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'The Pajama Game'
Jun. 30, 2013 7:00 am
Before Meredith Willson hit it big with “The Music Man,” Iowa already was represented on Broadway and in Hollywood by Richard Pike Bissell.
Bissell's novel, “7½ Cents” was about the garment industry in Bissell's hometown of Dubuque. Published by Little, Brown & Co., it was a June 1953 Book-of-the-Month Club selection even before it hit bookshelves nationwide.
Vice president in charge of production at the H.B. Glover Co., a garment manufacturer in Dubuque, Bissell used his experience in that industry as inspiration for his novel. A Publisher's Weekly review called the book “a delightfully satirical novel … The author writes so well that even the details of the nightshirt business become interesting.”
Bissell's great-grandfather, F.E. Bissell, an Iowa attorney general, died suddenly when Bissell's grandfather, L.C. Bissell was entering his teens. Supporting the family fell to L.C. and he found a job with the Glover Company. His first tasks were sweeping floors and other odd jobs, but he eventually started acquiring stock in the company. Richard's father, another F.E. Bissell, was a 1900 graduate of Harvard and came home to work in the business. Richard became a Harvard alum himself, having intended to major in American history and literature, but instead getting a degree in anthropology.
Despite his Harvard education, Richard returned to Iowa in 1937 to work in the family business because he wanted to get married. Jobs were hard to come by in the late 1930s, so the family factory was a logical step. He held every job in the place, from operating the elevator, to designer, to buyer, to working in the factory. His claim that he enjoyed the work seemed evident in the pages of his novel.
He brought his bride to a houseboat in the Dubuque harbor in 1939. They left it only when Richard went to riverboating.
A May 1953 story about Bissell said “Richard Pike Bissell, who likes white shoes, Scotch and antique curios, has high hopes for ‘7½ Cents.'” That hope was well-placed. “The Pajama Game,” a musical based on “7½ Cents,” opened on Broadway on May 13, 1954. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1955.
In August 1956, the newly famous author returned to Iowa with his family to float on the Mississippi in a 70-foot houseboat. A river man at heart, Bissell had sandwiched “7½ Cents” between two novels about the river, “Stretch on the River” and “High Water.” He considered the boat his insurance should the bottom ever fall out of his stretch of success. Formerly a corps of engineers boat, the craft slept seven, but the ship's log noted that could be expanded to 14 “if they are well acquainted.”
Bissell relished the solitude of the river before he had to show up in Hollywood for work on the filming of “Pajama Game.” “I honestly don't know what I'll be expected to do out there,” he said. “Probably sit around and look wise. But I've got to be there anyway. It will be new, interesting and exciting … but I'll probably be very glad when I'm through.” He used that time to finish up his newest book, “Say Darling,” in the quiet of the Dubuque Public Library.
“The show (“The Pajama Game”) was a smash hit from the first. Night after night people have crowded into the St. James Theater to enjoy its story about labor-management troubles in a pajama factory and a boy who loves a girl on the opposite side of the fence and who courts her with some very delightful music,” said Nadine Subotnik, Gazette entertainment editor, in an article published Oct. 31, 1956.
Nadine's story reported on the arrival in Dubuque of a Hollywood crew to begin shooting authentic backgrounds for the film version of the Broadway production on Oct. 30. Bissell and his collaborator in writing the movie adaptation, George Abbott, were in Dubuque for the shooting, as was John Raitt, whose leading role in the Broadway production carried over into the film. “Shooting began with a panoramic view of Dubuque from the top of the cable car that runs from Fourth Street to Fenelon Place - a sunrise view that everyone promises will be a technicolored lulu.”
Warner Brothers began shooting the movie in Hollywood on Nov. 28. The cast included most of the principals from Broadway with the notable exception of Janis Paige. Doris Day replaced her in the movie. The film's budget was set at $3 1/2 million, and it finished shooting 15 to 20 days ahead of schedule.
On Aug. 28, 1957, Dubuque hosted the world premiere of the film “The Pajama Game,” starring Doris Day, John Raitt, Carol Haney and Eddie Foy Jr. in the musical comedy set in the fictional Sleeptite Pajama Co.
The film opened Sept. 2 at the Iowa Theater in Cedar Rapids.
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