THE FILM
FILM DIRECTOR: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
SCREENWRITER: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Ben Hecht
FILM STARS: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine, Stubby Kaye, Johnny Silver, Robert Keith, Sheldon Leonard, George E. Stone, Regis Toomey, Veda Ann Borg
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Damon Runyon
TYPE: Short Story
PUBLISHER: Penguin
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1965
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: Collected 1956 from stories circa 1933
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Musical
WORDS: The film is based on the Broadway hit musical from 1950 by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows (music and lyrics by Frank Loesser). The Broadway show is based on Damon Runyon’s short stories “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” and “Blood Pressure” and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, such as “Pick the Winner”. This volume collects (first collected together in 1956) those stories that the film was based on, or that informed the time and place of the film. Runyon is great to read, if for no other reason than he shows a New York with characters speaking “New Yorkese” twenties and thirties style. I’m not sure why this tie-in was reprinted some 10 years after the film and original collection. Perhaps the film was re-released. The musical show was often revived including various productions in 1965 and 1966, so perhaps that’s why also.
And the film is a hoot … though I prefer “Robin and the 7 Hoods” which is not dissimilar.
LINKS
TRAILER
Songs from the film
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