Song writer Bob Green in his OG garden. PG photo.
By Paul Goldfinger. 1/27/2012. Blogfingner.net
We recently posted a little known song by Alan Arkin called “I Like You.” As a result of that, we heard from Ocean Grover Bob Green, whom we had interviewed in June, 2011, mostly about his years in the Grove and his work producing videos. But we did also mention that Bob has been writing for the musical theatre for many years. It turns out that Bob had written a different song entitled “I Like You.”
When Bob was in college at Upsala in East Orange he wrote and produced a show called “Follies” which attracted 5,000 people to the event. During that same period he wrote a show called “Penthouse,” and then subsequently the school put on that show. Bob wrote the book, music, and lyrics for “Penthouse.”
In 1961, Bob produced a recording from that musical. He hired a singer named Kenny Bowers, a veteran of stage and screen, to record some of the music. The song below is from that show, and it is called “I Like You.” The female voice is Carol Worth from Morristown, New Jersey who comes from a show biz family and who has appeared in many musicals in Morris County. Tony Tamburello was the pianist on this recording.
Kenny Bowers with June Allyson in the movie “Best Foot Forward” (1943)
Below are Kenny Bowers and Carol Worth singing “I Like You” from Bob Green’s “Penthouse.”