History of The Musical Stage
1940s: Part IV
by John Kenrick
(Copyright 1996 & 2003)

• New Talents
• London in the 1940s
• South Pacific
• The Shuberts: A Matter of Trust

• Composer Kurt Weill and playwright Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the Stars (1949 - 273) examined the nightmare of South African apartheid decades before it became a popular topic.

• Irving Berlin's Miss Liberty (1949 - 308) had a book by Pulitzer-winning playwright Robert E. Sherwood, telling the story of reporters trying to identify the woman who posed for the Statue of Liberty. The score included "Give Me Your Tired" and "Let's Take an Old Fashioned Walk."

• Composer Jule Styne and lyricist Leo Robin turned the popular Anita Loos 1920s novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949- 740) into a smash hit musical comedy -- integrated, but with enough lighthearted fun to rate as a musical comedy. As Lorelei Lee, the gem-hungry flapper with a heart of pure gold, Carol Channing found stardom, stopping the show with her wide-eyed renditions of "Little Girl from Little Rock" and "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend."

The 1940s in London
Few London productions of 1940s drew much attention outside of Britain, but the West End had its share of homegrown musicals. Broadway producers felt that most of these shows were simply "too British" to appeal to American theatergoers.  The perennial transatlantic favorite Noel Coward was unable to turn out a hit musical in this decade. After World War II, his Pacific 1860 (1946 -129) faired poorly despite a lavish production and the presence of Mary Martin.

London's most popular star during the mid-twentieth century was Ivor Novello, an actor-songwriter who composed and starred in a series of hit operettas, despite the fact that he couldn't sing a note. With striking good looks and a winning stage presence, Novello played leading roles and left the singing to everyone around him. To make this work, he often played characters that could accompany others on piano.

Ivor Novello in The Dancing Years with Roma Beaumont and Mary Ellis (on the stairs).

Novello got away with this arrangement in show after show, cheered on by a hoards of female fans who had no idea their idol was a homosexual. With a mixture of affection and envy, longtime friend (and competitor) Noel Coward said that "the two loveliest things in the British theatre are Ivor's profile and my mind." Novello's almost continuous string of musical hits included –

• Glamorous Night (1935 - 243)

• Careless Rapture (1936 - 297) – wags dubbed this one "Careless Rupture"

• Crest of the Wave (1937)

• The Dancing Years (1939 - 967) – nicknamed "The Dancing Queers"

• Perchance To Dream (1945 - 1,022)

• King's Rhapsody (1949 - 839)

• Gay's The Word (1951 - 504)

None of Novello's shows (which often contained enough sweet sentiment to choke a saccharine addict) were ever produced on Broadway, so even his most popular songs ("Shine Through My Dreams," "Waltz of My Heart") were rarely heard outside of Britain. And that's a pity, because his gift for polished, romantic melody placed him somewhere between Coward and Lehar. Novello's dominance of the London stage continued until his sudden death at age 58 during the run of King's Rhapsody. Thousands lined the streets on the day of his funeral, which was broadcast live over British radio to a mourning nation.

The longest running West End book musical from this period was Me and My Girl (1937 - 1,646 London), the story of a poor London cockney who inherits a nobleman's title and fortune. The Noel Gay score included the catchy "Lambeth Walk," and Brits packed the theatre through most of World War II. British comedian Lupino Lane triumphed in the lead and starred in several revivals. But American producers felt Me and My Girl was "too British" for Broadway. Decades later, London welcomed a heavily revised 1985 version starring Robert Lindsay. After a rip-roaring triumph in London (where it ran for years), Me and My Girl finally traveled to New York the following year and racked up 1,420 performances. It seems even thick-headed Yanks can eventually catch on to a good thing!

Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin on the original cast Playbill for South Pacific.

As the 1940s ended, New York was the undisputed center of the theatrical world, and Broadway's last musical hit of the decade was one of the biggest ever. Working with co-librettist and director Josh Logan, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a musical based on two stories in James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific. Military nurse Nellie Forbush falls in love with French planter Emile de Becque, and Lieutenant Cable gives his heart to a Polynesian girl. Typical "decent" Americans are forced to confront the bigotry they were raised with. Set amid the life and death tensions of World War II, it was a world away from the musical comedy librettos that had reigned on Broadway less than ten years before.

With powerhouse stars Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin, a well crafted script, and a score that included "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," "Bali Hai," and "I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy," South Pacific (1949 - 1,925) was a sensation, creating an unprecedented demand for tickets. Some aspects of the book seem dated today, but the show's score and genuine sentiment still work.

South Pacific was unusual in many ways. There was almost no dance, more than one keylove story, and the dramatic tension was not provided by an antagonist (a.k.a. - a "bad guy") or a "silly misunderstanding." Both love stories were thwarted by "carefully taught" racial prejudices. These reflex hatreds drive key characters to push away from the people they love. In the case of a young Lieutenant and his native girl, the results are tragic, but Nellie and Emile are finally reunited.

South Pacific confirmed Rodgers and Hammerstein's command of the genre. Along with worshipful reviews, it won the Tony for Best Musical and became the second musical to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Tonys also went to the authors, as well as Pinza, Martin and other company members. Rodgers & Hammerstein's knack for creating innovative and entertaining hits came to be called "The RH Factor," and it would keep them on top through the next decade.

The Shuberts: A Matter of Trust
South Pacific triggered a surprising, radical change in the "business we call show." Tickets were in such demand that theatre owners Lee and J.J. Shubert put outrageous premiums on the best seats, allowing ticket brokers to charge up to ten times the legal box office value of eight dollars. They even forced top politicians to pay these inflated prices -- a foolish mistake. Congress launched a long overdue investigation of Broadway business practices, accusing the Shuberts of being an illegal trust.

The Shuberts used high powered lawyers to draw out the struggle for several years, but the Federal government's case eventually succeeded. Forced to give up their lucrative control of theatre bookings and ticket sales, the Shuberts also had to sell off many of their theatres all across the USA. Although the brothers remained powerful, their stranglehold on the commercial theatre was broken.

The 1940s had seen vast changes in the musical theatre, both as an art form and as a business. World War II had re-energized the American economy, and many great musicals appeared in the 1940s, particularly after Oklahoma (1943) redefined the genre. But as theatre rents, union minimums and advertising costs kept climbing, it became harder for shows to turn a profit. So even as the American musical enjoyed what many have called its "golden age," the number of Broadway productions continued (with occasional exceptions) a gradual but inexorable decline.

This decline was easy to overlook in the decade that followed. After all, in the 1950s, the Broadway musical was one of the most popular entities in all of show business.

Next: Stage 1950s