Jumbo (musical)
Encyclopedia
Jumbo is a musical produced by Billy Rose
, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers
and Lorenz Hart
and book by Ben Hecht
and Charles MacArthur
.
at the Hippodrome Theatre on November 16, 1935 and closed on April 18, 1936 after 233 performances. Directed by John Murray Anderson
and George Abbott
it starred Jimmy Durante
, Donald Novis
, Gloria Grafton, and a number of circus specialty acts. Jumbo tells the story of a financially-strapped circus. At the end of each performance, Durante lay down on the stage and permitted a live elephant to place its foot upon his head.
The large 5,000 seat theatre was turned into a circus tent where the various specialty acts (including acrobats and animal acts) performed during the show. The music was played by Paul Whiteman
and his orchestra.
Act 2
Note:The song "There's a Small Hotel
", dropped from the production before it opened, later appeared in the 1936 Rodgers and Hart musical On Your Toes
and became a standard.
in 1962, starring Jimmy Durante
, Doris Day
, Martha Raye
, and Stephen Boyd
, featuring Busby Berkeley
's choreography
. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Scoring of Music-Adaptation or Treatment. Although Jimmy Durante was in the cast of both the stage musical and the film (made nearly three decades later), the two productions have very different plots utilizing much of the same score, and the characters' names were changed in the film. However, one very funny piece of stage business from the stage musical was repeated in the film. In both versions, Durante is working for a cash-strapped circus when its assets are seized by creditors. Durante attempts to sneak his beloved elephant Jumbo off the circus grounds, only to be confronted by a sheriff, who demands: "Where you going with that elephant?" Caught red-handed, Durante blithely replies "What elephant?"
Billy Rose
William "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
and Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
and 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...
and Charles MacArthur
Charles MacArthur
Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright and screenwriter.-Biography:Charles MacArthur was the second youngest of seven children born to stern evangelist William Telfer MacArthur and Georgiana Welsted MacArthur. He early developed a passion for reading...
.
Production
The musical opened on BroadwayBroadway 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...
at the Hippodrome Theatre on November 16, 1935 and closed on April 18, 1936 after 233 performances. Directed by John Murray Anderson
John Murray Anderson
John Murray Anderson was a theatre director and producer, songwriter, actor, screenwriter, and lighting designer. He worked almost every genre of show business, including vaudeville, Broadway, and film....
and George Abbott
George Abbott
George Francis Abbott was an American theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than nine decades.-Early years:...
it starred Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
, Donald Novis
Donald Novis
Donald Novis was an English actor and tenor.-Life and career:Born in Hastings, East Sussex, Novis came to the United States in the late 1920s to pursue an acting and singing career. He made his film debut as the Country Boy in the detective film Bulldog Drummond...
, Gloria Grafton, and a number of circus specialty acts. Jumbo tells the story of a financially-strapped circus. At the end of each performance, Durante lay down on the stage and permitted a live elephant to place its foot upon his head.
The large 5,000 seat theatre was turned into a circus tent where the various specialty acts (including acrobats and animal acts) performed during the show. The music was played by Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
and his orchestra.
Songs
Act 1- Over and Over Again – Mr. Ball and Henderson's Razorbacks
- The Circus Is on Parade – Henderson's Razorbacks and Artists of the Circus
- The Most Beautiful Girl in the WorldThe Most Beautiful Girl in the World (1935 song)"The Most Beautiful Girl In The World A.K.A Hannah Langston '" is a show tune from the 1935 Rodgers and Hart musical Jumbo.This tune hit the Top 40 in 1953 in a recording by the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, and was later recorded by Sonny Rollins, Les and Larry Elgart, Vaughn Monroe, Vic Damone, and...
– Matt Mulligan, Jr. and Mickey Considine - Laugh – Claudius B. Bowers and Circus Specialty
- My RomanceMy Romance (song)"My Romance" is a popular song, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, written for Billy Rose's musical, Jumbo . In the 1962 movie version of Jumbo, Doris Day performed the song....
– Matt Mulligan, Jr. and Mickey Considine - Little Girl BlueLittle Girl Blue (song)"Little Girl Blue" is a popular song with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, published in 1935. The song was introduced by Gloria Grafton in the Broadway musical Jumbo....
– Mickey Considine
Act 2
- The Song of the Roustabouts – The Razorbacks
- Women –Claudius B. Bowers, Circus Specialty, Allan K. Foster Girls and Dancers
- Memories of Madison Square Garden (When the Circus Played the Garden) – Ensemble
- Diavolo – Mr. Ball, The Razorbacks and Circus Specialties
- The Circus Wedding – Entire Company and The Menagerie
Note:The song "There's a Small Hotel
There's a Small Hotel
"There's a Small Hotel" is a 1936 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart originally written for but dropped from the musical "Billy Rose's Jumbo" , then used in On Your Toes , where it was introduced by Ray Bolger and Doris Carson and also interpolated in the film...
", dropped from the production before it opened, later appeared in the 1936 Rodgers and Hart musical On Your Toes
On Your Toes
On Your Toes is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. It was adapted into a film in 1939....
and became a standard.
1962 film
The musical was made into a movie as Billy Rose's JumboBilly Rose's Jumbo (film)
Billy Rose's Jumbo is an American musical film produced by MGM in Panavision and Metrocolor, and starring Jimmy Durante, Doris Day, Martha Raye, and Stephen Boyd. The film was directed by Charles Walters and featured Busby Berkeley's choreography...
in 1962, starring Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
, Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
, Martha Raye
Martha Raye
Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....
, and Stephen Boyd
Stephen Boyd
Stephen Boyd was an Irish actor, from Glengormley, Northern Ireland, who appeared in around 60 films, most notably in the role of Messala in Ben-Hur.-Biography:...
, featuring Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
's choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Scoring of Music-Adaptation or Treatment. Although Jimmy Durante was in the cast of both the stage musical and the film (made nearly three decades later), the two productions have very different plots utilizing much of the same score, and the characters' names were changed in the film. However, one very funny piece of stage business from the stage musical was repeated in the film. In both versions, Durante is working for a cash-strapped circus when its assets are seized by creditors. Durante attempts to sneak his beloved elephant Jumbo off the circus grounds, only to be confronted by a sheriff, who demands: "Where you going with that elephant?" Caught red-handed, Durante blithely replies "What elephant?"