Pace to Recognize the Legacy of Jule Styne

MGM Jule Styne wrote the music for “Bells Are Ringing,” which became a 1960 film with Dean Martin and Judy Holliday.

They will be playing a lot of composer Jule Styne’s best known songs at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University on Saturday night â€" selections from Broadway shows like “Funny Girl” and and “Gypsy” and “Peter Pan.”

But they will not be playing the favorite song of Mr. Styne, who died in 1994, because such a song does not exist, according to his widow, Margaret Styne, 76.

“If people asked Jule what hisfavorite song was, he’d say, ‘I haven’t written it yet,’” Mrs. Styne said.

She will be in attendance at the theater in lower Manhattan for the musical retrospective entitled “American Showstoppers: An Evening With Jule Styne.” The Broadway composer and collaborator’s contributions to the American songbook included “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You,” “Let It Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!,” and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

He won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Song for “Three Coins in the Fountain” and once estimated that he had published some 1,500 songs for theater and Hollywood.

The Fred Barton Orchestra will lead the show with the Broadway singers Vivian Reed and Pamela Myers also taking part.