A musical farce in three acts, and the first show for which Gershwin supplied all of the music. The show was premiered in tryout on April 21, 1919 in Atlantic City, NJ, moving on to New York for an opening there on May 26, and closing after 104 performances. The year 1919 was a good one for Gershwin, also being the year that he and Irving Caesar created the extremely successful song Swanee.

SONGS: (*indicates the song is thought to have been published)

Unless otherwise indicated, all lyrics were by Arthur J. Jackson & B. G. DeSylva; When You Live in a Furnished Flat; The Best of Everything*; From Now On*; It's Hard to Tell; Tee-Oodle-Um-Bum-Bo*; Nobody But You*; It's Great to Be in Love; There's More to a Kiss than the Sound (Irving Caesar)-issued in separate edition, revised lyric for There's More to a Kiss than the X-X-X*; Somehow It Seldom Comes True*; Ten Commandments of Love (same song as There's Magic in the Air)

© All Music Guide

Nobody But You

La, La, Lucille was the first of Gershwin's Broadway musicals. He had begun work on Broadway as a rehearsal pianist for the Jerome Kern and Victor Herbert musical Miss 1917. Within months, his talent as a composer was noticed by everyone in the show and he was quickly put under contract by Harms Music, which placed three of his songs in three different shows. Within a year, Gershwin began working in collaboration with Arthur Jackson and B.G. "Buddy" De Sylva on his first full-length musical, La, La, Lucille, which opened in May 1919. Described in the publicity as "...a brilliant, up-to-the-minute musical comedy of class and distinction," La, La, Lucille contained three songs that became popular hits: "There's More to the Kiss Than the Sound," "From Now On," and "Nobody But You." The publication of these songs from La, La, Lucille brought Gershwin to the attention of lyricist Irving Caesar, who spoke with him about writing together. Their first collaboration was accomplished in ten minutes' time and went on to become the biggest selling song of the jazz age, "Swanee."

© James Leonard, All Music Guide