PAL JOEY (1957)

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: George Sidney

SCREENWRITER: Dorothy Kingsley

FILM STARS: Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak, Barbara Nichols, Bobby Sherwood, Hank Henry, Elizabeth Patterson, Judy Dan, Bek Nelson, Robert Reed, Bess Flowers, ‘Snub’ Pollard

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: John O’Hara

TYPE: Novel PUBLISHER: Panther

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1960

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1940

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Satire

WORDS: Pal Joey started off as a as a series of epistolary short stories (an epistolary story is a story written as a letter between the fictional characters of a narrative) by author John O’Hara.

In 1940 O’Hara compiled them into a novel.

That same year the novel became the basis of the 1940 stage musical comedy by the legendary Broadway writers Rodgers & Hart.

In 1957 the film was made.

John O’Hara wrote protagonist “Pal” Joey Evans as an unlikable amoral conman, a manipulative, small-time crooner and M.C. in shady Chicago nightclubs whose venality is cloaked by an amiable easy going persona but who ultimately gets his comeuppance. Through letters to a bandleader friend in New York, Joey recounts his failed ambitions, run-ins with the mob, and schemes to romance wealthy women.

The book is wonderful. The letters “written” by Joey are slang-filled and error-riddled as you would expect. O’Hara has the knack of getting the hip street vernacular down perfect much as Damon Runyon did for his novels and short stories about Broadway, Manhattan, and New York City. The world O’Hara paints is dark, funny, and his central character is a cynical antihero trying to navigate the fringes of the post Jazz Age world when money was tighter. It’s an easy and very entertaining read. I have much O’Hara sitting on my shelf but apart from this I have read little, though there are friend readers I regard highly, who rate him highly, so … one day.

The writing is of the past but evokes time and the place, at least the way I have come to know it. Sorry about the length but this a lengthy quote from the book gives you the rich flavour of time and place as well as insight into Joey

Dear Pal Ted:

Well at last I am getting around to knocking off a line or two to let you know how much I apprisiate it you sending me that wire on opening nite. Dont think because I didnt answer before I didnt apprisiate it because that is far from the case. But I guess you know that because if you knew when I was opening you surely must be aware how busy Ive been ever since opening nite. I figure you read in Variety what date I was opening in which case I figure you have seen the write ups since then telling how busy Ive been and believe me its no exagerton.

Well maybe it seems a long time since opening nite and in a way it does to me too. It will only be five weeks this coming Friday but it seems longer considering all that has happened to your old pal Joey. Its hard to believe that under two months ago Joey was strictly from hunger as they say but I was. The last time I saw you (August) remember the panic was on. I figured things would begin to break a little better around August but no. A couple spots where I figured I would fit in didnt open at all on acct of bankroll trouble and that was why I left town and came out this way. I figured you live in a small town in Michigan and you can stay away from the hot spots because there arent any and that way you save money. I was correct but I sure didnt figure the panic would stay on as long as it did. I finely sold the jalloppy and hocked my diamond ring the minute I heard there would be a chance down this way. I never was in Ohio before but maybe I will never be any place else. At least I like it enough to remain here the remainder of my life but of course if NBC is listening in Im only kidding.

Well I heard about this spot through a little mouse I got to know up in Michigan. She told me about this spot as it is her home town altho spending her vacation every year in Michigan. I was to a party one nite (private) and they finely got me to sing a few numbers for them and the mouse couldn’t take her eyes off me. She sat over in one corner of the room not paying any attenton to the dope she was with until finely it got so even he noticed it and began making cracks but loud. I burned but went on singing and playing but he got too loud and I had to stop in the middle of a number and I said right at him if he didnt like it why didnt he try himself. Perhaps he could do better. The others at the party got sore at him and told him to pipe down but that only made him madder and the others told me to go ahead and not pay any attenton to him. So I did. Then when I got finished with a few more numbers I looked around and the heel wasnt there but the mouse was. She didnt give me a hand but I could tell she was more impressed than some that were beating their paws off. So I went over to her and told her I was sorry if it embarrassed her me calling attenton to her dope boyfriend but she said he wasnt a boyfriend. I said well I figured that. I said she looked as if she could do better than him and she said “you for instance” and I said well yes. We laughed and got along fine and I took her home. She was staying with her grandmother and grandfather, two respectible old married people that lived there all their life. They were too damn respectible for me. They watched her like a hawk and one oclock was the latest she could be out. That to me is the dumbest way to treat that kind of a mouse. If its going to happen it can happen before nine oclock and if it isnt going to happen it isnt going to no matter if you stay out till nine oclock the next morning. But whats the use of being old if you cant be dumb? So anyway Nan told me about this spot down here and knew the asst mgr of the hotel where the spot is and she said she would give me a send in and if I didnt hold them up for too much of the ready she was sure I could get the job. I sing and play every afternoon in the cocktail bar and at night I relieve the band in the ballroom. Anyway I figured I would have to freshen up the old wardrobe so I had to get rid of the jalloppy and hock my diamond ring. I made the trip to Ohio with Nan in her own jalloppy which isnt exactly a jalloppy I might add. Its a 37 Plymouth conv coop. It took us three days to go from Mich. to Ohio but Ill thank you not to ask any questons about my private life.

In 1940 Rodgers and Hart added 14 songs to the story and whilst not downplaying the cynicism upped the humour already evident in the book. Pal Joey, directed by George Abbott with choreography by Robert Alton, premiered on Broadway on December 25, 1940, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and ran for 374 performances. The opening-night cast included Gene Kelly as Joey, Vivienne Segal as Vera, June Havoc as Gladys. Future actor Van Johnson and future director Stanley Donen were also in the cast.

In 1957 the film was made as a musical comedy. And, it is a role tailor made for its lead, Frank Sinatra. Apparently (according to screenwriter Dorothy Kingsley) the film was meant to star Kirk Douglas (and to be directed by George Cukor). I’m assuming because Kirk doesn’t sing (well, not often) then that it would be a non-musical version of the book. The non-musical Joey character is one that would have been equally tailor made for Douglas who played his fair share of cynics, heels and flawed heroes (Champion (1949), Ace in The Hole (1951), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)).

Despite Sinatra, at 42, being (perhaps) too old for the role (Kelly was 28 on the Broadway show and I suspect Joey would have been there or in his early 1930s) he is perfect. He knew the world Joey travelled in and he looks and speaks convincingly. His acting was at its peak. He stretched himself in the 1950s in dramatic roles (From Here to Eternity (1953), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Johnny Concho (1956), Kings Go Forth (1958), Some Came Running (1959)), Comedy (The Tender Trap (1955)), and smart musicals (Guys and Dolls (1955) , High Society (1956)) and musical drama with The Joker Is Wild (1957), which is almost a companion piece to Pal Joey.

Of course if helps that he can sing as well. Sinatra is one of the greatest vocal stylists of the 20th century. When he sings a line it has more than just words set to music. It sounds like he is singing directly to you. It’s a skill very few have – Crosby, Presley, Johnny Cash, Dylan …

Of the original 14 Rodgers and Hart songs, eight remained, but with two as instrumental background, and four songs were added from other Rodgers & Hart shows (one from Two Many Girls (1939), one from On Your Toes (1936), and to from Babes in Arms (1937)).

From the original show the song “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” was a hit for Doris Day (#9 1949 US) and Mel Torme (#10 1950 US). “The Lady Is a Tramp” (from Babes in Arms) became a Sinatra standard. Joey Evans (Sinatra) sings the song to the wealthy widow Vera Simpson (Hayworth) as he tries to entice her into financing his dream of owning his own night club. “My Funny Valentine” (also from Babes in Arms) also became a standard. The music was adapted and arranged for the film by the great Nelson Riddle.

Pal Joey is often thought of as a Sinatra starring vehicle given he plays the title character and it is, but it is (almost) equally a Rita Hayworth (who got top billing – she was a Columbia studios star and this was a Columbia studios film) and Kim Novak picture. The three leads are all good though the chemistry between Hayworth and Sinatra is more present than between Sinatra and Novak. Hayworth, still stunning at 39, had a career that was slowing but she was a major star in the gossip magazines. The marriage to her third husband Prince Aly Khan, a son of Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III ended in divorce in 1953 and later in the year she married and band leader Dick Haymes and divorced in 1955. She then sued second husband, Orson Welles, for back payment of child support, which she claimed had never been paid … she was in the news even if she wasn’t in film (apart from Fire Down Below (1957) she hadn’t released a film since Miss Sadie Thompson (1953)). She acts well and looks good and “sings” (dubbed by ghost singer Jo Ann Greer). Novak was on her ascendency (Picnic (1955), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Jeanne Eagels (1957), Vertigo (1958), Bell, Book and Candle (1958)), and is icily beautiful she also “sings” (voice dubbed by Trudy Stevens). Also in a support is the great Barbara Nichols and comedian Hank Henry.

Dorothy Kingsley wrote the screenplay and was perfect for softening the Joey character, which is, I assume what the producers wanted. She had written Angels in the Outfield (1951), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Small Town Girl (1953). George Sidney was a master at the musical hybrid films (Anchors Aweigh (1945), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Show Boat (1951), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Viva Las Vegas (1964)) an he had directed Novak before (The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), Jeanne Eagels (1957)). He worked mainly at MGM and knows his splashy technicolour.

The film does deviate from the book (and the play) …

In the book Joey Evans is a selfish, manipulative anti-hero who uses women for money and status. He ends up alone, broke, and without either woman at the end. In the film Sinatra portrays Joey as an amiable, wise-cracking shmuck with a good heart. He gets the girl (one of them), the nightclub, and walks off into a happy California sunset after the locale was moved from Chicago to San Francisco. Well, it was the 1950s, a time of optimism.

Some subplots are gone (blackmail) as are some chatacters Melba, a highly cynical reporter who sees through Joey’s trick and other characters are altered. The Vera of the book is a wealthy widow but not jealous of the chorus girl Linda, as she ultimately sees through Joey’s act. In the film Vera (Rita Hayworth) is a wealthy, former stripper (“Vanessa the Undressa”). Linda (Kim Novak) is a naïve chorus girl rather than the innocent stenographer from the original text.

Do these hurt the film, no, but Joey is now a product of the 1950s not the 1930s. He isnt as much of a conman, perhaps, becuase the depression is over and he doesnt have to be. He is still a bit of a heel though.

The book was a hit when it came out, the 1940 stage show was a hit, the film was a hit (one of the 10 highest-earning films of 1957), and the soundtrack was a hit (#2 US, #1 UK).

The book is worth reading, the film is worth seeing, and the soundtrack is worth listening to.

NOTES

• Regarding top billing – “Pal Joey is one of Sinatra’s few post-From Here to Eternity films that did not give him top billing, which went to Hayworth. Sinatra was, by this time, a bigger star. When asked about the billing, Sinatra replied, “Ladies first.” He said as it was a Columbia Pictures film, Hayworth should have top billing because “For years, she was Columbia Pictures” and being billed “between” Hayworth and Novak was “a sandwich I don’t mind being stuck in the middle of.” Hayworth had garnered top-billing status in Columbia Pictures’ films starting in 1944’s Cover Girl through the 1959 film They Came to Cordura with Gary Cooper… Sinatra’s earnings from the film paid for his new home in Palm Springs. He was so delighted that he also built a restaurant there dedicated to the film, named Pal Joey’s”
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal_Joey_(film)#cite_note-6
• Apparently Joey has become even more user freindly over the years. The 2023 New York City Center production had him as a struggling, but well-meaning singer (though they have have to do that – Joey was re-imagined as a struggling, ambitious black jazz singer in Chicago, with the story focusing heavily on the price of artistic authenticity and the appropriation of Black music … clealry, he can’t be a heel). Perhaps it was a cynical (Joey-esque) attempt to sell tickets through name recognition to something that has little or nothing to do with its title. In any event it failed (it failed to get a Broadway run).

LINKS

TRAILER

CLIPS

Frank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb7QR621H_U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx1ZZ4D-4TM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNOz74pu1RU

Rita

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW0i8pb_GsU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXr2rbI-qYg

Kim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpg9WTk1hek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08_2-xUOtSI