Elisberg Industries
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like
Decent Quality Since 1847

Take Me Along at the Source

9/25/2013

0 Comments

 
We continue with the 1959 musical, Take Me Along.  As mentioned, the show has a wonderful score by Bob Merrill, and is based on that rarity of rarities, the only comedy ever written by Eugene O'Neill, Ah, Wilderness!  Today, we have an odd tale related to the show, through really about its source material.

Years ago, I worked for the California Park Service at Will Rogers State Historic Park, and going through papers one day, I came across this story.

The original Broadway production of Ah, Wilderness in 1933 with none other than George M. Cohan in the starring role of Nat Miller, the role played in the musical version by Walter Pidgeon.  A year later, the show was re-mounted in a major production in San Francisco with Will Rogers in the same starring role.  At the time, Will Rogers was not only a popular actor, but the top box-office star in the country, when the country was movie crazy.  He was a big deal -- not just from his movies, but his radio show and newspaper column, all with his good-natured, homespun humor.  He was taking a break from movies, and had a long contract with the show, agreeing to take it on the road across the country after the San Francisco run ended.
Picture
One day, Rogers received a letter at the theater.  It came from a minister, who said that when he saw that Will Rogers was in the play, he knew that meant it would be good, wholesome, clean-cut humor, so he took his young daughter to the show.  However, in the show, there is a scene when Nat Miller, the character Rogers played, delivers a talk about sex education to his name.  The minister said he was so mortified by this that he didn't know if he would ever be able to look his daughter in the face again.

Will Rogers considered the impact of the letter.  He cared a great deal about his audience, and knew that they did trust him for good, family humor and content.  And he decided that the minister had a point.  So, he told the producers that he would agree to play out the rest of the run of the show in San Francisco, but after that he negotiated to get out of the contract, and wouldn't take the show on tour.  It would have to travel without him.

Check the program above.  Look underneath the heading of the Curran Theatre.  There you can see the opening date of this production, May 7, 1934.

No longer having a long run tour with the show, Will Rogers now had a great deal of unexpected free time on his schedule.  So, in its place, he planned to go on an adventurous trip with his friend, the aviator Wylie Post.  And on August 15, 1935, the two of them crashed and were killed in Point Barrows, Alaska.

There are easy morals that might be drawn from this, about listening to others pontificating about decency, though I think those are a bit unfair.  In the end, it was Will Rogers' decision to leave the show because he had a certain reputation with his audience and wanted to keep to that standard.  Whether most of his fans felt the same as the minister is another matter.  They might have been fine with it, and given that we only know about this one letter only, it's quite possible they were mostly fine with it.  But further, there are a great many things Will Rogers could have chosen to do with with newly-freed up time.  He chose the air trip.  But it's nonetheless impossible to hear this story and not shake your head, "If only..."
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Elisberg Industries gets a commission if you click here before shopping on Amazon.
    Picture
    Follow @relisberg

    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.



    Picture
           Feedspot Badge of Honor

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Audio
    Audio Land
    Books
    Business
    Chicago
    Consumer Product
    Education
    Email Interview
    Entertainment
    Environment
    Fine Art
    Food
    From The Management
    Health
    History
    Huffery
    Humor
    Internet
    Journalism
    Law
    Los Angeles
    Media
    Morning News Round Up
    Movies
    Music
    Musical
    Personal
    Photograph
    Piano Puzzler
    Politics
    Popular Culture
    Profiles
    Quote Of The Day
    Radio
    Religion
    Restaurants
    Science
    Sports
    Technology
    Tech Tip
    Theater
    The Writers Workbench
    Tidbits
    Travel
    Tv
    Twitter
    Video
    Videology
    Well Worth Reading
    Words-o-wisdom
    Writing

    RSS Feed

© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2022
Contact Us    About EI    Chicago Cubs
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like