Stories of Standards: “These Foolish Things”

Tune in to Jazz with Victor Cooper – weekdays from 6-9 a.m. MT – for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of this song all week long starting Monday, February 26!

Stories of Standards is sponsored by ListenUp – If you love music, you’ll love ListenUp.

“These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)” was written for the 1936 British musical comedy “Spread It Abroad”. While Dorothy Dickson (the original singer) never recorded the song, at least five recordings made the top 20 list that summer, and Benny Goodman’s version held the number one position for two weeks. The song was written by Jack Strachey (composer), Harry Link (composer of the middle-eight bridge and the American version of the lyrics) and Eric Maschwitz (lyricist who sometimes was credited under the pen name Holt Marvell).

Jack Strachey’s (1894 – 1972) earliest compositions were for theater productions and musical revues in England. He started a partnership with Eric Maschwitz in the 1930s and moved to light music for orchestra in the 1940s. In England he’s remembered as the composer of “Theatreland”, “Pink Champagne” and “In Party Mood” (1944), the theme song for the popular radio program “Housewives’ Choice”, which ran until 1967.

Harry Link (1896-1956) is credited with writing or co-writing several popular jazz songs, with “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling” (1929, with Fats Waller and Billy Rose being one of the earliest. In 1916 he married Dorothy Dick, with whom he wrote several songs, including “I Hate to Leave You Now”. After 1937 Link focused on his role in publishing.

Eric Maschwitz (1901-1969) excelled in a variety of areas. He was an actor, wrote books for several musicals and adapted French comedies for the English stage. As Director of Variety for the BBC he created several popular programs, and some regard him as significantly contributing to the origination of the “Doctor Who” series. Using the pen name of Holt Marvell he co-wrote (with Sir John Gielgud’s brother Val) thrillers and adapted them for the BBC. His biggest hit was “These Foolish Things”. He wrote the screenplay for the 1939 movie “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”, and returned to England that year to serve in the Army Intelligence Corps. He received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1939.