Hazel Flagg
Encyclopedia
Hazel Flagg is a musical
with a book by Ben Hecht
, lyrics by Bob Hilliard
, and music by Jule Styne
. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film
Nothing Sacred
. Ben Hecht was the primary writer of the film's screenplay.
The Broadway
production, directed by David Alexander, with musical staging by Robert Alton
, opened on February 11, 1953 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre
, where it ran for 189 performances. The cast included Helen Gallagher
(Hazel), John Howard
(Wallace Cook), Thomas Mitchell
, Benay Venuta
, Ross Martin
, Jonathan Harris
, Sheree North
and John Brascia
.
Paramount Pictures
, which owned the rights to the source material for Nothing Sacred, also acquired the rights to produce a film version of Hazel Flagg. To date, the result of this is the Dean Martin
and Jerry Lewis
film Living It Up
(1954), with Hazel Flagg re-written as a male played by Lewis and Wallace Cook re-written as a female played by Janet Leigh
. The one hit song from Hazel Flagg, "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York," was performed in this movie by Martin and Lewis
.
. Cook invites her to New York City
for an interview. After accepting, she discovers that she was misdiagnosed but, anxious to visit the big city, decides not to reveal the truth and becomes a media darling embraced by a public deeply moved by her sad story.
Act II
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with a book by Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
, lyrics by Bob Hilliard
Bob Hilliard
Bob Hilliard was an American lyricist. He wrote the words for the songs; "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", "Any Day Now", "Dear Hearts and Gentle People", "Our Day Will Come", "My Little Corner of the World", and "Seven Little Girls ".-Career:Born in New York City, New York, and after...
, and music by Jule Styne
Jule Styne
Jule Styne was a British-born American songwriter especially famous for a series of Broadway musicals, which included several very well known and frequently revived shows.-Early life:...
. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film
Screwball comedy film
The screwball comedy is a principally American genre of comedy film that became popular during the Great Depression, originating in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s. It is characterized by fast-paced repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, and plot lines involving...
Nothing Sacred
Nothing Sacred (film)
Nothing Sacred is a 1937 Technicolor screwball comedy film made by Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by William A. Wellman and produced by David O. Selznick, from a screenplay credited to Ben Hecht, based on a story by James H. Street...
. Ben Hecht was the primary writer of the film's screenplay.
The Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production, directed by David Alexander, with musical staging by Robert Alton
Robert Alton
Robert Alton was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in dance choreography of Broadway and Hollywood musicals from the 1930s through to the early 1950s...
, opened on February 11, 1953 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre
Mark Hellinger Theatre
The Mark Hellinger Theatre is a generally used name of a former legitimate Broadway theater, located at 237 West 51st Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Since 1991, it has been known as the Times Square Church...
, where it ran for 189 performances. The cast included Helen Gallagher
Helen Gallagher
Helen Gallagher is an American actress, dancer, singer and makeup artist.-Early years:Born in Brooklyn, she was raised in Scarsdale, New York for several years until the Wall Street crash which heralded the Great Depression, and her family moved to the Bronx. Her parents separated and she was...
(Hazel), John Howard
John Howard (American actor)
John Howard was an American actor noted for his work in film and television.-Background:Born John R. Cox, Jr. in Cleveland, Ohio, he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of what is now Case Western Reserve University. At college he discovered a love for the theater, and took part in student productions...
(Wallace Cook), Thomas Mitchell
Thomas Mitchell (actor)
Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
, Benay Venuta
Benay Venuta
Benay Venuta was an American actress, singer and dancer.Born Benvenuta Rose Crooke in San Francisco, Venuta attended finishing school in Geneva and lived in London where she worked as a dancer before returning to the States. She made her first screen appearance in the silent Trail of '98 in 1928...
, Ross Martin
Ross Martin
Ross Martin was a Polish-born American Emmy-nominated actor known for playing Artemus Gordon in the western TV series The Wild Wild West, starring Robert Conrad, and Andamo on Mr...
, Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris was an American stage and film character actor. Two of his best-known roles were as the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the TV version of The Third Man, and the comic villain Dr. Zachary Smith, in the 1960s sci-fi television series, Lost in Space...
, Sheree North
Sheree North
Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...
and John Brascia
John Brascia
John Brascia is an American actor and dancer, noted for his dancing partnerships on film with Vera-Ellen in White Christmas and with Cyd Charisse and Liliane Montevecchi in Meet Me in Las Vegas . With dancer Tybee Arfa , the dance team known as Brascia and Tybee became - beginning in 1957 - a...
.
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, which owned the rights to the source material for Nothing Sacred, also acquired the rights to produce a film version of Hazel Flagg. To date, the result of this is the Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
and Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
film Living It Up
Living It Up
Living It Up is a 1954 film comedy starring the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and released by Paramount Pictures.The film was directed by Norman Taurog and produced by Paul Jones. The screenplay by Jack Rose and Melville Shavelson was based on the 1953 musical Hazel Flagg by Ben Hecht, in...
(1954), with Hazel Flagg re-written as a male played by Lewis and Wallace Cook re-written as a female played by Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
. The one hit song from Hazel Flagg, "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York," was performed in this movie by Martin and Lewis
Martin and Lewis
Martin and Lewis were an American comedy team, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis as the comedic "foil". The pair first met in 1945; their debut as a duo occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24/25, 1946....
.
Plot synopsis
Wallace Cook, a writer for Everywhere Magazine, suggests that his editor should run an article about small-town girl Hazel Flagg, purportedly dying from exposure to radiumRadium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
. Cook invites her to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for an interview. After accepting, she discovers that she was misdiagnosed but, anxious to visit the big city, decides not to reveal the truth and becomes a media darling embraced by a public deeply moved by her sad story.
Song list
Act I- A Little More Heart -- Laura Carew, Wallace Cook and Magazine Staff
- The World Is Beautiful Today -- Hazel Flagg
- I'm Glad I'm Leaving -- Hazel Flagg
- The Rutland Bounce -- Vermont Villager, Man on the Street, Dancer and Villagers
- Hello Hazel --Laura Carew and New Yorkers
- Paris Gown (ballet)-- Hazel Flagg, Maximilian Lavian, Dancers, Models and Attendants
- The World Is Beautiful Today -- Wallace Cook and Editors
- Every Street's A Boulevard In Old New YorkEvery Street's A Boulevard In Old New YorkEvery Street's A Boulevard In Old New York is a song from the musical Hazel Flagg and from the movie Living It Up ....
-- Mayor of New York - How Do You Speak to an Angel -- Wallace Cook
- Autograph Chant -- Autograph Hunters
- I Feel Like I'm Gonna Live Forever -- Hazel Flagg
- You're Gonna Dance With Me, Willie -- Hazel Flagg, Willie and Company
Act II
- Who Is the Bravest? -- University Glee Club
- Dream Parade (ballet)-- Hazel Flagg and Company
- Salome -- Dancing Girls, Salome, Cowboy Singer and Cowboy Dancers
- Everybody Loves To Take a Bow -- Laura Carew, Mayor of New York and Men
- Laura De Maupassant -- Hazel Flagg
- Autograph Chant (Reprise) -- Autograph Hunters
- I Feel Like I'm Gonna Live Forever (Reprise) -- Company
- How Do you Speak to an Angel (Reprise) -- Company
Awards
- Tony AwardTony AwardThe 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...
for Best Actor in a Musical (Mitchell) - Tony Award for Best Costume Design
- Theatre World AwardTheatre World AwardThe Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
(North)