The Shawmont Hotel. Ocean Grove. Across from the ocean. June 14, 2020. Paul Goldfinger photograph.© Click to enlarge.
JERRY ORBACH from Pal Joey by Rodgers and Hart. “There’s a Small Hotel.”
“Looking through the window
You can see a distant steeple
Not a sign of people who wants people?
When the steeple bell says
“Good night, sleep well”
We’ll thank the small hotel together..”
This song was reportedly inspired by a visit to the Stockton Inn in Stockton, NJ by composer Richard Rodgers. As per Wikipedia: “”There’s a Small Hotel” is a 1936 song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart. Originally written for but dropped from the musical Billy Rose’s Jumbo (1935), it was used in On Your Toes (1936), where it was introduced by Ray Bolger and Doris Carson. Betty Garrett sang it in the 1948 film Words and Music, and it was interpolated in the film version of Pal Joey (1957) with a Frank Sinatra-Nelson Riddle collaboration.”