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Little Johnny Jones
For the blues pianist, see Little Johnny Jones (pianist)
BackgroundThe show was Cohan's first full-length musical. A famous American jockey, Tod Sloan, had gone to England in 1903 to ride in the Derby for the King of England. This gave Cohan the idea for the story. The musical is jingoistic in tone, containing a lot of anti-European quips, like "You think I'd marry an heiress and live off her money? What do you take me for? An Englishman?" And: "French pastry ain't worth 30¢ compared to American apple pie." In Little Johnny Jones, Cohan introduced some of the dance steps and comedy features for which he would become famous.[1] SynopsisA brash, patriotic American jockey, Johnny Jones, goes to England to ride his horse, Yankee Doodle, in the English Derby. Jones falls in love with Goldie Gates, a San Francisco copper heiress, who follows him to Britain, disguising herself as a man to discover if Jones really loves her. Anthony Anstey, an American who runs a Chinese gambling establishment in San Francisco, offers Jones a bribe to lose the race deliberately, but he refuses. After Jones loses, Anstey spreads rumors that he threw the race intentionally. Jones' detective, pretending to be a drunkard, searches for evidence to clear Johnny's name and finds out that it was Anstey that framed Jones. Jones tells his friends who are returning to America, "Give My Regards to Broadway," but he stays in London to try to regain his reputation. Jones returns to America with his name cleared, eager to propose marriage to Goldie, but he finds that Anstey has kidnapped her. He and his detective search for her in San Francisco's Chinatown, eventually finding her. Original productionThe musical was first tried out at the Parsons Theatre in Hartford, Connecticut in October 1904 and then opened on Broadway at the Liberty Theatre on November 7 1904. The original production was produced by Sam H. Harris and directed by George M. Cohan who also performed as part of the cast with the other members of The Four Cohans (Cohan, his parents and sister). Ethel Levey, Cohan's wife, co-starred.[2] Among the other performers were William Seymour and Donald Brian. The Broadway run of only 52 performances was followed by tours, during which some rewrites were made. It was revived twice in 1905 at the New York Theatre, playing successfully for over 200 performances through most of that year, and touring until the next Broadway revival in 1907 for a short run at the Academy of Music. The production was mounted with a huge cast.[3] Subsequent adaptations and productionsThere were films of the same name in 1923[4] and 1929.[5] David Cassidy starred in a touring revival in 1981.[6] After previewing at Connecticut's Goodspeed Opera House and touring, a 1982 revival, adapted by Alfred Uhry, closed at the Alvin Theatre after only one performance. It starred Donny Osmond in the lead. An adaptation of the show was produced by the Light Opera of Manhattan in the late 1980s, called Give My Regards to Broadway and was successful for that company.[7] Song list
Sheet music to "Give My Regards"
Notes and references
Bibliography
External links
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