Miss Dolly Dollars is a musical comedy

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 written in two acts with the book and lyrics by Harry B. Smith

Harry B. Smith

Harry Bache Smith was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works were librettos for the composer Victor Herbert...

 and music by Victor Herbert

Victor Herbert

Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...

. The musical concerns a wealthy American girl in Europe, who is sought after by bankrupt aristocrats. Its score includes a few famous songs such as "A Woman is a Woman (But a Good Cigar is a Smoke)".

After a tryout in Rochester, New York

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

, the musical opened at the Knickerbocker Theatre

Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)

The Knickerbocker Theatre — previously known as Abbey's Theatre and Henry Abbey's Theatre — was a Broadway theatre located at 1396 Broadway in New York City. It operated from 1893 to 1930...

 in New York City, on September 4, 1905. It was produced by Charles B. Dillingham

Charles B. Dillingham

Charles Bancroft Dillingham was a Broadway producer. He started his career as a theater reviewer for the New York Evening Post, then became a manager for such actors as Julia Marlowe....

 and directed by Al Holbrook, with music direction by Antonio DeNovellis. The scenic design was by Homer Emens and Edward G. Unitt, and costumes were by Caroline Seidle. The show soon transferred to the New Amsterdam Theatre

New Amsterdam Theatre

The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater located at 214 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Theatre District of Manhattan, New York City, off of Times Square...

 on October 16, 1905. It ran for a total of 112 performances and closed on October 21, 1905.

Synopsis

Wealthy Dorothy Gay, an American girl, is pursued while in Europe, by a number of penniless aristocrats, but she does not wish to marry simply for a title. A secretary, Finney Doolittle, is mistaken for his wealthy English Lord. Dorothy's father, Samuel, urges her to marry the phony Lord Burlingham, but she prefers a man whom she takes to be poor, but who his actually the English nobleman, and all ends happily.

Cast

The opening night cast was as follows:

• Beatrice Anderson - Matilda
• John Ardizone - Duke de Bolero
• Leila Benton - Vena Rodriguez
• Charles Bradshaw - Samuel Gay
• Mildred Cecil - Hon. Reggy Chumpley
• Marion Chase - Vera Vane
• Carter DeHaven
  Carter DeHaven
  Carter DeHaven was a movie and stage actor, movie director, and writer....
  
   - Guy Gay
• Elizabeth Doddridge - Hon. Algy Sydney
• Elsie Ferguson - Celeste
• Joseph Frohoff - First Bailiff
• Lulu Glaser - Dorothy Gay
• Minerva Hall - Jane
• Sidney A. Harris - H'Alfred/ Prince Umskyvitch
• Carl Hartberg - Baron von Rheinheister
• Ralph C. Herz - Finney Doolittle
• Queenie Hewlitt - Millicent
• Bessie Holbrook - Hon. Montague Bank
• Edward Leahy - Captain Sheridan Barry
• James Leahy - The Marquis de Baccarat
• Helen Marlborough - Ruth Delamere
• Olive Murray - Bertha Billings
• William Naughton - The Hon. Percy Fitzboodle
• Byron Ongley - Miggs
• Enrico Oremonte - Count Chianti/ Bobby
• Susanne Parker - Miriam Odell
• Carrie Perkins - Mrs. Gay
• Sadie Probst - Hon. Mayland Bank
• James Reany - Count Runoffsky
• Aline Redmond - Greta Giltedge
• Elsa Reinhardt - Freda Dressler
• L. F. Sampson - Second Bailiff
• Lillian Spencer - Margery
• Melville Stuart - Lord Burlingham
• Lillie Van Arsdale - 'Arriet
• Henry Vogel - Lieutenant von Richter
• Vida Whitmore - Estelle DeLange
• Gladys Zell - Vashti

Musical numbers

Act I

• The Self-Made Family (She's a Lady with Money) – Mrs. Gay, Samuel Gay and Guy Gay
• An Educated Fool (It Keeps Me Guessing All the Time) – Finney Doolittle
• Just Get Out and Walk – Dorothy Gay and Chorus
• An American Heiress – Dorothy and Noblemen
• Dolly Dollars – Guy
• My Fair Unknown – Lord Burlingham

Act II

• It's All in the Book You Know – Dorothy and Lieutenant von Richter
• Life's a Masquerade – Mrs. Gay, Samuel, Celeste and Guy
• The Moth and the Moon – Dorothy and Chorus
• Walks – Guy and Girls
• A Woman Is Only a Woman, But a Good Cigar is a Smoke (Puff, Puff, Puff) – Lord Burlingham
• (American Music) 'Tis Better Than Old Parsifal to Me – Principals and Chorus
• Queen of the Ring – Dorothy and Chorus

External links

• Miss Dolly Dollars at the Internet Broadway Database
  Internet Broadway Database
  The Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
  
  
• Links to MIDI files and other information about Miss Dolly Dollars
• NY Tribune review