Two Unlikely Meetings, and Lost Opportunities

Hal Shaper

Hal and Charles first met on the Muizenberg beach in Cape Town 1954.  Hal was a lawyer and Charles introduced him to song-writing, encouraging him to try write lyrics for some of Charles’s melodies. Charles introduced Hal to his original lyricist, Anton De Waal, who wrote the lyrics for and published their first song.  There were many more Segal-Shaper collaborations to come, but the relationship between Charles and Harold was always dynamic, with Hal’s tendency to be controlling of every aspect of their professional relationship and friendship.

 

Hal enjoyed the life of a lyric writer so much that he devoted more and more time to doing that and eventually moved to London and joined a music publishing company.  Hal’s big hit was “Softly as I Leave You,” for which he translated the lyrics of a popular Italian song.  Hal’s version was recorded by top artists, such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Matt Monro.

Charles and Hal kept in touch over the years, collaborating on more songs such as “Michelle Meets Mark”, “Reeve’s Song” and “Melanie,”  which was recorded with Charles when visitng Hal in London. 

Herbert Kretzmer

In an equally unlikely meeting, Charles sat next to South African journalist, Herbert Kretzmer, on a plane traveling to Israel and they talked nonstop throughout the trip.  There was a genuine connection between the two of them and Charles came away from the trip with a real friend. 

Then on one Saturday afternoon in London, Charles Segal was looking out the window of Shaper’s South Kensington home and was excited to see Herbert Kretzmer approaching the building, presumably to meet with Hal.  Charles told Hal how much he liked Herbert and was excited to get together with him.  Kretzmer rang Hal’s doorbell, but Shaper refused to answer.  Both being lyricists, there might have been a sense of rivalry between these two men.  Charles tried to convince Hal to let Herbert in, but Hal replied, “This isn’t your apartment, I can do as I please.”  Little did Hal know, Herbert Kretzmer would later become the English lyric adapter to the hit musical Les Miserables.  Since this adaptation, Herbert Kretzmer had become bigger than Hal ever hoped to be. 

The lesson that Charles took away from this incident is that one should always be nice to people you meet, whether you perceive them as important or just ordinary.  You never know what life may bring and how important that person may become in the future.