St. Louis Woman
1946 Original Broadway Cast

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After collaborating on several movies together, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer returned to the Broadway stage to do a musical. Edward Gross wanted to create a show based on a novel by Arna Bontemps called God Sends Sunday. Bontemps and poet Countee Cullen had turned the novel into a play called St. Louis Woman, which he thought would be a powerful vehicle for the talented Lena Horne. Tons of ill-luck beset the production: Countee Cullen died before rehearsals even began, Lena Horne refused to star in the show because the protagonist was a woman of easy virtue, the choreographer was replaced, and the book itself posed serious problems. The show was not really a comedy -- it was much too serious -- and didn't lend itself to standard Broadway musical treatment of its themes. Throughout the drama, any happiness the characters attain is offset by the deepest feeling of gloom. The correct balance for a musical comedy was never achieved, and a book that could have become an opera was treated neither humorously nor dramatically. Eventually, the stars of the show were the Nicholas Brothers, a group of dancers with whom Arlen had worked at the Cotton Club; Pearl Bailey, who did an excellent job and stopped the house several times; June Hawkins; and Ruby Hill, a recent discovery who was cast as leading lady. The show opened at the Martin Beck Theater on March 30, 1946, and lasted for 113 performances. Its reception was only lukewarm. However, St. Louis Woman is perhaps Arlen and Mercer's masterpiece. There are several brilliant numbers that have stood the test of time; Mercer's lyrics are remarkable throughout and Arlen's music inspired. 'Come Rain or Come Shine' was the first song composed by the duo for the show and has remained a standard ever since. It was casually written in the Arlen living room with Arlen completing the initial Mercer line 'gone love you, like nobody's loved you' with 'Come rain or come shine.' Other big hits were 'Legalize My Name', 'I Had Myself a True Love', and 'A Woman's Prerogative'.