After just a few weeks of rehearsal under the direction of Steve Chapin, we made our way over to this celebrated Broadway theater with a show that contained eight known songs from pre-existing LPs of Harry's ("6 String Orchestra", "Sunday Morning Sunshine", "Better Place To Be", "Sniper", "Taxi", "Mr. Tanner", "Cat's In The Cradle", and "What Made America Famous?") plus twelve more songs unknown to the general public. Those songs included "Bummer" which, in the show, was entitled "Battleground Bummer". Harry was soon to begin recording the "Portrait Gallery" LP which would contain that tune. There were also additional song fragments and poetry of Harry's, either performed live or on tape. It was a motley collection of band members made up of long-haired, hippie, rock/folk/pop heads plus Big John, combined with a nine-person cast of young, sophisticated Broadway types with impressive backgrounds in legitimate show music, cabaret, opera, classical, and gospel. I already knew guitarist Doug Walker (formerly of The Chapins) from a Brooklyn group I had played in '73 and '74 called The Performing Band. It was great getting to know Steve, Tom Chapin, Big John Wallace, percussionist Jim Chapin (the dad), and Harry's cellist Mike Masters. There was much after-show hanging out at Big John's apartment on Middagh St. in Brooklyn. We performed one show a day on Tuesday through Friday and two shows a day on the weekend. Monday was off. The show was a failure by Broadway box-office standards and would only last for six weeks. I remember bumping into producer Edgar Lansbury (Angela's brother) with my Mom & Dad at a restaurant between shows on the final day and recall him being quite regretful and somber regarding the closing of the show.

Quite notably for me, within the run of the show, was the night of March 1, 1975. Both Saturday performances were completed and Harry entered the band dressing room and asked Big John if he would come with him to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony at The Uris Theater for which he had one extra ticket and for which he had been nominated as Best Male Vocalist for "Cat's In The Cradle". He was also performing the song that night but John politely declined. Harry then put the ticket up for grabs and only after it appeared no one else was taking, I found myself in a cab with Harry, his wife Sandy, and his dad Jim, rushing over to the Grammy's which had already begun. We entered the building and as we approached the doors leading from the lobby into the actual theater, a young usher (about 20) noted that Harry was overburdened with a guitar (not in it's case), a leather bag, and one or two other items. He offered to take the guitar which Harry gladly gave up and then, somehow, as the usher was holding the guitar and at the same time attempting to open the door to the theater for us, he simultaneously dropped the instrument and tripped in such a way that one of his feet came down right on the guitar. So...there the guitar lay...smashed on the ground. It happened in a nano-second and it wasn't pretty. All I remember at that point was Harry putting his arms around this devastated and horrified kid, saying "Don't worry about it bro". He could be like that. End of story.

A few minutes later, after we were seated, Harry got up, walked about eight rows back in the theater where Gladys Knight & The Pips, who were also up for an award, were seated. He said a few words to them and then returned to his seat when Sandy asked him what that was about. Harry: "I just told them what a great line I thought 'I'd rather live in his world than live without him in mine' was" (from "Midnight Train To Georgia"). I took note at that moment about the power and art of great lyrics and how that made Harry tick.

Anyway, check out some of these mementos from the "The Night That Made America Famous".

I remember late one cold night in Dec '74, eating a burger/fries/coke in a now defunct Brooklyn hot dog place called Big Daddy's (on Coney Island Avenue in Sheepshead Bay where I lived), thumbing through the free newspaper "Good Times", coming across this tiny blurb, and being thrilled because, up until that moment, there was still some doubt in my mind as to whether the whole Broadway show thing was really going to happen.

My autographed copy of the Playbill.

This Clive Barnes review from The NY Times could be charcterized as mixed at best. The headline of the scathing Daily News review was "Hardly A Famous Night", and the headline of the rave review from The NY Post was "Chapin's Night".

This is the first page from the looseleaf book full of song & poetry lyrics that was given to each band and cast member.

This piece of prose entitled "The Changing Of The Guard" is Harry's poetic depiction of Robert Frost's reading of his poem "Dedication" at John F. Kennedy's Jan. 20, 1961 inaugural. Toward the end of act 1, one of the member's of the cast (Gilbert Price) recites "The Changing Of The Guard". But after the line..."The wind sputters on the microphone", the great gospel singer Delores Hall sings "When I Look Up", a song that she would sing again at the 1987 "Tribute" concert to Harry that took place at Carnegie Hall (that performance can be heard on the "Tribute" CD). When the song is completed, Gilbert then finishes his oration of "The Changing Of The Guard" and the chilling final lines are followed by the opening notes of "Sniper" which closes act 1.

A ticket from one of the shows.

Some additional pictures from the show: