Sunday Pat Friday

Nina Foch Hamilton Fish Johann Fasch

The Thin Man Ray Bolger

Chuck Barris Chuck Lorre Chuck Woolery

Porfirio Rubirosa Dodo Marmarosa Lady Marmalade

Mr. Popo Mr. Arkadin Mr. Adam (and Eve)

Franz Schubert France Nuyen Jerry Paris

Edward G. Robinson Edgar G. Ulmer Elmer Fudd

Laura Nyro Peter Nero Nero

Eric Trump Fredo Corleone Connor Roy