Mary Martin, star of the Broadway version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, was about to go on stage one night, as she had a thousand times before, when a note was handed to her. The letter was signed by Oscar Hammerstein, who was that evening on his death bed. The note was short. It simply said: ‘Dear Mary, A bell’s not a bell until you ring it. A song’s not a song until you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn’t love till you give it away.’
When the performance was over the cast literally rushed her backstage to congratulate her; she was always a superb performer but they had never seen her sing or act as she had that night. So Mary read to them Hammerstein’s note and said, ‘Tonight, I gave my love away.’ And that’s still the way we find it.