The Helen Morgan Page

… 1929, Helen Morgan’s busy schedule was busier than usual.

In the evening, Paramount celebrated the world premiere of Rouben Mamoulian’s directorial film debut, Applause.

Helen was unable to attend the film premiere as she was starring on Broadway in the stage musical Sweet Adeline (she would attend a special midnight screening later that week).

Earlier in the day, she waxed the Jay Gorney/E. Y. Harburg song “What Wouldn’t I Do For That Man.”

Note that the song was studio property and was not written specifically for Applause … or for Glorifying the American Girl, in which Morgan also sang it.

Paramount recycled the tune again in the 1930 Lee Morse short A Million Me’s. The song even got the follow-the-bouncing-ball treatment when Harriet Lee led the singing in the 1931 animated short Any Little Girl That’s a Nice Little Girl. The studio even took Morgan’s footage of “What Wouldn’t I Do For That Man” from Glorifying the American Girl and released it as its own short subject.

The second track Helen Morgan laid down on October 8, 1929 was “More Than You Know,” from the Vincent Youmans/Billy Rose/Edward Eliscu/William Carey Duncan/John Wells stage show Great Day, which was still trying out across the river in Newark, NJ.

In addition to being suitable vocal material for Morgan, Great Day was a multi-racial, southern-themed extravaganza, which was right up Helen’s alley.

Mayo Methot, the once and future Mrs. Humphrey Bogart, introduced “More Than You Know” (and “Happy Because I’m in Love”) on stage.

Ms. Methot never commercially recorded her Great Day numbers – or any of her vocals, for that matter. Others, including Libby Holman, rescued Youman’s songs from obscurity.

As did Helen Morgan. Here is her take on “More Than You Know.”

An infamously troubled production, Great Day ran only four weeks on Broadway and proved an early casualty of the Stock Market crash.

Regardless, MGM purchased the rights to Great Day. Once again, the timing could not have been worse: Joan Crawford (!) went before the cameras in August 1930, just as Hollywood began a moratorium on film musicals. The combination of the deepening Depression and an oversaturated market killed the musical genre. MGM saved face by shutting down Great Day after a few weeks, or even days, for “story revision.”

La Craw would wait until 1933, after the great success of 42nd Street to try another musical, Dancing Lady.