DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 381 838CS 508 905

AUTHOR Carr, John C.

TITLE "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

Spotlight on Theater Notes.

INSTITUTION John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,

Washington, D.C.

SPONS AGENCY Department of Education, Washington, DC.

PUB DATE [95)

NOTE 13p.; Produced by the Performance Plus Program,

Kennedy Center Education Department. Funding also

provided by the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund. For

other guides in this series, see CS 508 902-906.

PUB TYPE Guides General (050)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.

DESCRIPTORS Acting; *Cultural Enrichment; *Drava; Higher

Education; Playwrit..ng; Popular Culture; Production

Techniques; Secondary Education

IDENTIFIERS Historical Background; *How to Succeed in Business

Without Really Trying; Musicals

ABSTRACTThis booklet presents a variety of materials

concerning the current revival of the 1961 play "How to Succeed in

Business Without Really Trying." After a brief introduction to the

play, the booklet discusses the plot of the play, how it went from

best seller to prize-winning musical, biographical information on the

lead actok. (Matthew Broderick) and the playwright :Abe Burrows), a

quiz about plays, and biographical information about the

composer/lyricist (Frank Loesser), the author of the book on which

the play is based, the director, the choreographer, and the designer.

(RS)

*********.A.****-::**)%-**,:z**************

Reproductions supplied by EMS arc the best that can he made

from the original document.

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Produced by the Performance Plus Program, Education Departaent

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it.

0 Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality.

° Points of view or opinions stated in thisdocument do not necessarily representofficial OERI position or policy.

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. W T SUCCEE a a a

NEW PRODUCTS ItThis production of How To SucceedIn Business Without Really Trying,starring Matthew Broderick withdirection by Des McAnuff andchoreography by Wayne Cilento, is anew.treatment of the 1961 PulitzerPrize and Tony Award-winningmusical. Based on Shepherd Mead'ssatirical guide of the same name, thebook for How To Succeed... waswritten by Abe Burrows (based on anon-musical script by Jack Weinstockand Willie Gilbert). The music andlyrics are by Frank Loesser. Thecurrent production originated at theLa Jolla Playhouse in Los Angeles,will play a four week run in theOpera House, and will move on toBroadway in March.

W T MCC= ER II II

T E PLWhat do you need to know about theplot of How To Succeed In BusinessWithout Really Trying? Not much,lest its zany pleasures be lessened.

How about this, from a review inThe New Yorker in 1961: How To

Succeed... is "the saga of a youngegomaniac who skips to the top ofthe mercantile world by duplicity,chicanery, and just plain gall."

A bit more? Well, J. PierrepontFinch, who seems to have studied theworks of Horatio Alger and'Machiavelli, starts out as a window

washer and winds up as theChairman of the Board of the WorldWide Wickets Company. To get tothe top, he applies the tenets ofShepherd Mead's book from whichthe musical gets its title. Oh, yes,Finch finds true love along the way.

One critic referred to the show as a"mixture of Moliere and the MarxBrothers." Maybe that's enough.

EST SE LETOP MUMMUSICALThe plot of How To Succeed InBusiness Without Really Trying wasinspired by Shepherd Mead's 1952best-selling satirical handbook of thesame name. A non-musical version ofthe book was written in 1955 byWillie Gilbert and jack Weinstock,but no producers were interested instaging it. After considerablepersuasion, Abe Burrows agreed toadapt the story for musical purposes.Burrows convinced Frank Loesser toprovide music and lyrics. The rest, asthey say, is history.

After its 1961 Philadelphia tryout,How To Succeed... opened onBroadway to unanimous rave reviewsand loud audience cheers. The showclaimed seven Tony awards, two forAbe Burrows (book and direction)and one for Loesser (lyrics). It had arun of 1,417 performances, placingit at the time as the fifth longest-running musical in Broadway history.By 1965, there were three road

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LzsgammCA TEEMILEYfor a few extralaughs (or smiles, asthe case may be):

0 the sound of theelectric shaver youhear in "I Believe inYou" is really madeby kazoos.

0 the nine bars ofclassical music thatinterrupt parts of"Rosemary" are fromEdvard Grieg's PianoConcerto in A Minor.

Medan Mullally andMatthew Broderickin How to Succeedin BusinessWithout Really

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companies of the show. Foreignproductions were mounted in GreatBritain, France, Denmark, Italy, WestBerlin, Israel, Australia, andJapan.

How To Succeed... firmlyestablished Robert Morse (whoplayed the conniving hero) as a

Matthew Broderick as J. Pierrepont Finch in

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

bright-watt star and provided RudyVallee, a popular crooner of the '20sand '30s, with a comeback ofconsiderable force in the role of J.B.Biggley. The show also placedCharles Nelson Reilly, as Bud Frump,in the top rank among stagecomedians.

The 1967 film of the show starredboth Morse and Vallee. Michele Lee,who had replaced original loveinterest Bonnie Scott on Broadway,repeated her role in the film.

0 E: ICEAt 33, Matthew Broderick, star ofHow To Succeed..., has establishedhimself on stage and screen as anactor of considerable range anddepth. Appearing in musical comedyseems to be a natural next step for aman who has impressed audiences inroles of action and adventure as wellas in drama and comedy. Why riGtsinging and dancing, too?

Maybe it's fate for Broderick, whowas born five months after theoriginal How To Succeed... openedon Broadway, to be playing itsleading role in the show's firstBroadway revival, particularly sincehe was born not far from the theaterin which the show was playing. Hisparents are artist Patricia Broderickand the late actor James Broderick.

Matthew Broderick made his off-off-Broadway debut at 17 opposite hisfather in Horton Foote's On

Valentine's Day! When he was 19, heappeared in Harvey Fierstein's TorchSong Trilogy as the "adopted child"a performance which earned himboth the Outer Critics Circle Awardas Best Supporting Actor and aVillager Award. He later played therole of "Alan" for the 1988 film.

Soon after his debut, he was onBroadway in Neil Simon's BrightonBeach Memoirs, for which hereceived the Tony Award as BestActor. Almost simultaneously, hestarred in his first film in anotherSimon script, Max Dugan Returns.Still another Simon endeavor, BiloxiBlues, followed, both on stage andscreen.

Broderick also continued hisprofessional relationship withHorton Foote, appearing in thewriter's film 1918 and play TheWidow Claire.

Among Broderick's other filmhighlights are War Gamcs, FerrisBueller's Day Off Glory, TheFreshman (in which he appearedwith Marlon Brando), and, amongothers, the current The Road toWeville (with Anthony Hopkins)and Mrs. Parker and the ViciousCircle (with Jennifer Jason Leigh). InThe Lion King, he is the voice ofSimba.

On television, Broderick hasappeared in Athol Fugard's MasterHarold...and the Boys and in DavidMamet's A Life in the Theatre withJack Lemmon.

Lately Broderick has been honinghis skills as a director. He has staged

41

several original plays for New York'sNaked Angels groupthe sameadventurous company for whichplaywright (and Spotlight on Theaterinterviewee) Jon Robin Baitzdevelops scripts. Behind the camera,Broderick recently directed the not-yet-released film Infinity, written byhis mother Patricia Broderick andstarring Patricia Arquette.

Check back in another 33 years tosee what else the talented Mr.Broderick has accomplished.

;

E MEAD'SEIETIVE011% lEART 0 ZEHow To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying* is a spoof of bothcorporate ladder climbing and self-help books.

Mead gets to the comic point quickly:"Let us assume you are young, healthy, clear-eyed and eager,

anxious to rise quickly and easily to the top of the business world."Yru can."If you have education, intelligence, and ability, so much the b'.tter.

But remember that thousands have reached the top without them. You,too, can be among the lucky few.

"Just have courage, and memorize the simple rules in the chaptersthat follow."

There are 17 of those chapters, which offer the fictional J. PierrepontFinch as exemplar of a young business executive on the make.

Using samples of droll dialog, Mead discusses such topics as: "HowTo Rise from the Mail Room," "How To Be a Fair-Haired Boy," "HowTo Play Company Politics," and "How To Write Memos." He also givesadvice on choosing the right wife. picking the right country club, andstabbing the right backs.

No wonder the book is subtitled "The Dastard's Guide to Fame andFortune."

*Mead, Shepherd How To Succeed in Business I,.)thout Really Trying New York. Simon andSchuster. 1952

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6

NOW Trgi SUCCEED.ES COVEC EMEDIEHow To Succeed In BusinessWithout Really Trying is a comicneedle at work in a skyscraper ofballoons. Shepherd Mead's originalspoof, and Abe Burrows and FrankLoesser's adaptation of it. go aftersuch big-business balloons as "yesmen," executive board meetings,expense accounts, executivewashrooms with special keys.nepotism, office Lotharios. andcoffee breaks.

Other balloons that get puncturedare musical comedy conventions.Horatio Alger rags-to-riches stories,1960s dreams of suburban life,alumni allegiances. and rigged TV

quiz shows.

oguagainSHEPHERD MEADShepherd Mead knew what he wastalking about when he wrote hissatiric handbook How To Succeed inBusiness Without Really Trying. Hehad climbed his way up the corporateladder from r clerk (just like thecharacter in the book) to vicepresident of Benton and Bowles, oneof New York's prestigious advertisingagencies in the 1940s and '50s.

What lie saw there, what he knew,and what he may have done becamethe stuff of his 1952 book thatquickly did its own climbingstraight up the best seller lists. Mead

7

ENEPart of the fun of How ToSucceed... is the way characters'names remind us who they are inthe scheme (or in this case,schemes) of things.

Consider the jibes in these names:J. B. BIGGLEYBUD FRUMPHEDY LARUETWIM BLEWOMPERGATCHBRATT

And, of course. the schemer-of-schemers who succeeds inbusiness without really trying:

J. PIERREPONT FINCHThe song "Grand Old Ivy" also

has a go at college team mascots,"Chipmunks" and "Groundhogs."Also take a look at the name ofthe business whery all thescheming takes plac.e: WorldWide Wickets Company.

had moonlighted as a writer (How ToSucceed... was his third book), but at41, with royalties aplenty, he retiredto England to live as a countrygentleman-author.

In addition to numerous otherworks of fiction, Mead wrote How ToSucceed in Tennis Without ReallyTrying. How To Live Like a LordWithout Really 'hying, How ToSucceed With Women WithoutReally Dying, and How To Get Richin TV Without Really Trying.

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SUCCEED-is one of only sixmusicals to win thePulitzer Prize. The

43,7A-gowta,14,1,.others are Of Thee ISing, South Pacific,Fiorello!, A ChorusLine, and Sunday inthe Park withGeorge.

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1952 best -sellmospoof How ToSucceed In Buswess

is A:list:v(1s Guide to:Thnp, And Fortune

GETTING N T SINEW:A IP IfThere's no business like show business, and there is a lot of business inshows. How To Succeed... capitalizes on a corporate big-business milieu.The short-lived Skyscraper lost its shirt as a musical about the constructionbusiness. City of Angels merged the movie and private eye businesses, andHow Now, Dow Jones? was bullish about Wall Street.

Here are clues to 10 musicals whose :tories feature businessbackgrounds. How many can you name? How many played the Kennedy

Center?

1. The politics of a union strike tangle with true love in this 1954 musicalbased on a novel called 71/2 Cents.

2. Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker starred in this 1960 show, produced byDavid Merrick, dealing with the jukebox business.

3. Promoting "Susanswerphone," a telephone answering business, JudyHolliday suggested that if Romeo and Juliet had had access to a telephone,"Those two kids would be alive today!"

4. This Rodgers and Hart musical of 1941, which led Gene Kelly toHollywood and stardom, was set in the nightclub business.

5. The business of Parisian high fashion provided Katharine Hepburn withher one and only musical foray.

6. This show about the thinly disguised Motown Records label won a Tony

Award as Best Musical in 1982.

7. Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera chewed the scenery in this 1984 musical

about the roller skating arena business.

8. Stephen Sondheim's tale about an odd couple, played by AngelaLansbury and Len Cariou, featured two businessesbarbering and pie

making.

9. A renowned European Jewish family is at the center of this musical

about the banking business.

10. Jimmy Durante cavorted with an elephant in this Rodgers and Hart

musical about the circus business.

Answers on page 12.

9

COMP SEAT ECES'Ir:F AMC L ESSEFrank Loesser stands with IrvingBerlin, Cole Porter, and StephenSondheim as ore of the greatBroadway composer-lyricists of the20th century.

Loesser, who was born in 1910 anddied in 1969, learned his trade as alyric and sketch writer for vaudevilleand radio. In 1936. he reachedBroadway as the major contributor oflyrics to the revue The Illustrators'Slum'. After it quickly flopped, hespent the next 10 years writinglyrics, then music and lyrics, for

wood and Tin Pan Alley. Duringthat period he worked with some ofthe major popular music composersof the time: Burton Lane, JimmyMcHugh, Hoagy Carmichael, ArthurSchwartz, and Jule Styne.

His Broadway break through camein 1948 with Where's Charley?, anadaptation of the farcical warhorseCharley 's Aunt for which hesupplied music and lyrics. Next cameGuys and Dolls (1950), followed byThe Most Happy Fella (1956),Greenwillow (1960), and How ToSucceed In Business Without ReallyTrying (1961). Although he wrotethe score for Pleasures and Palaces,the show did not survive its Detroittryout.

A little-known aspect of Loesser'scareer is his collaboration in the1930s with composer WilliamSchuman (a Kennedy Center honoreein 1989). which produced special

song material for nightclub andcabaret performers.

From Loesser's Broadway musicalscame songs such as "My Darling, MyDarling," "Once In Love With Amy,":'A Bushel and a Peck," "If I Were aBell," "More I Cannot Wish You.""Big D," "Standing on the Corner,-and "I Believe In You."

ICIESSEIs OTERemember the old Hollywood of thestudio system, where legions laboredunder contract to turn out film afterfilm. year after year? Remember TinPan Alleythat somewhat real,somewhat imaginary place whereAmerica's popular music was writtenfrom the end of the last century intothe 1940s? Those were the placeswhere How To Succeed... composer-lyricist Frank Loesser developed histalents and had his first successes.

A few of his before-Broadway hitswere:

0) "The Boys in the BaLkroom"he wrote the lyrics for FrederickHollander's music, and MarleneDietrich sang the song in the 1939film Destry Rides Again.

o "Two Sleepy People" and "Heartand Soul he wrote the lyrics forHoagy Carmichael's music. BingCrosby introduced both songs.

o "I Don't Want to Walk WithoutYou Baby"he wrote the lyrics forJule Styne's music.

o "Jingle Jangle Jingle"he wrote

TOEEX REETFrank Loesser

Trying andSucceeding' will beon display in theKennedy CenterPerforming ArtsLibrary. Roof Terracelevel, from Friday.January 27 throughFriday. May 26.

the lyrics for Joe Lilley's music.On his own, Loesser wrote both

music and lyrics for "Praise the Lord

and Pass the Ammunition." one ofthe anthems of World War II. He alsowrote the music and lyrics for "I'dLike to Get You on a Slow Boat toChina" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

After hisBroadwaysuccess withWhere'sCharier? andGuys and Dolls,he returned toHollywood towrite the wordsand music forHans aristialzAndersen.starring DannyKaye. The film ismemorableespecially fortwo of its songs."WonderfulCopenhagen"and"Inchworm."

Director Des IvicAnuff

WIRIEVE23113EIROWS

Co-book writer Abe Burrows was oneof the leading funny men of his timeand a versatile one, establishinghimself not only as a playwright butas a director. a radio and televisionpersonality, a stand-up comic, and anautobiographer.

Burrows, who was born in 1910 anddied in 1985, made his start in showbusiness at 18. performing on theBorscht Beltthat string of summerresort hotels and summer camps inNew York's Catskill Mountains.

After writing for nightclubentertainers, he graduated to writingfor such popular radio programs ofthe 1930s and '40s as "Duffy'sTavern" and "The Texaco StarTheater." By 1946, Burrows wasappearing on the airways himself.singing satirical songs ("I LookedUnder a Rock and Found You," "TheGirl With the Three Blue Eves ").Scriptwriting in Hollywood camenext, but not success.

Soon Burrows had his own Mondayevening radio program, "BreakfastWith Burrows" ("I get up late").

TV was the inevitable next step,where he became a regular on gameand talk shows. At the same time, hehosted TV's "Abe Burrows' Almanac."

On Broadway, Burrows establishedcredentials as book writer anddirector of two Cole Porter musicals,Can Can and Silk Stockings. Hewent On to write the hooks for othermusicals and to adapt two Frenchcomedies for Broadway. His work asbook writer and director for How ToSucceed In Business Without ReallyTrying earned him two Toff Awards.

Ensconced as a Broadway luminary,Burrows once reflected on his careerin television. "All I can say about TVis, I love the theater."

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DE ECT*YiagEDMS MaRMUTTHow lb Succeed... director DesMcAnuff's third musical to play theKennedy Center's Opera House. Thefirst was Big River, the adaptation ofMark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, in1986. The second was The Who'sTommy, which completed a fiveweek run January 22. For bothshows. McAnuff received the Tons'Award as Best Director, as well asnumerous other accolades.

Until recently, McAnuff was theartistic director of California's LaJolla Playhouse, a position he held for10 years. While La Jolla was his baseof ,peration. McAnuff establishedhimself throughout the country andin Canada as a director with sharpperceptions and theatrical savvy. Hehas also established himself as ateacher of note at New York'sJuilliard School and at the Universityof California-San Diego.

In a December interview in TheWashington Post, McAnuff stressedthat while h( is known nationally asa director of musicals, his interestsare eclectic. Musicals. yes, but alsoShakespeare, Chekhov, films, andmore. "I believe the Americantheater is about eclecticism," he said."I really want the freedom to be ableto bounce around from genre togenre. If you forced me to stop, Iwould be very unhappy."

EOG APHEM7FME CEEZUES

Wayne Cilento has known success onboth sides of the footlights. On stage,he received acclaim as a featureddancer, notably in A Chorus Line andDancin'. Off stage, he garneredadditional praise when he addedchoreography to his credits.

One of the original cast members ofA Chorus Line, Cilento claimed thespotlight with the memorable "I CanDo That." His standout performancein Bob Fosse's Dancin' earned him aTony Award nomination.

While dancing on Broadway. Client()appeared in television commercialsand was soon asked to try his hand atchoreographingthem. That led toproviding thedances for twoshows directedby his currentcollaborator DesMcAnuff, anational tour ofchess and a LaJolla Playhouserevival of AFunny ThingHappened onthe Way to theForum.

Most recently.Washingtonplaygoers joinedcritics and prize givers in applaudingCilento for his no-holds-barredchoreography for The Who's limuny.

44.

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ChoreocuaphorWayne Cilento

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Answers toFlay Quiz,pas, 8.1 The Pajama Game") Do Re3 Bells Are Rinainq4. Pal Joey5 Cuco6 Dreaingirls7 The Rink8. Sweeney Todd9. The Rothschilds10. Jumbo

The Pajama Gameand Sweeney Toddhave played theKennedy Center

Give yourself onepoint for eachcorrect answer.Total. 12 points.

12-11: You've lustbeen made chair-person of the board.

10-8: You've beenelected second vicepresident.

7-4: You've beenmoved to middlemanagement.

3-0: Back to themailroom'

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Scenic Designer John Arnone

THE ENGThe team of designers for How 7bSucceed... includes John Arnone(scenery), Susan Hilferty (costumes),Howell Bink ley (lighting), andBatwin and Robin Productions.

Arnone is remembered by OperaHouse playgoers for his scenic designfor Tommy. Hilferty's work has beenseen on svige, film, and television, aswell as in dance performances.Bink ley has designed forinternational theater, opera, anddance productions. Batwin andRobin Productions supplied thevideo displays for Tommy.

Working together, Arnone and

Batwin and Robin Productions havecreated unique backgroundcomputerized images that cast askyscraper as a central image in theproduction. Hilferty's brightlycolored costumes recapture the modfashions of the 1960s. while Binkley'slighting designs give the productiona musical comedy brightness.

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MEAD.tip, Amy cage

Burrows, Abe. Honest, Abe; or IsThere Really No Business Like ShowBusiness? Boston: Little, Brown, 1980.

Burrows, Abe. The Abe Burrows Song-book. New York: Doubleday, 1955.

Loesser, Frank. The Frank LoesserSongbook. New York: Simon andSchuster, 1971.

Loc-:,ser, Susan. A Most RemarkableFella: Frank Loesser and the Guysand Dolls in his Life. New York:Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1993.

,Ar.r,14:wavtg w;,;fievikiolVAISAIAIVAIEVOMMIfttItViftWAVM,,

The Spotlight On'Theater iscussion will

e held o Thulre'or ary 16, f om 6:.5-7 .m in the liZen4 e yCenter's *;fe,era allouseand will featureMatthew :tlmodet iclz ararara era e s ©k the cast.Writer: John C. Carr

Production photos: Ken Howard

111111 111111

The Kennedy CenterJames D. Wolfensohn. Chairman

Lawrence J. Wilker, PresidentDerek E Gordon. Associate Managing

Director for Education

Funding of the Performance Plus program isprovided by the U S. Department of Education

and the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund

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