David Merrick
Encyclopedia
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award
-winning American
theatrical producer
.
, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law
. In 1940 he left his legal career to become a successful theatrical producer. He often was his own competition for the Tony Award, and he frequently won multiple nominations and/or wins in the same season.
Merrick was known for his love of publicity stunt
s. In 1949, his comedy Clutterbuck was running out of steam, but along with discount tickets, he paged hotel bars and restaurants around Manhattan during cocktail hour for a "fictive Mr. Clutterbuck" as a way of generating name recognition for his production, and it helped his show keep alive for another few months. Another famous stunt promoted the poorly-reviewed 1961 musical Subways Are For Sleeping
. Merrick found seven New Yorkers who had the same names as the city's seven leading theater critic
s: Howard Taubman
, Walter Kerr
, John Chapman, John McClain, Richard Watts, Jr.
, Norman Nadel, and Robert Coleman. Merrick invited the seven namesake
s to the musical and secured their permission to use their names and pictures in an advertisement alongside quotes such as "One of the few great musical comedies of the last thirty years" and "A fabulous musical. I love it." Merrick then prepared a newspaper ad featuring the namesakes' rave reviews under the heading 7 Out of 7 Are Ecstatically Unanimous About Subways Are For Sleeping. Only one newspaper, the New York Herald Tribune
, published the ad, and only in one edition; however, the publicity that the ad garnered helped the musical remain open for 205 performances (almost six months). Merrick later revealed that he had conceived the ad several years previously, but had not been able to execute it until Brooks Atkinson
retired as the New York Times theater critic in 1960 since he could not find anyone with the same name.
Merrick worked with talented director Gower Champion
who directed Merrick's production of 42nd Street
. On the morning of August 25, 1980, Champion died of a rare blood cancer, and Merrick announced the news himself to the audience at the opening-night curtain call.
Merrick suffered a stroke
in 1983, which made him into a wheelchair user. He established the David Merrick Arts Foundation in 1998 to support the development of American musicals.
Merrick was married six times, to Lenore Beck, Jeanne Gibson, Etan Aronson (twice), Karen Prunczik, and Natalie Lloyd. He was married to Lloyd at the time of his death in London
; all of his previous marriages had ended in divorce. He had two daughters according to Peter Filichia
, writing in the Newark Star-Ledger on April 27, 2000.
In 2001 Merrick was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame
.
An unauthorized biography by Howard Kissel is titled David Merrick: The Abominable Showman (ISBN 978-1-55783-361-7).
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theatrical producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
.
Life and career
Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law
Saint Louis University School of Law
Saint Louis University School of Law , also known as SLU LAW, is a private American law school located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of the professional graduate schools of Saint Louis University. Opened in 1843, it is the first law school west of the Mississippi River. The school has been ABA...
. In 1940 he left his legal career to become a successful theatrical producer. He often was his own competition for the Tony Award, and he frequently won multiple nominations and/or wins in the same season.
Merrick was known for his love of publicity stunt
Publicity stunt
A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized or set up by amateurs...
s. In 1949, his comedy Clutterbuck was running out of steam, but along with discount tickets, he paged hotel bars and restaurants around Manhattan during cocktail hour for a "fictive Mr. Clutterbuck" as a way of generating name recognition for his production, and it helped his show keep alive for another few months. Another famous stunt promoted the poorly-reviewed 1961 musical Subways Are For Sleeping
Subways Are For Sleeping
Subways Are for Sleeping is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The original Broadway production played in 1961-62....
. Merrick found seven New Yorkers who had the same names as the city's seven leading theater critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s: Howard Taubman
Howard Taubman
Hyman Howard Taubman was an American music critic, theater critic, and author.-Biography:Born in Manhattan, Taubman attended DeWitt Clinton High School and then won a four-year scholarship to Cornell University, from which he graduated, as a Phi Beta Kappa member, in 1929.He then returned to New...
, Walter Kerr
Walter Kerr
For the RN admiral see Lord Walter KerrWalter Francis Kerr was an American writer and Broadway theater critic. He also was the writer, lyricist, and/or director of several Broadway plays and musicals.-Biography:...
, John Chapman, John McClain, Richard Watts, Jr.
Richard Watts, Jr.
Richard Watts, Jr. was an American theatre critic.Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Watts was educated at Columbia University. He began his writing career as the film critic for the New York Herald Tribune before assuming the post of the newspaper's drama critic in 1936.After spending World War...
, Norman Nadel, and Robert Coleman. Merrick invited the seven namesake
Namesake
Namesake is a term used to characterize a person, place, thing, quality, action, state, or idea that has the same, or a similar, name to another....
s to the musical and secured their permission to use their names and pictures in an advertisement alongside quotes such as "One of the few great musical comedies of the last thirty years" and "A fabulous musical. I love it." Merrick then prepared a newspaper ad featuring the namesakes' rave reviews under the heading 7 Out of 7 Are Ecstatically Unanimous About Subways Are For Sleeping. Only one newspaper, the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
, published the ad, and only in one edition; however, the publicity that the ad garnered helped the musical remain open for 205 performances (almost six months). Merrick later revealed that he had conceived the ad several years previously, but had not been able to execute it until Brooks Atkinson
Brooks Atkinson
Justin Brooks Atkinson was an American theatre critic. He worked for The New York Times from 1925 to 1960...
retired as the New York Times theater critic in 1960 since he could not find anyone with the same name.
Merrick worked with talented director Gower Champion
Gower Champion
Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.-Early years:Champion was born in Geneva, Illinois, the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice Carlisle. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Fairfax High School...
who directed Merrick's production of 42nd Street
42nd Street (musical)
42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit...
. On the morning of August 25, 1980, Champion died of a rare blood cancer, and Merrick announced the news himself to the audience at the opening-night curtain call.
Merrick suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in 1983, which made him into a wheelchair user. He established the David Merrick Arts Foundation in 1998 to support the development of American musicals.
Merrick was married six times, to Lenore Beck, Jeanne Gibson, Etan Aronson (twice), Karen Prunczik, and Natalie Lloyd. He was married to Lloyd at the time of his death in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; all of his previous marriages had ended in divorce. He had two daughters according to Peter Filichia
Peter Filichia
Peter Filichia is a New York-based theater critic for The Newark Star Ledger newspaper in New Jersey and New Jersey's television station News 12.In addition, Filichia has two weekly columns at Masterworks Broadway and Kritzerland...
, writing in the Newark Star-Ledger on April 27, 2000.
In 2001 Merrick was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame
St. Louis Walk of Fame
The St. Louis Walk of Fame honors well-known people from St. Louis, Missouri, who made contributions to culture of the United States. All inductees were either born in the Greater St. Louis area or spent their formative or creative years there...
.
An unauthorized biography by Howard Kissel is titled David Merrick: The Abominable Showman (ISBN 978-1-55783-361-7).
Quotes
- "It is not enough that I should succeed - others should fail." (This statement has also been attributed to François de La RochefoucauldFrançois de La RochefoucauldFrançois de La Rochefoucauld may be:* François de La Rochefoucauld , French author* François de La Rochefoucauld , French cardinal of the Catholic Church...
and Gore VidalGore VidalGore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
.)
Awards and nominations
- 1986 Tony Award for Best Reproduction (Loot, nominee)
- 1986 Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Revival (Loot, nominee) - 1981 Tony Award for Best Musical (42nd Street, winner)
- 1981 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical (42nd Street, nominee)
- 1976 Tony Award for Best Play (Travesties, winner)
- 1976 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival (Very Good Eddie, nominee)
- 1975 Tony Award for Best Musical (Mack & Mabel, nominee)
- 1973 Tony Award for Best Musical (Sugar, nominee)
- 1972 Tony Award for Best Play (Vivat! Vivat Regina!, nominee)
- 1971 Tony Award for Best Play (The Philanthropist, nominee)
- 1970 Tony Award for Best Play (Child's Play, nominee)
- 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical (Promises, Promises, nominee)
- 1968 Tony Award for Best Musical (How Now, Dow JonesHow Now, Dow JonesHow Now, Dow Jones is a musical comedy by Academy Award winner Elmer Bernstein, Tony Award nominee Carolyn Leigh and Max Shulman. The original Broadway production opened in December 1967. A critically acclaimed revised version premiered in August 2009....
, nominee) - 1968 Tony Award for Best Musical (The Happy Time, nominee)
- 1968 Tony Award for Best Play (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, winner)
- 1968 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Play (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, winner)
- 1968 Special Tony Award (winner)
- 1967 Tony Award for Best Musical (I Do! I Do!, nominee)
- 1966 Tony Award for Best Play (Marat/SadeMarat/SadeThe Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
, winner) - 1966 Tony Award for Best Play (Philadelphia, Here I Come!, nominee)
- 1966 Tony Award for Best Play (Inadmissible Evidence, nominee)
- 1965 Tony Award for Best Musical (Oh, What a Lovely War!Oh, What a Lovely War!Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963...
, nominee) - 1965 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, nominee)
- 1964 Tony Award for Best Musical (Hello, Dolly!, winner)
- 1964 Tony Award for Best Play (Luther, winner)
- 1964 Tony Award for Best Producer (Musical) (Hello, Dolly!, winner)
- 1963 Tony Award for Best Musical (Stop the World - I Want to Get OffStop the World - I Want to Get OffStop the World – I Want to Get Off is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.Set against the backdrop of a circus, it focuses on Littlechap, whose first major step towards improving his lot is to marry Evie, his boss's daughter...
, nominee) - 1963 Tony Award for Best Musical (Oliver!Oliver!Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
, nominee) - 1963 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (Oliver!, nominee)
- 1962 Tony Award for Best Musical (Carnival, nominee)
- 1962 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (Carnival, nominee)
- 1962 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Play (Ross, nominee)
- 1961 Tony Award for Best Musical (Irma La Douce, nominee)
- 1961 Tony Award for Best Musical (Do Re Mi, nominee)
- 1961 Tony Award for Best Play (Becket, winner)
- 1961 Special Tony Award (winner)
- 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical (Take Me Along, nominee)
- 1959 Tony Award for Best Musical (La Plume de Ma TanteLa Plume de Ma Tanteis a musical written, devised, and directed by Robert Dhery, with music by Gérard Calvi, and English lyrics written by Ross Parker. It was nominated for the Best Musical, but lost to Redhead...
, nominee) - 1959 Tony Award for Best Play (Epitaph for George DillonEpitaph for George DillonEpitaph for George Dillon is an early John Osborne play, one of two he wrote in collaboration with Anthony Creighton . It was written before Look Back in Anger, the play which made Osborne’s career, but opened a year after in Oxford in 1957 and moved to London’s Royal Court theatre, where Look...
, nominee) - 1958 Tony Award for Best Musical (Jamaica, nominee)
- 1958 Tony Award for Best Play (Look Back in AngerLook Back in AngerLook Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
, nominee) - 1958 Tony Award for Best Play (Romanoff and Juliet, nominee)
Additional notable productions
- FannyFannyFanny is a given name, and a pet form of Frances.Notable people bearing this name include:* Fanny , an alias of breakcore artist Fraser Runciman* Fanny Adams, a 19th-century murder victim* Fanny Ardant, a French actress...
(1954) - The MatchmakerThe MatchmakerThe Matchmaker is a play by Thornton Wilder.The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce A Day Well Spent had been extended into a full-length play entitled Einen Jux will er sich machen by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy in 1842...
(1955) - Look Back in AngerLook Back in AngerLook Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
(1957) - Romanoff and Juliet (1957)
- JamaicaJamaica (musical)Jamaica is a musical with a book by Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Harold Arlen. Harburg was blacklisted in Hollywood at the time of the writing of the musical...
(1957) - The EntertainerThe Entertainer (film)The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....
(1958) - The World of Suzie WongThe World of Suzie WongThe World of Suzie Wong is a 1957 novel written by Richard Mason. The main characters are Robert Lomax, a young British artist living in Hong Kong, and Suzie Wong, the title character, a Chinese woman who works as a prostitute...
(1958) - La Plume de Ma TanteLa Plume de Ma Tanteis a musical written, devised, and directed by Robert Dhery, with music by Gérard Calvi, and English lyrics written by Ross Parker. It was nominated for the Best Musical, but lost to Redhead...
(1958) - Destry Rides AgainDestry Rides AgainDestry Rides Again is a western starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart. The supporting cast includes Mischa Auer, Charles Winninger, Brian Donlevy, Allen Jenkins, Irene Hervey, Billy Gilbert, Bill Cody, Jr., and Una Merkel. The original Max Brand novel was translated into an "oater" with the...
(1959) - GypsyGypsy: A Musical FableGypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business...
(1959) - Take Me AlongTake Me AlongTake Me Along is a musical based on the Eugene O'Neill play Ah, Wilderness, with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.-Background:...
(1959) - Irma La DouceIrma la DouceIrma la Douce/Irma la Dolce is a 1963 romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder.It is based on the 1956 French musical Irma La Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort.-Plot:...
(1960) - A Taste of HoneyA Taste of HoneyA Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 18. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalize British theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented...
(1960) - BecketBecketBecket or The Honor of God is a play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's murder in 1170. It contains many historical inaccuracies, which the author acknowledged.-Background:Anouilh's...
(1960) - Do Re MiDo Re Mi (musical)Do Re Mi is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and a book by Garson Kanin, who also directed the original 1960 Broadway production. The plot centers on a minor-league con man who decides to go straight by going into the business of juke boxes and music...
(1960) - CarnivalCarnivalCarnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
(1961) - I Can Get It for You WholesaleI Can Get It for You WholesaleI Can Get It for You Wholesale is a musical with music and lyrics by Harold Rome and a book by Jerome Weidman based on his 1937 novel of the same title. It marked the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand, who was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in...
(1962) - Stop the World - I Want to Get OffStop the World - I Want to Get OffStop the World – I Want to Get Off is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.Set against the backdrop of a circus, it focuses on Littlechap, whose first major step towards improving his lot is to marry Evie, his boss's daughter...
(1962) - Oliver!Oliver!Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
(1963) - LutherLuther (play)Luther is a 1961 play by John Osborne that explored the forces that were involved in the life of Martin Luther, one of the instigators of the Protestant Reformation. Osborne was influenced by Erik Erikson's book, Young Man Luther, which had been published three years prior in 1958. In the play,...
(1963) - 110 in the Shade110 in the Shade110 in the Shade is a musical with a book by N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Tom Jones, and music by Harvey Schmidt.Based on Nash's 1954 play The Rainmaker, it focuses on Lizzie Curry, a spinster living on a ranch in the American southwest, and her relationships with local sheriff File, a cautious...
(1963) - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...
(1963)
- The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here AnymoreThe Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here AnymoreThe Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore is a play written by Tennessee Williams.It debuted at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, in July 1962. Its first American production was in January 1963, but it only ran for 69 performances at the Morosco Theatre in New York. Reviews of the play...
(1964) - Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! (musical)Hello, Dolly! is a 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....
(1964) - FoxyFoxy (musical)Foxy is a musical with a book by Ian McLellan Hunter and Ring Lardner, Jr., lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and music by Robert Emmett Dolan.Based on Ben Jonson's Volpone, it transports the original play's setting of early-17th century Renaissance Venice to the Yukon during the gold rush of 1898...
(1964) - Oh! What a Lovely WarOh! What a Lovely WarOh! What a Lovely War is a musical film based on the stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop created in 1963,...
(1964) - The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd (1965)
- PickwickPickwick (musical)Pickwick is a musical with a book by Wolf Mankowitz, music by Cyril Ornadel, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Based on The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, it is set in and around London and Rochester in 1828....
(1965) - Cactus Flower (1965)
- Marat/SadeMarat/SadeThe Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
(1965) - Don't Drink the WaterDon't Drink the Water (play)Don't Drink the Water is a play written by Woody Allen that premiered on Broadway on November 17, 1966 and played for 598 performances at three different Broadway theaters. The farce takes place inside an American Embassy behind the Iron Curtain...
(1966) - I Do! I Do!I Do! I Do!I Do! I Do! is a musical with a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt which is based on the Jan de Hartog play The Fourposter. The two-character story spans fifty years, from 1895 to 1945, as it focuses on the ups and downs experienced by Agnes and Michael Snow throughout their...
(1966) - Breakfast at Tiffany'sBreakfast at Tiffany's (musical)Breakfast at Tiffany's is a legendary flop in Broadway musical history. The musical is based on the Truman Capote novella and 1961 film of the same name about a free spirit named Holly Golightly...
(1966) - Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are DeadRosencrantz & Guildenstern Are DeadRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern...
(1967) - How Now, Dow JonesHow Now, Dow JonesHow Now, Dow Jones is a musical comedy by Academy Award winner Elmer Bernstein, Tony Award nominee Carolyn Leigh and Max Shulman. The original Broadway production opened in December 1967. A critically acclaimed revised version premiered in August 2009....
(1967) - The Seven Descents of MyrtleThe Seven Descents of MyrtleThe Seven Descents of Myrtle is a play by Tennessee Williams. Its title character is reminiscent of another Williams' heroine, Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire....
(1968) - The Happy TimeThe Happy TimeThe Happy Time is a 1952 movie directed by the award-winning director Richard Fleischer, based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Robert Fontaine, which Samuel A. Taylor turned it into a hit play. A boy, played by Bobby Driscoll, comes of age in a close-knit French-Canadian family. The film...
(1968) - Promises, PromisesPromises, PromisesPromises, Promises is a musical based on the 1960 film The Apartment. The music is by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and book by Neil Simon. Musical numbers for the original Broadway production were choreographed by Michael Bennett; Robert Moore directed and David Merrick produced...
(1968) - Forty CaratsForty CaratsForty Carats is a play by Jay Allen.Adapted from the French original by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy, the comedy revolves around a 40-year-old American divorcee who is assisted by a 22-year-old when her car breaks down during a vacation in Greece...
(1968) - Play It Again, SamPlay It Again, SamPlay It Again, Sam is a 1972 film written by and starring Woody Allen, originally entitled Aspirins for Three. The film was directed by Herbert Ross, which is unusual, as Allen usually directs all his own written work....
(1969) - Private LivesPrivate LivesPrivate Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
(1969) - Mack and Mabel (1974)
- Very Good EddieVery Good EddieVery Good Eddie is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Philip Bartholomae, music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics by Schuyler Green and Herbert Reynolds, with additional lyrics by Elsie Janis, Harry B. Smith and John E. Hazzard and additional music by Henry Kailimai. The story was based on the farce...
(1975) - State FairState Fair (musical)State Fair is a musical with a book by Tom Briggs and Louis Mattioli, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and music by Richard Rodgers.Rodgers and Hammerstein originally adapted the Phil Stong novel of the same name for a 1945 movie musical, which was remade in 1962...
(1996)