For her triumphant return to Broadway – and her first appearance in a musical show on stage or screen – Bette Davis chose the James Russo–Michael Ellis production of Charles Sherman’s Two’s Company. She was enthusiastic about the sketches Mr. Sherman had written with Peter DeVries and she loved the songs written for the show by veteran songsmiths Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash.
Since her first smash success in Of Human Bondage, Bette Davis’s triumphant career has been known to moviegoers throughout the world. Her first picture after Of Human Bondage – Dangerous – won her an Oscar®, and she received a second Academy Award® for Jezebel. Among many other performances, she was memorable as a stage star in All About Eve and as a screen actress in her latest film, The Star.
Vernon Duke is the author of a dozen or so hits including “This is Romance,” “Suddenly,” “Taking a Chance on Love” and “April in Paris.”
Best known for his New Yorker verses, Ogden Nash is also a potent name on Broadway as a lyricist. He put the words to Kurt Weill’s music in “One Touch of Venus.” He also wrote the book in collaboration with S. J. Perelman.
Sammy Cahn, who supplied additional lyrics for Two’s Company, has written both pop hits like “I’ve Heard That Song Before” and “Bei Mir Bist du Schoen,” and the words for the Broadway musical High Button Shoes.
