About this Item
First Edition ( 'I' on the copyright page). The book is signed and inscribed 'To Joan Whitney with very best wishes, Sig Romberg'. A nice Association Copy, Joan Whitney (who lived in Westport, CT where I purchased the book some years ago) was a singer and songwriter.Her husband, Alex Kramer, was also a songwriter and the couple wrote many songs together. Included with the book is a separate typed letter from Romberg on his personal stationary to Mr. and Mrs. Alex C. Kramer, dated July 31, 1951. It begins 'Dear Joan and Alex', references his joy in being in their company and promises to meet with them in New York over the winter. 'Until then my love and admiration to both of you', signing it 'Rommy.' Sadly, that meeting was unlikely to have occurred as Romberg passed away a few months later on November 9th. In the book is a Western Union telegram (with one tear at a fold) from Romberg to Kramers dated August 3, 1950. It reads 'my very best wishes to both of you for the greatest happiness together. I hope to see you when I get back in the fall, Love Rommy.' The book, from 1949, is in very good shape. Perhaps most importantly, it is very solidly bound, all 511 pages. The pages nicely tight throughout and the covers nicely tight as well. You can see the covers in the photos. They have only a few speck-sized spots. There is some toning at the margins, particularly at the front bottom one, and the spine is sunned to a different color than the blue of the front and rear. The silver lettering on both the front and spine is bright. There is some crinkling/wrinkling at the spine ends, also a couple of teeny tiny tears at the bottom one. The edges and corners are in solid shape with just small spots of rubbing at the corners. The page edges are clean. The book is square and the spine is straight. The Western Union telegram may have at one point been between the front inside cover and signed front end paper. Either it or another piece of paper created the outline of a tan square that you can see in the photo of the signed page. The pages are in very solid shape, not finding any significant creasing, no placeholder creases, one middle edge crease. The very tip of a few bottom corners got turned in and being left so caused the tips of a number of pages before and after to form a tiny light crease. The pages are quite clean, not much more than a rare speck. There are no markings or attachments of any kind. And the signed inscription is the only writing to be found anywhere in the book. 'Sigmund Romberg was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his musicals and operettas, particularly The Student Prince (1924), The Desert Song (1926) and The New Moon (1928). Early in his career, Romberg was employed by the Shubert brothers to write music for their musicals and revues, including several vehicles for Al Jolson. For the Shuberts, he also adapted several European operettas for American audiences, including the successful Maytime (1917) and Blossom Time (1921). His three hit operettas of the mid-1920s, named above, are in the style of Viennese operetta, but his other works, from that time, mostly employ the style of American musicals of their eras. He also composed film scores. He was the subject of the 1954 Stanley Donen-directed film Deep in My Heart, in which he was portrayed by José Ferrer. The film was an adaptation of Elliott Arnold 's 1949 biography of Romberg. His operetta The New Moon was the basis for two film adaptations, both titled New Moon; the 1930 version starred Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore in the main roles, and the 1940 version starred Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" and "Lover, Come Back to Me" from The New Moon are still jazz-blues/soft-jazz classics and have been performed by many jazz performers.' Sigmund Romberg and George Gershwin wrote music for several of the same revues in the 1920s. Romberg lived a few doors down from Gershwin in Hollywood.
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