Richard Rodgers was born in Queens, New York.  He was the son of a physician, who had changed the family name from Roganzinsky.  Richard’s parents took the young boy to performances of operettas, which became an inspiration for him in his later career.  By the age of six, Richard began studying piano, and throughout his childhood he wrote songs and other short pieces.  At the age of 16, he entered Columbia University, where Oscar Hammerstein II was in his second year, and Richard met Lorenz Hart.  He started working with lyricist Hart on various variety shows, some of which were produced at Columbia.  He left Columbia halfway through his second year and continued his studies in composition at the Institute of Music (now known as the Julliard School of Music) and continued collaborating with Hart on several minor shows.  Eventually they were producing hits such as On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, and Pal Joey.  When Lorenz Hart died in 1943, Rodgers was forced to look for a new lyricist to work with.  By chance, he found his old friend from Columbia, Oscar Hammerstein II.

“Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” is the dance sequence from the Rodgers and Hart 1936 musical, On Your Toes.  The plot of the musical involves a story-within-a-story attempted murder at a strip joint near the waterfront.  A tap dancer falls in love with a dance hall girl and the girl is accidentally shot by her jealous boyfriend, the strip joint owner.  The “Slaughter” dance sequence takes place near the end of the story as two gangsters hired to kill the tap dancer are watching the dancer on stage from box seats.  The dancer is alerted to the danger and escapes by dancing after the music stops and exits the stage.  George Balanchine choreographed the original sequence for the musical.  It was the first time a full ballet was included in a musical.

“Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” has been performed by numerous ballet companies separate from the musical and the non-danced version has made its way into the concert venues.  There is a movie version of the musical from 1939.  In 1957, the movie “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” was made with no connection to the original story or Rodgers’ music.