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LARCHMONT, N.Y. -- The 1925 Jazz standard "Tea for Two" continues to be a popular cover song for bands and instrumentalists, such as Alfonso Gugliucci, whose rendition of the Broadway musical number is one of the most viewed videos when you search "Larchmont" on YouTube.
The composer of "Tea for Two," Vincent Millie Youmans, lived in Larchmont in the first decade of the 20th century and attended Mamaroneck's Trinity School and Rye's Heathcote Hall. He wrote the song for "No, No, Nanette," a musical comedy about three couples tangled in a blackmail scheme while staying together at an Atlantic City cottage. The show debuted in London in 1925, then later the same year on Broadway and had 665 performances.
Gugliucci's performance of "Tea for Two," posted to YouTube on June 27, 2008, has 72,257 views, to go with 197 Likes, five Dislikes and many more comments.
"I never listen to jazz music, but I think you are a great pianist, and I am being? introduced to all these great tunes through your piano playing," wrote one viewer with the handle aab35.Another viewer named thebigskynow said: "Wow! This is Great! 'Tea for Two' is one of my favorite songs. Makes me wish I kept up with my lessons.
The performer, whose YouTube channel page says he is from Italy, included the entire history of "Tea for Two" and its composer in the video description, warranting the following comment from handle swtsummerjasmine: "I love all the extra tidbits of information on the song."
Youmans dropped out of Yale to work at a Wall Street brokerage firm as a runner before shipping off for World War I. He produced troop shows for the Navy, and, after the war, he became a rehearsal pianist for famed composer Victor Herbert.
Youmans died of tuberculosis and In 1970, he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
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