How To Succeed–Part Three
This is the first Tuesday in March, and we are back with you, featuring the next part of our discussion of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. We left the last post with Frump blackmailing his uncle into a promotion in return for Frump’s silence about LaRue. We now move into what I consider the best parody of college fight songs and corporate manipulation ever to see a Broadway stage.
Finch found out in the last installment that Biggeley’s alma mater is Old Ivy. With this knowledge in hand, Finch comes into the office early on a Saturday morning, knowing that Biggeley will arrive shortly. Grabbing a calculator, Finch streams the calculator’s paper around his desk, making it look as though he has worked throughout the night. As Biggeley arrives, Finch slumps across his desk, in apparent exhaustion. As Biggeley comes over to check on him, Finch lets it slip out that he is a graduate of Old Ivy. Biggeley is overjoyed, and they launch into the fight song from the school they love. Note in the lyrics that they are going to rip their adversaries, “the chipmunks,” off the field. Here is Vallee and Morse in an audio clip from the original cast recording as they sing in wonderful harmony, “Grand Old Ivy.”
As fellow “groundhogs,” Biggeley feels that he can trust Finch and insists that Finch have his own office and a secretary (LaRue). With the help of his book, Finch recognizes the risk posed by LaRue. Also having witnessed the womanizing ways of his new boss, Gatch, Finch sends LaRue to Gatch on a pretext. Of course, Gatch can’t help himself, makes his move and is sent to Venezuela for his wayward behavior.
Finch is now the head of Plans and Systems.
Rosemary is impressed with Finch’s rapid advancement but feels the pain of being ignored, and at the reception for the new head of the Advertising Deparment, Benjamin Burton Daniel Ovington, Rosemary hopes to re-ignite the flame with Finch by wearing a “Paris Original.” Unfortunately, it is just a copy, and all the women at the reception are wearing the same dress. Here is Scott and Sutherland singing “Paris Original” in an audio clip from the original cast album.
Meanwhile, Frump is again plotting to destroy Finch, this time by convincing LaRue to kiss Finch. Frump plans to catch Finch in the act with his uncle and thus ruin Finch’s career. When LaRue does kiss Finch, it is too early to be seen by anyone else, so Frump’s plot is spoiled. But even more important to the plot, Hedy’s kiss awakens the self-centered Finch to the fact that he loves Rosemary. Here is an audio clip from the original cast recording of Morse singing out “Rosemary” at the top of his lungs.
And now we have a video clip of Finch playing the scene in the 1967 movie.
By the time Frump and Biggeley arrive, Finch is in Rosemary’s arms.
As the Act One curtain starts to descend, we find out that the new hire, Ovington, is a hated “chipmunk” from Northern State, Old Ivy’s bitter rival. Ovington is thrown out, and Finch is now the Vice-President in Charge of Advertising. Finch and Rosemary declare their love, and Frump vows revenge. Yet, even at the moment that Finch declares his love for Rosemary, he is interrupting their new-found bliss to call the painter to give him instructions on how to spell his name when it goes on his office door. In a wonderful trio, filled with marvelous counterpoint, these three spell out their hopes and fears in the “Act One Finaletto.”
With this wonderful ending music bringing down the Act One curtain, we leave you once again. But remember, we will be back on Thursday with the fourth and final part of this series.