Song:There Once Was A Man
Album:The Pajama Game: Original Film Soundtrack
John Raitt is best known as Bonnie Raitt's father. But he was one of the all time great Broadway musical performers. And though he appeared on TV frequently, he rarely appeared in a film version of a Broadway musical...except for The Pajama Game. Usually the film studio wanted a movie star to sell the film. and as great as he was, Raitt was not a movie star. The Pajama Game premiered on Broadway in 1954. The music was written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is about labour unrest at a pajama factory. But that's just a backdrop for a lot of great musical numbers. The show was a big hit on Broadway. Raitt starred with Janis Paige. Warner Bros. decided to keep most of the Broadway cast for the 1957 film. But they needed a movie star for one of the leads. Their plan was for Frank Sinatra to star with Janis Paige. When Sinatra turned it down, the female lead was offered to Doris Day and Raitt was kept to star with her. Of course the film is great fun and it was a big success. And the soundtrack is available as a budget CD. Raitt also starred in the Broadway productions of Carousel and Oklahoma. But The Pajama Game was the only time he got to do the film version of one of those shows. So it's a great chance to watch John Raitt in the context of an entire show. Normally you have to watch clips of TV appearances on Youtube. It's too bad he didn't get to do more films. Here's John Raitt and Doris Day performing There Once Was A Man from the 1957 film The Pajama Game.
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