THE PAJAMA GAME
US, 1957, 101 minutes, Colour.
Doris Day, John Raitt, Eddie Foy Jnr., Reta Shaw. Carol Haney.
Directed by Stanley Donen.
The Pajama Game is a very enjoyable and, still surprisingly fresh, musical comedy. John Raitt comes from the Broadway production but the film has the verve and vitality of Doris Day in a significant period of her career. She had just made Love Me Or Leave Me and The Man Who Knew Too Much and was moving into dramatic films as well as sophisticated sex comedies as Pillow Talk. The film has an enjoyable supporting cast led by Eddie Foy Jnr. The music is bright and the lyrics bouncy and the songs enjoyable staged with choreography by Bob
Fosse.
Production and direction are by George Abbott and Stanley Donen who collaborated on Damn Yankees a year later. Donen had made his mark with Gene Kelly in the classics On The Town and Singin' In The Rain. He made outstanding musicals like Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and Funny Face and was to make a wide range of films into the '80s. The background of industry and unions, while romanticised, gives the film something of an anchor in reality. A good example of the American musical, satisfactorily translated to screen.
1. Popularity of musicals? Especially in the '50s? The Broadway musical and its aura? The adaptation for the screen - songs, choreography, cast?
2. The conventions of the musical comedy: characters, antagonisms and romance, song and dance routines? Simplification of issues while highlighting focal points? The expected behaviour, the happy ending? How acceptable were the conventions here?
3. Colour photography, the atmosphere of the factory,, the floor, the offices? Babe's home? The picnic? The meetings? A blend of the real and the stylised?
4. The contribution of the musical score? The songs and their revelation of character? Atmosphere? Placement? The style of the choreography? for the factory workers, for Vernon and Mabel, for Gladys at the picnic and for Steam Heat? The Steam Heat number? The exuberance of the picnic? Babe and her fellow workers? The slow motion scene in the factory? Bob Fosse's style of choreography as it developed over the decades, seen in its beginnings here? The verve of the songs? John Raitt's singing style and capacity for putting the songs across? Doris Day's exuberance? The duets, the range of styles of the songs? The factory song and the Seven and a half Cents; Babe's song: I'm Not At All In Love, I'll Never Be Jealous Again; This Is My Once A Year Day; Small Talk; There Once Was A Man Who Loved A Woman; Steam Heat; Hey There; Hernando's Hideaway?
5. The delineation of character: Babe at work. friends, falling in love with Sid, the picnic, caught on the side of the workers and support of Sid, relationship with her father, Sid's visits, her action in the factory jamming the machines, being fired, the demonstration, Hernando's Hideaway and warning Gladys, the success of the strike, her giving in at the end? Doris Day's vitality?
6. Sid and his serious approach to his work, ambitious, severe, the encounter with the Grievance Committee, his advice to the head of the factory, love for Babe, the picnic, the clashes, firing her, visits to her home, his examination of the books, getting the key from Gladys, Hernando's Hideaway, remedying the situation, giving in?
7. Vernon and his role in the factory, taking himself seriously, the seven and a half Cents? The love for Gladys? His suspicions? Mabel and the song I'll Never Be Jealous Again? Dancing with Mabel? Throwing the knives, especially at the picnic? His being caught with his trousers down? Wanting the workers to speed up and their slowing down? Chasing Gladys through the factory with the knives? Hernando's Hideaway? The comic type and relating it to factory work?
8. Gladys and her type, coping with Vernon's jealousy, dance at the picnic, Steam Heat, outing with Sid and giving him the key, Hernando's Hideaway?
9. The factory characters, the girls on the floor and their teasing of Babe, the men, romance? Mabel and he role in the office? The boss and his anxieties, his speech to the workers, giving in?
10. The background of factories and production, conditions, the Grievance Committee, questions of profits? Supervisors, strikes? The campaign for rights ?
11. The background of unions and the right to strike, workers' support, winning?
12. An enjoyable piece of Americana? Social issues, character, song-and-dance? An example of the potential of the American musical?
