''Tickle Me'' was a Broadway musical comedy in two acts with book and lyrics by

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...

Otto Harbach Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading Broa ...

and

Frank Mandel Frank Mandel (1884 – April 20, 1958) was an American playwright and producer. He co-wrote several productions. Some of his works were adapted by others. Several of his collaborations were adapted into films. UCLA's libraries have a collection of ...

and music and musical direction provided by

Herbert Stothart Herbert Pope Stothart (September 11, 1885February 1, 1949) was an American songwriter, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was also nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning Best Original Score for '' The Wizard of Oz''. Stothart was widel ...

. ''Tickle Me'' was produced by

Arthur Hammerstein Arthur Hammerstein (December 21, 1872 – October 12, 1955) was an American songwriter, dramatist, playwright and theater manager. Biography Born and educated to a Jewish family in New York City, Hammerstein was the son of the theater impresari ...

and opened at the

Selwyn Theater The American Airlines Theatre, originally the Selwyn Theatre, is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 227 42nd Street (Manhattan), West 42nd Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. ...

on August 17, 1920 and closed after 207 performances on February 12, 1921. The musical then embarked on a successful road tour with a schedule that extending well into the spring of the following year.Burns Mantle yearbook, Volume 2, 1921, p. 367
accessed November 7, 2012''Tickle Me'' Internet Broadway Database
accessed November 7, 2012

Principal Cast and Crew

*Stage Director .. William Collier, Sr. *Dances, Ensembles .. Bert French *Scenic Design .. Joseph A. Physioc; *Costume Design .. Charles LeMaire *General Manager .. Hugh Grady; *Company Manager .. Charles Voloshen *Stage Manager .. Tom O'Hare. *Mary Fairbanks .. Louise Allen *Jack Barton ..

Allen Kearns Allen Kearns (14 August 1894 – 20 April 1956) was a Canadian-born singer and actor. He was born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada and died in Albany, New York. He played the romantic lead role in several Broadway musicals and is especially rememb ...

*Parcel Poisson Vic Casmore *Frank Tinney .. Frank Tinney *Alice West .. Marguerite Zender *Customs Inspector.. Benjamin Mulvey *A Native Boatman .. William Dorriani *Dancers .. Olga and Mishka *Dancers .. J. Frances Grant and Ted Wing *A Slave .. Jack Htesler *The Tongra .. Marcel Rousseau *Blah Blah .. Harry Pearce *Keeper of the Second House .. Tex Cooper Source:Burns and Mantle, 1921 and IBDB.com

Synopsis

Act I.

Scene 1 — Studio of Poisson Picture Corp., Hollywood.
Scene 2 — Customs House, Calcutta, India.
Scene 3 — Garden of Paradise, Tibet.
Scene 4 — The Veil of Mystery.
Scene 5 — Ceremony of the Sacred Bath.

Act II.

Scene 1 — The Bower of Temptation.
Scene 2 — Anywhere.
Scene 3 — Customs House at Calcutta.
Scene 4 — Aboard ''S. S. Tickle Me''.

''Tickle Me'', that one writer described as a mélange of girls, jazz, novelties and Frank Tinney, was a musical tale that revolved around a Hollywood studio property man (comedian Frank Tinney) who is sent to remote Tibet for a movie shoot and the love story (Louise Allen) that ensued.

Reception-

Tinney, Life of ''Tickle Me.''

All together the crowd seemed to like ''Tickle Me''. It has nothing startling in the way of scenes or jokes or singing and at times it does move slowly, but it usually hits a bright spot before it really becomes dull – and, of course, there’s Frank Tinney. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', August 18, 1920.

Frank Tinney in ''Tickle Me'' at the Shubert Theatre.

Filled with melodies, life and spiritedly presented by cast and chorus, Arthur Hammerstein’s musigirl piece ''Tickle Me'' with Frank Tinney as chief tickler, is holding merry sway at the Shubert Theatre. After the opening scene Frank Tinney washes off the burn cork and appears in white face. His admirers agree he has never been more funny.
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
September 18, 1921

Munsey's Magazine ''Munsey's Weekly'', later known as ''Munsey's Magazine'', was a 36-page quarto United States, American magazine founded by Frank Munsey, Frank A. Munsey in 1889 and edited by John Kendrick Bangs. Frank Munsey aimed to publish "a magazine of the pe ...

'', 1921

Can you imagine a show in which the star's role gives him everything his heart could wish for, and yet which furnishes its audience with such varied entertainment in other directions that at times the hearers forget that there is a star at all? Such a production is " Tickle Me "—a name quite unworthy of the really meritorious medley of song, dance, comedy, spectacle, and novelty furnished by Arthur Hammerstein in order to blazon Frank Tinney's name in the electrics.

Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Frank Mandel collaborated on the book, the music is credited to a new name among the composers—Herbert Stothart— while the staging was up to William Collier, who during his long run in town last winter found time to place his valuable services at the disposal of more than one manager. There are nine sets in the two acts, and while the story is negligible, the eye is kept so constantly on the alert with worth-while offerings in scenery, costume, and dance that more plot would only seem obtrusive.

The soap-suds episode in the sacred bath ceremony, although introduced by Bert French and Alice Ellis in vaudeville as long ago as when the late Oscar Hammerstein was holding forth at the Victoria, on the site of the present Rialto, still leaves one puzzled as to how it is done. The boat scene in the Garden of Paradise is an exquisite creation of Joseph Physioc. The two dance teams—Olga and Mishka, Frances Grant and Ted Wing—put over some great stuff, and my record would be incomplete without mention of the sacred horse, whose absence at any performance must leave Tinney minus many laughs unless a competent understudy is provided.

Tinney appears as himself—otherwise as the property man of a motion-picture concern that journeys to Tibet to film certain ceremonies, the witnessing of which is forbidden to " foreign devils." Although discarding black face after the opening scene, and permitting the public to see what a really good-looking fellow he is, you may be sure that he's just as funny in " whites." And listen—the famed sextet of "Florodora " must look to its laurels. In the last half-hour of ''Tickle Me'' there is an octet of chorus-girls that's a sure-enough novelty, set forth with such clever comedy work by the girls aforesaid as insures them half a dozen encores nightly, and keeps Arthur Hammerstein on the anxious seat lest rival managers should offer them tempting contracts to become principals elsewhere.

As to ''Tickle Me'' principals, Louise Allen, niece and namesake of William Collier's first wife, and last year Somebody's Sweetheart, by sheer power of personality makes you cotton to a character you are at first disposed heartily to dislike. Her dances, too, with Allen Kearns are pleasing to a degree. Kearns, who wants to know why critics will persist in comparing him with George Cohan just because he imitated the latter last spring in ''What's in a Name?'' has worked his way to the front as juvenile lead from a start in which chance played a peculiar part ten years ago, when he was seventeen.Munsey's Magazine, 1921, p. 318-319
accessed November 8, 2012

References

{{reflist 1920 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals by Oscar Hammerstein II Musicals by Otto Harbach