AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Carol Haney

Artist:Carol Haney, Kenneth LeRoy & Buzz Miller
Song:Steam Heat
Album:The Pajama Game: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack





The Pajama Game is an outstanding musical about the unlikely subject of union negotiations at a pajama factory. The show was written by Jerry Ross and Richard Adler who also wrote Damn Yankees. The show was a huge hit when it premiered on Broadway in 1954 and Warner Bros. turned it into a film in 1956. Usually when studios produced musicals, they would recast all the roles. Warners didn't really do that with The Pajama Game except for replacing Janis Paige with Doris Day mainly for the marquee. She was a big star at the time. And she was fine in the movie and it was very successful. But performers like John Raitt, Carol Haney and Eddie Foy Jr. were in the original cast. These are actors you wouldn't normally see in films. They also wisely hired Bob Fosse to choreograph the film as he had done on Broadway. And that's how Carol Haney got in the film. So why wasn't Carol Haney a big star? There are other reasons but it's mostly because she preferred choreography and suffered from stage fright. She was born Sept. 24, 1924 in New Bedford, MA and opened her own dance studio at age 15. She moved to Hollywood to form a dance team with Jack Cole and then Gene Kelly hired her as an assistant choreographer for his MGM films. She appeared in Kelly's film Invitation To The Dance. She moved to New York to work with Bob Fosse in the Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate and then The Pajama Game. She won a Tony award but hurt her leg. So when Warners producer Hal Wallis saw The Pajama Game, Carol's understudy Shirley MacLaine got the film contract that should have gone to Carol. So The Pajama Game was Carol Haney's only major film role. She developed stage fright and though she appeared on TV a few times, she went back to doing choreography for shows like Flower Drum Song and Funny Girl. Carol Haney suffered from diabetes and alcoholism and died on May 10, 1964 at age 39. Sony owns the soundtrack to The Pajama Game but have never done anything with it and have farmed it out to Collectables. Here's Carol Haney with Kenneth LeRoy & Buzz Miller performing Steam Heat from the 1956 film The Pajama Game.