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Authors: William V. Madison
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Madeline sang in three ensemble numbers and the finale, and her role was shrinking underneath her. While Penn seemed to appreciateMadeline, Merrick “just couldn’t understand her comic genius,” Vaccaro says. “He wasn’t on the same page with her as a comedienne; he didn’t realize what a talent she was, and he couldn’t relate to her at all, which was his shortcoming.”
Merrick didn’t seem to understand Penn, either, though the director had guided Anne Bancroft in her Broadway debut in
Two for the Seesaw
, and enjoyed tremendous success with
The Miracle Worker
, both on Broadway and onscreen. The year before
How Now
, he’d revolutionized American cinema with
Bonnie and Clyde
. But when
How Now
ran into trouble during Boston tryouts, Merrick fired Penn, “which he did with great aplomb, as he always did,” Vaccaro observes tartly. To replace the director, Merrick brought in George Abbott. Madeline had lost her champion, although she didn’t realize it.
Abbott, who began his directorial career in the 1920s, was an odd choice for a new musical trying hard to be up-to-the-minute, but he’d guided such classics as
On the Town, Pajama Game
, and
Damn Yankees
, and he was a renowned show doctor whom Merrick trusted. Coe describes Abbott as “abusive to actors,” and the director’s old-fashioned, by-the-numbers approach conflicted with Madeline’s exploration of her characters’ inner lives. She “was just in a long line of really extraordinary talent that was fired on that musical,” Vaccaro says, “because everybody had a sort of milk haze over their eyes about what to do about it.” Coe deliberately got out of the show, and he wound up with Madeline on the train back to New York. “I was probably more upset about them pushing her out of the show than she was,” he says, though Madeline remembered crying for days after she got home.
In the mid-1960s, with smash musical comedies like
Gypsy, Oliver!
, and
Hello, Dolly!
to his credit, Merrick was at the height of his power, as much a star as almost any actor in New York, and he wore the nickname “The Abominable Showman” proudly. Improbably, an Internet rumor holds that the very next season Madeline won a role in another Merrick show and got fired again during out-of-town tryouts. However, there’s no substance to the rumor that she appeared in
Promises, Promises
, and the show’s star, Donna McKechnie, confirms that Madeline wasn’t around. In fact, Madeline lost little time making her Broadway debut. The loss of
How Now
effectively freed her to accept an offer from producer Leonard Sillman, whose
New Faces
revues had introduced a number of future stars. But her debut didn’t do much to improve her luck.
-8-
We’ve Never Seen You
New Faces of 1968
BY SIGNING ON FOR
NEW FACES OF 1968
, MADELINE JOINED THE roster of Leonard Sillman’s other “discoveries,” which began with a 1933 edition in Los Angeles and featured Tyrone Power, Kay Thompson, and Eve Arden. Even a partial roll call from Sillman’s New York
New Faces
revues is impressive: Imogene Coca, Henry Fonda, Alice Pearce, Alice Ghostley, Carol Lawrence, Paul Lynde, Jane Connell, Inga Swenson, Eartha Kitt, and Maggie Smith. However, as the
Times
’s Clive Barnes pointed out in his review of the 1968 edition, the concept of “new faces” was relative: The performers were new only to people who never went to nightclubs or watched television. 29 Several cast members, including Robert Klein and Dorothy Danner (under the name Dottie Frank), had made their Broadway debuts in other shows, and much of the material and cast in the 1968 show was recycled from the touring
New Faces of 1966
, which any New Yorker with access to Connecticut might have seen.
In
New Faces
, Madeline took part in several sketches, including a beauty pageant sketch (“Missed America”) written by her friends Gail Parent and Kenny Solms. In “Luncheon Ballad,” she joined Suzanne Astor, Marilyn Child, and
Merrick didn’t seem to understand Penn, either, though the director had guided Anne Bancroft in her Broadway debut in
Two for the Seesaw
, and enjoyed tremendous success with
The Miracle Worker
, both on Broadway and onscreen. The year before
How Now
, he’d revolutionized American cinema with
Bonnie and Clyde
. But when
How Now
ran into trouble during Boston tryouts, Merrick fired Penn, “which he did with great aplomb, as he always did,” Vaccaro observes tartly. To replace the director, Merrick brought in George Abbott. Madeline had lost her champion, although she didn’t realize it.
Abbott, who began his directorial career in the 1920s, was an odd choice for a new musical trying hard to be up-to-the-minute, but he’d guided such classics as
On the Town, Pajama Game
, and
Damn Yankees
, and he was a renowned show doctor whom Merrick trusted. Coe describes Abbott as “abusive to actors,” and the director’s old-fashioned, by-the-numbers approach conflicted with Madeline’s exploration of her characters’ inner lives. She “was just in a long line of really extraordinary talent that was fired on that musical,” Vaccaro says, “because everybody had a sort of milk haze over their eyes about what to do about it.” Coe deliberately got out of the show, and he wound up with Madeline on the train back to New York. “I was probably more upset about them pushing her out of the show than she was,” he says, though Madeline remembered crying for days after she got home.
In the mid-1960s, with smash musical comedies like
Gypsy, Oliver!
, and
Hello, Dolly!
to his credit, Merrick was at the height of his power, as much a star as almost any actor in New York, and he wore the nickname “The Abominable Showman” proudly. Improbably, an Internet rumor holds that the very next season Madeline won a role in another Merrick show and got fired again during out-of-town tryouts. However, there’s no substance to the rumor that she appeared in
Promises, Promises
, and the show’s star, Donna McKechnie, confirms that Madeline wasn’t around. In fact, Madeline lost little time making her Broadway debut. The loss of
How Now
effectively freed her to accept an offer from producer Leonard Sillman, whose
New Faces
revues had introduced a number of future stars. But her debut didn’t do much to improve her luck.
-8-
We’ve Never Seen You
New Faces of 1968
BY SIGNING ON FOR
NEW FACES OF 1968
, MADELINE JOINED THE roster of Leonard Sillman’s other “discoveries,” which began with a 1933 edition in Los Angeles and featured Tyrone Power, Kay Thompson, and Eve Arden. Even a partial roll call from Sillman’s New York
New Faces
revues is impressive: Imogene Coca, Henry Fonda, Alice Pearce, Alice Ghostley, Carol Lawrence, Paul Lynde, Jane Connell, Inga Swenson, Eartha Kitt, and Maggie Smith. However, as the
Times
’s Clive Barnes pointed out in his review of the 1968 edition, the concept of “new faces” was relative: The performers were new only to people who never went to nightclubs or watched television. 29 Several cast members, including Robert Klein and Dorothy Danner (under the name Dottie Frank), had made their Broadway debuts in other shows, and much of the material and cast in the 1968 show was recycled from the touring
New Faces of 1966
, which any New Yorker with access to Connecticut might have seen.
In
New Faces
, Madeline took part in several sketches, including a beauty pageant sketch (“Missed America”) written by her friends Gail Parent and Kenny Solms. In “Luncheon Ballad,” she joined Suzanne Astor, Marilyn Child, and
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