archy and mehitabel

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/25/10 at 4:25pm

Anyone know anything about this weird little thing? From what I've been able to put together, it was a concept album, written by Mel Brooks, Joe Darien, and George Kleinsinger -- produced by Columbia Records, recorded in 1954, with Carol Channing and Eddie Bracken, which was subsequently produced as SHINBONE ALLEY on Broadway (which flopped) and then as a really terrible animated film of the same name. Apparently, the B'way production was one of the first to have a fully integrated cast.

A friend of mine found the LP at a Goodwill store and duped it off for me on CD. Interesting jazz score that might be worth a second look, if one can figure out how to convey the love affair between a cockroach and an alley cat (and NO, NO JULIE TAYMOR, OKAY???).

[twinbelters]

Posted: 12/25/10 at 4:41pm

I have a commercially sold live recording of the Broadway production and it siuba good and fun. Mel Brooks wrote the book and Chita was Eartha's standby.

The aforementioned recording is out of print but worth seeking out. I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

The animated movie with Carol and Eddie is well done and was a surprise dvd reissue a few years back.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/25/10 at 4:55pm

We started watching the animated version (It's on Netflix) and couldnt get more than ten minutes into it.

[mikem]

Posted: 12/25/10 at 5:03pm

I can't tell from your original posting if you know about the original source material, which was a series of newspaper columns collected into extremely popular books in the 1920s and 1930s. The reason that the title has no capitalization is that the stories are typed by Archy the cockroach jumping from key to key on the typewriter, and he can't jump on the Shift key and another key at the same time. In the books, I believe that Archy and Mehitabel are friends, not romantic interests.

I am very curious how the representation of the animal characters was made in the 1950s musical version. Almost all of the characters are animals. Can anyone shed some light?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/25/10 at 5:12pm

According to Wikipedia, the show got an award nomination for Best Costumes, so they must have been quite something.

And yeah, I'm very familiar with the original stories by Don Marquis. Sorry, I should have mentioned that in the post.

[wildcat]

Posted: 12/25/10 at 10:35pm

The photos I've seen of the original Broadway production show Eddie Bracken dressed in a shabby plaid jacket with a bowler hat and Eartha in black leotard and stockings, at one point with a white feathered negligee. George S. Irving as Big Bill wears a black shirt and tight black trousers so there was obviously no attempt to make the cast look like animals.

There was also a tv special in the late 50s with Tammy Grimes and Eddie Bracken in the leads. The songs were released on an LP in the 70s (the other side was "Shangri-La") and Tammy's mehitabel is very funny. I've always liked the score a lot.