Rose-Marie
Encyclopedia
Rose-Marie is an operetta
-style musical
with music by Rudolf Friml
and Herbert Stothart
, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach
and Oscar Hammerstein II
. The story takes place in the Canadian Rockies
and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian
girl who loves miner Jim Kenyon. When Jim falls under suspicion for murder, her brother Èmile plans for Rose-Marie to marry Edward Hawley, a city man.
The work premiered on Broadway
at the Imperial Theatre on September 2, 1924, running for 557 performances. It was the longest-running Broadway musical of the 1920s until it was surpassed by The Student Prince
(1926). It was then produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
in London
in 1925, enjoying another extraordinary run of 581 performances. It was filmed twice in 1928, once in 1936 and again in 1954.
The best-known song from the musical is "Indian Love Call
". It became Jeanette MacDonald
and Nelson Eddy
's "signature song
". Several other numbers have also become standards, including the title song
.
, attempting to create popular new shows without altering operetta tradition, sought exotic, unusual settings for his new productions. The Fortune Teller
(1898) is set in Hungary
, The Merry Widow
(1907) and The Three Musketeers
(1928) take place in France, and Naughty Marietta
(1910) features New Orleans. Hammerstein, seeking a new setting for an operetta, sent his nephew, Oscar Hammerstein II
, and Otto Harbach
to Quebec
, Canada, to witness a rumored magnificent ice sculpture
festival. After visiting Quebec, the men reported that there was not, nor had there ever been, such a festival in Quebec or any part of Canada. Arthur Hammerstein still liked the Canadian setting, and Oscar Hammerstein II and Harbach began work on the book for a new musical set in the Canadian Rockies. Rudolf Friml
and Herbert Stothart collaborated on the score, and opera
star Mary Ellis
was cast in the title role. British actor and singer Dennis King
was cast opposite her as Jim Kenyon.
Rose-Marie premiered on September 2, 1924 at the Imperial Theatre in New York City
, running for 557 performances. Direction was by Paul Dickey and choreography was by Dave Bennett. The orchestrations were by Robert Russell Bennett
. Costumes were designed by Charles LeMaire, and settings were by Gates and Morange. It had a brief revival on Broadway in 1927.
It was then produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
in London in 1925, enjoying another extraordinary run of 581 performances. The original West End
production had a chorus of eighty. It was London's most successful Broadway show after World War I
until it was surpassed by Oklahoma!
. In Paris, Rose-Marie ran for an unprecedented 1,250 performances.
A touring company premiered the work in Canada
on January 12, 1925 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto
. Other Canadian productions were given by the Variétés lyriques in 1937 and another in 1945, in French, and by Theatre Under the Stars
in 1940, Melody Fair in 1951, and the Eaton Operatic Society in 1959. In recent decades, it has been produced by the Light Opera of Manhattan
several times in the 1970s and 1980s, the Shaw Festival
in Canada (1981), Light Opera Works
of Illinois (1987), and Ohio Light Opera
in 2003.
Film versions
The show has been filmed three times, including once in 1928
in the silent
era. Joan Crawford
starred in this version, alongside James Murray
. The best known film version was released in 1936
, starring Jeanette MacDonald
and Nelson Eddy
. Although the plot was changed, and most of the songs were dropped, it was a huge success and became MacDonald and Eddy's best-known film. In 1954
, MGM
produced an Eastmancolor version in Cinemascope
, which more closely followed the original plot, but it still dropped most of Friml's songs. This version starred Ann Blyth
, Howard Keel
and Fernando Lamas
, with Bert Lahr
and Marjorie Main
as comic relief. It was choreographed by Busby Berkeley
.
Little Mary Sunshine
Rose-Marie is the main (but not the only) target of the satirical musical
Little Mary Sunshine
, which parodies
elements of the plot as well as the style of several of the songs. In particular, the song "Colorado Love Call" from Little Mary Sunshine is a parody of "Indian Love Call
" from Rose-Marie.
In Fond-du-Lac, Saskatchewan
, Canada, trappers, hunters and travellers gather at Lady Jane's hotel ("Vive la Canadienne"). Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Sergeant
Malone is flirting with Lady Jane, while city man Edward Hawley is watching a French Canadian
girl, Rose-Marie La Flamme, even though she's miner
Jim Kenyon's sweetheart. Rose-Marie's brother, Èmile, is searching for her, fearing she is alone with Jim. Wanda, a half-blooded Indian
, dances particularly close to Hawley, enraging her Indian lover, Black Eagle. Lady Jane's man, "Hard-Boiled Herman" arrives at the bar. Jim and Rose Marie have been walking together, and Jim explains to Sergeant Malone that he has given up his former wild ways because of his love for "Rose-Marie". Black Eagle is trying to claim the land (and the gold on it) belonging to Jim and Herman. Herman thinks that shooting Black Eagle will solve everything, but Jim prefers more legal means. Sergent Malone and "The Mounties" warn Herman that they will not hesitate to enforce the laws.
Èmile is going to take Rose-Marie with him to the trapping grounds at Kootenay Pass
. He dislikes Jim and wants her to marry Hawley. Rose-Marie insists that she is in love with Jim ("Lak Jeem"). Hawley plans to go with him, but first he has to end his affair with Wanda. He plans to visit her at Black Eagle's log cabin
and bribe her to stay away from him. Jim tells Rose-Marie that he will follow her to Kootenay Pass, and they will meet in an old house he calls a castle near a valley with a beautiful echo. According to legend, Indians would call down into the valley to the girls they wished to marry ("Indian Love Call").
Hawley meets Wanda at her cabin and tries to pay her off as Jim arrives with maps to prove his claim. Wanda sends Jim away. Black Eagle returns home and catches Wanda and Hawley embracing. He attacks Hawley, and Wanda stabs Black Eagle to save Hawley. Jim and Herman, unaware of the murder, follow Èmile, Hawley, and Rose-Marie to Kootenay Pass. Jim and Rose-Marie communicate through their "Indian Love Call" (reprise). Èmile knows that Jim is hiding in the "castle" and tells Rose-Marie that she should marry Hawley because he could buy her all the "Pretty Things" she wants. Wanda arrives at Kootenay Pass and tells everyone that Jim is wanted for the murder of Black Eagle; his map was discovered near Black Eagle's body.
Herman continues romancing Lady Jane ("Why Shouldn't We?"). Hawley proposes to Rose-Marie, but she refuses him. He and a city girl, Ethel Brander, try to impress her with the glamour of city life in Quebec
. Wanda leads an Indian "Totem-Tom-Tom" dance. Jim has received an offer from the Brazilian government
to lead a mining
project there. He asks Rose-Marie to come with him, even though it would be safer for her to go to Quebec and wait for him there. If she decides to come, they will meet at the "castle" and go to the United States to be married. If she does not, she should sing the Indian Love Call up the valley to him. Rose-Marie insists she will go with him; he leaves immediately, and she plans to follow twenty minutes later to avoid attracting suspicion. Sergeant Malone arrives with a warrant
to arrest Jim for murder. Èmile tells Rose-Marie he will not reveal Jim's hiding place to the Mounties if she will go to Quebec and marry Hawley. Rose-Marie tells Hawley that she must sing the "Indian Love Call" to him, but she is really singing to Jim, telling him she will not go with him.
Act II
Rose-Marie is about to marry Hawley in Quebec, believing that Jim was the killer. Ethel Brander has convinced her that Jim murdered Hawley because he loved Wanda. Herman and Lady Jane have married, and they have a shop in Quebec. He still flirts with other women but then catches her giving Sergeant Malone "Only a Kiss". Jim returns with Wanda, and Wanda affirms Rose-Marie's belief that Jim is the murderer. Rose-Marie rejects Jim and says that she loves Hawley ("I Love Him").
The wedding preparations commence ("The Minuet
of the Minute"), and Wanda jealously threatens Hawley. Sergeant Malone prepares to arrest Jim, who is hiding in Kootenay Pass. Herman suspects Wanda and gets her to confess by pretending that Hawley has accused her of the murder. Jane interrupts them and incorrectly assumes Herman is cheating on her ("One Man Woman"). The wedding begins ("Doorway of My Dreams"), and as Rose-Marie walks down the aisle, Wanda publicly confesses to the murder and declares her love for Hawley. Everyone rushes to Jim's lodgings, and Rose-Marie goes to the pass to return Jim's "Indian Love Call". The lovers are finally united.
Act II
recorded the major songs in 1948 as part of his series of operetta recordings for RCA Victor. These were last issued on LP from the budget RCA Camden label in 1958.
Nelson Eddy
recorded eight numbers for a Columbia Records
ten-inch Lp in 1950. Around the same time, singles recorded by Eddy and MacDonald in 1936, at the time of the film's release, were reissued in an extended Play 45-rpm disc by RCA Red Seal as ERA 220. The sleeve featured a photo of the two of them as they appeared in the film. The M-G-M soundtrack album of the 1954 technicolor
and CinemaScope
remake was released on records just prior to the film's premiere in March 1954.
The most complete recording was made in 1958 by RCA Victor (LSO-1001) starring Julie Andrews
and Giorgio Tozzi
. In 1961 EMI issued an LP of selections with Barbara Leigh, David Hughes
, Andy Cole and Maggie Fitzgibbon
(Cole and Fitzgibbon had appeared together in a 1961 London revival). The following year, Readers' Digest included a recording of one side of highlights in their 12-record Treasury of Great Operettas set.
The Smithsonian Institute recorded a note-complete version of the score that was never commercially released, when the recording wing of the Institute was closed down.
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
-style musical
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...
with music by Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml was a composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer...
and Herbert Stothart
Herbert Stothart
Herbert Stothart was a song writer, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was also nominated for nine Oscars, winning Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz.-Biography:...
, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach
Otto Harbach
Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach was an American lyricist and librettist of about 50 musical comedies...
and Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
. The story takes place in the Canadian Rockies
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...
and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
girl who loves miner Jim Kenyon. When Jim falls under suspicion for murder, her brother Èmile plans for Rose-Marie to marry Edward Hawley, a city man.
The work premiered on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Imperial Theatre on September 2, 1924, running for 557 performances. It was the longest-running Broadway musical of the 1920s until it was surpassed by The Student Prince
The Student Prince
The Student Prince is an operetta in four acts with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly. It is based on Wilhelm Meyer-Förster's play Alt Heidelberg. The piece has elements of melodrama but lacks the swashbuckling style common to Romberg's other works...
(1926). It was then produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1925, enjoying another extraordinary run of 581 performances. It was filmed twice in 1928, once in 1936 and again in 1954.
The best-known song from the musical is "Indian Love Call
Indian Love Call
"Indian Love Call" is a song from Rose-Marie, a 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II...
". It became Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
and Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
's "signature song
Signature song
A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
". Several other numbers have also become standards, including the title song
Rose Marie (song)
"Rose Marie" is a popular song from the musical or operetta of the same name. In the original Broadway production in 1924 it was performed by Dennis King and Arthur Deagon as the characters Jim Kenyon and Sergeant Malone....
.
Background
Producer Arthur HammersteinArthur Hammerstein
Arthur Hammerstein , was the son of Oscar Hammerstein I and uncle of Oscar Hammerstein II, was an opera producer and one of the writers of the song "Because of You," a major hit for Tony Bennett in 1951. Hammerstein wrote the song in 1940. It was used in the film I Was an American Spy...
, attempting to create popular new shows without altering operetta tradition, sought exotic, unusual settings for his new productions. The Fortune Teller
The Fortune Teller (operetta)
The Fortune Teller is an operetta in three acts written by Victor Herbert, with a libretto by Harry B. Smith. After a brief tryout in Toronto, it premiered on Broadway on September 26, 1898 at Wallack's Theatre and ran for 40 performances...
(1898) is set in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
(1907) and The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers (musical)
The Three Musketeers is a musical with a book by William Anthony McGuire, lyrics by Clifford Grey and P. G. Wodehouse, and music by Rudolf Friml. It is based on the classic 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas, père....
(1928) take place in France, and Naughty Marietta
Naughty Marietta
Naughty Marietta is a 1935 film based on the operetta of the same name by Victor Herbert: Jeanette MacDonald stars as a vivacious Princess who trades places with her maid Marietta in order to avoid an arranged marriage...
(1910) features New Orleans. Hammerstein, seeking a new setting for an operetta, sent his nephew, Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
, and Otto Harbach
Otto Harbach
Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach was an American lyricist and librettist of about 50 musical comedies...
to Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada, to witness a rumored magnificent ice sculpture
Ice sculpture
Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative...
festival. After visiting Quebec, the men reported that there was not, nor had there ever been, such a festival in Quebec or any part of Canada. Arthur Hammerstein still liked the Canadian setting, and Oscar Hammerstein II and Harbach began work on the book for a new musical set in the Canadian Rockies. Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml was a composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer...
and Herbert Stothart collaborated on the score, and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
star Mary Ellis
Mary Ellis
Mary Ellis was a long-lived star of the British stage best known for her roles in the genre of musical theatre. After appearing with the Metropolitan Opera beginning in 1918, later appearing opposite Enrico Caruso, she acted on Broadway, creating the title role in Rose Marie...
was cast in the title role. British actor and singer Dennis King
Dennis King (actor)
Dennis King was an English actor and singer.Born in Coventry as Dennis Pratt, King had a stage career in both drama and musicals. He emigrated to the USA in 1921 and went on to a successful career on the Broadway stage. He appeared in two musical films and played non-singing roles in two other...
was cast opposite her as Jim Kenyon.
Productions and Adaptations
Stage versionsRose-Marie premiered on September 2, 1924 at the Imperial Theatre in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, running for 557 performances. Direction was by Paul Dickey and choreography was by Dave Bennett. The orchestrations were by Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards...
. Costumes were designed by Charles LeMaire, and settings were by Gates and Morange. It had a brief revival on Broadway in 1927.
It was then produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in London in 1925, enjoying another extraordinary run of 581 performances. The original West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production had a chorus of eighty. It was London's most successful Broadway show after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
until it was surpassed by Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
. In Paris, Rose-Marie ran for an unprecedented 1,250 performances.
A touring company premiered the work in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on January 12, 1925 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. Other Canadian productions were given by the Variétés lyriques in 1937 and another in 1945, in French, and by Theatre Under the Stars
Theatre Under the Stars (Vancouver)
Theatre Under The Stars, commonly referred to as TUTS, is one of Vancouver's largest musical theatre companies. The society presents two musicals during the summer season at Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park, British Columbia.-History:...
in 1940, Melody Fair in 1951, and the Eaton Operatic Society in 1959. In recent decades, it has been produced by the Light Opera of Manhattan
Light Opera of Manhattan
Light Opera of Manhattan, known as LOOM, was an Off-Broadway repertory theatre company that produced light operas, including the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and European and American operettas, 52 weeks per year, in New York City between 1968 and 1989....
several times in the 1970s and 1980s, the Shaw Festival
Shaw Festival
The Shaw Festival is a major Canadian theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, the second largest repertory theatre company in North America...
in Canada (1981), Light Opera Works
Light Opera Works
Light Opera Works is a resident professional not-for-profit musical theatre company in Evanston, Illinois. It was founded in 1980 by Philip Kraus, Bridget McDonough , and Ellen Dubinsky....
of Illinois (1987), and Ohio Light Opera
Ohio Light Opera
The Ohio Light Opera is a professional opera company based in Wooster, Ohio that performs the light opera repertory, including Gilbert and Sullivan, American, British and continental operettas, and other musical theatre works, especially of the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
in 2003.
Film versions
The show has been filmed three times, including once in 1928
1928 in film
-Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film...
in the silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era. Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
starred in this version, alongside James Murray
James Murray (actor)
James Murray was an American movie actor.-Background:Born in The Bronx, New York, James Murray went to Hollywood in the 1920s to try to succeed as an actor. After several years of work, mostly as an extra, with little hope of a starring role, he was "discovered" by director King Vidor, who saw...
. The best known film version was released in 1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
, starring Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
and Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
. Although the plot was changed, and most of the songs were dropped, it was a huge success and became MacDonald and Eddy's best-known film. In 1954
1954 in film
The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
, MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
produced an Eastmancolor version in Cinemascope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
, which more closely followed the original plot, but it still dropped most of Friml's songs. This version starred Ann Blyth
Ann Blyth
Ann Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles. Her performance as Veda Pierce in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Life and career:Blyth was born in Mount Kisco,...
, Howard Keel
Howard Keel
Harold Clifford Keel , known professionally as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s...
and Fernando Lamas
Fernando Lamas
Fernando Álvaro Lamas was an Argentine-born actor and director, and the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas.-Early life and career:...
, with Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr was an American actor and comedian. Lahr is remembered today for his roles as the Cowardly Lion and Kansas farmworker Zeke in The Wizard of Oz, but was also well-known for work in burlesque, vaudeville, and on Broadway.-Early life:Lahr was born in New York City, of German-Jewish heritage...
and Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:...
as comic relief. It was choreographed by Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
.
Little Mary Sunshine
Rose-Marie is the main (but not the only) target of the satirical musical
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...
Little Mary Sunshine
Little Mary Sunshine
Little Mary Sunshine is a musical that parodies old-fashioned operettas and musicals. The book, music, and lyrics are by Rick Besoyan. The musical should not be confused with the 1916 silent film of the same name ....
, which parodies
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
elements of the plot as well as the style of several of the songs. In particular, the song "Colorado Love Call" from Little Mary Sunshine is a parody of "Indian Love Call
Indian Love Call
"Indian Love Call" is a song from Rose-Marie, a 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II...
" from Rose-Marie.
Synopsis
Act IIn Fond-du-Lac, Saskatchewan
Fond-du-Lac, Saskatchewan
Fond-du-lac is a settlement located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Situated on the east side of Lake Athabasca it is a remote fly-in community...
, Canada, trappers, hunters and travellers gather at Lady Jane's hotel ("Vive la Canadienne"). Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Malone is flirting with Lady Jane, while city man Edward Hawley is watching a French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
girl, Rose-Marie La Flamme, even though she's miner
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
Jim Kenyon's sweetheart. Rose-Marie's brother, Èmile, is searching for her, fearing she is alone with Jim. Wanda, a half-blooded Indian
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
, dances particularly close to Hawley, enraging her Indian lover, Black Eagle. Lady Jane's man, "Hard-Boiled Herman" arrives at the bar. Jim and Rose Marie have been walking together, and Jim explains to Sergeant Malone that he has given up his former wild ways because of his love for "Rose-Marie". Black Eagle is trying to claim the land (and the gold on it) belonging to Jim and Herman. Herman thinks that shooting Black Eagle will solve everything, but Jim prefers more legal means. Sergent Malone and "The Mounties" warn Herman that they will not hesitate to enforce the laws.
Èmile is going to take Rose-Marie with him to the trapping grounds at Kootenay Pass
Kootenay Pass
Kootenay Pass, known locally as "the Salmo-Creston" is a mountain pass in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It is utilized by the Crowsnest Highway to transverse the Selkirks, connecting the communities of Salmo and Creston...
. He dislikes Jim and wants her to marry Hawley. Rose-Marie insists that she is in love with Jim ("Lak Jeem"). Hawley plans to go with him, but first he has to end his affair with Wanda. He plans to visit her at Black Eagle's log cabin
Log cabin
A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...
and bribe her to stay away from him. Jim tells Rose-Marie that he will follow her to Kootenay Pass, and they will meet in an old house he calls a castle near a valley with a beautiful echo. According to legend, Indians would call down into the valley to the girls they wished to marry ("Indian Love Call").
Hawley meets Wanda at her cabin and tries to pay her off as Jim arrives with maps to prove his claim. Wanda sends Jim away. Black Eagle returns home and catches Wanda and Hawley embracing. He attacks Hawley, and Wanda stabs Black Eagle to save Hawley. Jim and Herman, unaware of the murder, follow Èmile, Hawley, and Rose-Marie to Kootenay Pass. Jim and Rose-Marie communicate through their "Indian Love Call" (reprise). Èmile knows that Jim is hiding in the "castle" and tells Rose-Marie that she should marry Hawley because he could buy her all the "Pretty Things" she wants. Wanda arrives at Kootenay Pass and tells everyone that Jim is wanted for the murder of Black Eagle; his map was discovered near Black Eagle's body.
Herman continues romancing Lady Jane ("Why Shouldn't We?"). Hawley proposes to Rose-Marie, but she refuses him. He and a city girl, Ethel Brander, try to impress her with the glamour of city life in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Wanda leads an Indian "Totem-Tom-Tom" dance. Jim has received an offer from the Brazilian government
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
to lead a mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
project there. He asks Rose-Marie to come with him, even though it would be safer for her to go to Quebec and wait for him there. If she decides to come, they will meet at the "castle" and go to the United States to be married. If she does not, she should sing the Indian Love Call up the valley to him. Rose-Marie insists she will go with him; he leaves immediately, and she plans to follow twenty minutes later to avoid attracting suspicion. Sergeant Malone arrives with a warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
to arrest Jim for murder. Èmile tells Rose-Marie he will not reveal Jim's hiding place to the Mounties if she will go to Quebec and marry Hawley. Rose-Marie tells Hawley that she must sing the "Indian Love Call" to him, but she is really singing to Jim, telling him she will not go with him.
Act II
Rose-Marie is about to marry Hawley in Quebec, believing that Jim was the killer. Ethel Brander has convinced her that Jim murdered Hawley because he loved Wanda. Herman and Lady Jane have married, and they have a shop in Quebec. He still flirts with other women but then catches her giving Sergeant Malone "Only a Kiss". Jim returns with Wanda, and Wanda affirms Rose-Marie's belief that Jim is the murderer. Rose-Marie rejects Jim and says that she loves Hawley ("I Love Him").
The wedding preparations commence ("The Minuet
Minuet
A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
of the Minute"), and Wanda jealously threatens Hawley. Sergeant Malone prepares to arrest Jim, who is hiding in Kootenay Pass. Herman suspects Wanda and gets her to confess by pretending that Hawley has accused her of the murder. Jane interrupts them and incorrectly assumes Herman is cheating on her ("One Man Woman"). The wedding begins ("Doorway of My Dreams"), and as Rose-Marie walks down the aisle, Wanda publicly confesses to the murder and declares her love for Hawley. Everyone rushes to Jim's lodgings, and Rose-Marie goes to the pass to return Jim's "Indian Love Call". The lovers are finally united.
Musical numbers
Act I- Vive la Canadienne – Sergeant Malone and Ensemble
- Hard-Boiled Herman – Hard-Boiled Herman and Ensemble
- Rose-Marie – Jim Kenyon and Sergeant Malone
- The Mounties – Sergeant Malone and Ensemble
- Lak Jeem – Rose-Marie La Flamme and Ensemble
- Rose-Marie (Reprise) – Rose-Marie, Sergeant Malone, Edward Hawley, Emile and Ensemble
- Indian Love CallIndian Love Call"Indian Love Call" is a song from Rose-Marie, a 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II...
– Rose-Marie and Jim Kenyon - Pretty Things – Rose-Marie and Ensemble
- Why Shouldn't We? – Lady Jane and Hard-Boiled Herman
- Totem Tom-Tom – Wanda and Ensemble
Act II
- Pretty Things (Reprise) – Ethel Brander and Girls
- Only a Kiss – Hard-Boiled Herman, Lady Jane and Sergeant Malone
- I Love Him – Rose-Marie, Jim, Hawley, Emile, Ethel and Wanda
- The Minuet of the Minute – Rose-Marie and Hard-Boiled Herman
- One Man Woman – Lady Jane, Hard-Boiled Herman and Ensemble
- The Door of Her Dreams (Door of My Dreams) – Ensemble
Recordings
The operetta has been recorded a number of times. The 1925 original London cast recorded six numbers along with an orchestral medley. These recordings have been collected on a number of LP and CD editions. Al GoodmanAl Goodman
Al Goodman was a conductor, songwriter, stage composer, musical director, arranger, and pianist....
recorded the major songs in 1948 as part of his series of operetta recordings for RCA Victor. These were last issued on LP from the budget RCA Camden label in 1958.
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
recorded eight numbers for a Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
ten-inch Lp in 1950. Around the same time, singles recorded by Eddy and MacDonald in 1936, at the time of the film's release, were reissued in an extended Play 45-rpm disc by RCA Red Seal as ERA 220. The sleeve featured a photo of the two of them as they appeared in the film. The M-G-M soundtrack album of the 1954 technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
and CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
remake was released on records just prior to the film's premiere in March 1954.
The most complete recording was made in 1958 by RCA Victor (LSO-1001) starring Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
and Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi was for many years a leading bass with the Metropolitan Opera, as well as playing lead roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide.-Career:Tozzi was born George John Tozzi in Chicago, Illinois...
. In 1961 EMI issued an LP of selections with Barbara Leigh, David Hughes
David Hughes (tenor)
David Hughes was an English-born popular singer of Welsh extraction who became an opera singer.-The popular tenor:...
, Andy Cole and Maggie Fitzgibbon
Maggie Fitzgibbon
Maggie Fitzgibbon, an Australian actress and singer, was born in Melbourne on 30 January 1929. Coming from a show-business family, Maggie is the sister of the late Smacka Fitzgibbon. She began her career as operatic soprano Margaret Fitzgibbon with the Tivoli Circuit in 1946 before graduating to...
(Cole and Fitzgibbon had appeared together in a 1961 London revival). The following year, Readers' Digest included a recording of one side of highlights in their 12-record Treasury of Great Operettas set.
The Smithsonian Institute recorded a note-complete version of the score that was never commercially released, when the recording wing of the Institute was closed down.
External links
- Information about the 1928 Joan Crawford version
- Rose-Marie (1936) at Jeanette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy: A Tribute
- NY Times review of the 1954 film
- IBDB listing for the Broadway production