No Nips and Tucks Needed.(Bloomer Girl )(Review)

American Theatre, October, 2001 by Wood, Mark Dundas

Harburg's 1943 musical Bloomer Girl returns on CD

BLOOMER GIRL, Broadway original cast recording, music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, Decca.

IT'S APT THAT THE NAME OF BROADWAY lyricist E.Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1898-1981) should be in the air these days. With the stock market fluctuating wildly and doubts about where the economy is headed, how fitting it is that the socially conscious Harburg--author of the Depression-era anthem "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"--should have been cited in March by the Recording Industry Association of America for writing the number-one song of the 20th century. Of course, it was not for "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" that Harburg was honored, but for "Over the Rainbow" from the film The Wizard of Oz....