THE GOINGS-ON OF THE PRE-PRESIDENT and his Project 2025-inspired bunch of whackos display elements of Theatre of the Absurd considerably beyond that of mere satire. With this in mind, though, it would seem appropriate to celebrate Of Thee I Sing, a political satire that combined the wit and erudition of Depression America talent to delight Broadway audiences and garner a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1933.
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This and the following image from Musicals: The Definitive Story, by Elaine Paige, DK Penguin Random House, 2021.
My sources for these tidbits are Elaine Paige’s Musicals: The Definitive Illustrated Story, our U.S. Library of Congress, and my usual Internet sleuthing.
Theatrical Talents to the Fore. It strikes me that George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind were odd collaborators indeed in writing the book for the musical Of Thee I Sing. Kaufman, an Algonquin Round Table member, has already appeared here at SimanaitisSays as a Broadway playwright/producer/director. Ryskind is more difficult to characterize: a writer of comedic material for the Marx Brothers, a member of the Socialist Party of America, and later moving to the political right as a financial backer of William F. Buckley Jr.’s National Review. Wikipedia notes that his autobiography written later in life is titled I Shot an Elephant in My Pajamas: The Morrie Ryskind Story.
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George and his brother Ira Gershwin contributed the music and lyrics for Of Thee I Sing. Elaine Paige recounts in her book Musicals, “They had collaborated on another satire in 1930 Strike Up the Band, the first in a politically themed trilogy. The show had a respectable run but nothing like Of Thee I Sing, one of the most popular stage shows of the 1930s. At 441 performances, it was at the time the longest running musical…. [a record currently held by The Phantom of the Opera: 13,981]. Let ’Em Eat Cake, the third of the political satires, featuring the same leading characters, ran for 89 performances.”
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Catchy Tunes. Paige says, “The Play ridicules not only the executive branch, but Congress, the Supreme Court, the Navy, farmers, motherhood, the French, not to mention the American people and musical comedies in general.”
“If the tone of the musical was unusual for its day,” she says, “so, too, was its structure. The Gershwins did not just punctuate the plot with musical numbers, but told their story in the songs’ lyrics. Hits from the show include ‘Of Thee I Sing, Baby,’ ‘Love is Sweeping the Country,’ and ‘Who Cares?’ ”
“One of the most interesting recent evocations of the title of this show,” Paige observes, “is U.S. President Barack Obama’s use of it for a book published in 2010. This version of Of Thee I Sing was an illustrated letter to his daughters, in which the president paid tribute to 13 great Americans.”
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The Musical’s Plot. No less than our U.S. Library of Congress provides a concise description: “The production Of Thee I Sing, which featured William Gaxton and Victor Moore, helped to further that genre known as the American musical with its clever integration of story, dialog, action, music and songs. It was one of the first Broadway productions to deal with the serious subject of the American political scene, satirizing inept politicians with limited vision and the voters who elected them.”
I like that the LoC pins the rap on both politicos and those who elect them.
The LoC continues, “The plot revolves around a bachelor presidential candidate who, to embody his campaign slogan ‘Put Love in the White House,’ makes the choice of marrying a beauty contest winner, but instead falls in love with and weds one of his campaign workers. He wins the presidency but the jilted beauty queen claims French descent [“ ‘The Illegitimate Daughter’ of an illegitimate son of an illegitimate nephew of Napoleon”] and the French government nearly declares war over her honor.”
Why does this somehow seem more compelling than Trump’s 2020 arguments?
The LoC recounts, “All is resolved when the president poses to the Supreme Court the legal question, ‘Which is more important – justice or corn muffins?’ [the latter, his chosen wife’s principal er… attractions]. The Court decides for muffins, the president marries his love, and the vice president marries the beauty queen.”
The LoC adds, “Much of the script’s humor hinges on the vice-presidential character who is unrecognizable to even the inner circle of his party—a comment on the office’s wasted potential, a conversational topic of the day.”
Given JD and Tim, why is this LoC comment not so jarring?
Also From the LoC: “President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sings ‘Recovery, recovery, of thee I sing,’ a reference to the popular ‘Of Thee I Sing’ in this cartoon. “
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Cartoon by Clifford Kennedy Berryman, July 11, 1933. Image from the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
The LoC notes, “His sheet music credits him as author of the ‘words and music.’ Dame Democracy plays the piano while an old opponent for the Democratic nomination, Al Smith, sits glumly aside. By midsummer 1933, the first year of Roosevelt’s presidency, Congress had passed a record amount of New Deal legislation.”
How much more comforting back in those days than to have Trump wafting through 39 minutes of campaign favs. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024