Andrews Sisters – Bei mir bist du shein

Andrews Sisters – Bei mir bist du shein – MyVideo

THE STORY OF BEI MIR BIST DU SCHOEN
Ilana Levy

The older generation, which certainly includes me, will surely remember the Andrews Sisters, a trio whose unprecedented popularity in the late 30s and early 40s earned them the title, America’s Sweethearts. Perhaps the most important song of their many hits was an upbeat tune that was originally written and sung in Yiddish and introduced by two black entertainers in Harlem’s Apollo Theater, which ultimately became the most popular song of its time.

Following is the little known story of this song. I have been unable to find the original source for attribution, however, it is such an important part of the culture of our nation that it bears retelling. So, here it is as it was recently sent to me by a friend:

They called themselves Johnny and George, and they played the Apollo Theatre and any other gigs they could get one hot summer in the 1930s. Somewhere along the way, they managed to get a booking at Grossinger’s up in the Catskills. Not bad. Free meals, you make a few bucks and you’re out of New York City for a little while, beating all that August heat that could blow down the sidewalks of 125th St. Like a blast furnace.

One day Jenny Grossinger showed them the music sheets for this Yiddish song called “Bei Mir Bist du Schein,” and Johnny and George had a little fun with it, with never a clue that what they had here was going to become one of the biggest hits of their time – but not for them.

So, Summer’s over now, and Johnny and George are back down at the Apollo; they decide to open with this Grossinger’s song. They sing it straight through in Yiddish, but they kick up the beat and they get it rocking.

And then they get it rocking more. The crowd goes wild. Everybody’s dancing. The Apollo has never heard anything like this. Two black guys singing a swing version of a Yiddish song? In Yiddish?

Watching all this from the balcony that night were two up-and-coming songwriters, Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, and they both knew a sensation when they heard one. Who owned the rights to this song? They wondered. And what would they want for them?

Checking it out, Cahn and Chaplin learned that the lyrics had been written by one Jacob Jacobs, who, with his music-writing partner, Sholom Secunda, had composed “Bei Mir Bist du Schon” for a Yiddish production called “I Would If I Could.”

They’d already tried to sell it to Eddie Cantor, with no luck. When Cahn offered $30, they were happy to accept. This was nothing unusual for them. They’d sold hundreds of songs for $30 apiece.

Cahn and Chaplin went straight to Tommy Dorsey with their new $30 song, urging the bandleader to play it at the Paramount Theater. Dorsey wasn’t interested. Well, it was in Yiddish, he explained. So, Cahn and Chaplin translated the lyrics into English.

And then they took the tune to this new group of girl singers. The Andrews Sisters, they called themselves. It happened that the sisters were then recording a Gershwin song called “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” and it was decided that “Bei Mir Bist du Schon” would work okay as the B side.

“Of all the boys, I’ve known, and I’ve known some until I first met you, I was lonesome; And when you came in sight, dear, my heart grew light, And this old world seemed new to me. And so I’ve racked my brain, hoping to explain. All the things that you do to me. Bei mir bist du schein, please let me explain, Bei mir bist du schein means that you’re grand.”

The Andrews’ record was released a few days after Christmas 1938.

By New Year’s Eve it was playing over and over again on every radio station in New York City. It started when “The Milkman’s Matinee” on WNEW picked it up and played it on the all-night show.

Soon there were near riots at the record stores. Crowds would line up and the song would be played out into the street from loudspeakers. Traffic would back up for blocks. By the end of January, “Bei Mir Bist du Schein” had sold more than 350,000 copies.

“Bei Mir Bist du Schon” fever spread across the land. “It’s wowing the country,”reported one New Jersey paper. “They are singing it in Camden, Wilkes-Barre, Hamilton,Ohio, and Kenosha, Wis. The cowboys of the West are warbling the undulating melody and so are the hillbillies of the South, the lumberjacks of the Northwest, the fruit packers of California, the salmon canners of Alaska.” And it was a huge hit in Yorkville: “The Nazi bierstuben patrons yodel it religiously, under the impression that it’s a Goebbels-approved German shanty.

“I could say Bella, even say Vunderbar, Each language only helps me tell you how grand you are.”

Over in Germany, Hitler himself was a big fan. Finally, the Third Reich had a tune it could hum to. At least, until it was discovered that the thing had been written by two Jews from Brooklyn.

Over the years, “Bei Mir Bist du Schein” made millions of dollars for a lot of singers and record companies. Finally, in 1961, after standing on the sidelines and watching the royalties ring up over the years for a song that they’d made 15 bucks each on, Secunda and Jacobs got the rights back.

As for Johnny and George, who started all the excitement one night at the Apollo, up in Harlem, it goes unrecorded whatever became of them, or even what their last names were…

How about one more by the Andrew Sisters