What Was On The Other Side? Poem by gershon hepner

“What was on the other side
of 'Some Enchanted Evening? ' ” Groucho asked.
Hammerstein and Rogers’ pride
was not in any way by him unmasked.
They laughed, because they had created
a masterpiece that all knew was terrific,
as hard, therefore, to underrate it
as to underrate the South Pacific.

The revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s great musical “South Pacific” is expected to sweep all the awards at the Tonys tonight. When Rogers and Hammerstein appeared on Groucho Marx’s show he asked them what they did. “We wrote ‘Some Enchanted Evening, ’ and it sold a couple of million records, ” Rogers replied. “Wait a minute, ” said Groucho. “There must be a reason for a sale like that. Come clean now! I know something about the record business. What was on the other side?


6/15/08