Call Me Madam

Background

The lead character is based on Washington, D.C. hostess and Democratic Party fundraiser Perle Mesta, who was appointed ambassador to Luxembourg in 1949. The Playbill distributed at each performance humorously noted that "neither the character of Mrs. Sally Adams nor Miss Ethel Merman resemble any person living or dead."

In 1949, Merman and her family were vacationing at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs with Howard Lindsay and his wife, Dorothy Stickney. Watching Merman at poolside, while he was reading a magazine article about Mesta, Lindsay was struck by how typically "American" Merman was, and immediately envisioned her portraying a colorful character similar to the newly-appointed ambassador. When he proposed the idea to Merman, who had little interest in either society or political news, she responded, "Who's Perle Mesta?"

Although Merman had announced she was interested in playing a dramatic role in her next project, Lindsay and Russel Crouse approached Irving Berlin and began working on the book for Call Me Madam when Berlin expressed interest in composing the score. Berlin's last production, Miss Liberty, had failed to recoup its investment, and he was determined to repeat the success he had had with Annie Get Your Gun. The three collaborators agreed they needed to treat their subject with care, to avoid any legal action by Mesta. As the work progressed, Merman conceded she would be willing to sing two or three songs, but eventually accepted the fact she was going to star in a full-scale musical comedy, instead of the drama she preferred.

Producer Leland Hayward budgeted the production at $250,000. In exchange for the original cast recording and television broadcast rights, he arranged to have it financed 100% by RCA Records and NBC, with the two sharing 35% of the net earnings. In order to increase the profits, Hayward decided to charge an all-time high of $7.20 for orchestra seats.

Hayward hired George Abbott to direct, and Abbott and casting director Harold Prince auditioned thousands of actors for the twenty speaking roles and twenty-nine chorus members. Raoul Pene du Bois was hired to design sets and costumes, while the wardrobe worn by Merman was the responsibility of Mainbocher.

Once the script was completed, everyone agreed that, while it seemed originally little more than standard situation-comedy material—although as the years have transpired, many musical aficionados rate it much higher—it was a perfect vehicle for Merman, and that Berlin's score, raised to its pinnacle by Merman, was tuneful and memorable. Berlin wrote "Something to Dance About" to give the second act a lively opening. When the star requested a duet with Russell Nype playing her lovestruck press attaché, Berlin responded by writing the counterpoint tune "You're Just in Love" and it ultimately became a showstopper at every performance.

Synopsis

Sally Adams, a wealthy widow from Oklahoma, lives in Washington, D.C., where she is known as "the hostess with the mostest," famed for throwing the best parties in town. Despite her complete lack of experience, she is tapped as ambassador to the tiniest country in Europe, the Grand Duchy of Lichtenburg. The young press attaché Kenneth Gibson accompanies her as her aide. Sally is disappointed to find that Lichtenburg's foreign minister, Cosmo Constantine, is a formal and standoffish person who refuses to accept America's offer of foreign aid. She hatches a plot to get Cosmo promoted to the office of prime minister, thinking that he can be replaced by a foreign minister more open to her American manners and way of thinking. Meanwhile, Kenneth meets Princess Maria, daughter of the duke and duchess. Her parents are planning to marry her to a wealthy suitor whose fortune will help the duchy financially. Despite the fact that she is forbidden to speak to commoners, the princess and Kenneth fall in love.

Cosmo learns of Sally's plans for him and resigns his position, opening the way for the country's first general election in twenty years. Sally openly campaigns for Cosmo to become prime minister, and is recalled to Washington for interfering in another country's internal affairs. However, the spirit of democracy has awakened in Lichtenburg: Cosmo is elected prime minister and the duke and duchess grant permission for Maria and Kenneth to marry.

Productions

Directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, the musical premiered at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut on September 11, 1950. Reviews were mixed—Variety said it "inspires warm applause rather than cheer"—and Berlin wrote two new songs to bolster the sagging second act. It opened in Boston on September 19, and while The Boston Record thought it offered "only an occasional flash of inspirational fire", it played to standing-room-only audiences throughout the run.

With a record advance sale of $2 million, the Broadway production opened on October 12 at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 644 performances and grossed more than $4 million. In addition to Merman and Nype, the cast included Paul Lukas, Pat Harrington, Sr., Galina Talva, Lilia Skala, Tommy Rall and Richard Eastham. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times thought it offered one of Berlin's "most enchanting scores: fresh, light, and beguiling, and fitted to lyrics that fall out of it with grace and humor", and the New York Post called Merman "indescribably soul-satisfying", "a comedienne of rare skill", and "one of the joys of the world." She remained with the show for the entire run and appeared in the limited four-week engagement staged to celebrate the reopening of the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Apart from playing Rose in the first national tour of Gypsy, the role of Sally Adams in Call Me Madam was the only stage role that Merman reprised after originating on Broadway. In July 1965, Merman headlined a revival by the Valley Music Theater in which Richard Eastham and Russell Nype also reprised their Broadway roles. The production played an encore engagement, without Nype, in Houston that October. Merman, Eastham and Nype again reprised their Broadway roles for a 1967 summer stock tour of Call Me Madam.

The national tour of Call Me Madam was headlined by Elaine Stritch. Merman's understudy during the show's Broadway run, Stritch had never performed as Sally Adams at the Imperial, her debut in the role occurring at a matinee performance during the show's May 1952 Washington D.C. engagement. Subsequent to engagements at the Nixon Theater in Pittsburgh and the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland, with respective openings on June 2 and 9, 1952, the national tour opened at the Philharmonic Auditorium on June 23, 1952, with further engagements in nine other cities, including Chicago and Detroit, the finale an engagement at the Iroquois Park Amphitheater in Louisville in August 1953. Throughout most of the tour, Stritch's leading man was Kent Smith as Cosmo Constantine, although Dick Smart took the role before the tour's end. The cast of the national tour also included Pat Harrington Sr. and Jay Velie reprising their Broadway roles. Stritch reprised the role of Sally Adams in two regional theatrical productions, headlining at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre in 1954, with Nype reprising his Broadway role, and for the Valley Forge Music Fair in 1956.

Film adaptation

A 1953 Twentieth Century-Fox film adaptation stars Ethel Merman, George Sanders, Donald O'Connor, Billy DeWolfe, Charles Dingle and Vera-Ellen.

Casts (1950s-1970s)

Notable replacements

Mrs. Sally Adams: Dinah Shore, Nancy Andrews (s/b), Elaine Stritch (s/b)

Cosmo Constantine: Richard Eastham

Princess Maria: Jeanne Bal (u/s)

Mrs. Sally Adams: Elaine Stritch

Cosmo Constantine: Kent Smith

Recordings

Two LP albums of the score were released. The recording rights had been granted to RCA Victor, which had invested in the show, but Merman was under contract to Decca Records, which refused to allow her to record the original cast album. Decca issued a 10-inch LP featuring Merman singing some of her songs, accompanied by arranger-conductor Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra and Chorus, with vocalizing by Dick Haymes (who joined Merman in the show's biggest hit, "You're Just in Love", their single reaching Billboard magazine's number 30 for a week) and Eileen Wilson (who sang "It's a Lovely Day Today" with Haymes). RCA Victor issued the original cast album, replacing Merman with Dinah Shore.

Merman was recalled to the Decca studios to record additional songs from the show, and the label rereleased the album as a 12-inch LP under the title Ethel Merman: 12 Songs from Call Me Madam. The Victor album sold reasonably well, attaining the sixth spot on the Billboard popular album charts, but the LP was out of print from 1956 until RCA Red Seal reissued it briefly in 1977. Peaking at number two on Billboard's popular album charts, Merman's Decca recording, which appeared on MCA Records beginning in 1973, stayed steadily in print until the end of the LP era. Merman's Madam album was most recently available on a Decca Broadway CD, which also features Merman singing four Cole Porter tunes from the stage score of Panama Hattie (1940).

A recording of the 1952 London West End production was released with 12 numbers from the show, with Billie Worth, Anton Walbrook, Jeff Warren and Shani Wallis in the principal roles, conducted by Cyril Ornadel. The release was later reissued on the Sepia label.

Merman also is heard on the film soundtrack album (with Donald O'Connor and George Sanders), issued in 1953 as a 10-inch album, also on the Decca label. Scoring fifth position on Billboard's popular albums charts when first released, the soundtrack, taken out of print in 1957, was reissued in 1981 by Stet Records on a 12-inch LP that also contained songs from the film scores of Guys and Dolls (1955) and I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955). The Merman soundtrack has not been issued on CD.

A 1995 Broadway concert cast album featuring Tyne Daly, Lewis Cleale, Christopher Durang, Ken Page and Melissa Errico is available on the DRG label.

Promotional appearances

On the premiere episode of NBC Radio's The Big Show on November 5, 1950, original Broadway cast members Ethel Merman, Paul Lukas and Russell Nype performed songs from the score in the order of their appearance in the production, while host Tallulah Bankhead added story notes between songs. Merman sang "The Hostess with the Mostes' on the Ball", then Lukas sang "Lichtenburg", then Merman sang "Can You Use Any Money Today?" and "The Best Thing for You (Would Be Me)". Merman also sang "You're Just in Love" with Nype.

In political culture

When Englishwoman Betty Boothroyd was assigned the chair of deputy speaker (1987–1992), backbencher Peter Pike asked her: "What do we call you?" Drawing from her showbusiness years, Boothroyd replied: "Call me Madam."