How To Succeed–Part Two

Here we are once again. It is Thursday, and we left Rosemary on Tuesday, dreaming of married life in New Rochelle. But, as Smitty reminded her, the office is here in New York City; and in NYC, people get to work in a semi-somnambulant state until they have had their first cup of coffee. The need for a cup of coffee does not escape the wit and wisdom of Frank Loesser, who may have exaggerated the “need” slightly but did not entirely miss the satirical mark. Here is an audio clip of Charles Nelson Reilly leading the original cast in the song, “Coffee Break.”

The next plot twist involves the promotion of Twimble. As he is promoted from the head of the mail room to the head of the shipping department, we start to see the feeding frenzy around who will replace Twimble in the mail room. Twimble has been impressed with Finch (after all, he is a charmer) and recommends Finch to fill his spot in the mail room. Warned by his book to avoid staying too long in the mail room, Finch declines the promotion and recommends Frump for the job. Frump is initially overjoyed at the opportunity and swears that he will now conform to “The Company Way” in a reprise of the song. Here is an audio clip of Charles Nelson Reilly from the original cast album.

As Frump is appointed the new head of the mail room, Finch is rewarded by Bratt for his “selflessness” by being given a promotion to a “junior executive” in the Plans and Systems department, headed by Mr. Gatch.

At this point, a very beautiful if not terribly bright woman named Hedy LaRue (played to the hilt by Virginia Martin) is hired as a secretary. Bratt feels that the men are too eager to “help” LaRue and warns them not to take advantage of the female employees. He expresses his direction in a song, entitled “A Secretary Is Not a Toy.” Now, we must understand that the use of the word “toy” was meant to be a sanitized term; but the real meaning is sex object or corporate playmate, almost a perk of executive office. We saw this in practice in the movie, The Apartment. Until very recently, the abuse of female employees has gone on much the same, without public scorn being heaped on the abusers. At least for now, we have opened up the practice to public scrutiny, and the reaction has been swift and certain for those who take advantage of others. The problems highlighted in this song are not much different in 2018 than they were in 1961.

Finch learns from Miss Jones, Biggeley’s secretary that Biggeley’s alma mater is Old Ivy college. Tired at the end of the day and while waiting for an elevator, Smitty manages to arrange for Rosemary and Finch to meet. Hopefully, this will be their first date. Here is the trio of Sutherland, Scott and Morse singing “It’s Been a Long day” from the original cast album.

Now, let’s take a look at the same scene, this time in a video clip from the 1967 movie, with Michelle Lee playing the part of Rosemary.

Frump catches his uncle with LaRue and blackmails Biggeley into a promotion. Frump delivers this bit of chicanery in a reprise of “It’s Been a Long Day.” We have an audio clip from the 2011 revival with Daniel Radcliffe as Finch, John Larroquette as Biggeley and Tammy Blanchard as LaRue. One drawback seems to be a lack of nuance in Blanchard’s portrayal of LaRue.

We need to end this post here, but we promise that we will pick up the action again next Tuesday.