Vinton Freedley A. Aarons with whom he formed a long term producing partnership. Their first major hit was "Lady Be Good!" (1924) with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and featuring Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire. Over the next ten years the pair produced some of the most important works in the Broadway musical canon, featuring some of the most famous songs ever to emerge from the tin pan alley era, part of what is commonly referred to as "The Great American Songbook." The shows that followed included "Tip-Toes" (1925), "Oh, Kay!" (1926), and "Funny Face" (1927), again starring the
Neil Simon Theatre opened on November 22, 1927, with George and Ira Gershwin's "Funny Face" starring Fred and Adele Astaire. In 1930, Ethel Merman made her Broadway debut in "Girl Crazy"; in 1934, she appeared again in Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and again in 1936 in Porter's "Red, Hot and Blue". In 1935, the Gershwins' American folk opera "Porgy and Bess" had its world premiere at the venue. Due to the Great Depression, Aarons and Freedley lost control of their venue in 1932. For a period, CBS used it as a radio studio. In 1960, Lucille Ball appeared in her only Broadway show,