Hollywood Pinafore

Infobox Musical
name= Hollywood Pinafore
subtitle=or The Lad Who Loved a Salary


caption=
music= Arthur Sullivan
lyrics= George S. Kaufman
book= George S. Kaufman
basis= Gilbert and Sullivan's
"H.M.S. Pinafore"
productions= 1945 Broadway
awards=

"Hollywood Pinafore, or The Lad Who Loved a Salary" is a musical comedy in two acts by George S. Kaufman, with music by Arthur Sullivan, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore". It opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on May 31 1945, directed by Kaufman himself. The adaptation transplants the maritime satire of the original "Pinafore" to a satire of the glamorous world of 1940s Hollywood film making, but Sullivan's score is retained with minor adaptations.

According to Howard Teichmann's 1972 biography "George S. Kaufman: An Intimate Portrait", Kaufman had the inspiration for "Hollywood Pinafore" during a poker game with his friend Charles Lederer. While Lederer was arranging his cards, he idly sang a few bars of "When I Was a Lad" from "Pinafore" while ad-libbing a new lyric: "Oh, he nodded his head / and he never said 'no' / and now he's the head of the studio." Kaufman insisted on paying Lederer a token fee for the idea of transplanting "Pinafore"'s setting to a Hollywood studio.

Although Kaufman's lyrics are witty, the book is static for a musical, and the show closed after only 52 performances. However, it has been revived a number of times in recent years.

ynopsis

Starlet Brenda Blossom, pining for a lowly writer Ralph, is promised in marriage to the studio head, Joseph Porter, by her father (a director looking to advance his own career). If she marries Ralph, she'll be tossed out of Hollywood and forced to make a living on the stage. Fortunately, everything turns out for the best when it is discovered that a mix-up in Louhedda Hopsons' gossip column was responsible for Ralph's fall from grace. In reality, it was Ralph who was meant to head the studio instead of Porter.

Roles

*Joseph W. Porter, head of Pinafore Pictures
*Mike Corcoran, a director
*Ralph Rackstraw, a writer
*Dick Live-Eye, an agent
*Brenda Blossom, a star
*Louhedda Hopsons, a columnist (a combination of the names of Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper)
*Bob Beckett, a press agent
*Miss Liebe, Mr. Porter's secretary
*Miss Gloria Mundi
*Miss Beverly Wilshire
*Little Miss Peggy
*Doorman
*Secretaries, Guard, Actors, Actresses, Assistant Directors, Cameramen, Technicians, etc. Singers and Dancers

Musical numbers

;Act I
* Simple Movie Folk - Miss Gloria Mundi, Miss Beverly Wilshire, Little Miss Peggy, Girls, Ensemble
* Little Butter-Up - Louhedda Hobson
* An Agent's Lot Is Not a Happy One - Dick Live-Eye
* A Maiden Often Seen - Ralph Rackstraw, Miss Beverly Wilshire, Ensemble
* I'm a Big Director at Pinafore - Mike Corcoran, Ensemble
* Here on the Lot - Brenda Blossom
* Joe Porter's Car is Seen - Male Chorus, Ensemble
* I Am the Monarch of the Joint - Joseph W. Porter, Miss Liebe, Ensemble
* When I Was a Lad - Joseph W. Porter, Ensemble
* A Writer Fills the Lowest Niche - Bob Beckett, Ralph Rackstraw, Guard, Ensemble
* Never Mind the Why and Wherefore - Dick Live-Eye, Ensemble
* Refrain, Audacious Scribe/Proud Lady, Have Your Way - Ralph Rackstraw, Brenda Blossom, Miss Liebe, Ensemble
* Can I Survive This Overbearing? (Finale Act 1) - Dick Live-Eye, Brenda Blossom, Miss Liebe, Ralph Rackstraw, Bob Beckett, Ensemble ;ACT II
* Fair Moon - Mike Corcoran
* I Am the Monarch of the Joint (reprise) - Joseph W. Porter, Miss Liebe, Ensemble
* Ballet Interlude: Success Story - Chief Maid, Other Little Maids, Talent Scout, Her True Love, Two More Boys, Armand, the Movie Hero, Director, Studio Assistants
* Hollywood's a Funny Place - Louhedda Hobson, Joseph W. Porter
* To Go Upon the Stage - Brenda Blossom
* He Is a Movie Man - Joseph W. Porter, Dick Live-Eye, Ensemble
* The Merry Maiden and the Jerk - Dick Live-Eye, Joseph W. Porter
* Carefully on Tiptoe Stealing (music brazenly taken from "The Pirates of Penzance") - Brenda Blossom, Ralph Rackstraw, Dick Live-Eye, Mike Corcoran, Ensemble
* Pretty Daughter of Mine - Mike Corcoran, Ralph Rackstraw, Miss Liebe, Joseph W. Porter, Dick Live-Eye, Ensemble
* Farewell, My Own - Ralph Rackstraw, Brenda Blossom, Miss Liebe, Joseph W. Porter, Louhedda Hobson, Bob Beckett, Ensemble
* This Town I Now Must Shake - Louhedda Hobson, Ensemble
* Finale Act 2 - Entire Company

References

Kaufman, George S, "Hollywood Pinafore or the Lad Who Loved a Salary", Dramatists Play Service (1998) ISBN 0822216477

External links

*
* [http://www.nodanw.com/shows_h/hollywood_pinafore.htm Information about the show, including synopsis, roles and musical numbers]
* [http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=2751 Brief description of the show]
* [http://www.qsulis.demon.co.uk/Reviews/Lost_Musicals_1998_Review.htm Review of a 1988 production]