Directed by Richard Linklater, the comedy-drama film Blue Moon is centered around Lorenz Hart, a prominent lyricist in the 20th century, portrayed by the brilliant Ethan Hawke. The film captures the opening night of the box office hit musical, ‘Oklahoma!’. Hart mockingly emphasized repeatedly the exclamation in the title, and implied that he wasn’t meant to create something so ordinary. He pretended to not be affected by the popularity of the musical, and tried his best to establish that he was happy for Richard Rodgers. The two used to be a lyricist-composer duo, and deep down, Hart was deeply affected by the appreciation that Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein received for their ‘Oklahoma!’ composition. In the film, we follow Lorenz on one of his worst days, trying to keep up appearances, but his sadness often peeked through his words and gestures.
Spoiler Alert
What is the film about?
Some thought Lorenz was a ‘dynamic’ and ‘fun’ person to be around, and others thought ‘he was the saddest man’ one could ever know. Blue Moon attempts to understand who Lorenz really was. From the very first scene, you get the idea that he was a talkative man who could speak endlessly when the topic was Broadway, music, and lyrics. He loved to tell stories, and sometimes it didn’t even matter who was on the other side. It was almost as if he needed to unburden himself of all the secrets and memories he carried.
Lorenz was critical of ‘Oklahoma!’ to the extent that he chose to walk out of the theater before the curtains fell. He was the first to arrive at the opening night party at the bar next door, and his only audience was the bartender, Eddie, and the man on the piano, Morty. Lorenz was devastated by the fact that Rodgers was receiving more critical acclaim and audience appreciation than he ever did when they used to work together. Though he strongly believed ‘Oklahoma!’ wasn’t Rodgers’ best work. He was hopeful that if they worked together, perhaps on a play on Marco Polo, then they might have the chance to deliver something truly spectacular. The only thought that kept Lorenz busy, apart from the crushing feeling of not being relevant anymore, was Elizabeth, a twenty-year-old Yale student he’d fallen hopelessly in love with. She was Lorenz’s muse and protégé, and he couldn’t stop himself from being in awe of her captivating green eyes, her ravishing smile, and her enthusiasm for life and all its wonder. She made him feel alive and excited for the future, and that was reason enough for him to not care about the moral judgment that came with being a forty-seven year old in love with a twenty-year-old. There is a brief conversation in the film between him and E. B. White—Lorenz mentioned a rat that regularly visited his apartment, and he’d started to admire it; he named the rat ‘Stuart,’ and it’s hinted that Lorenz’s story had inspired White to write ‘Stuart Little.’
You get a sense that Lorenz yearned to feel appreciated and experience the joy of being at the center of all conversations, which was why he happily invited the young delivery man who’d stopped by the bar to his house. The invitation was his desperate attempt to impress someone who had barely any clue about the Broadway world and who would find the idea of the celebrities gathering under one roof for a ‘big party’ amusing. For the longest time, Lorenz continued to dismiss ‘Oklahoma!’; he believed it was being appreciated simply because it was too safe, and he strongly believed that art shouldn’t be inoffensive. Lorenz believed that just because something was loved and admired by many didn’t necessarily mean it was great. For him, it was quite obvious that the musical wasn’t really intellectually stimulating, and that was primarily why he chose not to adapt it when Rodgers asked him to. He admitted he was bitter, and he believed his feelings stemmed from the fact that he and Rodgers had worked together for twenty-five years, yet the first time he chose to work with another lyricist, things panned out surprisingly well!
What caused the distance between Lorenz and Richard Rodgers?
Rodgers was seventeen when he met Lorenz for the first time. Lorenz was twenty-three then, and he’d immediately recognized Rodgers’s talent, and that was when their joint creative pursuit began. But Lorenz was an alcoholic, and it was evident that Rodgers struggled for a really long time working with him. When the party finally began and Rodgers joined his well-wishers, Lorenz approached him, and he couldn’t stop singing praises for ‘Oklahoma!,’ but Rodgers had known him long enough to realize that he didn’t really mean what he said. Gradually Lorenz started pointing out what he believed were the shortcomings of the musical, and of course, Rodgers wasn’t really appreciative of his comments. He thought Lorenz was simply envious, and that his opinion didn’t really matter since both the critics and the audience had been generous with their reviews. When Lorenz suggested they work on something new, Rodgers didn’t seem too convinced. There had been days when Rodgers had to contact Lorenz’s mother because he couldn’t reach him when they were supposed to work together on a play. Lorenz was almost always drunk and depressed, and it had become increasingly challenging for Rodgers to continue working with him. Although Lorenz claimed he was sober and stable, that night at the bar, he had a couple of drinks to celebrate the success of Rodgers and to cope with his misery. Rodgers had proposed they team up to revive ‘A Connecticut Yankee,’ and while Lorenz was more inclined to work on something new, at the end of Blue Moon we discover that they were successful with the revival of the play, though it was Lorenz’s last work as a lyricist.
Did Elizabeth love Lorenz?
Lorenz often thought he wasn’t worthy of being loved, yet the moment he’d laid his eyes on Elizabeth, he allowed himself to fall in love with her. She was a breath of fresh air, a curious young poet who was hopeful about the world and everything it had to offer. Blue Moon is inspired by the letters exchanged between Lorenz and Elizabeth Weiland, where Lorenz (Larry) would always address her as his ‘irreplaceable Elizabeth’. The film addressed the speculation around Lorenz’s sexuality; some thought he was homosexual, but he emphasized how he was captivated by beauty regardless of gender. Lorenz was hopeful that something might spark between him and Elizabeth, especially after the one summer night that they almost made love. He criticized himself and his aging body because, deep down, he thought he really didn’t have much to offer Elizabeth, yet he yearned to be close to her and just appreciate her beauty. Elizabeth was a college student who saw Lorenz as her mentor; she loved him, but ‘not that way,’ and just the ‘three words and ten letters’ were enough to break Lorenz’s heart. This wasn’t the first time he’d been rejected, yet the agony that came along with it hadn’t gotten any easier to handle. Lorenz was evidently disappointed when Elizabeth remarked that her mother had hinted that Lorenz was interested in men. He didn’t believe in such stereotypical labels, and he obviously was offended by the assumptions that people made about him.
Elizabeth was in love with a college junior; he not only didn’t reciprocate her passion, he’d also ghosted her, but she believed that if he called her and asked her to meet him, she would drop everything else and drive thirty hours if required just to be with him. Elizabeth knew it was silly and embarrassing, but she was in love, and there was really nothing logical about the way she felt. Lorenz wondered how long she would drive to be with him, because he was willing to go to extreme lengths for her, but unfortunately, that was not how she felt for him. Elizabeth loved him for his generosity, his kindness, and his keenness to listen to her every story. She was also hopeful that he would introduce her to people who might be interested in her art and see potential in her.
Later that night, Lorenz introduced Elizabeth to Rodgers. He was visibly uncomfortable seeing Rodgers share his private number with her, and he felt the urgency to bring up the fact that he was married. Recently, perhaps his greatest joy was being around a beauty like Elizabeth and being valued by her, and the thought that she might leave his side as well scared him. He noticed the glimmer in Rodgers’ eyes when he saw Elizabeth, and he knew that he was immediately fascinated by her beauty, and he feared that Elizabeth would move on to him for guidance and opportunity, leaving behind Lorenz with just the memories of the time that they’d spent together. The moment Rodgers invited Elizabeth to his afterparty, she immediately accepted the invitation. He’d offered to drive her there, and she agreed to go along with him. Lorenz too had invited her to his party, and she’d stated that she had to stay with her mother and help her out, so the shift in her decision suggests that Lorenz wasn’t as significant to her as she was to him.
What caused Lorenz’s death?
Lorenz was known for throwing gala parties, and there was a time when that used to be the place where famous people mingled, and yet here he was desperately inviting delivery boys and his friends, hoping he would get to relive the joy of being at the center of a grand event once again. The fact that almost everyone had left for Rodgers’ party is a clear indication that no one would likely show up at Lorenz’s. Although he knew the truth, he desperately hoped that Elizabeth would turn up at his place late at night, a little too drunk, and show interest in his life for once. He clung to his illusion—of being loved by someone he adored. The bar was almost about to close, and Lorenz invited Eddie and Monty to his house, though both made it pretty obvious that they wouldn’t be joining him. Lorenz continued to speak about the ‘enormous’ party at his place, and he was disappointed that he forgot to give the presents he’d bought for Elizabeth and show her the card trick he’d planned. Nothing really went the way he wished that night. Lorenz was about to leave, but then Monty played ‘Blue Moon,’ a work of his that was highly praised, though he didn’t think it was extraordinary. Lorenz’s biggest fear was not knowing if his good days were already over; denying it helped him stay hopeful, whereas accepting it only resulted in depressive thoughts.
During Blue Moon’s ending, listening to people hum his song made him feel a little worthwhile, perhaps the only time that evening, so Lorenz chose to stay a little longer and took a seat at the bar. Eddie this time didn’t deny him a drink; instead, he poured two to have one along with him. He’d noticed Lorenz struggle that evening, and perhaps he thought that the least he could do is have a drink with this man who feared being alone. The night ended with Lorenz narrating to the few left at the bar the story of how ‘Blue Moon’ wasn’t even the title of the song at first. A month after attending the opening night of ‘Oklahoma!,’ Lorenz lost his mother, a loss that he never really coped with. In November 1943, Lorenz passed away. He never gave up drinking, and he was found lying paralyzed on the streets by a bar he frequented in Manhattan before he was taken to a hospital. He’d contracted pneumonia, and four days after being admitted to the hospital, he drew his last breath. Regardless of how Lorenz felt about the lyrics of ‘Blue Moon,’ the words—”You saw me standin’ alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own”—resonate so deeply with Lorenz’s life. He was a dreamer, a genius, and a hopeless romantic who had many ideas that he hoped to execute, yet the burden of existence often caught up with him.
