Jack Lawrence’s Latest Project

Famed Songwriter Taps Newtowners To Promote

‘Between The Sheets’

By John Voket

When prudish producers rejected the original lyrics to “My Heart Belongs To Daddy” as too racy for the1938 musical Leave It To Me, Cole Porter instructed them to call on Connecticut songwriter Jack Lawrence for a more prudent rewrite.

Nearly 70 years later, when Mr Lawrence was writing about the incident in his latest book, Between the Sheets: The Stories Behind My Songs, he called on Newtown entrepreneur Elizabeth Mammen and her son, Timothy, to help with the distribution.

Ms Mammen, who is a book keeper by profession — not a book distributor — was taken by surprise when the Academy Award nominee and Songwriters Hall of Fame alum suggested she shift her focus from overseeing some of the 96-year old’s financial affairs, to making sure his book orders were properly fulfilled.

“Before the book was even finished, Jack was asking me to assist him with filing the copyright, and to shop the self-published work to various printers,” Ms Mammen said while sitting beside Mr Lawrence at his Redding home. “At 96, it was important for Jack to devote all his attention to telling the stories, and then approving the layout of the finished work.”

From the moment Ms Mammen met the storied songwriter, she became fascinated with the many intriguing turns his life has taken during his more than 70 years in the entertainment business. Mr Lawrence was born in Brooklyn, April 7, 1912 and grew up in an orthodox Jewish family of modest means as the third of four sons. With practically no musical training he began writing songs, but parental pressure pushed him to enroll at the First Institute of Podiatry where he earned a doctorate in 1932, the same year that saw the publication of his first song.

With that, he abruptly abandoned his podiatry practice and embraced a musical career.

That first song, “Play Fiddle Play,” became an international hit, and earned him membership in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. At the tender age of 20, Mr Lawrence found he was the youngest member to be accepted by ASCAP at the time.

Many of his songs to which he wrote both words and music, or just lyrics, have been used in important stage and film productions and have been responsible for creating overnight stars. One such song was “Yes, My Darling Daughter,” which introduced Dinah Shore to the public via Eddie Cantor’s weekly program and was her very first recording.

Another song, “If I Didn’t Care,” was recorded by the then unknown Ink Spots and catapulted them to instant fame. When he stepped forward as a solo singer, Frank Sinatra’s first big hit recording was Jack’s “All Or Nothing At All.” Rosemary Clooney’s career was sparked by her record of “Tenderly” and Bobby Darin will be forever associated with “Beyond The Sea,” both penned by the Connecticut resident.

In the 80’s, Mr Lawrence was also actively engaged as a Broadway producer and theater owner; his two theaters in the Broadway district were named The Jack Lawrence and The Audrey Wood. He was co-producer of off-Broadway’s long running success, Other People’s Money and on Broadway with Lena Horne, The Lady And Her Music, and Come Back To The 5 And Dime, Jimmy Dean, which introduced Cher and Kathy Bates to Broadway and sent them on to screen fame.

In a survey done by Public Radio in 2002 of 100 of the most prestigious musical works of the 20th Century, with such blockbusters as “Star Dust” and “Rhapsody In Blue,” Mr Lawrence’s “All or Nothing At All” — by virtue of the alphabet — led the list.

In his second book, Mr Lawrence chose to focus each chapter around a particular song, illustrating with vintage photos and other memorabilia from his current and past collections. The second half of the book includes the sheet music to each piece described in earlier chapters, so the reader can play or sing along themselves.

Once the printer was contracted, Ms Mammen automated all the ordering procedures so online customers could obtain copies of Between the Sheets, as well as remaining editions of his first book, They All Sang My Songs. She then assembled a team that assisted Mr Lawrence in updated his website (JackLawrenceSongwriter.com) to best promote the new work.

“I’m also helping coordinate people who are interested in having Mr Lawrence attend book-signing activities in the area,” Ms Mammen said. He is scheduled to hold a talk and book signing on Saturday, March 28, at the Mark Twain Library in Redding from 4 to 6 pm.

Since the first edition of Between the Sheets was delivered, Ms Mammen and her son, a fifth-grader at Reed Intermediate School, have packed and shipped more than 100 copies to online consumers, reviewers and media sources throughout the US and points around the globe including Italy, India, Brazil and Sweden.

“We’re all hoping that the unique design of this book, with the stories and visual elements related to Jack’s songs, coupled with the actual sheet music he wrote, will become a very popular book,” Ms Mammen said. “These are classic songs in music history that are obviously going to survive way beyond almost anything you hear today.”