“The Begat” from the musical Finian’s Rainbow

The 1947 Broadway musical Finian’s Rainbow featured the song “The Begat,” which included a reference to Duluth. It’s at the 1:24 mark in the clip above from the original Broadway cast album, featuring Jerry Laws, Lorenzo Fuller and Louis Sharp.

The lyric is:

It was a-pleasin’ to Jezebel, a-pleasin’ to Ruth.
It pleased the League of Women Shoppers in Duluth.

The song was composed by Burton Lane with lyrics by Edgar Yipsel Harburg.

The clip above is from the 1968 film Finian’s Rainbow, and features Keenan Wynn, Avon Long, Jester Hairston and Roy Glenn.

The third clip is a sneak peek from a press event for the 2009 revival of the musical.

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