DuBarry Was a Lady

DuBarry Was a Lady (1939) is a Broadway musical, starring Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman and Betty Grable with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Herbert Fields and B.G. DeSylva. The song "Friendship" was one of the highlights. The musical was made into a 1943 Technicolor film starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and Gene Kelly, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot

A hatcheck attendant, Louis Blore, has won a sweepstakes, and subsequently quits his job. He is in love with the nightclub singer May Daly, but she is in love with Alex Barton. Alex is the brother of her friend Alice, who is in love with Harry Norton. Meanwhile, Alex is unhappily married to Ann. Charley, Louis's replacement, suggests that Louis slip Alex a Mickey Finn. While trying to do so, Louis inadvertently drinks the Mickey Finn, falls asleep, and dreams he is King Louis XV of France, and that May is Madame du Barry. In his dream, Charley becomes the Dauphin (later Louis XVI) and Harry becomes the captain of the guard, with Ann as Du Barry's lady-in-waiting, and Alex as a peasant who wrote a rude song about The King and Du Barry (the title song: Du Barry Was A Lady). Eventually after various entanglements (including the Dauphin shooting the King in the posterior with a bow and arrow), Louis wakes up and realises that Alex is the man for May. He uses the last of his winnings to pay for Alex's divorce from Ann, and (with Charley having just quit his job) goes back to being a cloakroom attendant.

Stage productions

1939 Broadway

The show opened at the 46th Street Theatre on 6 December 1939 and closed 12 December 1940, running for 408 performances. It was directed by Edgar MacGregor with choreography by Robert Alton.

Cast

• Bert Lahr as Louis Blore
• Ethel Merman as May Daly
• Betty Grable as Alice Barton
• Benny Baker as Charley
• Ronald Graham as Alex Barton
• Charles Walters as Harry Norton

1942 London production

The show opened at His Majesty's Theatre on 22 October 1942 and ran for 178 performances. It was directed by Richard Bird.

Cast

• Arthur Riscoe as Louis Blore
• Frances Day as May Daly
• Frances Marsden as Alice Barton
• Jacky Hunter as Charley
• Bruce Trent as Alex Barton
• Teddy Beaumont as Harry Norton

Later revivals

The show has been revived in concert form several times, in both America and the UK. The two UK productions, in 1993 and 2002 were by the "Discovering Lost Musicals Charitable Trust" and featured Louise Gold as May Daly (in the former Barry Cryer played Louis, and in the latter Desmond Barrit). The 1993 production was at The Barbican, but the 2002 revivial was (like the original London production) on the stage of Her Majesty's Theatre; and recorded for radio by the BBC (it was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 during Christmas 2002).

Broadway songs

Act I

• Where's Louie? - Ensemble
• Ev'ry Day's a Holiday - Harry Norton, Alice Barton and Ensemble
• It Ain't Etiquette - His Most Royal Majesty, The King of France and Vi Hennessey
• When Love Beckoned - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry
• Come On In - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and Ensemble
• Dream Song - Four Internationals
• Mesdames and Messieurs - Dames de la Coeur
• Gavotte - Alice Barton and Ensemble
• But in the Morning, No! - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and His Most Royal Majesty, The King of France
• Do I Love You? - Alex Barton and Mme. La Comtesse du Barry
• Do I Love You (Reprise) - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and Zamore
• DuBarry Was a Lady - Entire Company

Act II

• Give Him the Ooh-La-La - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry
• Well, Did You Evah! - Alice Barton and Harry Norton
• It Was Written in the Stars - Alex Barton and Ensemble
• L'Apres Midi d'un Boeuf - Charley and Zamore
• Katie Went to Haiti - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and Ensemble
• Katie Went to Haiti (Reprise) - Alex Barton and Mme. La Comtesse du Barry
• Friendship - Mme. La Comtesse du Barry and His Most Royal Majesty, The King of France

Film

The film was released by MGM on 13 August 1943, and directed by Roy Del Ruth. It used very little of the original Cole Porter score. New characters were added, and many of the original characters' names were changed. The basic outline remained the same, although the relationships of some of the characters were different. In the film, Ginny (another singer) pines away for Louis, who is too infatuated with May Daly to notice, and it is only at the end that he realizes that Ginny loves him.

The dream sequence in the film was purposely delayed by more than forty-five minutes, with vaudeville-type acts performed as a floor show before the dream sequence got underway. The Louis XV - Mme. DuBarry scenes, unlike the play, featured very little singing.

Cast

• Red Skelton as Louis Blore and Louis XV
• Lucille Ball as May Daly and Madame DuBarry (two songs dubbed by Martha Mears)
• Gene Kelly as Alec Howe and The Black Arrow
• Virginia O'Brien as Ginny
• Rags Ragland as Charlie
• Zero Mostel as Rami the Swami
• Hugh Beaumont as Footman

Film songs

Musical numbers featured Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra (featuring Buddy Rich and Ziggy Elman), Dick Haymes, Jo Stafford, The Pied Pipers, Six Hits and a Miss, and The Music Maids. Lucille Ball's singing voice was dubbed in most of the picture, but her real voice is heard in Friendship.

• Medley: Dubarry Was a Lady (Main Title)/Do I Love You? [#] - MGM Studio Orchestra
• Dubarry Was a Lady [#] - MGM Studio Chorus,
• Nightclub Medley: Give Him to the Oo-La-La/Well, Did You Evah [Partial] - MGM Studio Orchestra
• Oxford Boys Medley: Thinking of You/A Cigarette, Sweet Music and You
• Medley: I'm Getting Sentimental Over You/Well, Git It! - Tommy Dorsey
• When Love Beckoned (On 52nd Street) [#] - MGM Studio Orchestra
• Do I Love You? [#] - Gene Kelly
• Do I Love You - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, The Pied Pipers

• Salome [#] - Virginia O'Brien
• I Love an Esquire Girl [#] - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, The Pied Pipers, Red Skelton
• Medley: Friendship/Do I Love You?/But in the Morning, No [#] - MGM Studio Orchestra
• Ladies of the Bath [#]
• Katie Went to Haiti - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, The Pied Pipers
• Madame, I Love Your Crepes Suzette [#] - Red Skelton
• Song of Rebellion [#] - Gene Kelly
• Friendship - Lucille Ball, Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Gene Kelly, Virginia O'Brien, Red Skelton

External links

• DuBarry Was a Lady at the Internet Broadway Database
• The Shelf: Review of Du Barry Was a Lady