The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #74249   Message #1293542
Posted By: masato sakurai
09-Oct-04 - 10:40 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: O Katharina (L W Gilbert, R Fall)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Katharina
Lyrics were requested at a previous thread (O Katharina), but they are not complete.

Levy has it, but unfortunately the images are not given.
Title: O Katharina!
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Lyric by L. Wolfe Gilbert. Music by Richard Fall.
Richard Fall Publication: New York: Leo Feist, Inc., 1924.
Instrumentation: piano and voice; ukulele
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
First Line: Again we have the Chauve Souris, they come to us from across the sea
First Line of Chorus: O, Katharina, O, Katharina, O, Katharina
Performer: F. Ray Comstock & Morris Gest Present Balieff's Chauve Souris. Direct From Their Paris and London Engagement. The Sensational European Success!
Engraver, Lithographer, Artist: A. Hudiakoff
Advertisement: ads on inside bottom margins, on inside front and on back covers for Leo Feist, Inc. stock
Plate Number: 5535-3
Subject: Caricatures
Subject: Entertainment
Call No.: Box: 156 Item: 138
There's an entry in American Popular Songs, by David Ewen (Random House, 1966):
O Katharina!, words by L. Wolfe Gilbert to a melody by Richard Fall, distinguished Austrian operetta composer (1924). "O Katharina!" was written for and introduced by Nikita Balieff, the genial, round-faced master of ceremonies of the Russian revue Chauve souris, imported to New York from Paris in 1924.
L. Wolfe Gilbert has explained: "My song was as timely then as it is today. Since the American woman was diet conscious, I wrote 'O Katharina, O Katharina, to keep my love, you must be leaner.' I spent two weeks rehearsing him [Balieff].... I asked one chap how Balieff sang the song. 'He didn't sing the words,' the stranger replied. 'He just kept singing the title over and over until he had most of the audience singing or whistling it."