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Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana'|Top Banana

Top Banana

Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana'

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Top Banana, which opened at the Winter Garden on Broadway November 1, 1951, was a musical that took as its setting a variety television series not unlike The Milton Berle Show. The comic Phil Silvers, who, ironically, would go on to earn his most widespread fame for his own television series, The Phil Silvers Show (1955-1959), on which he immortalized the character of Sgt. Bilko, played Jerry Biffle, the Berle-like "top banana," an egotistical vaudevillian struggling to find romance and please his sponsor, Blendo Soap. Rose Marie (later of The Dick Van Dyke Show) also played a comic role. The clowns entirely overshadowed the inevitable romantic couple (Lindy Doherty and Judy Lynn), and they also got the best songs in Johnny Mercer's excellent score. Mercer, always better known in Hollywood and on Tin Pan Alley than on Broadway, was nevertheless writing his fourth stage musical, and the first for which he wrote the music as well as the words. The music was fine, but the words were terrific. Mercer had fun sending up the advertising/television culture that was just being born in the early '50s, but his gift for wordplay was best expressed in "A Word a Day," a Phil Silvers/Rose Marie duet in which the meanings of lots of big words were hilariously mangled, though the extended metaphor between boxing and lovemaking that is "I Fought Every Step of the Way" runs a close second. The show played ten months all told, which was about as long as the principals were willing to stick with it, and that wasn't enough to turn a profit. It was such a star vehicle that it had little life beyond the Broadway production, though there was, interestingly, a film actually shot on-stage during the run.

© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

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Top Banana

Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana'

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1
The Man Of The Year This Week
Harold Hastings
00:03:05

Harold Hastings, Conductor - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana', MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

2
You're So Beautiful That
Lindy Doherty
00:02:11

Johnny Mercer, Composer - Lindy Doherty, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

3
Top Banana
Phil Silvers
00:03:04

Phil Silvers, MainArtist - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Lindy Doherty, MainArtist - Jack Albertson, MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

4
Elevator Song
Harold Hastings
00:01:19

Harold Hastings, Conductor - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana', MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

5
Only If You're In Love
Judy Lynn
00:03:08

Judy Lynn, MainArtist - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Lindy Doherty, MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

6
My Home Is In My Shoes
Bob Scheerer
00:02:35

Bob Scheerer, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Johnny Mercer, Composer

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

7
I Fought Every Step Of The Way
Rose Marie
00:03:12

Johnny Mercer, Composer - Rose Marie, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

8
O.K. For TV
Phil Silvers
00:03:23

Phil Silvers, MainArtist - Judy Lynn, MainArtist - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Jack Albertson, MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

9
Slogan Song
Rose Marie
00:01:07

Phil Silvers, MainArtist - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Jack Albertson, MainArtist - Rose Marie, MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

10
Meet Miss Blendo
Harold Hastings
00:02:05

Harold Hastings, Conductor - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana', MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

11
Sans Souci
Rose Marie
00:03:20

Johnny Mercer, Composer - Rose Marie, MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

12
That's For Sure
Judy Lynn
00:03:17

Judy Lynn, MainArtist - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Lindy Doherty, MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

13
A Dog Is A Man's Best Friend
Phil Silvers
00:02:10

Phil Silvers, MainArtist - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana', MainArtist - Ted Morgan, MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

14
A Word A Day
Rose Marie
00:03:31

Phil Silvers, MainArtist - Johnny Mercer, Composer - Rose Marie, MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

15
Finale
Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana'
00:01:14

Johnny Mercer, Composer - Original Broadway Cast of 'Top Banana', MainArtist

(C) 1952 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1952 Capitol Records, LLC

Album review

Top Banana, which opened at the Winter Garden on Broadway November 1, 1951, was a musical that took as its setting a variety television series not unlike The Milton Berle Show. The comic Phil Silvers, who, ironically, would go on to earn his most widespread fame for his own television series, The Phil Silvers Show (1955-1959), on which he immortalized the character of Sgt. Bilko, played Jerry Biffle, the Berle-like "top banana," an egotistical vaudevillian struggling to find romance and please his sponsor, Blendo Soap. Rose Marie (later of The Dick Van Dyke Show) also played a comic role. The clowns entirely overshadowed the inevitable romantic couple (Lindy Doherty and Judy Lynn), and they also got the best songs in Johnny Mercer's excellent score. Mercer, always better known in Hollywood and on Tin Pan Alley than on Broadway, was nevertheless writing his fourth stage musical, and the first for which he wrote the music as well as the words. The music was fine, but the words were terrific. Mercer had fun sending up the advertising/television culture that was just being born in the early '50s, but his gift for wordplay was best expressed in "A Word a Day," a Phil Silvers/Rose Marie duet in which the meanings of lots of big words were hilariously mangled, though the extended metaphor between boxing and lovemaking that is "I Fought Every Step of the Way" runs a close second. The show played ten months all told, which was about as long as the principals were willing to stick with it, and that wasn't enough to turn a profit. It was such a star vehicle that it had little life beyond the Broadway production, though there was, interestingly, a film actually shot on-stage during the run.

© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

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