CALAMITY JANE (1953) / THE PAJAMA GAME (1957)
LA TERREUR BLONDE / PIQUE NIQUE EN PYJAMA
Real. David Butler / George Abbott, Stanley Donen
Mus. Sammy Fain / Richard Adler & Jerry Ross
Dir. mus. Ray Heindorf
LP CBS 63032 - Mono (GB)
Side 1. CALAMITY JANE
1. The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away)
Int. Doris
Day
2. I Can Do Without You
Int. Doris
Day and Howard Keel
3. The Black Hills of Dakota
Int. Doris Day and
Vocal Quartet
4. Just Blew in From The Windy City
Int. Doris Day
5. A Woman’s Touch
Int. Doris Day
6. Higher Than A Hawk (Deeper Than A
Well)
Int. Howard Keel
7. ‘Tis
Harry I’m Plannin’ To Marry
Int. Doris Day and Vocal Quartet
8. Secret
Love
Int. Doris Day
Side 2. THE PAJAMA GAME
1. The Pajama Game (opening) and Racing With The Clock
Int. Eddie Foy Jr, Ensemble
2. I’m Not At All In
Love
Int. Doris Day and girls
3. I’ll Never Be Jealous Again
Int. Eddie
Foy Jr, Ensemble
4. Once-a-year Day
Int. Doris Day, John Raitt,
Ensemble
5. Small Talk
Int. Doris Day, John Raitt
6. There Once
Was a Man
Int. Doris Day, John Raitt
7. Hernando’s Hideaway
Int. Carol
Haney, Ensemble
8. Finale
Notes Back Cover
CALAMITY JANE - A Doris Day film is always a welcome event. Not only does it fill the cinemas with customers, it fills the air with song, and in this happy instance Doris was teamed with Howard Keel in a lively musical shivaree based on the experiences of that fabulous individualist Calamity Jane. Matching Doris' inimitable musical stylings is the virile voice of her partner, and this collection, including songs recorded directly from the sound track of the Warner Bros. production is an airy and pleasurable souvenir of two fine performances in a wonderful film. In "Calamity Jane" she sings a score by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster and staged by Jack Donohue. The zest and romanticism of the songs are wonderfully caught in her singing here, as is the flavour of her lively performance. The songs, including the fabulous Secret Love, have become evergreens, and the film is already regarded as a classic amongst musicals. Each of her roles has benefited from the freshness and sunniness of her personality, and in "Calamity Jane" she has a part ideally matched to her cheerful talents.
Howard Keel, appearing opposite her, is an experienced hand at such musical entertainments : he appeared on the stage in "Oklahoma"" and made his screen debut in "Annie Get Your Gun". He has a long list of successful films to his credit, and his rich baritone is a splendid foil for Doris' more intimate singing. Together they present a most attractive pairing, both visually and vocally.
THE PAJAMA GAME - Offhand, one might say that a wage strike in a Midwest pajama factory would be one of the most unlikely subjects for entertainment that anyone could dream up in a long, long time. And as usual, one would be wrong, for that is what "The Pajama Game" is all about, and it became one of the outstanding hits of its decade, and benefited not a little from the airy presence of Doris Day.
This all began when Richard Bissell translated certain of his own experiences into a book called "7 1/2 Cents", which enjoyed a comfortable stay on the best-seller lists. Then, with George Abbott and the song-writing team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, he turned it into the musical "The Pajama Game", which ran for 1,063 consecutive performances in New York, with a second company touring for two years. Then, clearly never a man to waste an experience, Mr. Bissell wrote a new novel entitled "Say, Darling" which deals with the transformation of the book into the musical. Barely four months later "The Pajama Game" turned up on Broadway again for a successful springtime run and Warner Bros. released the film version. In addition to the lissome Miss Day, the movie edition of "The Pajama Game" offered something new in that the score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross had not been tampered with. No new songs by other composers had been dragged in; the cast-John Raitt, Carol Haney, Eddie Foy,Jr., and Reta Shaw - is virtually identical, and the screenplay and direction were handled by the same practised hands. This in itself would practically guarantee a dandy time for one and all, but fortunate moviegoers were also treated to Doris Day's return to musicals after some fairly wracking (and highly acclaimed) dramatic parts ("Love Me Or Leave Me", "Julie", "The Man Who Knew Too Much").
Much of the delight of "The Pajama Game" arises from its songs, which are full of zest and imagination. The score was the first major work of the young composers, who handled both music and lyrics jointly. Unhappily the team had only one more chance to demonstrate its abilities - in "Damn Yankees" - for Mr. Ross died shortly after the opening of that production. What Mr. Adler and Mr. Ross dis was to inject a few neglected forms back into musical comedy - the polka, the western-type song, the soft-shoe number, along with their other inventive compositions - to give the show a kind of zippy freshness that had been lacking for some time. Other composers and lyricists had been dishing up plenty of sentiment but had tended to short-change the customers on comedy, and the gusty earthiness of "The Pajama Game" was a pleasant change.
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