''Miss Dolly Dollars'' is a
musical comedy
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...
written in two acts with the book and lyrics by
Harry B. Smith and music by
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is be ...
. The musical concerns a wealthy American girl in Europe, who is sought after by bankrupt aristocrats. Its score includes a few famous songs such as "A Woman is Only a Woman (But a Good Cigar is a Smoke)".
After a tryout in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, the musical opened at the
Knickerbocker Theatre in New York City, on September 4, 1905. It was produced by
Charles B. Dillingham
Charles Bancroft Dillingham (May 30, 1868 – August 30, 1934) was an American theatre manager and producer of over 200 Broadway theatre, Broadway shows.
Biography
Charles Bancroft Dillingham was born on May 30, 1868 in Hartford, Connecticut to ...
and directed by Al Holbrook, with music direction by Antonio DeNovellis. The scenic design was by Homer Emens and Edward G. Unitt, and costumes were by
Caroline Seidle
Caroline F. Siedle (1867 – February 26, 1907) was a costume designer on Broadway. She was one of earliest designers to receive credit for her work in theater programs,Unruh, Delbert, Ione Unruh, and Alexandra Steiner-Strauss. "American Broadway C ...
. The show soon transferred to the
New Amsterdam Theatre
The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater on 214 West 42nd Street, at the southern end of Times Square, in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the New Amsterdam was built from ...
on October 16, 1905. It ran for a total of 56 performances.
Synopsis
Setting: A Villa on the Thames at Henley and the Garden of a Hotel in Paris
Wealthy Dorothy Gay, an American girl, is pursued while in Europe, by a number of penniless aristocrats, but she does not wish to marry simply for a title. A secretary, Finney Doolittle, is mistaken for his wealthy English Lord. Dorothy's father, Samuel, urges her to marry the phony Lord Burlingham, but she prefers a man whom she takes to be poor, but who is actually the English nobleman, and all ends happily.
Cast
The opening night cast was as follows:
MISS DOLLY DOLLARS
Cast of Characters
*Beatrice Anderson - Matilda
*John Ardizone - Duke de Bolero
*Leila Benton - Vena Rodriguez
*Charles Bradshaw - Samuel Gay
*Mildred Cecil - Hon. Reggy Chumpley
*Marion Chase - Vera Vane
*Carter DeHaven
Carter DeHaven (born Francis O'Callaghan; October 5, 1886 – July 20, 1977) was an American film and stage actor, film director, and screenwriter.
Career
DeHaven started his career in vaudeville in 1896 and started acting in movies in 1915. H ...
- Guy Gay
*Elizabeth Doddridge - Hon. Algy Sydney
*Elsie Ferguson - Celeste
*Joseph Frohoff - First Bailiff
*Lulu Glaser - Dorothy Gay
*Minerva Hall - Jane
*Sidney A. Harris - H'Alfred/ Prince Umskyvitch
*Carl Hartberg - Baron von Rheinheister
*Ralph C. Herz - Finney Doolittle
*Queenie Hewlitt - Millicent
*Bessie Holbrook - Hon. Montague Bank
*Edward Leahy - Captain Sheridan Barry
*James Leahy - The Marquis de Baccarat
*Helen Marlborough - Ruth Delamere
*Olive Murray - Bertha Billings
*William Naughton - The Hon. Percy Fitzboodle
*Byron Ongley - Miggs
*Enrico Oremonte - Count Chianti/ Bobby
*Susanne Parker - Miriam Odell
*Carrie Perkins - Mrs. Gay
*Sadie Probst - Hon. Mayland Bank
*James Reany - Count Runoffsky
*Aline Redmond - Greta Giltedge
*Elsa Reinhardt - Freda Dressler
*L. F. Sampson - Second Bailiff
*Lillian Spencer - Margery
*Melville Stuart - Lord Burlingham
*Lillie Van Arsdale - 'Arriet
*Henry Vogel
Henry Vogel (June 15, 1863 – June 17, 1925) was an American actor and bass-baritone singer who originated several roles on the Broadway stage during the first two decades of the Twentieth Century.
Early life
Henry Vogel was born Heinrich Voge ...
- Lieutenant von Richter
*Vida Whitmore
Vida Whitmore (1882 — February 23, 1978), later Vida L. W. Hudson, was an American musical theatre actress, businesswoman, and major benefactor of Columbia University.
Early life
Vida L. Whitmore was from Petersburg, Virginia, one of seven sib ...
- Estelle DeLange
*Gladys Zell - Vashti
Musical numbers
;Act I
*The Self-Made Family (She's a Lady with Money) – Mrs. Gay, Samuel Gay and Guy Gay
*An Educated Fool (It Keeps Me Guessing All the Time) – Finney Doolittle
*Just Get Out and Walk – Dorothy Gay and Chorus
*An American Heiress – Dorothy and Noblemen
*Dolly Dollars – Guy
*My Fair Unknown – Lord Burlingham
;Act II
*It's All in the Book You Know – Dorothy and Lieutenant von Richter
*Life's a Masquerade – Mrs. Gay, Samuel, Celeste and Guy
*The Moth and the Moon – Dorothy and Chorus
*Walks – Guy and Girls
*A Woman Is Only a Woman, But a Good Cigar is a Smoke (Puff, Puff, Puff) – Lord Burlingham
*(American Music) 'Tis Better Than Old Parsifal to Me – Principals and Chorus
*Queen of the Ring – Dorothy and Chorus
References
External links
Miss Dolly Dollars
at the Internet Broadway Database
The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade assoc ...
Links to MIDI files and other information
about ''Miss Dolly Dollars''
NY Tribune review
{{Portal bar, Classical music, Music
1905 operas
1905 musicals
Broadway musicals
Compositions by Victor Herbert
Musicals set in Paris
Musicals set in England