The Pajama Game began as a book by Richard Bissell called "7 1/2 cents". It was the turned into an innovative and hugely successful Broadway musical as "The Pajama Game" by George Abbot and author Bissell, with choreography by Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse, and words and music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Most of the cast utilized in this film of the famous musical, for once, are talents from the Broadway play, with Doris Day as "Babe" Williams joining John Raitt as Sid Sorokin the ill-matched labor and management couple about whom the story centers. The storyline I find to be a very straightforward and appealing narrative. An Iowa pajama factory's chief is having a dispute with his workforce over a demand for a badly-needed 7 1/2 cents-an- hour pay increase that all his competitors have granted already. The new superintendent falls in love with one of the Grievance Committee's members, despite her hesitation because he is management and she labor. When, after the liberating annual company picnic, the demands are again refused, Day stops the machinery after a slowdown is stopped by Raitt, and he has to fire her. The aftermath is that sabotage by the workers is slowly wrecking sales. When the boss still stubbornly refuses to give in, Raitt invites his secretary (Carol Haney) our for a drink and she all-but-gives him the key she wears around her neck that unlocks the Boss's books; after her insanely jealous boyfriend (Eddie Foy Jr.) has been dealt with, Raitt appears at the workers' meeting after forcing the boss (Ralph Dunn) to "compromise"--he will grant the raise immediately if the retroactive pay the workers should have had all along is ignored--the pay he'd been pretending could not be paid. As the lead, John Raitt is energetic, sings in a fine Irish tenor and handles every aspect of his assignment very well. Doris Day is quite believable as Babe Williams but lacks a Broadway caliber voice. Carol Haney makes a fine comedy debut as the secretary. Eddie Foy plays Hinesie Heinz, her boy friend, a caricature of a role, with vaudevillian grace and intelligence. His number with Reta Shaw as Raitt's assistant "I Would Trust Her" is a highlight for many, charming and unusually stylish. Others in the cast include powerful Ralph Dunn as the tough boss, Thelma Pelish as Mae, accomplished Jack Straw as Prez and Ralph Chambers as Charlie. Memorable musical numbers include, "Hurry Up", "Hey There", "I'm Not at All in Love", "Steam Heat", "The Pajama Game", "Once A Year Day", "There Once Was a Man" and "Hernando's Hideaway". Among production artists, Harry Stradling's difficult cinematography achievement, seamless art direction by Malcom C. Bert, set decoration by William Kuehl and costume design by Jean Eckart and William Eckart and Frak Thomas all deserve mention. Pros such as Buddy Bregman, Nelson Riddle, Charles Henderson and Ray Heidorf contributed to the vocal and musical success the film achieves. The characters may be presented a bit surrealistically, but this is actually a ground-breaking Warner Brothers attempt, like "the Fountainhead", whose target is the totalitarian "bossism" that was even then destroying American values and requiring real leaders to stand up for individuals' rights against unrealistic gatekeeper 'tsars'. This is a very-well -realized musical about people fighting against a most corrupt system; and musically one of the best offerings ever to come out of Hollywood.
Review of The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game
(1957)
Ground-breaking and appealing musical of ideas with great songs
30 March 2008