Lyrics Bob Hilliard Basis Film Nothing Sacred Lyricist Bob Hilliard Playwrights Ben Hecht, James Street | Book James H. Street Productions 1953 Broadway Composer Jule Styne | |
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Similar Jule Styne plays, Musicals | ||
Hazel Flagg is a musical based on a story by James H. Street. The lyrics are by Bob Hilliard, with music by Jule Styne and the book by Ben Hecht. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred. Ben Hecht was the primary writer of the film's screenplay.
Contents
Hazel flagg overture
Production
The musical opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on February 11, 1953 and closed on September 19, 1953 after 190 performances. Direction was by David Alexander, with musical staging by Robert Alton and costumes by Miles White.
The cast included Helen Gallagher (Hazel), John Howard (Wallace Cook), Thomas Mitchell, Benay Venuta, Jack Whiting (Mayor of New York), Ross Martin, Jonathan Harris, Sheree North and John Brascia.
Paramount Pictures, which owned the rights to the source material for Nothing Sacred, also acquired the rights to produce a film version of Hazel Flagg. The Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis film Living It Up (1954) is based on the musical with Hazel Flagg re-written as a male played by Lewis and Wallace Cook re-written as a female played by Janet Leigh. The one hit song from Hazel Flagg, "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York," was performed in this movie by Martin and Lewis.
Plot synopsis
Wallace Cook, a writer for Everywhere Magazine, suggests that his editor should run an article about small-town girl Hazel Flagg, purportedly dying from exposure to radium. Cook invites her to New York City for an interview. After accepting she discovers that she was misdiagnosed but, eager to visit the big city, decides not to reveal the truth and becomes a media darling embraced by a public deeply moved by her sad story.
Song list
Sources: Jule Styne Bio; Guide to Musical Theatre
Awards
Sources:Tams-Witmark; PlaybillVault