Panama Hattie

Last updated
Panama Hattie
Panama Hattie poster ethel merman.jpg
Original Broadway poster
Music Cole Porter
Lyrics Cole Porter
Book Herbert Fields
B. G. DeSylva
Productions1940 Broadway
1942 Film
1943 West End
1954 U.S. Television

Panama Hattie is a 1940 American musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Herbert Fields and B. G. DeSylva. The musical is about a nightclub owner, Hattie Maloney, who lives in the Panama Canal Zone and ends up dealing with both romantic and military intrigue. The title is a play on words, referring to the popular Panama hat.

Contents

The musical was adapted as the 1942 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film Panama Hattie , and again in 1954 as an episode of the CBS TV series The Best of Broadway .

Productions

Arthur Treacher, Pat Harrington, Ethel Merman, Frank Hyers and Rags Ragland in the original Broadway production of Panama Hattie (1940) Panama-Hattie-1940.jpg
Arthur Treacher, Pat Harrington, Ethel Merman, Frank Hyers and Rags Ragland in the original Broadway production of Panama Hattie (1940)

Pre-Broadway tryouts started at the Shubert Theatre, New Haven on October 3, 1940, and then at the Shubert Theatre, Boston on October 8, 1940. [1]

The musical premiered on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre on October 30, 1940, and closed on January 3, 1942, after 501 performances. It was directed by Edgar MacGregor, with choreography by Robert Alton [2] and scenic design and costumes by Raoul Pène Du Bois. The cast featured Ethel Merman as Hattie, Arthur Treacher as Vivian, Betty Hutton as Florrie, James Dunn as Nick, Phyllis Brooks as Leila, Joan Carroll as Geraldine, Rags Ragland as Woozy, and Pat Harrington as Skat. [1] Among the dancers were June Allyson, [3] Doris Dowling and Constance Dowling, [4] Betsy Blair, Lucille Bremer and Vera-Ellen. [2]

The show opened in the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre on November 4, 1943, and ran for 308 performances. [5] It was produced by William Mollison with the entire production supervised by Lee Ephraim and dances by Wendy Toye. The cast featured Bebe Daniels as Hattie, Max Wall as Eddy, Claude Hulbert as Vivian, Frances Marsden as Florrie, Ivan Brandt as Nick, Georgia MacKinnon as Leila, Richard Hearne as Loopy and Betty Blackler as Elizabeth. [6]

The musical was revived for several performances as a staged concert at Barbican Cinema 1 in London in 1996 as part of the "Lost Musicals" series directed and produced by Ian Marshall Fisher. Louise Gold starred as Hattie, with Jon Glover as Windy. [7] The "Musicals Tonight!" series presented a staged concert of the musical in New York City in October 2010. [8]

Plot

Act I

Hattie Maloney owns a night club in the Panama Canal Zone where she also performs. Three sailors from the S.S. Idaho, Skat Briggs, Windy Deegan and Woozy Hoga, ask her to sing at a party they are organizing ("Join It Right Away"). Nick Bullet, Hattie's fiancé, is a wealthy Navy officer. They are about to meet his eight-year-old daughter Geraldine (Jerry), off the boat from Philadelphia. He tells Hattie, "My Mother Would Love You". Hattie, eager to make a good impression on her prospective stepdaughter, spends three weeks' wages on her elaborately frilly outfit. But when she arrives, Jerry makes fun of Hattie's clothing and way of speaking. Feeling that her marriage is off, Hattie gets drunk on rum ("I’ve still Got my Health"). Kitty-Belle, the daughter of Admiral Whitney Randolph, wants to marry Nick, and she schemes to end his romance with Hattie.

Florrie, a singer in the night club, develops a crush on Nick's very proper butler Vivian Budd ("Fresh as a Daisy"). Nick's efforts to persuade Jerry and Hattie to get along with each other finally succeed, with Jerry making the still hungover Hattie cut the bows off her dress and shoes ("Let’s Be Buddies"). Jerry gives Hattie advice on how to behave like a lady at a party where she is to be presented to Nick's boss, the Admiral ("I’m Throwing a Ball Tonight"). Admiral Randolph is to be presented with a cup, and his daughter Leila suggests that Hattie might present it filled with goldenrod. This gives Whitney hay fever; Hattie is blamed, and Nick is ordered not to marry Hattie.

Act II

The sailors from the S. S. Idaho uncover a spy plot involving saboteurs. Hattie swears off rum ("Make It Another Old Fashioned Please"). Hattie has it out with Leila, whose boyfriend keeps being called in whenever Hattie is on the verge of hitting her. Meanwhile, Florrie continues to try to attract the romantic attention of Budd ("All I’ve Got to Get Now is My Man"). Hattie, two of the sailors and Budd meet regarding these various threads ("You Said It"). Mildred Hunter, Leila's best friend, turns out to be a terrorist. She gives Jerry a secret package to put in Nick's desk. Hattie overhears the plot to blow up the Panama Canal control room, finds the bomb and throws it out, saving the day. The grateful Admiral Whitney retracts his order and the sailors praise Hattie ("God Bless the Woman").

Songs

Source: Panama Hattie Original Broadway Production [1]

Adaptations

Film

Television

The Best of Broadway series broadcast a version of Panama Hattie on CBS Television on November 10, 1954. Ethel Merman, Ray Middleton, and Art Carney starred. [9]

Reception

Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times wrote that "By hiring a trio of knockabout comedians, Mr. De Sylva has given it all the advantages of a burlesque show...Everything is noisy, funny and in order." Merman "rolls though it with the greatest gusto, giving it a shake and a gleam and plenty of syncopation...The Merman hangs bangles on any song that comes her way." [10]

"'Panama Hattie' was a typical example of turning a routine musical comedy into entertainment gold. Without her [Merman] there was no show, and the musical has rarely been heard of since." [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Follies</i> 1971 musical by Stephen Sondheim

Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.

<i>Hello, Dolly!</i> (musical) 1964 Broadway musical

Hello, Dolly! is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955. The musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel Merman</span> American actress, singer (1908–1984)

Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known for her distinctive, powerful voice, as well as her leading roles in musical theater, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." She performed on Broadway in Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, and Hello, Dolly!

<i>Gypsy</i> (musical) 1959 musical by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents

Gypsy: A Musical Fable is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty Hutton</span> American actress (1921–2007)

Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, appearing primarily in musicals, and became one of the studio's most valuable stars of that decade. She was noted for her energetic and sometimes manic performance style.

<i>Anything Goes</i> 1934 musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter

Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, revised considerably by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy Number 13, "Moonface" Martin, aid Billy in his quest to win Hope. The musical introduced such songs as "Anything Goes", "You're the Top", and "I Get a Kick Out of You".

<i>Call Me Madam</i> Musical

Call Me Madam is a musical written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.

<i>Du Barry Was a Lady</i>

Du Barry Was a Lady is a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Herbert Fields and Buddy DeSylva. The musical starred Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman and Betty Grable, and the song "Friendship" was one of the highlights. The musical was made into a 1943 Technicolor film Du Barry Was a Lady, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly and Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra.

The Shubert Theatre is a 1,600-seat theatre located at 247 College Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Originally opened in 1914 by The Shubert Organization, it was designed by Albert Swazey, a New York architect and built by the H.E. Murdock Construction Company. It is currently operated as a non-profit organization by CAPA under the aegis of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivian Blaine</span> American actress and singer (1921–1995)

Vivian Blaine was an American actress and singer, best known for originating the role of Miss Adelaide in the musical theater production of Guys and Dolls, as well as appearing in the subsequent film version, in which she co-starred with Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and Frank Sinatra.

<i>Can-Can</i> (musical)

Can-Can is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and a book by Abe Burrows. The story concerns the showgirls of the Montmartre dance halls during the 1890s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelli O'Hara</span> American actress and singer (born 1976)

Kelli Christine O'Hara is an American actress and singer, most known for her work on the Broadway and opera stages.

<i>Out of This World</i> (musical)

Out of This World is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Dwight Taylor and Reginald Lawrence. The show, an adaptation of Plautus's comedy Amphitryon, first opened on Broadway in 1950.

Something for the Boys is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields. Produced by Mike Todd, the show opened on Broadway in 1943 and starred Ethel Merman in her fifth Cole Porter musical.

<i>Anything Goes</i> (1936 film) 1936 American musical film

Anything Goes is a 1936 American musical film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Charles Ruggles and Ida Lupino. Based on the 1934 stage musical Anything Goes by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, the stage version contains songs by Cole Porter.

Kim Crosby is an American singer and musical theatre actress. She is best known as the original Cinderella in the Sondheim–Lapine musical Into the Woods.

<i>Leave It to Me!</i> 1938 musical

Leave It to Me! is a 1938 musical produced by Vinton Freedley with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book was a collaborative effort by Samuel and Bella Spewack, who also directed the Broadway production. The musical was based on the play Clear All Wires by the Spewacks, which was performed on Broadway for 93 performances in 1932, and which was filmed in 1933, starring Lee Tracy, Benita Hume, Una Merkel and James Gleason.

<i>Lets Face It!</i> 1941 Cole Porter musical

Let's Face It! is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields is based on the 1925 play The Cradle Snatchers by Russell Medcraft and Norma Mitchell.

The 30th Annual Tony Awards was held at the Shubert Theatre on April 18, 1976, and broadcast by ABC television. Hosts were Eddie Albert, Richard Burton, Jane Fonda, Diana Rigg, George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere.

<i>Panama Hattie</i> (film) 1942 film

Panama Hattie is a 1942 American film based upon the Broadway musical of the same name. It was produced by Arthur Freed and directed by Norman Z. McLeod.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "'Panama Hattie' production listing" sondheimguide.com, accessed January 11, 2011
  2. 1 2 Green, Stanley and Green, Kay. "'Panama Hattie'" Broadway Musicals, Show By Show (5 ed.), Hal Leonard Corporation, 1996, ISBN   0-7935-7750-0, p. 111
  3. "'Panama Hattie' history" TCM, accessed January 11, 2011
  4. Saxon, Wolfgang. "Doris Dowling, 81, Is Dead; Known for Classic Films of 40's" New York Times, June 28, 2004
  5. "'Panama Hattie' production, Synopsis, Musical Numbers" guidetomusicaltheatre.com, accessed January 11, 2011
  6. "'Panama Hattie', London Production". Sondheimguide.com, accessed January 12, 2011
  7. Shane, Emma. "Panama Hattie". Louise Gold website, accessed March 29, 2011
  8. Propst, Andy. "'Panama Hattie' Musicals Tonight! at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre Backstage, October 15, 2010
  9. "Panama Hattie; 1954 Television Production" sondheimguide.com, accessed January 11, 2011
  10. Atkinson, Brooks. "The Play: 'Panama Hattie'" New York Times, October 31, 1940
  11. Hischak, Thomas S. "Chapter Four" Through the Screen Door: What Happened to the Broadway Musical When it Went to Hollywood, Scarecrow Press, 2004, ISBN   0-8108-5018-4, p. 66

Further reading