''Mam'zelle Champagne'' was a musical revue set in Paris with book by

Edgar Allan Woolf Edgar Allan Woolf (April 25, 1881 – December 9, 1943) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-author of the script for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz''. Early years and education Woolf was the son ...

, music by

Cassius Freeborn Cassius may refer to: People Ancient world * Cassius, an ancient Roman family name: see Cassia gens ** Gaius Cassius Longinus (died 42 BC), Roman senator and a leader of Julius Caesar's assassination ** Avidius Cassius (130–175), usurper Roman ...

, produced by Henry Pincus, which opened June 25, 1906. On opening night at the outdoor

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

Roof Theatre, millionaire playboy Harry K. Thaw shot and killed architect

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses ...

: the otherwise undistinguished musical's run continued for some 60 performancesMantle and Sherwood, ''The Best Plays of 1899-1909'', pp. 515-516. largely on the publicity from this incident.

The play

Directed by Lionel Lawrence, ''Mamzelle Champagne'' was Maude Fulton’s Broadway debut. Viola de Costa, Eddie Fowler, Harry Short and Arthur Stanford were also in the cast. When the show was revived for four performances at the Berkeley Lyceum Theatre in October 1906, the cast included May Yohe and Robert O'Connor. ''Mamzelle Champagne'' had been originally written for the 1903

Varsity Show The Varsity Show is one of the oldest traditions at Columbia University. Founded in 1893 as a fundraiser for the university's fledgling athletic teams, the Varsity Show now draws together the entire Columbia undergraduate community for a series of ...

by Woolf and Freeborn when they were students at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Its original title was "The Mischief Maker". Theater critic and historian

Burns Mantle Robert Burns Mantle (December 23, 1873February 9, 1948) was an American theater critic and screenwriter. He founded the ''Best Plays'' annual publication in 1920.Chansky, Dorothy (2011)"Burns Mantle and the American Theatregoing Public" in ''T ...

later cited a letter he received from Woolf which read, “''Mamzelle Champagne'' was my Columbia varsity show, and was transported by a manager, Henry Pincus, to the open Madison Square Roof with a professional cast. Of course, when the college boys played it, with such lines as 'I'm a good girl—you can't insult me,' every line was a howl, but spoken by actresses the howls were missing.”

The murder

Stanford White was known to have seduced Thaw's wife, showgirl

Evelyn Nesbit Florence Evelyn Nesbit (December 25, 1884 or 1885 – January 17, 1967) was an American model (person), artists' model, chorus girl, and actress. She is best known for her career in New York City, as well as her husband, railroad scion Har ...

. During the opening-night performance of ''Mam'zelle Champagne'', audience members noticed Thaw repeatedly glaring at White. Thaw eventually got up, crossed over to White's seat and shot him point-blank while the show onstage was in the midst of a number titled "I Could Love a Million Girls". It has never been established whether the subject matter of this particular song was a factor in prompting Thaw to take action at that particular moment. The murder is central to the plot of E.L. Doctorow's 1975 historical novel ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

'', and in the 1981 movie veteran actor

Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talki ...

sings "I Could Love a Million Girls". The song "I Could Love a Million Girls" is also featured in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' episode 7G10: "Homer's Night Out".

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Baatz, Simon, ''The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century'' (New York: Little, Brown, 2018) {{ISBN, 978-0316396653
“Mamzelle Champagne”, Internet Broadway Database (ibdb.com)
*Mantle, Burns, and Garrison P. Sherwood, eds., ''The Best Plays of 1899-1909'', (Philadelphia: The Blakiston Company), 1944. *“The Stage and Its Players: This Week's Offerings,” ''New York Times'', Jun. 24, 1906, p. X6. *“Thaw Murders Stanford White. Shoots Him on the Madison Square Garden Roof. About Evelyn Nesbit. “He Ruined My Life”, Witness Says He Said. Audience in a Panic. Chairs and Tables are Overturned in a Wild Scramble for the Exits,” ''New York Times'', Jun. 26, 1906, p. 1.
The Varsity Show Website
1906 musicals Varsity Show Revues Musicals set in Paris Broadway musicals Musicals by Edgar Allan Woolf