‘One brief shining moment’ that’s Camelot

December 3 1960 — The musical “Camelot”— starring (pictured from left) Robert Goulet as Lancelot, Julie Andrews as Guinevere and Richard Burton as Arthur — debuts at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. It is directed by Moss Hart with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. The show premiered in Toronto, Canada, on October 1. Meant to last two hours 40 minutes, it clocked in at four and a half hours. The cutting process started and continues even after the Broadway debut. After Lerner and Loewe perform four highlights from “Camelot” on The Ed Sullivan Show (actually intended to celebrate the fifth anniversary of their “My Fair Lady”), it achieves an unprecedented advance sale of $3.5m. The musical has become associated with the presidency (sometimes called the “Camelot Era”) of John F Kennedy, elected on November 8 1960 and inaugurated on January 20 1961. In an interview with Life magazine a few days after her husband’s assassination on November 22 1963, Jackie Kennedy says: “When Jack quoted something, it was usually classical, but I’m so ashamed of myself — all I keep thinking of is this line from a musical comedy.” Kennedy liked to play records before they’d go to sleep “and the song he loved most came at the very end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were: Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.” She continues: “There’ll be great presidents again … but there’ll never be another Camelot again.”