“Liza” was introduced in Florenz Ziegfeld’s production Show Girl, which opened July 2, 1929, with Ruby Keeler and Dixie Dugan singing the number. But it was Keeler’s husband, vocalist Al Jolson, who succeeded in putting the song in the charts where it rose to number nine.

One of George Gershwin’s favorite numbers was “Liza.” According to David Ewen’s biography George Gershwin: His Journey to Greatness, Gershwin “continually played it for friends, frequently with improvised variations.” Robert Kimball and Alfred Simon’s book, The Gershwins, directly quotes George regarding the writing of the music for Show Girl. “...It was the greatest rush job I’ve ever had on a score. I was working on another show for Mr. Ziegfeld when he suddenly decided to drop that one and produce Show Girl immediately.” Ziegfeld wanted the score done in two weeks, much to Gershwin’s chagrin. According to George, Ziegfeld smiled and told the composer “just dig down in the trunk and pull out a couple of hits.” A savvy producer, Ziegfeld knew that Gershwin, like most songwriters, had little snippets and unpublished tunes filed away in the “trunk” and could undoubtedly put something together.

Ziegfeld wanted a minstrel number in the second act of the show to feature dancer Ruby Keeler. (In four years Keeler would find fame in Hollywood with a string of Busby Berkeley, Warner Brothers film musicals). “Liza” was the number Gershwin wrote for her. When the show opened in Boston, Keeler was surprised by the appearance of her new husband, Al Jolson, who had flown in from Hollywood just to see the show. George Gershwin describes what happened following Keeler’s performance of “Liza”: “Imagine the audience’s surprise, and mine, when without warning Al Jolson, who was sitting in the third row on the aisle, jumped up and sang a chorus of ‘Liza’ to his bride. It caused a sensation, and it gave the song a great start!” Historians now wonder whether the whole episode was a set-up by Ziegfeld. The incident was reprised in the 1946 biopic The Jolson Story.

Jolson’s participation ended after a few performances, and eventually Keeler left the show to be with him in Hollywood. Reviews had generally been lackluster, the only praise given to Keeler, and with her departure attendance began to drop and the show closed after 111 performances on October 5, 1929.

Duke Ellington’s orchestra performed two numbers in the show, an unusual touch for a 1929 production and evidence of how much Gershwin enjoyed Ellington and his band.

Ira Gershwin teamed up with Gus Kahn on the lyrics to “Liza.” In Ira’s book Lyrics on Several Occasions he tells the story: “For the new show Ziegfeld asked if I would mind collaborating with lyricist Gus Kahn, as he owed Gus a commitment. I welcomed the opportunity because Show Girl had to be done quickly to make a much-too-soon Boston opening date.” The pair created a lyric that is almost a throw back to pop songs of the ‘teens. The verse is a plea from a man to his girl to go out in the night and enjoy the moon and the breeze in the trees, because he has something special to impart to her. The chorus tells us what he has in mind, “a date with Parson Brown,” because with Liza’s company all “the clouds’ll roll away.”