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Pal Joey (film)
Encyclopedia
Pal Joey is a 1957 film, loosely adapted from the musical play of the same name, and starring Rita Hayworth
, Frank Sinatra
, and Kim Novak
. Jo Ann Greer
sang for Hayworth, as she had done previously in Affair in Trinidad
and Miss Sadie Thompson
. Kim Novak's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin. The director is George Sidney
and the choreographer is Hermes Pan
.
Considered by many critics as the definitive Frank Sinatra
vehicle, Sinatra won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
for his role as the wise-cracking, hard-bitten Joey Evans. As to be expected the musical arrangements are particularly fine, with some near-perfect Nelson Riddle
charts for the Rodgers and Hart
standards "The Lady is a Tramp
", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "I Could Write a Book" and "There's A Small Hotel."
Pal Joey is also one of Frank Sinatra's few post-From Here to Eternity
movies in which he did not receive top-billing, Sinatra deciding himself to allow Rita Hayworth
this honor stating, with regards to being billed "between" Hayworth and Novak, "That's a sandwich I don't mind being stuck in the middle of."
Along with being a strong box office success, Pal Joey also earned four Academy Award nominations and two Golden Globe nominations.
The transformation of Joey into a "nice guy" departed from the stage musical, where Joey's character was notable for being the anti-hero.
The film varies from the stage musical in several other key points: the setting was changed from Chicago
to San Francisco, while the stage Joey was a dancer. The plot of the film drops a blackmail attempt and two roles prominent on stage were changed: Melba (a reporter) was cut and Gladys became a minor character. Linda became a naive chorus girl instead of an innocent stenographer and some of the lyrics to "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" were changed.
In the film, Vera Simpson is a wealthy widow and a former stripper (billed as "Vanessa the Undresser") and thus gets to sing the classic Hart name-list song "Zip". (As that number required an authentic burlesque
drummer to mime the bumps and grinds, the extra playing the drums is disconcertingly switched with a professional musician in a jump cut).
songs, eight remained, but with two as instrumental background, and four songs were added from other shows.
review summarized: "Pal Joey is a strong, funny entertainment. Dorothy Kingsley's screenplay, from John O'Hara's book, is skillful rewriting, with colorful characters and solid story built around the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart songs. Total of 14 tunes are intertwined with the plot, 10 of them being reprised from the original. Others by the same team of cleffers are 'I Didn't Know What Time It Was', 'The Lady Is a Tramp', 'There's a Small Hotel' and 'Funny Valentine'."
The New York Times
commented, "This is largely Mr. Sinatra's show...he projects a distinctly bouncy likeable personality into an unusual role. And his rendition of the top tunes, notably "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "Small Hotel," gives added lustre to these indestructible standards."
With box office rentals of $4.7 million, Pal Joey was ranked by Variety as one of the ten highest earning films of 1957.
Golden Globes
Writers Guild of America
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and Kim Novak
Kim Novak
Kim Novak is an American film and television actress. She began her career with her roles in Pushover and Phffft! but achieved greater prominence in the 1955 film Picnic...
. Jo Ann Greer
Jo Ann Greer
Jo Ann Greer had one of the most distinctive and elegant voices, yet least-known faces of all the successful jazz and pop singers in show business....
sang for Hayworth, as she had done previously in Affair in Trinidad
Affair in Trinidad
Affair in Trinidad is a film produced by Hayworth's Beckworth Corporation, released by Columbia Pictures, and starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. It is notable as Hayworth's "comeback" film after four years away from Columbia, as a re-teaming of the Gilda co-stars, and for a fiery opening...
and Miss Sadie Thompson
Miss Sadie Thompson
Miss Sadie Thompson is 1953 American musical 3D film starring Rita Hayworth, Aldo Ray, José Ferrer, and released by Columbia Pictures. The film is based on the W. Somerset Maugham short story Miss Thompson...
. Kim Novak's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin. The director is George Sidney
George Sidney
George Sidney was an American film director and film producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Career:...
and the choreographer is Hermes Pan
Hermes Pan (choreographer)
Hermes Pan was an American dancer and choreographer, principally celebrated as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers.-Early life:...
.
Considered by many critics as the definitive Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
vehicle, Sinatra won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
for his role as the wise-cracking, hard-bitten Joey Evans. As to be expected the musical arrangements are particularly fine, with some near-perfect Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
charts for the Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Lorenz Hart...
standards "The Lady is a Tramp
The Lady Is a Tramp
"The Lady Is a Tramp" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes In Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green. This song is a spoof of New York high society and its strict etiquette...
", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "I Could Write a Book" and "There's A Small Hotel."
Pal Joey is also one of Frank Sinatra's few post-From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
movies in which he did not receive top-billing, Sinatra deciding himself to allow Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
this honor stating, with regards to being billed "between" Hayworth and Novak, "That's a sandwich I don't mind being stuck in the middle of."
Along with being a strong box office success, Pal Joey also earned four Academy Award nominations and two Golden Globe nominations.
Characters
- Vera Simpson — Rita HayworthRita HayworthRita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
- Joey Evans — Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
- Linda English — Kim NovakKim NovakKim Novak is an American film and television actress. She began her career with her roles in Pushover and Phffft! but achieved greater prominence in the 1955 film Picnic...
- Gladys — Barbara NicholsBarbara NicholsBarbara Nichols was an American actress who often played brassy comic roles in a number of films in the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life and Career:...
- Ned Galvin — Bobby SherwoodBobby SherwoodBobby Sherwood was a trumpet player, bandleader, actor and composer. He appeared in three films including Pal Joey in 1957. His sons Billy and Michael are both musicians....
Plot summary
The setting is San Francisco; Joey Evans is a second-rate singer, a heel known for his womanizing ways, but charming and funny. When Joey meets Linda English, a naive chorus girl, he has stirrings of real feelings. However, that does not stop him from romancing a wealthy, willful, and lonely widow Vera Simpson, in order to convince her to finance his dream, "Chez Joey", a night club of his own. Soon Joey is involved with Vera, each using the other for his/her own somewhat selfish purposes. But Joey's feelings for Linda are growing. Ultimately, Vera jealously demands that Joey fire Linda. When Joey refuses ("Nobody owns Joey but Joey"), Vera closes down Chez Joey. Linda visits Vera and agrees to quit in an attempt to keep the club open. Vera then agrees to open the club, and even offers to marry Joey, but Joey rejects Vera. As Joey is leaving, Linda runs after him, offering to go wherever he is headed. After half-hearted refusals, Joey gives in and they walk away together, united.Notable changes
The happy ending of the film contrasts with that of the stage musical, where Joey is left alone at the end.The transformation of Joey into a "nice guy" departed from the stage musical, where Joey's character was notable for being the anti-hero.
The film varies from the stage musical in several other key points: the setting was changed from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to San Francisco, while the stage Joey was a dancer. The plot of the film drops a blackmail attempt and two roles prominent on stage were changed: Melba (a reporter) was cut and Gladys became a minor character. Linda became a naive chorus girl instead of an innocent stenographer and some of the lyrics to "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" were changed.
In the film, Vera Simpson is a wealthy widow and a former stripper (billed as "Vanessa the Undresser") and thus gets to sing the classic Hart name-list song "Zip". (As that number required an authentic burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
drummer to mime the bumps and grinds, the extra playing the drums is disconcertingly switched with a professional musician in a jump cut).
Song list
Of the original 14 Rodgers and HartRodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Lorenz Hart...
songs, eight remained, but with two as instrumental background, and four songs were added from other shows.
- Pal Joey: Main Title
- "That Terrific Rainbow" - chorus girls and Linda English
- "I Didn't Know What Time It WasI Didn't Know What Time It Was"I Didn't Know What Time It Was" is a popular song. The music was written by Richard Rodgers and the lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical Too Many Girls . Early hit versions included Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw...
" (introduced in the 1939 musical Too Many GirlsToo Many GirlsToo Many Girls may refer to:*Too Many Girls , a 1939 Broadway musical comedy and a 1940 film version*Two Many Girls , 1967 episode of TV show The Monkees...
) - Joey Evans - "Do It the Hard Way" - orchestra and chorus girls
- "Great Big Town" - Joey Evans and chorus girls
- "There's a Small HotelThere's a Small Hotel"There's a Small Hotel" is a 1936 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart originally written for but dropped from the musical "Billy Rose's Jumbo" , then used in On Your Toes , where it was introduced by Ray Bolger and Doris Carson and also interpolated in the film...
" (introduced in the 1936 musical On Your ToesOn Your ToesOn Your Toes is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. It was adapted into a film in 1939....
) - Joey Evans - "Zip" - Vera Simpson
- "I Could Write a BookI Could Write a Book"I Could Write a Book" is a show tune from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey , where it was introduced by Gene Kelly and Leila Ernst.-Notable recordings:*Betty Carter - The Audience with Betty Carter *Harry Connick, Jr...
" - Joey Evans and Linda English - "The Lady Is a TrampThe Lady Is a Tramp"The Lady Is a Tramp" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes In Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green. This song is a spoof of New York high society and its strict etiquette...
" (introduced in the 1937 musical Babes in ArmsBabes in ArmsBabes in Arms is a 1937 musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by Rodgers and Hart. It concerns a teen-age boy who puts on a show with his friends to avoid being sent to a work farm.- Production history:...
) - Joey Evans - "Bewitched, Bothered and BewilderedBewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" is a show tune and popular song from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey. The song was introduced by Vivienne Segal in the 1940 Broadway production, and also sung by Miss Segal both on the 1950 hit record and in the 1952 Broadway revival...
" - Vera Simpson - "Plant You Now, Dig You Later" - orchestra
- "My Funny ValentineMy Funny Valentine"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green...
" (introduced in the 1937 musical Babes in Arms) - Linda English - "You Mustn't Kick It Around" - orchestra
- Strip Number - "I Could Write a Book" -Linda Evans
- Dream Sequence and Finale: "What Do I Care for a Dame"/"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"/"I Could Write a Book" - Joey Evans
Soundtrack
The recordings on the album featuring Frank Sinatra only are not the same ones that appeared in the film. "The Lady is a Tramp" is actually an outtake from the Sinatra album A SWINGIN' AFFAIR!, while the others were recorded in mono only at Capitol studios at Hollywood & Vine. The Sinatra songs as they appear in the film as well as those "sung" by Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak (both were dubbed) were recorded at Columbia Pictures studios in true stereo.Chart positions
| Chart | Year | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1958 | 1 |
Critical reception and box office
Opening to positive reviews on October 25, 1957, Pal Joey was an instant success with critics and the general public alike. The VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
review summarized: "Pal Joey is a strong, funny entertainment. Dorothy Kingsley's screenplay, from John O'Hara's book, is skillful rewriting, with colorful characters and solid story built around the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart songs. Total of 14 tunes are intertwined with the plot, 10 of them being reprised from the original. Others by the same team of cleffers are 'I Didn't Know What Time It Was', 'The Lady Is a Tramp', 'There's a Small Hotel' and 'Funny Valentine'."
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
commented, "This is largely Mr. Sinatra's show...he projects a distinctly bouncy likeable personality into an unusual role. And his rendition of the top tunes, notably "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "Small Hotel," gives added lustre to these indestructible standards."
With box office rentals of $4.7 million, Pal Joey was ranked by Variety as one of the ten highest earning films of 1957.
Awards and nominations
Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
- Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Walter HolscherWalter HolscherWalter Holscher was an American art director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Holscher was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
, William KiernanWilliam KiernanWilliam Kiernan was an American set decorator. He was nominated for six Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Kiernan was nominated for six Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
, Louis DiageLouis DiageLouis Diage was an American set decorator. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Diage was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
) (nominated) - Best Costume Design (nominated)
- Best Film Editing (nominated)
- Best Sound, Recording (nominated) (John P. LivadaryJohn P. LivadaryJohn Paul Livadary was a sound designer.He started work in 1928 at Columbia Pictures and won the Academy Award for Best Sound three times, in a career that spanned 30 years...
)
Golden Globes
- Best Film, Musical or Comedy (nominated)
- Best Actor, Musical or Comedy (won, Frank Sinatra)
Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
- Best Written American Musical (nominated)