See America First
Encyclopedia
See America First is a comic opera
with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs and music and lyrics by Cole Porter
. The first work by Porter to be produced on Broadway
, it was a critical and commercial flop.
, wanted to write a spoof
of the patriotic George M. Cohan
musicals that were popular at the time. They completed the bulk of their work at the Riggs home in New London, Connecticut
, and the script underwent extensive changes between its first draft and the New York opening. Four of the songs were interpolated from the 1914 Yale revue
Paranoia, or Chester of the Y.D.A.
father,the wealthy United States Senator
Huggins, sends her to a West Coast
finishing school
with the hope she will find a suitable husband. Polly, however, hopes to snare an English
duke
with whom she once exchanged furtive glances at a London
opera house. Unbeknownst to her, the cowboy
who is wooing her actually is her dream man, the Duke, in disguise. They become engaged. Polly's father is willing to adjust his principles when he falls in love with Sarah, the chaperone at her school.
, directed by J. H. Benrimo, and choreographed by Edward Hutchinson and Theodore Kosloff
. Anne Morgan, the daughter of J. P. Morgan
, and interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe
were among its financial backers. Prior to opening on Broadway
, it was staged in Schenectady
, Albany
, and Rochester
in Upstate New York
, New Haven, Connecticut
, and Providence, Rhode Island
.
The Broadway production opened on March 28, 1916 at the Maxine Elliott Theatre
. The cast included Dorothie Bigelow as Polly, Sam Edwards as her father, Clara Palmer as Sarah, John Heath Goldsworthy as Cecil, and Clifton Webb
as Percy. The evening before, Marbury had hosted a gala performance for her society friends and business associates, all of whom were enthusiastic about the show, but the critics were far less enchanted and it closed after only 15 performances. Bigelow laid the blame for its failure on Riggs and his book, while he in turn insisted it was due largely "to the fact that the composer and I consented to complete transformation of the piece to meet the capabilities of its interpreters and the supposed taste of the public." In a letter to Yale's alumni magazine, Riggs announced he was giving up musical theatre as a vocation. He converted to Catholicism
, became a priest, and eventually was assigned to the university as a chaplain
.
Despite the quick demise of See America First, G. Schirmer
published sheet music for thirteen of its twenty songs, and the Joseph C. Smith Orchestra recorded "When I Used to Lead the Ballet" (which had been written for The Pot of Gold in 1912) and "I've a Shooting Box in Scotland" for Victor. It was the first commercial recording of a Porter tune.
Act II
pattern in the long and complicated rhyme effects achieved. The music, however, gives the impression that its composer, after the first hour, gave up the task of recreating a Sullivan
atmosphere, preferring to seek his inspiration in our own George M. Cohan," whose musical style Porter intentionally had been trying to emulate.
The New York Herald review said "its plot is silly, its music unimpressive" and suggested "it would be delightful as a college play . . . with the audience consisting of fond relatives." The critic for The New York Tribune agreed, observing "Gotham is a big town and it may be that the sisters, aunts, and cousins of its Yale men will be sufficient to guarantee prosperity for See America First."
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs and music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
. The first work by Porter to be produced on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, it was a critical and commercial flop.
Background
Porter and Riggs, classmates at Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, wanted to write a spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the patriotic George M. Cohan
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....
musicals that were popular at the time. They completed the bulk of their work at the Riggs home in New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, and the script underwent extensive changes between its first draft and the New York opening. Four of the songs were interpolated from the 1914 Yale revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
Paranoia, or Chester of the Y.D.A.
Plot
The story focuses on Polly Huggins, whose xenophobicXenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
father,the wealthy United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Huggins, sends her to a West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
finishing school
Finishing school
A finishing school is "a private school for girls that emphasises training in cultural and social activities." The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the educational experience, with classes primarily on etiquette...
with the hope she will find a suitable husband. Polly, however, hopes to snare an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
with whom she once exchanged furtive glances at a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
opera house. Unbeknownst to her, the cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
who is wooing her actually is her dream man, the Duke, in disguise. They become engaged. Polly's father is willing to adjust his principles when he falls in love with Sarah, the chaperone at her school.
Production
See America First was produced by Elisabeth MarburyElisabeth Marbury
Elisabeth Marbury was a pioneering American theatrical and literary agent and producer who represented a prominent theatrical performers and writers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and helped shape business methods of the modern commercial theater...
, directed by J. H. Benrimo, and choreographed by Edward Hutchinson and Theodore Kosloff
Theodore Kosloff
Theodore Kosloff was a Russian-born ballet dancer, choreographer and film and stage actor. He was occasionally credited as Theodor Kosloff.-Career:...
. Anne Morgan, the daughter of J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
, and interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe
Elsie de Wolfe
]Elsie de Wolfe was an American actress, interior decorator, nominal author of the influential 1913 book The House in Good Taste, and a prominent figure in New York, Paris, and London society...
were among its financial backers. Prior to opening on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, it was staged in Schenectady
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
, Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, and Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
in Upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
, New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, and Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
.
The Broadway production opened on March 28, 1916 at the Maxine Elliott Theatre
Maxine Elliott Theatre
The Maxine Elliott Theatre was a Broadway theater located at 109 West 39th Street in New York City. Built in 1908, it was demolished in 1960. The theater was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall of the Chicago firm Marshall and Fox....
. The cast included Dorothie Bigelow as Polly, Sam Edwards as her father, Clara Palmer as Sarah, John Heath Goldsworthy as Cecil, and Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb was an American actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in such films as Laura, The Razor's Edge, and Sitting Pretty...
as Percy. The evening before, Marbury had hosted a gala performance for her society friends and business associates, all of whom were enthusiastic about the show, but the critics were far less enchanted and it closed after only 15 performances. Bigelow laid the blame for its failure on Riggs and his book, while he in turn insisted it was due largely "to the fact that the composer and I consented to complete transformation of the piece to meet the capabilities of its interpreters and the supposed taste of the public." In a letter to Yale's alumni magazine, Riggs announced he was giving up musical theatre as a vocation. He converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, became a priest, and eventually was assigned to the university as a chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
.
Despite the quick demise of See America First, G. Schirmer
G. Schirmer
G. Schirmer Inc. is an American classical music publishing company based in New York City, founded in 1861. It publishes sheet music for sale and rental, and represents some well-known European music publishers in North America, such as the Italian Ricordi, Music Sales Affiliates ChesterNovello,...
published sheet music for thirteen of its twenty songs, and the Joseph C. Smith Orchestra recorded "When I Used to Lead the Ballet" (which had been written for The Pot of Gold in 1912) and "I've a Shooting Box in Scotland" for Victor. It was the first commercial recording of a Porter tune.
Song list
Act I- Indian Girls' Chant
- Badmen
- To Follow Every Fancy
- Indian Maidens' Chorus
- Something's Got to Be Done
- I've Got an Awful Lot to Learn
- Beautiful, Primitive Indian Girls
- Hold-Up Ensemble
- See America First
- The Language of Flowers
- Damsel, Damsel (Prithee Come Crusading with Me)
- The Lady I've Vowed to Wed
- Hail the Female Relative
Act II
- Mirror, Mirror
- Ever and Ever Yours
- Lima
- Will You Love Me (When My Flivver Is a Wreck)?
- Buy Her a Box at the Opera
- I've a Shooting Box in Scotland
- When I Used to Lead the Ballet
Critical reception
The theatre critic for the New York Dramatic Mirror observed, "The lyrics are studiously copied after the GilbertianW. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
pattern in the long and complicated rhyme effects achieved. The music, however, gives the impression that its composer, after the first hour, gave up the task of recreating a Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
atmosphere, preferring to seek his inspiration in our own George M. Cohan," whose musical style Porter intentionally had been trying to emulate.
The New York Herald review said "its plot is silly, its music unimpressive" and suggested "it would be delightful as a college play . . . with the audience consisting of fond relatives." The critic for The New York Tribune agreed, observing "Gotham is a big town and it may be that the sisters, aunts, and cousins of its Yale men will be sufficient to guarantee prosperity for See America First."