Hal Schaefer

by Frank M. Roberts

August 2015

In his CD, "June 1st," pianist Hal Schaefer, a childhood chum, has a song called, "Blues For Marilyn," in honor of Marilyn Monroe, his lady love, and a song called, "Blues For Brenda," in honor of wife number two, his lady love. To honor Miss Monroe he did a stage show spotlighting some of her favorite songs. The title? What else? "Some Like It Hot."

Interestingly, both women shared the same birth date, thus the album's title. The wife, though, was a step ahead. Her life dates were tatooed on the inside of his left forearm: June 1, 1937-April 7, 2000. One of the standards in the release is "All the Things You Are," cut for Brenda who wanted to hear it when she was besieged by cancer.

Background: Hal, a quiet, mild-mannered gentleman, was one of the most highly acclaimed jazz pianists, thus sayeth the Duke and so many others.

The pianist was music director for Keefe Braselle, star of "The Eddie Cantor Story"; he taught Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Mitzi Gaynor, Jane Russell, Betty Grable, and others, how to sing for the movies. A major piece of advice was - listen to a lot of Ella Fitzgerald.

Hal, who lived around the corner from me in Sunnyside, Long Island, spent every spare moment on his piano bench. His younger brother, Bobby, was the playful Schaeffer. That was some of the good stuff. On the other side of the coin, he was the object of an attempted beating by Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra. More on that, coming up.

Us 'kids' kidded Hal. We would invite him to come out and play, but he was glued to his piano bench. He had been playing since he was 4-years-old and was categorized as a child prodigy.

Hal attended Manhattan's prestigious High School of Music and Art. His first professional jobs took him to vacation resorts in the Catskill Mountains. For more than 70 years he performed and recorded as a soloist and as a leader of small jazz ensembles.

He played with some of the biggest big bands - Benny Goodman, Harry James, Boyd Raeburn, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and was accompanist for Peggy Lee, Billy Eckstine, Vic Damone, and others. He once led a trio that opened for Duke Ellington who introduced him by saying, "now you're going to hear a real piano player." In turn, Hal's hero was progressive pianist, Art Tatum.

Biographer Sandi Durell described Schaefer as "an extraordinary pianist with a distinctive musical approach combining lush romanticism with a strong sense of swing." Wife number one was Leah Cahan. They divorced. His wife of many years was the former Brenda Goodman, one of his voice lessons pupils. She died in 2000. He died in 2013. A couple years before that I got a letter from him and most of it concerned his love - his deep love - for the singer from San Francisco.

From the world of coincidence - he was living in Fort Lauderdale, about 10 miles from the home of Joe DiMaggio who was once intent on beating him to a pulp, concentrating on breaking his piano playing hands. More on that later.

Hal made 18 albums, wrote many songs, was a noted arranger, and, of course was a vocal coach. In the '50s he worked for major film studios coaching some of the leading musical stars, most importantly, Miss Monroe who, at the time, was Mrs. DiMaggio.

Occasionally, he appeared, uncredited, on screen, most notably in "River Of No Return," in which he played a honky tonk piano. "Marilyn insisted I play for her to give her confidence," he said.

A major lesson was having the movie star listen to Ella Fitzgerald records. Later, the singer and actress became good friends.

At the time she was set to co-star in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Her song noted that, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend." Eventually, he became her diamond.

It was no secret that the two became an item. At the time, she was in mid-divorce with DiMaggio. One reason was the ballplayer batting her around. His abuse of the star was no secret, especially after the mag-rag, Confidential, wrote all about it. He was on a hitting streak, and not just on the ballfield - also in a West Hollywood apartment.

It was a tabloid scandal also involving his drinking buddy, Ol' Blue Eyes. Joltin' Joe constantly had her followed and, it's said, he bugged her car and her home.

Eventually, things got ugly. According to Ben Cramer's bio of the Yankee, Sinatra, his drinking buddy, hired a private eye to follow her around. At one time, he tracked Monroe and Schaeffer to her abode. The singer hired someone to break in the door to the apartment to snap a picture of the duo who, at the time, she noted, were just sitting and talking.

Here is where it became a comedy of errors. Confidential wrote that they picked the wrong apartment - scaring a live alone lady named Florence Kotz Ross, a 39-year-old secretary. They demolished the door. According to the Los Angeles Times, DiMaggio, Sinatra and a party of men terrified Ms. Ross who, it should be added, was in bed by herself. A few screams and the cops were en-route.

Another biographer, J. Randy Taraborelli noted that, "Marilyn was scared to death. She told Hal - we gotta get out of here. If Joe finds us both, he'll kill us both." They exited through a rear door.

Hal exited the city. Later, he became the recipient of anonymous phone calls. In '55, he tried to take his life by washing down sleeping pills and Benzedrine with typewriter cleaning fluid. Fortunately, he was found by friends and rushed to a hospital. However, he did suffer liver and kidney damage. While in the hospital, Monroe was a frequent visitor. Later, the harassment continued. Hal hired two male nurses in L.A., the movie star often joining him there.

He said, of the mis-adventure, "I couldn't really handle it. I thought the only way out was for me to disappear."

In '73, Brenda appeared and Hal became a happy and devoted man. Author Michelle Morgan wrote about him: "I could tell immediately why Marilyn was so fond of him. He was softly spoken, very intelligent, calm and just a really beautiful soul."

In his post-Hollywood years he settled in New York, continued to teach singing, became a record company executive, and wrote and arranged music for Broadway shows. One of his proudest accomplishments was composing music for the United Nations 10th anniversary, featuring former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

He died in 2012, after 70 years and 18 albums, preceded in death by his daughter, Katie.

On the personal side is this 'small world' rememberance. In the early '60s I was doing a radio show on WBOF in Virginia Beach and had set up an interview with Braselle. It was re-union time. Much to my pleasant surprise I found that Hal was working as the star's musical director. The actor, by the way, was married to Arlene DeMarco, lead vocalist of the DeMarco Sisters, quite popular during those years.