December 28, 1944: "On the Town" Premieres On Broadway

December 28, 1944: On the Town premieres at the Adelphi Theater. George Abbott directed, Leonard Bernstein composed the music, and Jerome Robbins choreographed.

The show is about 3 sailors on leave in New York during World War II, which was still going on at the time. It starred John Battles (after Kirk Douglas had to drop out, due to his son Michael having just been born), Cris Alexander and Adolph Green. The female leads were Betty Comden and Nancy Walker. Comden and Green also wrote the story, and the lyrics for the songs.

Nancy Walker would later become famous as Ida Morgenstern on Rhoda, and Rosie the waitress in commercials for paper towels: "Bounty's the quicker-picker-upper!"

The show ran until February 2, 1946. It was filmed in 1949, with Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin. The Hays Code still being in effect, the show's signature song had to be changed: "New York, New York, it's a hell of a town!" became "New York, New York, it's a wonderful town!"

This led to Comden, Green and Bernstein writing another musical about New York, titled Wonderful Town. Many years after that, Comden and Green would write a film musical, titled New York, New York, whose theme would be sung by the movie's female lead, Liza Minnelli, but the more famous version would be by Sinatra.

Kelly and Sinatra, of course, were among the greatest entertainers of the 20th Century; but if you can name a Munshin role other than Ozzie in the film version of On the Town, then you're one up on me.

The Adelphi Theater was at 152 West 54th Street. It was demolished in 1970, and the New York Hilton Midtown was built on the site.

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December 28, 1944 was a Thursday. Johnny Isakson, who served 14 years in the U.S. Senate as a Republican from Georgia, was born.

Baseball was out of season. Football season was over except for the New Year's Day bowl games. The NBA hadn't been founded yet.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the Boston Garden. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 9-1 at the Montreal Forum. Maurice "the Rocket" Richard, on his way to a season in which he scored 50 goals in 50 games, scored 5 goals and had 3 assists. In other words, the Habs scored 9 goals, and he was involved in 8 of them. The New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs were not scheduled.