Ginger Rogers and Allen Kearns introduced an Alvin Theatre audience to “Embraceable You” during the first performance of Girl Crazy, on October 14, 1930. Although the Broadway musical marked Rogers’ debut as a leading lady, she lost the limelight to newcomer Ethel Merman who brought down the house with her introduction of “I Got Rhythm.”

Girl Crazy was originally written as a vehicle for Bert Lahr, but when he turned down the part for legal reasons, master of accents, Willie Howard, was brought in to take his place. The orchestra for the performance was the Red Nichols Band which included Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey, and Gene Krupa. The star-studded orchestra thrilled the audiences with jam sessions during the intermissions. George Gershwin conducted the music at the premier before handing the baton over to Earl Busby. Girl Crazy would run for 272 performances.

The Girl Crazy score also included “Bidin’ My Time,” “Sam and Delilah,” “I Got Rhythm,” “But Not For Me,” “Treat Me Rough!” and “Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!”

A 1932 RKO film adaptation of Girl Crazy, starring Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, relied on sophomoric comedy and not the original Gershwin score retaining only “Bidin’ My Time,” “I Got Rhythm,” and “But Not For Me.” Variety called it “a weak sister” of the Broadway production.

A 1943 release of the film fared much better. MGM’s Girl Crazy was the eighth Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland film and was generally well reviewed. The original story and score were left almost intact and all of the songs were included along with “Fascinating Rhythm” from 1924’s Lady Be Good added.

MGM again visited the well in 1966 with Girl Crazy as the basis for the film, When the Boys Meet the Girls, starring Connie Francis and Harve Presnell. Suffice it to say the highlight of the musical was the songs.

Over sixty years after making its debut, Girl Crazy was once again on Broadway, this time as the basis for the 1992 hit Crazy For You. The musical opened onFebruary 19^th and ran for 1622 performances. Seven of the songs from Girl Crazy were included in the score along with 13 other Gershwin songs.

The music for “Embraceable You” was originally written in 1928-29 for a Ziegfeld musical based on the 1918 play East is West. Although the musical was never produced, some of the songs were recycled into another Ziegfeld production, Show Girl, with “Embraceable You” being saved for Girl Crazy. A recent auction included a Gershwin sketchbook containing, among the East is West material, an early version of “Embraceable You,” slightly different and without lyrics but nevertheless the same song.

“Embraceable You” climbed onto the pop charts within weeks of its Broadway introduction with a Red Nichols and His Five Pennies (Dick Robertson, vocal) rendition rising to number two in November, 1930. Over a decade later, in 1941, Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra with Helen O’Connell on vocals had a modest hit, rising to number twenty-three.

The flip side of Red Nichols’ recording was another Girl Crazy number, “I Got Rhythm.” Nichols’“I Got Rhythm” only made it to number five, losing out to “Embraceable You.” The two songs’ relative popularity with 1930 consumers is reflected today. “Embraceable You” is recorded by more jazz artists than “I Got Rhythm,” despite the popularity of the “I Got Rhythm” chord progressions that have been used as the basis of literally hundreds of jazz songs.