Keep Off the Grass is a musical revue with sketches by Mort Lewis, Parke Levy, Alan Lipscott, S. Jay Kaufman, and Panama & Frank, lyrics by Al Dubin and Howard Dietz, and music by Jimmy McHugh. The choreography was by George Balanchine.
Produced by Lee Shubert and J. J. Shubert, the Broadway production, opened on May 23, 1940 at the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for a total of 44 performances. The cast included Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Jane Froman, Virginia O'Brien, Emmett Kelly and Ilka Chase. O'Brien recorded four of the songs for Columbia Records in 1940 and they are included as bonus tracks on her CD "Virginia O'Brien Salutes the Great MGM Musicals".
Songs
The Cabby's Serenade
This Is Spring
Crazy as a Loon
A Fugitive from Esquire (lyrics by Howard Dietz) I'll Applaud (You) With My Feet Two in a Taxi (lyrics by Howard Dietz) Rhett, Scarlett & Ashley (lyrics by Howard Dietz) A Latin Tune, a Manhattan Moon, and You Clear Out of This World
Look Out for My Heart
(I'm an) Old Jitterbug
I'm in the Mood
Raffles (music by Vernon Duke) On the Old Park Bench (lyrics by Howard Dietz) This is Winter
Other uses
"Keep off the Grass" was an unreleased song by Big Audio Dynamite in the 1980s. "Keep off the Grass" was a ragtime piece played by James P. Johnson in the 1920s.