G'day,

Regarding "Guys and Dolls":

Benny Green's book "Let's Face The Music" has a chapter on Frank Loesser and on the origins of "Guys And Dolls" from the works of Damon Runyon.
Green mentions a Runyon character called Rusty Charley who could apparently knock an iceman's horse cold with one punch.

During one rehearsal of the show an actress called Isobel Quigley,
who was deputed to sing a song called 'I'll Know' the first line of which is
'I'll know when my love comes along';
between the words 'love' and 'comes' there occurs the interval of a seventh.

Miss Quiqley apparently had to deploy one vocal tone, vaguely soprano-like, for 'love',
and quite another, more contralto-ish for 'comes'.
This very common failing began to exasperate Loesser and after several attempts by Miss Quigley to navigate the leap,
decided on a new and highly original method of bringing about the required effect.
Stepping up on stage , Loesser rushed over to Miss Quigley and charitably bestowed upon her what Rusty Charley gave the iceman's horse.

Most alarming of all is the light the incident casts on the temperament of the first Mrs Loesser.
Her husband, for all his neuroses and outbursts of anger, was considered the less difficult of the two,
a remarkable general opinion explaining the notorious definition of his lady as the evil of two Loessers.

All the above from the pen of Benny Green.

Thanks Benny you will be missed.

Toodle-pip.