''Ladies First'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

in three acts with music by A. Baldwin Sloane and both book and lyrics by

Harry B. Smith Harry Bache Smith (December 28, 1860 – January 1, 1936) was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works ...

. It was based on

Charles H. Hoyt Charles Hale Hoyt (July 26, 1859 – November 20, 1900) was an American dramatist and playwright. He was married twice, to stage actresses Flora Walsh and Caroline Miskel Hoyt, both of whom died young. The shock of the death of his second w ...

's 1897 play ''A Contented Woman''. Directed by

Frank Smithson Frank Smithson (11 February 1861 – 15 January 1949, New York City) was an Irish born American actor and theatre and film director. He began his career as a leading comic actor in Britain in the late 1880s and 1890s. He immigrated to the United Sta ...

and produced by Harry Frazee, it premiered at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre on October 24, 1918. In the middle of its New York run it transferred to the Nora Bayes Theatre where it closed on March 15, 1919, after 164 performances. ''Ladies First'' was created as a starring vehicle for

Nora Bayes Nora Bayes (born Rachel Eleonora "Dora" Goldberg; October 3, 1880March 19, 1928) was an American singer and vaudeville performer who was popular internationally between the 1900s and 1920s. She is credited with co-writing the song "Shine On, Har ...

who played the role of Betty Burt. It was originally titled ''Look Who's Here'' during

tryout ''Tryout'' was an amateur press journal published from 1914 to 1946 by Charles W. Smith of Haverhill, Massachusetts. It was connected to the National Amateur Press Association. Smith (1852–1948) was a friend and correspondent of H. P. Lovecraft ...

performances prior to its Broadway run. The musical included two interpolated songs by George Gershwin as the composer: " The Real American Folk Song (is a Rag)" (lyricist

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

under the pseudonym Arthur Francis) and "Some Wonderful Sort of Someone" (lyricist Shuyler Greene).

References

External links

1918 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals by Harry B. Smith Musicals by Alfred Baldwin Sloane {{musical-theatre-stub