Miss 1917
Encyclopedia
Miss 1917 is a musical revue
with a book by Guy Bolton
and P. G. Wodehouse
, music by Victor Herbert
, Jerome Kern
and others, and lyrics by Harry B. Smith
, Otto Harbach
, Henry Blossom
and others. Made up of a string of vignette
s, the show features songs from such musicals as The Wizard of Oz, Three Twins, Babes in Toyland
, Ziegfeld Follies
and The Belle of New York.
produced The Century Girl, with music by Irving Berlin
. Despite mildly positive reviews, the show closed without recouping its investment. On their next production, which was to be called Miss 1917, they hired Jerome Kern
and Victor Herbert
to compose the score and Guy Bolton
and P.G. Wodehouse to collaborate on the book. Kern and Bolton had collaborated on the Princess Theatre
musicals Nobody's Home (1915) and Very Good Eddie
(1915). British humorist and playwright Wodehouse then joined them for several innovative musicals there.
's introduction to musical theatre
. During rehearsals for Miss 1917, Gershwin conducted the pit orchestra
and played the piano
. He was hired in October 1917, being paid $35 each week. As the rehearsal period extended, Gershwin earned more money. He would later record Kern's "The Land Where the Good Songs Go", which was used in the revue, as a piano roll
in January 1918.
While working for the show, Gershwin and his brother Ira Gershwin
befriended Herbert and Kern, keeping "in contact with some of the major figures on Broadway". Sunday night concerts held in New York City
held by the show's cast introduced Gershwin's "There's More to a Kiss Than the Sound" and "You-oo, Just You", both with lyrics by Irving Caesar
.
Gershwin's involvement with Miss 1917 brought the composer to the attention of music producer Harry Askins, who in turn mentioned him to Max Dreyfus, "one of the giants of music publishing".
on November 5, 1917, at the Century Theatre
. The production was staged, directed, and supervised by Ned Wayburn
, with choreography by Adolph Bohm. The creative team also included set designer Joseph Urban
, who built a rotating thrust stage
for the theater. Costume design was attributed to eight designers, including Paul Chaflin, Willy Pogany
, and Max Weldy.
The original cast starred comedian Lew Fields
, Andrew Tombes and Vivienne Segal
. The cast also included Bessie McCoy Davis, Bert Savoy, and Irene Castle; the comedic tag-team Van and Schenck
also performed in the production. Castle was singled out in many reviews, but disliked her own performance; Eve Golden wrote: "But she was unhappy with her own performance: "I found myself hopelessly lost as a solo number. I had no training for dancing alone and I should never have tried it." Irene went on at 10:30pm, toward the middle of Act 2. She later claimed to have objected to the late hour ... the program reveals the real problem: she followed a jazzy dance number [with] George White and Ann Pennington."
Kern originally wanted Segal to sing "They Didn't Believe Me
" in the revue, though Dillingham and Herbert preferred her to sing "Kiss Me Again". Segal's siding with the latter caused tension among the creative team. According to a member of the production crew, technical rehearsals were interrupted several times due to disagreements in staging and choreography; at one point, Kern sought to close the show early, though Ziegfeld wouldn't have it.
Miss 1917 was generally well-received, gaining a rave review from The New York Times
. Though successful with critics, the revue failed to attract an audience. As a result, the show closed on January 5, 1918, after only six weeks of performances, due to slow ticket sales.
bought the performing rights to the musical.
In a New York Times interview, Ziegfeld stated that he hoped to stage the musical internationally under a new title. One of these productions included a London
transfer, to take place in March 1920, as well as a national tour in the United States
. However, in a later article, the Times reported that Ziegfeld cancelled these engagements; the writer of the article said that, according to "production sources," the original creative team would not allow Ziegfeld to stage the show internationally, due to major staging and plot changes that would make the humor more accessible to international audiences.
Act II
was made, brief excerpts from some of the songs used in Miss 1917 can be heard on the compilation album
, "Jerome Kern: Silver Linings", which was officially released on July 22, 2008.
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
with a book by Guy Bolton
Guy Bolton
Guy Reginald Bolton was a British-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the U.S., he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred working in collaboration with others, principally the English writers P. G...
and P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
, music by Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
, Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
and others, and lyrics by Harry B. Smith
Harry B. Smith
Harry Bache Smith was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works were librettos for the composer Victor Herbert...
, Otto Harbach
Otto Harbach
Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach was an American lyricist and librettist of about 50 musical comedies...
, Henry Blossom
Henry Blossom
Henry Martyn Blossom was the lyricist for several Victor Herbert musicals, including The Yankee Consul , Mlle. Modiste , The Red Mill , Eileen , and Kiss Me Again , and was a master at puzzle solving and cipher writing.Born in St...
and others. Made up of a string of vignette
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
s, the show features songs from such musicals as The Wizard of Oz, Three Twins, Babes in Toyland
Babes in Toyland (operetta)
Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough , which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed musical extravaganza. The creators wanted to cash in on the extraordinary success of The Wizard of Oz,...
, Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
and The Belle of New York.
History
In 1916, Charles Dillingham and Florenz ZiegfeldFlorenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...
produced The Century Girl, with music by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
. Despite mildly positive reviews, the show closed without recouping its investment. On their next production, which was to be called Miss 1917, they hired Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
and Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
to compose the score and Guy Bolton
Guy Bolton
Guy Reginald Bolton was a British-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the U.S., he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred working in collaboration with others, principally the English writers P. G...
and P.G. Wodehouse to collaborate on the book. Kern and Bolton had collaborated on the Princess Theatre
Princess Theatre
The Princess Theatre was a joint venture between the Shubert Brothers , producer Ray Comstock, theatrical agent Elisabeth Marbury and actor-director Holbrook Blinn...
musicals Nobody's Home (1915) and Very Good Eddie
Very Good Eddie
Very 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...
(1915). British humorist and playwright Wodehouse then joined them for several innovative musicals there.
Involvement of George Gershwin
The show is mostly known today as George GershwinGeorge Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's introduction to musical theatre
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...
. During rehearsals for Miss 1917, Gershwin conducted the pit orchestra
Pit orchestra
A pit orchestra is a type of orchestra that accompanies performers in musicals, operas, and other shows involving music. In performances of operas and ballets, the pit orchestra is typically similar in size to a symphony orchestra, though it may contain smaller string and brass sections, depending...
and played the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. He was hired in October 1917, being paid $35 each week. As the rehearsal period extended, Gershwin earned more money. He would later record Kern's "The Land Where the Good Songs Go", which was used in the revue, as a piano roll
Piano roll
A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. A piano roll is a continuous roll of paper with perforations punched into it. The peforations represent note control data...
in January 1918.
While working for the show, Gershwin and his brother Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
befriended Herbert and Kern, keeping "in contact with some of the major figures on Broadway". Sunday night concerts held in 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...
held by the show's cast introduced Gershwin's "There's More to a Kiss Than the Sound" and "You-oo, Just You", both with lyrics by Irving Caesar
Irving Caesar
Irving Caesar was an American lyricist and theater composer who wrote lyrics for "Swanee," "Sometimes I'm Happy," "Crazy Rhythm," and "Tea for Two," one of the most frequently recorded tunes ever written. He was born and died in New York.Caesar, the son of Morris Keiser, a Romanian Jew, was...
.
Gershwin's involvement with Miss 1917 brought the composer to the attention of music producer Harry Askins, who in turn mentioned him to Max Dreyfus, "one of the giants of music publishing".
1917 Broadway production
The producers of the show "had demanded extremely elaborate staging for the revue", so no out-of-town tryouts were held, and the show premiered directly 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...
on November 5, 1917, at the Century Theatre
Century Theatre
The Century Theatre, originally the New Theatre, was a theater located at 62nd Street and Central Park West in New York City. Opened on November 6, 1909, it was noted for its fine architecture but due to poor acoustics and an inconvenient location it was financially unsuccessful...
. The production was staged, directed, and supervised by Ned Wayburn
Ned Wayburn
Ned Wayburn, born Edward Claudius Weyburn, was a choreographer. He was born in Pennsylvania but spent much of his childhood in Chicago where he was introduced to theater and studied classical piano. At the age of 21, he abandoned his family’s tradition of manufacturing and began teaching at the...
, with choreography by Adolph Bohm. The creative team also included set designer Joseph Urban
Joseph Urban
Joseph Urban Born in Vienna, Austria, died in New York City, trained as an architect, known also for his theatrical design and his early illustrations of children's books....
, who built a rotating thrust stage
Thrust stage
In theatre, a thrust stage is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its up stage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performers and the audience than a proscenium, while retaining the utility of a backstage area...
for the theater. Costume design was attributed to eight designers, including Paul Chaflin, Willy Pogany
Willy Pogany
William Andrew Pogany was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books.-Biography:...
, and Max Weldy.
The original cast starred comedian Lew Fields
Lew Fields
Lew Fields , born as Moses Schoenfeld, was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager and producer....
, Andrew Tombes and Vivienne Segal
Vivienne Segal
Vivienne Sonia Segal was an American actress and singer.Segal was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is best remembered for creating the role of Vera Simpson in Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's Pal Joey and introduced the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"...
. The cast also included Bessie McCoy Davis, Bert Savoy, and Irene Castle; the comedic tag-team Van and Schenck
Van and Schenck
Van and Schenck were popular United States entertainers in the 1910s and 1920s: Gus Van , baritone and Joe Schenck , tenor. They were vaudeville stars and made appearances in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, 1919, 1920 and 1921...
also performed in the production. Castle was singled out in many reviews, but disliked her own performance; Eve Golden wrote: "But she was unhappy with her own performance: "I found myself hopelessly lost as a solo number. I had no training for dancing alone and I should never have tried it." Irene went on at 10:30pm, toward the middle of Act 2. She later claimed to have objected to the late hour ... the program reveals the real problem: she followed a jazzy dance number [with] George White and Ann Pennington."
Kern originally wanted Segal to sing "They Didn't Believe Me
They Didn't Believe Me
"They Didn't Believe Me" is a song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds.First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 14, 1914...
" in the revue, though Dillingham and Herbert preferred her to sing "Kiss Me Again". Segal's siding with the latter caused tension among the creative team. According to a member of the production crew, technical rehearsals were interrupted several times due to disagreements in staging and choreography; at one point, Kern sought to close the show early, though Ziegfeld wouldn't have it.
Miss 1917 was generally well-received, gaining a rave review from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Though successful with critics, the revue failed to attract an audience. As a result, the show closed on January 5, 1918, after only six weeks of performances, due to slow ticket sales.
Subsequent events
A month after Miss 1917s Broadway closing, on February 21, 1918, items used in the show were sold in an auction, raising $11,300, according to The New York Times. Most of the items for auction were bought by J. J. Shubert. The following day, Sam Harrison of the New Amsterdam TheatreNew Amsterdam Theatre
The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater located at 214 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Theatre District of Manhattan, New York City, off of Times Square...
bought the performing rights to the musical.
In a New York Times interview, Ziegfeld stated that he hoped to stage the musical internationally under a new title. One of these productions included a 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...
transfer, to take place in March 1920, as well as a national tour in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. However, in a later article, the Times reported that Ziegfeld cancelled these engagements; the writer of the article said that, according to "production sources," the original creative team would not allow Ziegfeld to stage the show internationally, due to major staging and plot changes that would make the humor more accessible to international audiences.
Musical numbers
Act I- "The Mosquitos Frolic"
- "The Society Farmerettes"
- "(We're) Crooks"
- "Papa Would Persist in Picking Peaches"
- "A Dancing M.D."
- "That's the Picture I Want to See"
- "The Honor System"
- "Good-bye Broadway"
- "(I'm) The Old Man in the Moon"
- "The Land Where Good Songs Go"
- "Follow On"
- "In the Good Old Summer TimeIn the Good Old Summer Time"In the Good Old Summer Time" is an American Tin Pan Alley song first published in 1902 with music by George Evans and lyrics by Ren Shields.Shields and Evans were at first unsuccessfully trying to sell the song to one of New York's big sheet music publishers. The publishers thought the topic of...
" - "DinahDinah (song)"Dinah" is a popular song. The music was written by Harry Akst, and the lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. It was introduced by Eddie Cantor in Kid Boots in Pittsburgh...
" - "Under the Bamboo Tree"
- "(The) Yama Yama (Man)"
- "Sammy"
- "Kiss Me Again"
- "(Be My Little Baby) Bumble Bee"
- March of the Toys"
- Toy Clog Dance"
Act II
- "We Want to Laugh"
- "A Dancing Courtship"
- "Who's Zoo in Girl Land"
- "Midnight in Dreamy Spain"
- "Oh What a Beautiful Baby"
- "The Palm Beach Girl"
Recordings
Although no official cast recordingCast recording
A cast recording is a recording of a musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast...
was made, brief excerpts from some of the songs used in Miss 1917 can be heard on the compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, "Jerome Kern: Silver Linings", which was officially released on July 22, 2008.
See also
- Leave It to JaneLeave It to JaneLeave It to Jane is a musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, based on the 1904 play College Widow, by George Ade. The story concerns the football rivalry between Atwater College and Bingham College, and satirizes college life in a...
- Oh, Boy! (musical)Oh, Boy! (musical)Oh, Boy! is a musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. The story concerns befuddled George, who elopes with Lou Ellen, the daughter of Judge Carter. He must win over her parents and his Quaker aunt...
- List of songs with lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse
External links
- Internet Broadway Database listing
- "Up And Down Broadway", The New York Times, March 24, 1918.
- "Miss 1917" (program excerpt)