The Pajama Game

With all of the original cast members intact (John Raitt, Reta Shaw, Gwen Verdon, Eddie Foy, Jr.) except for the exceptionally talented Doris Day filling in for Janis Paige, 'The Pajama Game' is rollicking good fun and a smash hit once again with all of Bob Fosse's show-stopping choreography given top-rate exposure.

Who would think a story about a labor dispute in a pajama factory could be turned into such a joyous musical? Carol Haney is priceless doing 'Steam Heat' and 'Hernando's Hideaway' with great finesse. Day sings her heart out on 'Hey There' and other tunes, while Raitt reprises his Broadway role as the factory foreman who comes up against the stubborn and feisty Babe, head of the grievance committee. Day and Raitt can do no wrong, whether they're singing a ballad or a jump tune, whether singing or dancing, whether sparring or smooching. It's all great fun done up in gaudy technicolor and undoubtedly one of the great film musicals of the '50s, the kind that we sorely miss today. One great song-and-dance routine follows another with no shortage of imagination as to staging and concept. A treasure!

See it and enjoy!!

The 1957 film version of the Broadway musical THE PAJAMA GAME is one of the best translations of a stage musical to the screen ever. The screen version is extremely loyal to its origins, utilizing almost all of the original Broadway cast (except for Janis Paige, who lost the role of Babe to 50's box office powerhouse Doris Day)and keeping most of the original score intact (only one song "Hers Is" was not used in the film and a song written especially for Doris for the film, ended up being cut). This delightfully original musical centers around the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory where the head of the grievance committee (Doris) is trying to negotiate a 7 and a 1/2 cent raise for the factory workers by butting heads with the new factory supervisor (John Raitt, reprising his Broadway role)but eventually falling for him. Musicals were past their prime by the time this one made it to the screen, but it is still beautifully mounted and has some of the greatest songs in musical comedy ("Hey, There", "I'm not at all in love", "There Once was a Man"). Day and Raitt make an engaging screen couple (Day has rarely been so adult or sexy on screen) and the imaginative choreography by the legendary Bob Fosse is a big plus. Carol Haney's "Steam Heat" is classic Fosse and one of the highlights of this wonderful stage musical that inexplicably died at the box office upon release. A great musical that is a must for Day and Fosse fans.

This was the reactionary 50's, so showing a conflict between management and labor, however comically presented, was quite daring. While not exactly a Marxist textbook case, it does show exploitation of workers and their attempts at fighting back. One can also view it as trivializing the harsh and terrible struggles of workers and unions against capitalist exploitation, but that seems a bit mean-spirited. While no "Cradle Will Rock" it does make the point that even a small issue (a pay raise of seven and a half cents) can be important in the context of a worker's life.

I liked most of the songs and dances. There may be two or three too many as they do tend to slow down the plot a bit.

I loved Doris Day, but I didn't feel that John Raitt was a good leading man for her. I didn't feel any chemistry between them. Someone suggested that Dean Martin was up for the lead. I would have preferred him. Carol Haney was good, but I was kind of sorry that the part didn't go to her Broadway understudy Shirley Maclaine. It now seems to me that Maclaine imitated Haney for the first eight years of her movie career. Still, Haney was 32 when she did the part and not in good health. She appears to be an older version of early Shirley. A 22 year old Maclaine would have been terrific.

The song "There Once Was a Man" reminded me of the great duet between Betty Hutton and Howard Keel in "Annie Get Your Gun" - "Anything You Can Do." I would put this in the second tier of great movie musicals. It isn't "Cabaret" or "Singing in the Rain," or "Dames," as it does drag in a few spots, but for 75 out of its 95 minutes, its delightful.

When it was released in 1957, The Pajama Game joined a long procession of song and dance Movies that grabbed us all who watched them with their energy, vitality and infectious romance. Doris Day bounces and radiates her way across the screen as only she can and has done many times previously in musicals, singing, dancing and looking great, teaming up this time with some of the cast from the Broadway Production, Eddie Foy Jnr., Carol Haney, Rita Shaw and John Raitt. As you would expect from this array of talent something special would arrive, and it didn't take long for us to taste it. In the opening minutes we are treated to one of Choreographer Bob Fosse's routines with Eddie Foy Jnr. and Rita Shaw singing and stepping to 'I'll never get jealous again ' and as the show moves on more memorable sequences appear like Carol Haney dancing to ' Steam Heat,' Doris Day singing ' Seven and a Half cents ' and everyone it seems giving a rousing rendition of ' Hernando's Hideaway.' The Pajama Game is alive with Fiftie's colour, vigour and good old fashioned song and dance, put together by ideas and talent that perhaps in those days we had the chance to take it all for granted. Sadly.....these days, with the absence of musicals we don't have that opportunity.

One of the truly unsung musicals of the 1950s, with a remarkably convincing performance from Doris Day, an impressive movie debut by John Raitt and wonderful choreography by Bob Fosse.

Pajama Game is probably one of the two most successful musical movies that Warner Bros produced, the other, of course, also starring Doris Day: "Calamity Jane", which reversed the order of Adler and Ross's wonderful creation by moving to the theatrical stage after the movie was made.

Stanley Donen and George Abbot have produced and directed a total joy of a movie, creating a believable factory environment and giving the union demands for a pay rise the full strength.

Carol Haney (from the record breaking Broadway production) makes a wonderful front office employee and with her number "Steam Heat" gives Fosse's choreographic skills full rein!

Truly a joy of a movie, wonderfully photographed in magical colours and in excellently framed CinemaScope. How hard to think this film has been overlooked for so long. Definitely a must for any fan of musical movies and it warrants repeated viewing on a regular basis.

A gem just waiting to be rediscovered.