Jump to content

Robinson Crusoe, Jr.: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
mNo edit summary
m (GR) File renamed: File:Yaakahula.jpgFile:Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula 1916 sheet music cover.jpg Criterion 2 (meaningless or ambiguous name) · this is a much more accurate name
 
(30 intermediate revisions by 19 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{for|the 1941 Looney Tunes animated short|Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (film)}}
{{Infobox Musical
{{Infobox Musical
|name= Robinson Crusoe, Jr.
|name= Robinson Crusoe, Jr.
|subtitle=
|subtitle=
|image= Yaakahula.jpg
|image= Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula 1916 sheet music cover.jpg
|caption= Sheet music cover (cropped)
|caption= Sheet music cover (cropped)
|music= [[Sigmund Romberg]] and [[James Hanley]]
|music= [[Sigmund Romberg]] and [[James F. Hanley|James Hanley]]
|lyrics=[[Harry Atteridge]]
|lyrics=[[Harold Atteridge]]
|book= [[Edgar Smith]]
|book= [[Edgar Smith (librettist)|Edgar Smith]]
|productions= [[1916]] [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]
|productions= 1916 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]
<!-- Please do not include production-specific (acting, directing, etc.) awards -->
<!-- Please do not include production-specific (acting, directing, etc.) awards -->
|awards=
|awards=
}}
}}
'''''Robinson Crusoe, Jr.''''' is a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] [[musical theatre|musical]] with a book by [[Edgar Smith]], lyrics by [[Harry Atteridge]], and music by [[Sigmund Romberg]] and [[James Hanley]].
'''''Robinson Crusoe, Jr.''''' is a [[Musical theatre|musical]] with a book by [[Edgar Smith (librettist)|Edgar Smith]], lyrics by [[Harold Atteridge]], and music by [[Sigmund Romberg]] and [[James F. Hanley|James Hanley]].


==Production==
Produced by [[Lee Shubert]] and [[J. J. Shubert]], the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production, staged by [[John Kennedy]] and [[choreographed]] by [[Helen Tamiris]], opened on [[February 17]], [[1916]] at the [[Winter Garden Theatre]], where it ran for 139 performances. Cast included [[Al Jolson]], [[Kitty Doner]], [[Claude Flemming]], and [[Mlle. Rodriguez]].


''Robinson Crusoe, Jr.'' was an extravaganza that opened at the [[Winter Garden Theatre]] on 17 February 1916.{{sfn|Everett|2008|p=62}}
This show was a “musical extravaganza” dominated by the personality of Al Jolson. He starts out as the chauffer for a person who falls asleep and dreams he is Robinson Crusoe and Jolson is his man Friday. They go from place to place: a Spanish castle, a pirate ship, a forest. Finally, the show gives up all pretense and Jolson just takes over.
The original [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production was produced by [[Lee Shubert]] and [[Jacob J. Shubert]], directed by [[J. C. Huffman]] and [[choreographed]] by [[Helen Tamiris]].{{citation needed|date=June 2014}}
Music was by [[Sigmund Romberg]] and the book and lyrics were by [[Harold R. Atteridge]].{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=103}}
The show was the last major musical that Jacob J. Shubert staged during [[World War I]], and he instructed Romberg to avoid any of his Austro-Hungarian musical idioms.{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=118}}

The cast included [[Al Jolson]], [[Kitty Doner]], [[Claude Flemming]], and Isabelle Rodrigues.<ref>{{cite web |title=Internet Broadway Database |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/robinson-crusoe-jr-8272 |website=ibdb.com |access-date=February 3, 2019}}</ref>
The show was built around Jolson, and was a vehicle for Jolson.{{sfn|Mordden|1988|p=32}}{{efn|Al Jolson's roots in show business came from performing in a carnival and a traveling circus, and then in [[vaudeville]].
He mostly worked in [[blackface]], a convention that originated with [[minstrel show]]s. His breakthrough came with ''[[La Belle Paree]]'' in 1911.{{sfn|Browne|Browne|2001|p=445}} }}
A company of two hundred supported Al Jolson in ten major scenes.{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=103}}
The show included songs from a number of sources, including some written by Jolson. He often added or removed songs from one show to another.
Atteridge created a simple framing story that unified the acts.{{sfn|Everett|2008|p=62}}
The show ran on Broadway for 139 performances.{{sfn|Everett|2008|p=297}}
It then went on the road in the fall. Jolson sometimes performed twice or three times in one day in one city before moving on.{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=103}}

==Synopsis==
[[File:Al Jolson in Robinson Crusoe Jr 1916.png|thumb|Scene from the show]]
'''Setting:''' [[Long Island, New York]] and Robinson Crusoe's Island

Hiram Westbury, a millionaire, is exhausted by some film makers who want to use his estate as a film location.
He falls asleep. In his dream, he imagines he is Robinson Crusoe, Jr.
His chauffeur, played by Al Jolson, is his Good Friday.{{sfn|Everett|2008|p=62}}
Jolson played the chauffeur in [[blackface]].{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=103}}
The dreams make up most of the show.{{sfn|Everett|2008|p=64}}
After the opening scene the pair travel to Crusoe's island, which is given a haunted forest, and to a pirate ship crewed by chorus girls.{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=103-104}}
The "glittering galaxies of gorgeous, glorious, gladsome girlies mirthfully monopolized the mad, merry hours and the ten tremendous tumultuous scenes of ''Robinson Crusoe, Jr.''"{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=104}}
At one point in the story trees woke up and began to sway to the music.
Jolson has comic interactions with a goat and a crocodile.{{sfn|Bordman|2010|p=363}}
The shorter second act was set back in the millionaire's home.{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=104}}

There were 27 musical numbers in the show, including five specialty dances. Many of the huge cast danced in ''Minstrel Days''. Jolson himself did not play a major role in the musical numbers, and was always alone on the stage when he sang.{{sfn|Hirsch|2000|p=104}}
According to Jolson's biographer Michael Freedland, ''Robinson Crusoe, Jr.'' was "the nearest Jolson had yet come to a show with a real plot ... although from opening night on, it was quite plain that the story was not going to interfere with his domination on stage."{{sfn|Bordman|2010|p=363}}


==Songs==
==Songs==
* Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go with Friday on Saturday Night? ([[Sam E. Lewis]] & [[Joe Young]] (w), [[George W. Meyer]] (m))
* Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go with Friday on Saturday Night? ([[Sam M. Lewis]] & [[Joe Young (lyricist)|Joe Young]] (w), [[George W. Meyer]] (m))
* Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula ([[E. Ray Goetz]] & [[Joe Young]] (w), Pete Wendling (m))
* Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula ([[E. Ray Goetz]] & [[Joe Young (lyricist)|Joe Young]] (w), [[Pete Wendling]] (m))
* Where the Black-Eyed Susans Grow (by Dave Radford and [[Richard Whiting]])
* Where the Black-Eyed Susans Grow (by Dave Radford and [[Richard A. Whiting|Richard Whiting]])

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{notes}}
'''Citations'''
{{reflist |colwidth=30em}}
'''Sources'''
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Bordman|first=Gerald Martin|title=American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVdShkzkX74C&pg=PA363|access-date=2014-06-03
|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-972970-8}}
*{{cite book|last1=Browne|first1=Ray Broadus|last2=Browne|first2=Pat|title=The Guide to United States Popular Culture
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3rJxPYT32MC&pg=PA445
|year=2001|publisher=Popular Press|isbn=978-0-87972-821-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Everett |first=William A.|title=Sigmund Romberg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POXH4_IE7ooC&pg=PA62|access-date=2014-06-03
|date=2008-10-01|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-13835-1}}
*{{cite book|last=Hirsch|first=Foster|title=The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lOkvjs6DM_sC&pg=PA103|access-date=2014-06-03
|date=2000-09-05|publisher=Cooper Square Press|isbn=978-1-4616-9875-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Mordden|first=Ethan|title=Broadway Babies
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFyJdLgYlikC&pg=PA32|access-date=2014-06-03
|year=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-536375-3}}
{{refend}}


==External links==
==External links==
Line 27: Line 81:
{{Sigmund Romberg}}
{{Sigmund Romberg}}


{{DEFAULTSORT: Robinson Crusoe, Jr.}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson Crusoe, Jr.}}
[[Category:1916 musicals]]
[[Category:1916 musicals]]
[[Category:Blackface minstrel shows and films]]
[[Category:Broadway musicals]]
[[Category:Broadway musicals]]
[[Category:Musicals by Harold Atteridge]]
[[Category:Musicals by Sigmund Romberg]]
[[Category:Musicals set in New York]]
[[Category:Musicals set on fictional islands]]
[[Category:Musicals by Edgar Smith]]

Latest revision as of 05:11, 8 March 2024

Robinson Crusoe, Jr.
Sheet music cover (cropped)
MusicSigmund Romberg and James Hanley
LyricsHarold Atteridge
BookEdgar Smith
Productions1916 Broadway

Robinson Crusoe, Jr. is a musical with a book by Edgar Smith, lyrics by Harold Atteridge, and music by Sigmund Romberg and James Hanley.

Production

[edit]

Robinson Crusoe, Jr. was an extravaganza that opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on 17 February 1916.[1] The original Broadway production was produced by Lee Shubert and Jacob J. Shubert, directed by J. C. Huffman and choreographed by Helen Tamiris.[citation needed] Music was by Sigmund Romberg and the book and lyrics were by Harold R. Atteridge.[2] The show was the last major musical that Jacob J. Shubert staged during World War I, and he instructed Romberg to avoid any of his Austro-Hungarian musical idioms.[3]

The cast included Al Jolson, Kitty Doner, Claude Flemming, and Isabelle Rodrigues.[4] The show was built around Jolson, and was a vehicle for Jolson.[5][a] A company of two hundred supported Al Jolson in ten major scenes.[2] The show included songs from a number of sources, including some written by Jolson. He often added or removed songs from one show to another. Atteridge created a simple framing story that unified the acts.[1] The show ran on Broadway for 139 performances.[7] It then went on the road in the fall. Jolson sometimes performed twice or three times in one day in one city before moving on.[2]

Synopsis

[edit]
Scene from the show

Setting: Long Island, New York and Robinson Crusoe's Island

Hiram Westbury, a millionaire, is exhausted by some film makers who want to use his estate as a film location. He falls asleep. In his dream, he imagines he is Robinson Crusoe, Jr. His chauffeur, played by Al Jolson, is his Good Friday.[1] Jolson played the chauffeur in blackface.[2] The dreams make up most of the show.[8] After the opening scene the pair travel to Crusoe's island, which is given a haunted forest, and to a pirate ship crewed by chorus girls.[9] The "glittering galaxies of gorgeous, glorious, gladsome girlies mirthfully monopolized the mad, merry hours and the ten tremendous tumultuous scenes of Robinson Crusoe, Jr."[10] At one point in the story trees woke up and began to sway to the music. Jolson has comic interactions with a goat and a crocodile.[11] The shorter second act was set back in the millionaire's home.[10]

There were 27 musical numbers in the show, including five specialty dances. Many of the huge cast danced in Minstrel Days. Jolson himself did not play a major role in the musical numbers, and was always alone on the stage when he sang.[10] According to Jolson's biographer Michael Freedland, Robinson Crusoe, Jr. was "the nearest Jolson had yet come to a show with a real plot ... although from opening night on, it was quite plain that the story was not going to interfere with his domination on stage."[11]

Songs

[edit]

References

[edit]

Notes

  1. ^ Al Jolson's roots in show business came from performing in a carnival and a traveling circus, and then in vaudeville. He mostly worked in blackface, a convention that originated with minstrel shows. His breakthrough came with La Belle Paree in 1911.[6]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Everett 2008, p. 62.
  2. ^ a b c d Hirsch 2000, p. 103.
  3. ^ Hirsch 2000, p. 118.
  4. ^ "Internet Broadway Database". ibdb.com. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
  5. ^ Mordden 1988, p. 32.
  6. ^ Browne & Browne 2001, p. 445.
  7. ^ Everett 2008, p. 297.
  8. ^ Everett 2008, p. 64.
  9. ^ Hirsch 2000, p. 103-104.
  10. ^ a b c Hirsch 2000, p. 104.
  11. ^ a b Bordman 2010, p. 363.

Sources

[edit]