The Billy Barnes Revue
Encyclopedia
The Billy Barnes Revue is a 1959 musical comedy 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...

 with music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 and lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...

 by Billy Barnes
Billy Barnes (composer)
Billy Barnes is a composer and lyricist from Los Angeles, California. His hit songs include " Too Long at the Fair" recorded by Barbra Streisand , and "Something Cool", recorded by jazz vocalist June Christy...

 and sketches by Bob Rodgers. The revue premiered in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 in 1959 and went on to be produced both 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...

 and Off Broadway.

The show is remembered for its acclaimed cast of newcomers, including Bert Convy
Bert Convy
Bernard Whalen "Bert" Convy was an Emmy Award winning American actor, singer, game show host and panelist known for his tenure as the host for Tattletales, Super Password, and Win, Lose or Draw.-Early life:...

 and Ken Berry
Ken Berry
Kenneth Ronald "Ken" Berry is an American dancer, comedic actor and singer. He began on stage as a dancer and later starred in television sitcoms.-Life and career:...

. Barnes continued to produce successful revues in Los Angeles.

Background

In 1952, actress Joyce Jameson
Joyce Jameson
Joyce Jameson was an American actress best remembered for her blonde bimbo roles during the Marilyn Monroe period...

 graduated from UCLA and married songwriter Billy Barnes. Their first collaboration was a new musical comedy called Baby Face O'Flynn, for which she wrote the book and played the lead role and he wrote the music and lyrics. The show opened in the summer of 1952 at the Gallery Stage Theatre in Los Angeles. The run of the show was cut short when Jameson became pregnant. For the next few years, Jameson found work, first by writing television scripts, and then by playing small parts in films and on television shows. She and Barnes were divorced during this period, but continued to work together into the 1960s.

Los Angeles

In 1956, Barnes and sketch writer/director Bob Rodgers opened The Billy Barnes Revue at the "hole-in-the-ground" Cabaret Concert Theatre
Cabaret Concert Theatre
The Cabaret Concert Theatre was a small cellar café/cabaret, located in the Silverlake section of West Los Angeles, California, that operated between 1950 and 1961...

 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. According to Barnes, "It's a nightclub, and people said that’s where we belonged. We were advised not to get ambitious." Producer Paul Gregory planned to bring the production to New York in January 1957 under the title Focus No. 1, but the transfer did not happen.

At one point, some producers decided to tour the show throughout California with just the music and no sketches, a venture which was quickly dropped. Meanwhile, the original show continued performances at the Cabaret Concert Theatre for nearly two years. It then played briefly at the Mocambo
Mocambo
The Mocambo was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8588 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. It was owned by Charlie Morrison and Felix Young.-History:...

 and the Crescendo in Los Angeles and at the hungry i
Hungry i
The hungry i was originally a nightclub in North Beach, San Francisco. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1950.-The name:How the club's name came about is something of a mystery...

 in San Francisco. In 1958, Jameson, who had left the show to pursue her television career, returned to Los Angeles from New York City (where she had been appearing as the "honey girl" on The Steve Allen Show and as a regular on Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...

' NBC series, Club Oasis),). She rejoined the cast of the show when it opened at the Las Palmas Theater in October 1958. When the original cast took the show to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 eight months later, a new cast, including Jo Anne Worley
Jo Anne Worley
Jo Anne Worley is an American actress. Her work covers television, films, theater, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. She is best known for her work on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.-Biography:...

, continued the run for a total of 48 weeks.

Off-Broadway

The Billy Barnes Revue, with original cast members Joyce Jameson, Bert Convy, Patti Regan, Ken Berry, Ann Guilbert, Jackie Joseph
Jackie Joseph
Jackie Joseph is an American character actress, voice artist, and writer known for portraying the film characters of: Audrey Fulquard in the original The Little Shop of Horrors, Sheila Futterman in both Gremlins films, and the voice of Melody in the animated television series Josie and the...

, Len Weinrib and sketch writer/director Bob Rodgers, opened at the York Playhouse in New York City on June 9, 1959. The production was produced by George Eckstein
George Eckstein
George Eckstein was an American writer and television producer whose career spanned three decades, from the early 1960s through the late 1980s. Eckstein was a producer of many popular television programs such as The Invaders and The Name of the Game, in addition to penning the scripts of many...

 (Ann Guilbert's husband) in association with Bob Reese. Billy Barnes was the musical director, with Armin Hoffman on the second piano.

The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

review by Lewis Funke was mixed: "A crisply played and highly polished little entertainment called The Billy Barnes Revue arrived at the York Theatre on First Avenue last night..." but Funke found the material lacking "...the trouble is that they have not given the material the edge, sharpness and point of view that would have made it truly comic". Although Funke had high praise for the cast, he added "...Too often are the performers superior to the writers and the composers." Overall, however, the reviews were largely positive, and 35 additional investors contributed the extra money needed to move the show from the York Playhouse to Broadway.

Broadway

The Billy Barnes Revue transferred to the John Golden Theatre
John Golden Theatre
The John Golden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 252 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan. Designed in a Moorish style along with the adjacent Royale Theatre by architect Herbert J. Krapp for Irwin Chanin, it opened as the Theatre Masque on February 24 1927 with the play Puppets of Passion...

 on August 4, 1959. Barnes was so unknown in New York, that many people confused him with the actress Binnie Barnes
Binnie Barnes
Gertrude Maud "Binnie" Barnes was an English-American actress. She was born in Islington to a Jewish father and an Italian mother and was brought up Jewish, although she converted to Catholicism later in life....

. "It's discouraging to stand in front of the theatre before the show," Barnes told a reporter, "and hear people say, 'I'm looking forward to seeing Binnie Barnes again. I haven't seen her in years.'"

To make way for the British revue, At the Drop of a Hat
At the Drop of a Hat
At the Drop of a Hat is a musical revue by Flanders and Swann, described by them as "An After-Dinner Farrago". In the show, they both sang on a nearly bare stage, accompanied by Swann on the piano...

, the show closed on September 26, 1959 at the Golden and transferred on September 28 to the Lyceum Theatre
Lyceum Theatre (New York)
The Lyceum Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 149 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.It has the distinction of being the oldest surviving Broadway venue , the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in New York City, and the first Broadway theatre ever to be granted landmark status...

, where it had to close on October 21 to make way for a new play, The Flowering Cherry. The production ran for a total of 87 performances.

The Off Broadway cast reprised their roles on Broadway. Later cast replacements in the off Broadway production included Jo Anne Worley
Jo Anne Worley
Jo Anne Worley is an American actress. Her work covers television, films, theater, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. She is best known for her work on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.-Biography:...

, Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in theater, movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....

 and Larry Hovis
Larry Hovis
Larry Hovis was an American singer and actor best known for playing a fictional prisoner of war on the 1960s television sitcom Hogan's Heroes.-Early life and career:...

.

One of the show's songs, "Too Long At The Fair" was recorded by Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

, Sue Raney
Sue Raney
Sue Raney is an American jazz singer. Signed by Capitol Records at the age of seventeen, her debut album, the Nelson Riddle-produced When Your Lover Has Gone, was released in 1958. Raney begin singing at only four years of age, and encouraged by her mother, began working as a professional before...

 and Patti Page
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...

, among others. Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 released an Original Cast Album of the production in September 1959.

Off Broadway Again

Following its three week run at the Lyceum Theatre
Lyceum Theatre (New York)
The Lyceum Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 149 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.It has the distinction of being the oldest surviving Broadway venue , the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in New York City, and the first Broadway theatre ever to be granted landmark status...

, rather than closing down for good, the show moved off-Broadway again to the Carnegie Hall Playhouse
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 on October 20, 1959. Producers George Cayley, George Brandt and Samuel J. Friedman acquired the rights from Eckstein, who remained with the production as stage manager and performed the role vacated by Bert Convy.

A controversy erupted when Barnes, Guilbert, Berry, Joseph, Regan, Rodgers, Weinrib and Eckstein flew to Chicago to tape an episode of ABC-TV's
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 Playboy's Penthouse
Playboy's Penthouse
Playboy's Penthouse is an American variety / talk television show hosted by Playboy founder and then-editor/publisher Hugh Hefner. It was first broadcast on October 24, 1959 and ran in syndication for slightly more than one year with a second season starting on September 9, 1961 with Jack E...

, produced by Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...

's Playboy Magazine
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

, and failed to make their flight back to New York in time for the Tuesday, October 27 performance. As a result, the Tuesday night performance was cancelled and $800 had to be returned to the ticket holders.

Eckstein sent a telegram to the producers stating that the cast had made a "frantically conscientious effort to return to New York by curtain time as numerous impartial witnesses can testify; a dispatching error resulted in misconnections," but rather than simply recognizing the value of the network television publicity, the management filed a complaint with Actors Equity Association and the American Federation of Musicians
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...

 (of which Barnes was a member). "There’s no excuse for missing a show," declared the producers' lawyer, Benjamin Schankman. "They shouldn't have gone to Chicago if they could not arrange to get back in time. An agreement is an agreement."

Although one of the producers, Samuel J. Friedman, denied that their decision was a retaliatory action, two weeks later, the entire cast (except Virginia de Luce, who had replaced Jameson) was replaced by Ronnie Cunningham, Arlene Fontana, Jane Johnston, Larry Hovis
Larry Hovis
Larry Hovis was an American singer and actor best known for playing a fictional prisoner of war on the 1960s television sitcom Hogan's Heroes.-Early life and career:...

, James Inman, Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in theater, movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....

 and Tom Williams.

The cast change proved to be a major mistake and the show closed on November 28, 1959 after just six weeks at the Carnegie Hall Playhouse
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

. Ironically, the promotional appearance on Playboy's Penthouse
Playboy's Penthouse
Playboy's Penthouse is an American variety / talk television show hosted by Playboy founder and then-editor/publisher Hugh Hefner. It was first broadcast on October 24, 1959 and ran in syndication for slightly more than one year with a second season starting on September 9, 1961 with Jack E...

by the original cast members did not air until Saturday, December 5, one week after the show had closed.

Sequel

Several of the original cast members (Berry, Joseph, Jameson and Regan) returned to Los Angeles and began work on a new revue, The Billy Barnes People. The Billy Barnes People opened on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on June 13, 1961 and closed four days later after only seven performances.

Sketches and musical numbers

ACT 1
  • "Do a Revue" (The Company)
  • "Where Are Your Children?" (Ken Berry, Bert Convy, Jackie Joseph, Ann Guilbert, Patti Regan and Len Weinrib)
  • "Las Vegas"
    • Herman (Rob Rodgers)
    • Girl with Hat (Ann Guilbert)
    • Tanya (Joyce Jameson)
    • Her Fellas (Bert Convy and Ken Berry)
  • "Medic"
    • Surgeon (Len Weinrib)
    • Staff (Ann Guilbert and Patti Regan)
  • "Foolin' Ourselves" (Bert Convy and Ken Berry)
  • "Safari à la Marilyn"
    • Papa (Len Weinrib)
    • Arthur (Bob Rodgers)
    • Marilyn (Joyce Jameson)
  • "The Pembrooke Story"
    • Arthur (Ken Berry)
    • Edythe (Ann Guilbert)
    • Miss O'Brien (Jackie Joseph)
    • John (Bert Convy)
    • Peter (Len Weinrib)
  • "Whatever" (Patti Regan)
  • "City of the Angels"
    • Lily (Joyce Jameson)
    • Lolly (Ann Guilbert)
    • Dolly (Jackie Joseph)
  • "Listen to the Beat!"
    • Host (Len Weinrib)
    • Jack (Ken Berry)
    • Mary Lou (Ann Guilbert)
    • Dean (Bert Convy)
    • Sarah (Joyce Jameson)
    • The Prophet (Len Weinrib)
    • Beatniks (Bob Rodgers, Patti Regan and Jackie Joseph)
  • "Home in Mississippi"
    • Maggie (Patti Regan)
    • Big Daddy (Len Weinrib)
    • Big Mama (Ann Guilbert)
    • Brick (Bob Rodgers)
    • No-neck Monsters (Themselves)
  • "Tyler My Boy" (Bert Convy)
  • "Whatever Happened" (Patti Regan)
  • "The Thirties"
    • Narrator (Bob Rodgers)
    • Peddler (Patti Regan)
    • Fred (Ken Berry)
    • Ginger (Joyce Jameson)
    • Forgotten Woman (Ann Guilbert)
    • Forgotten Man (Len Weinrib)
    • Shirley (Joyce Jameson)
    • Daddy (Bert Convy)
    • Step-Mommy (Patti Regan)
    • Gold Digger (Jackie Joseph)
    • J.N. (Len Weinrib)
    • Sam (Ken Berry)
    • Ruby (Ann Guilbert)
    • Dick (Bert Convy)
    • Jeanette (Joyce Jameson)
    • Nelson (Bob Rodgers)


ACT 2
  • "A Dissertation on Transportation; or, It All Started with the Wheel"
    • Principal (Bob Rodgers)
    • P.T.A. Principal (Joyce Jameson)
    • Teacher (Patti Regan)
    • Sweet Little Girl (Jackie Joseph)
    • Sour Little Girl (Ann Guilbert)
    • Teacher's Pet (Ken Berry)
    • Bully (Len Weinrib)
    • Bert Convy (Bert Convy)
  • "The Fights" (Introduced by Ann Guilbert)
    • Shirley (Joyce Jameson)
    • Harry (Bob Rodgers)
  • "The Vamp and Friends"
    • Vamp (Ann Guilbert)
    • Champ (Ken Berry)
    • Tramp (Patti Regan)
    • Camp (Len Weinrib)
  • "Blocks"
    • Husband (Bob Rodgers)
    • Wife (Jackie Joseph)
  • "Hellahahana"
    • Natives (Bert Convy, Ken Berry, Joyce Jameson, Len Weinrib and Jackie Joseph)
    • Turista (Ann Guilbert)
  • "What Ever Happened To" (Patti Regan)
  • "World at Large"
    • Moderator (Bert Convy)
  • World at Large No. 1
    • Rosabelle Haley (Joyce Jameson)
    • Warden (Len Weinrib)
    • Matron (Ann Guilbert)
  • Station Break
    • Fire Prevention Queen (Patti Regan)
  • World at Large No. 2
    • Mr. Lernstein (Bob Rodgers)
    • Choral Group (Choral Group)
  • World at Large Preview
    • Oed (Ken Berry)
    • Jo (Patti Regan)
  • "Too Long at the Fair" (Joyce Jameson)
  • "Once of Those Days"
    • Poor Soul (Len Weinrib)
    • Ads (Bert Convy, Jackie Joseph and Ken Berry)
  • Finale (The Company)


Selections on the Cast Album

Act I
  • Do A Revue (The Company)
  • Where Are Your Children? (The Company)
  • Foolin' Ourselves (Bert Convy and Ken Berry)
  • Las Vegas (Joyce Jameson with Bert Convy and Ken Berry; Introduction by Rob Rodgers and Girls
  • What Ever Happened? No. 1 (Patti Regan)
  • Too Long At The Fair (Joyce Jameson with Soprano Obbligato by Jackie Joseph)
  • Listen To The Beat (The Company featuring Len Weinrib)


Act II
  • City of the Angels (Joyce Jameson, Ann Guilbert and Jackie Joseph)
  • Blocks (Bob Rodgers and Jackie Joseph)
  • What Ever Happened? No. 2 (Patti Regan)
  • The Fights (Joyce Jameson and Bob Rodgers)
  • Tyler My Boy (Bert Convy)
  • What Ever Happened? No. 3 (Patti Regan)
  • One of Those Days - Finale (Jackie Joseph, Bert Convy, Ken Berry and Company)


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK