GUYS AND DOLLS (1955)

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