Come on, Pandas, why don't we paint the town? And all that jazz! Start the car, I know a whoopee spot, where the bamboo is cold, but the piano's hot. And all that jazz!
What a marvelous piece of art the Chicago musical is! It would not be the same without its composers John Kander and Fred Ebb. The two were responsible for some of the most incredible Broadway classics of our time. But before Kander became a legendary composer, he met Dave Fisher in college and the two fell in love. Their story has just seen the light of day after Dave’s grandson shared it in a Twitter thread.
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John Kander and Fred Ebb are two names that define the Broadway genre, however, during his college years, John created music for someone very special
Image credits: Miramax
Sama’an Ashrawi, a producer and multimedia director known for the TV series Afrofuturism and the short film An Ode to Hannibal Buress, recently came to Twitter to share a beautiful tale about his grandpa Dave Fisher and legendary musical theater composer John Kander; a story of which he learnt the details after his grandpa’s passing.
John became famous with his partner Fred Ebb, composing and writing the lyrics for Broadway musicals, such as Chicago, Cabaret and films Kramer vs. Kramer, Lucky Lady and New York, New York.
During his 65-year-long career, John has amassed an impressive three Tony awards, two Grammys, two Emmys, and a Laurence Olivier Award. Until the glorious life of fame and fortune hit, John had spent his time at college with Dave, the two secretly very much in love with one another.
Sama’an Ashrawi shared the story of his late grandpa's, Dave Fisher's, and John's romance in the 1960s. It was truly love at first sight
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
The pair had met during their time in Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. When Dave was moving into his dorm in freshman year, he noticed a boy “with the prettiest eyes.”
That was the moment he became confident in the fact that he was gay. Dave recounted this to his grandson but never mentioned the boy’s name. Once he passed away, Sama'an's mom revealed that the mysterious boy was, in fact, John Kander.
Sama’an told Classic FM that as a child, whenever his grandpa would come to visit, he would sit down at the piano and play pieces from Cabaret. At the time it didn’t look to be more than just beautiful music, however, he now realizes how romantic it was.
“My grandfather would kind of gingerly and delicately pluck the same notes that John wrote all those years ago,” Sama’an explained. “To me it’s kind of like the musical version of when you look up at the moon, and imagine the person you’re very far away from is also looking at it too. It was very romantic.”
As a child, whenever his grandpa Dave would come to visit, he would sit down at the piano and play pieces from Cabaret
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
"It’s like the musical version of when you look up at the moon, and imagine the person you’re very far away from is also looking at it too. It was very romantic," said Sama'an
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
The depth of their feelings for one another came through a little treasure that Sama’an found in the family bookshelf
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
His unconditional care and affection for Dave came through a little treasure that Sama’an found in the family bookshelf whilst perusing for something to read during the pandemic. A vinyl record was poking out discreetly and once Sama’an pulled it out, the cream label donned a small message: “Our Boy - side 2. John Kander.” It seemed it was made in 1951.
“I was like, Whoa, we have some kind of John Kander record in our house,” Sama’an relayed. “So I asked my mom about it. And she said, this was a song that John had written for Grandpa Dave.”
It was a vinyl record, the cream label donning a small message: “Our Boy - side 2. John Kander.” It seemed to have been made in 1951
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
John was earning his Master’s degree at the time, which he completed in 1953. The record was marked 11 years before John produced his first musical, A Family Affair, in 1962, which was the same year that he met Fred.
Listening to the record, the grandson believed it sounded like a live recording, played mostly in the lower octaves of a piano. “There are these big kinds of solo moments, and then there were these, kind of like, more quiet, contemplative, sparse piano moments,” Sama’an explained.
All this information combined had inspired Sama’an to try and track down John and ask him what the piece was about and what their relationship meant to him. He would soon learn that this was just the tip of the iceberg, but they had to meet first.
“There are these big kinds of solo moments, and then there were these more quiet, contemplative, sparse piano moments,” Sama’an explained
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
All this information combined had inspired Sama’an to try and track down John and ask him what the piece was about
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
Astoundingly, John replied and explained that the piece was part of a one-act musical, in which Dave was to play the main part
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
“Being like a kind of Broadway icon, I figured his email probably wasn’t just gonna be online,” Sama’an laughed. “And I was right! So I did a little more googling, and I found that he had a grand nephew named Jason Kander, who is the former Democratic Secretary of State of Missouri.”
He sent him a message about the record he’d found, hoping that he could get in touch with John. And sure enough, a day or two later, he had an email from John Kander himself.
It turned out, unlike Ashrawi’s original assumption, Our Boy was not a one-off song, but a one-act musical, in which John had wanted Dave to play the lead role.
The dance-drama musical was about a boxer grappling with the existential feelings of defeat. John shared some pictures from the show’s original production in which his grandfather can be seen gracefully playing the lead role, wearing only boxing shorts.
The family had previously never seen these pictures, and Sama’an said, “the pictures were so clear that I felt like I was there. I was in the audience. I was watching grandpa Dave play this boxer. It was beautiful. It was beautiful.”
"Our Boy" was marked 11 years before John produced his first musical, A Family Affair, in 1962. John also shared pictures of Dave the family hadn't seen before
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
They all agreed to meet for lunch and a cold one, Sama’an’s mom happy to see John again. And considering he’s now 95 years old, it was truly a miracle.
The time was spent sharing fond memories of Dave, how driven he was to get good grades and how much he loved the theater stage. “Theater was liberating for my grandfather,” Sama’an explained. “And in a society where you just simply could not be out at that time, the theater in the stage was a place where people could be themselves even when they were being someone else.”
“We were honest with each other,” John stated. “Honesty not in terms of not lying to each other, but more about being honest about who we were and who we were becoming. Dave was a great gift to me.”
John said that he and Dave had “real chutzpah”. The pair spent most of their free time in the theater, with John recounting the time Dave said: “No matter how bad things are in society, if you can just locate the theater, you’ll be home.”
The families met for lunch and shared their fondest memories of Dave: "No matter how bad things are in society, if you can just locate the theater, you’ll be home"
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
The 1960s saw the beginning of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, with protests becoming more frequent in the fight for equality and freedom. However, there is still a long road to walk until that becomes the case fully.
Bored Panda spoke with Akmenu Siena, a Lithuanian Instagram account trying to deconstruct homophobic beliefs and commonly used arguments against the LGBTQ+ community. They believe that crafting a social bubble is a vital lifeline for anyone unable to freely express themselves. It is also a means of dealing with the “shame and fear involved in the journey to full acceptance.”
They argue that it’s common for the negativity to become internalized, especially for younger people, as they’re having to deal with crafting a second persona in order to fit in, leading to self-hatred. In their words, it takes “a lot of mindfulness and work to overcome it, yet some never do. That shame stays, even if hidden deep inside.”
We are grateful to Sama'an for sharing the touching story and we hope this isn't the last we hear of them!
Image credits: SamaanAshrawi
Akmenu Siena states that the root of homophobia is the lack of education and awareness: “As society becomes more open and tolerant, education on LGBT history would ideally become (a tiny) part of school curriculums. That would help tremendously. LGBT people exist everywhere, even if you think that there’s no one within your circle; maybe you don’t give them a reason to tell you.”
They conclude with a message of hope for the future: “When questions stop coming and the expression of love is no longer limited to people of different genders, that is when we will see the stigma surrounding LGBT disappear. It may or may not happen, but it will get better with time.”
Let us know what you thought of this story, share your own experiences and I wish you all a beautiful and joyous Pride month!
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