November 24, 1950: "Guys and Dolls" Premieres On Broadway

November 24, 1950: The musical Guys and Dolls premieres on Broadway. Along with West Side Story because of its macho characters, and My Fair Lady because of its male chauvinism, it is 1 of 3 Broadway musicals that men can like, and not have their heterosexuality questioned.

No, not Damn Yankees. Yes, it involves baseball, and the film version had Gwen Verdon wearing the 1950s equivalent of skimpy outfits. But it also had a locker room scene with men walking around wearing nothing but towels, and even doing a chorus-line kick. Anyway...

The musical was written by Frank Loesser, with a "book" by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows (father of Cheers co-creator and director James Burrows), based on the writings of Damon Runyon. His stories, written in the 1920s and 1930s, concerned gangsters, gamblers, and other characters of the New York underworld.

Runyon was known for the unusual comic dialect he employed in his stories; mixing highly formal language, without contractions, and colorful slang. For example, in the show, Joey Biltmore, owner of the Biltmore Garage, will not accept a "marker" (an I.O.U.) from "Good Old Reliable" Nathan Detroit. Upon hearing this, Nathan's friend, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, says, "Dis, I do not believe!"

("Nicely" is so nicknamed because, when you ask him how he's doing, he says, "Nicely, nicely, thank you." It may be a coincidence that there was a later real-life New York gangster named John Campopiano, nicknamed Johnny Echoes, because he said everything twice. He was depicted in the film Goodfellas as Jimmy Two Times, played by Anthony Powers: "I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers.")

The show begins with a song titled "Fugue for Tinhorns," in which gamblers Nicely, Benny Southstreet and Rusty Charlie talk about racehorses that are running tomorrow, named Paul Revere, Valentine and Epitaph. Nicely enters a phrase into the American lexicon: "I got the horse right here, his name is Paul Revere... "

Nathan runs a "floating crap game": A dice-shooting contest whose location goes from place to place, to avoid the police. But NYPD Lieutenant Brannigan is "breathing down everyone's neck," and the only guy willing to host the game is Biltmore, and even he wants a security deposit of $1,000: "A grand." (About $12,000 in 2022 money, so we're not exactly talking pocket change.) Nathan admits, "The one thousand bucks, I ain't got." But there are so many high rollers coming into New York that his greed kicks in, and he can't simply cancel the game.

Among the high rollers is Sky Masterson, dressed like a million bucks, known for having extraordinary luck, and, when asked how he's doing, says, "Healthy at the moment." Nathan knows that Sky will bet on anything, so he sets up a sure thing. Sky is no dope: He sees through this immediately, and does not take the bet.

But Nathan knows that Sky is a womanizer, so he proposes a new bet: Sky must take a woman of Nathan's choice to dinner in Havana, Cuba -- in those pre-Castro days, the gambling capital of the Caribbean. Sky agrees, and Nathan chooses Sarah Brown, a Sergeant in a Salvation Army-type group. Sky knows he's been had, but he also knows that, in the circles in which he and Nathan travel, a guy can never "welsh" on a bet: He can neither call it off nor refuse to pay if he loses, or he loses all credibility, and nobody will ever deal with him again.

At the mission, Sky attempts to make a deal with Sarah, offering her "one dozen genuine sinners" in exchange for the date in Havana. In spite of her General telling her that her branch of the mission will be closed unless attendance rises, Sarah refuses, and they argue over whom they will fall in love with, with a duet titled "I'll Know."

Nathan has his own romantic problem: For 14 years, he has been engaged to nightclub singer "Miss Adelaide" (her last name is never mentioned), and she's not getting any younger, and she wants to be married. But he doesn't have enough money to support a wife. He would, if this weekend's crap game goes the way he thinks it will. But first, he needs the grand.

Nathan and Sarah are both forced by circumstances into doing what they don't want to do: Brannigan's presence forces Nathan's pals to say they're gathered together for his bachelor party, meaning he now has to marry Adelaide soon; and Sarah promises her General "one dozen genuine sinners."

Nathan sees the band, but Sarah's not in it. He's sure he's lost the bet. But he realizes that the mission will be empty, and he holds the crap game in there. Sure enough, Sky has flown Sarah to Cuba, where they have dinner. They arrive back at the mission in New York at 4:00 in the morning, having not done anything naughty, but admitting that they've fallen in love with each other. (It's Broadway: It requires a little suspension of disbelief.) They hear a police siren, and the cops break the game up. Nathan gets away, but Sarah sees it, and breaks up with Nathan.

The game has moved to the sewers. To protect Sarah's reputation, Sky gives Nathan $1,000, implying that he was unable to take her to dinner. (He might as well, since he won the terms of the bet, but lost the girl.) Sky offers a bet to every one of the gamblers, including Big Julie, a nasty but illiterate gangster from Chicago. (We know he's illiterate because he writes an X on a piece of paper, and says, "That's my marker!") If Sky loses his turn at the dice, he'll give every one of them $1,000 -- which he doesn't want to lose, as a matter of pride, but he does have, so it's not that bad. But if he wins, he gets their souls. No, he's not the Devil: They will have to follow him to Sarah's mission. Preparing to throw, he sings "Luck Be a Lady." He wins.

Among the gamblers following Sky to the mission is Nathan himself. He sees Adelaide, and tries to win her back, singing "Sue Me." The General is impressed by the turnout, Sarah is impressed that Sky kept his word, and Nicely is moved to genuinely repent, and the others join him in singing "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat."

So everything gets resolved: Brannigan shows up to arrest everybody, but Sarah says they weren't there last night, and the General backs her lie up, so Brannigan leaves. Nathan tells Sarah everything, and tells her that it must mean Sky truly loves her. The show ends with Sky using his gambling winnings to marry Sarah, and Nathan using his to marry Adelaide. They have both gone straight: Sky runs the mission band, and Nathan runs a newsstand, and none of the four ever has to worry about love or money again.

The original production, directed by George S. Kaufman, debuted on November 24, 1950, at the 46th Street Theatre. It is still in operation, as the Richard Rodgers Theatre, at 226 West 46th Street. Robert Alda, father of actor Alan Alda, played Sky. Sam Levene played Nathan. Isabel Bigley played Sarah, Vivian Blaine played Adelaide, and Stubby Kaye played Nicely. It won 5 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

The film version premiered on November 3, 1955. It stars Marlon Brando as Sky, Frank Sinatra as Nathan, and Jean Simmons as Sarah. Blaine and Kaye reprised their roles. Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed. It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, but won none.

The newsstand seen during "Fugue for Tinhorns" includes copies of the June 6, 1955 issues of Time and Life magazines, respectively showing Yugoslavia's Marshal Josip Broz Tito and Henry Fonda in Navy uniform as the title character in the film Mister Roberts, a non-musical Broadway play turned 1955 film; and Look magazine from June 14, 1955, showing Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, about to spin The Honeymooners off from a sketch of The Jackie Gleason Show into its own half-hour sitcom.

For those of you who are confused by the film:

* Frank Sinatra rather enjoyed playing losers, and Nathan Detroit, for all his popularity among his kind of guys, is very much a loser for much of the film.

* Yes, Marlon Brando was young and handsome once. Yes, Brando sings in this movie, and he's... not terrible. In fact, it was an inversion of the original stage production: Sam Levene, the original Nathan, couldn't sing; but in the movie, Nathan is played by Sinatra, the top singer of the era, while Brando, known for a speech impediment and dramatics, plays the comic but not-really-musical Sky. In the musical, Sam as Nathan only sings "Sue Me," while Frank as Nathan is in a couple of other numbers.

* No, this Jean Simmons is not related to Kiss singer Gene Simmons. For one thing, she used her real name. For another, she had loads of class, while he has none. If I'd been around then, Jean would have preceded Marina Sirtis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kate Beckinsale and Hayley Atwell as British brunettes that I could not resist.

The 1st Broadway revival was in 1976, with an all-black cast: Robert Guillaume as Nathan, Norma Donaldson as Adelaide, Jimmy Randolph as Sky, and Ernestine Jackson as Sarah. The 1992 revival was highly regarded. Actor Joseph Lane had renamed himself Nathan Lane after Nathan Detroit, and now played the role. Peter Gallagher played Sky, Josie de Guzman played Sarah, and Faith Prince played Adelaide. It won 4 Tonys, including Best Revival. A 2009 revival had Oliver Platt as Nathan, Lauren Graham as Adelaide, Craig Bierko as Sky and Kate Jennings Grant as Sarah.

Damon Runyon had already died in 1946. His last words were recorded as, "You can keep the things of bronze and stone, and give me one man to remember me just once a year." George S. Kaufman followed in 1961, Jo Swerling in 1964, Frank Loesser in 1969, Sam Levene in 1980, Abe Burrows in 1985, Robert Alda in 1986, Vivian Blaine in 1995, Stubby Kaye in 1997, Frank Sinatra in 1998, Marlon Brando in 2004, Isabel Bigley in 2006, and Jean Simmons in 2010.

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November 24, 1950 was a Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. My Three Sons actor Stanley Livingston and original Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Bob Burns were born.

Baseball was out of season. No games were scheduled for the NFL, the NBA or the NHL. There were 5 college football games played:

* Number 14 Miami beat Iowa, 14-6 at Burdine Stadium in Miami. The stadium was later renamed for the game annually held there, on or around New Year's Day: The Orange Bowl.

* Louisiana State University (LSU) beat Villanova, 13-7 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

* The University of Houston beat Midwestern Texas State University, 40-18 at Public School Stadium (later renamed Jeppesen Stadium and Robertson Stadium) in Houston. MTSU, in Wichita Falls, Texas, became Midwestern State University. They now compete in NCAA Division II.

* San Jose State beat Montana, 32-7 at Honolulu Stadium in Hawaii

* And the College of the Pacific beat Boston University, 55-7 at Pacific Memorial Stadium in Stockton, California. The home team's school was renamed the University of the Pacific in 1961, and they dropped their football program after the 1995 season. BU dropped theirs after the 1997 season.

October 13, 1950: "All About Eve" Premieres

Left to right: Anne Baxter, Bette Davis,

Marilyn Monroe and George Sanders

October 13, 1950: All About Eve premieres, based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr. Bette Davis plays Margo Channing, an aging Broadway star. Anne Baxter plays Eve Harrington, a fan who works her way into Margo's friendship, then into stardom of her own. George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Gary Merrill and Hugh Marlowe also star, and it includes one of the earliest big roles for Marilyn Monroe.

The film was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, a record at the time, and won 6, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay for Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Best Supporting Actor for Sanders. Davis and Baxter were both nominated for Best Actress, and Holm and Ritter were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress. All About Eve remains the only film with 4 actresses nominated for Oscars.

Monroe died in 1962, Ritter in 1969, Sanders in 1972, Marlowe in 1982, Baxter in 1985, Davis in 1989, Merrill in 1990, Holm in 2012.

I never saw this movie until I was 51 years old. I can understand why lots of people like it. I came away impressed, but not satisfied. But I've seen many a sporting event where I could have delivered Bette Davis' iconic line, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." This is often incorrectly given as "a bumpy ride."

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October 13, 1950 was a Friday -- a Friday the 13th. The baseball season ended 4 days earlier, with the New York Yankees' sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. The NBA season didn't start for another 18 days. The NHL season had started, but no games were scheduled. There we ere no games played in the NFL, but there were 6 college football games:

* Fordham beat Boston College, 26-6 at Alumni Field, just outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

* George Washington University beat Virginia Tech, 42-7 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* Alabama beat Furman, 34-0 at Denny Stadium (now Bryant-Denny Stadium) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* Marquette beat the University of Detroit, 27-13 at University of Detroit Stadium. Marquette dropped its football program after the 1960 season, UD after 1964. In 1990, UD merged with the all-women's Mercy College of Detroit, forming the University of Detroit Mercy. Neither school has ever restarted its football program.

* Illinois beat UCLA, 14-6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And Loyola Marymount beat San Jose State, 14-7 at Spartan Stadium (now CEFCU Stadium) in San Jose.

June 12, 1963: Liz & Dick's "Cleopatra" Premieres

June 12, 1963: The film Cleopatra premieres. It is the biggest entertainment spectacle of the 1960s.

Notice I said, "biggest," not "best"; and "spectacle," not "success." The distinctions do matter.

NOTE: This was the same day that Medgar Evers was assassinated.

Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last Pharoah of Egypt, mistress of Julius Caesar and later of Marc Antony, who life began in 69 BC, whose reign began in 51 BC, both ended in 30 BC, and by far the most famous woman to live BC (Before Christ), had been portrayed on film many times before, including by Theda Bara in 1917, Claudette Colbert in 1934, Vivien Leigh in 1945, Rhonda Fleming in 1953, and a young Sophia Loren in 1954.

The 1963 version was based on the 1957 book The Life and Times of Cleopatra, by Carlo Maria Franzero. It was produced by Walter Wanger, who had long wanted to make a film about her, and when he saw Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun in 1951, he knew he had his Queen of Egypt. He went on to produce the original version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and I Want to Live! So he had the studio credibility.

Taylor was approached to play the title role, and accepted. Twentieth Century Fox agreed to film it. Alfred Hitchcock was asked to direct, but he turned it down. Instead, Armenian-American director Rouben Mamoulian was hired. He had previously directed the 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Queen Christina and the 1940 version of The Mark of Zorro, but had directed only 2 films since 1942.

But Taylor was not finalized as Cleopatra. Among those considered were Joan Collins (yes, later from Dynasty), Susan Hayward (who won on Oscar for Wanger's I Want to Live!), and, at Mamoulian's suggestion, black actress Dorothy Dandridge. (For the record: The last several Pharoahs, including Cleopatra, were ethnically Greek, not black Africans as some want to believe.) Dandridge declined, telling Mamoulian there would be no way the studio would approve of her kissing a white Caesar or a white Antony.

So they want back to Taylor, and she asked for the biggest film contract ever: $1 million (about $10 million in 2022), plus 10 percent of the box office gross. She got it. Peter Finch (later in Network) was cast as Caesar, and Stephen Boyd as Antony.

In 1960, sets were built, and the film was already becoming a boondoggle. In November, filming had to stop for weeks because Taylor developed meningitis. The script kept getting rewritten. On January 18, 1961, Mamoulian quit as director.

Taylor had previously worked with George Stevens for A Place in the Sun, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz for Suddenly, Last Summer, and said either one would be good. Fox chose Mankiewicz. That did not settle things, and, finally, production at Pinewood Studios outside London shut down. It cost $600,000 just to dismantle the sets. Mankiewicz ordered them moved to Cinecittà in Rome -- which had not initially been available, due to the 1960 Olympics being held in the Eternal City. But now that the Olympics were over, "Cinema City" was available. As Caesar, Finch was out, and Rex Harrison was in.

And then Taylor went to New York, and saw Richard Burton play King Arthur in the musical Camelot, opposite Julie Andrews, who had starred with Harrison in My Fair Lady. Burton was already a huge star, particularly in period pieces like The Robe.

He was married to actress Sybil Williams. Taylor was married to singer Eddie Fisher, whom she had stolen from his wife, actress Debbie Reynolds. Previously, Taylor had married and divorced hotel heir Conrad Hilton Jr. and stage producer Michael Wilding. The true love of her life had been her 3rd husband, Mike Todd, and they still argued like crazy, until his death in a plane crash.

But Burton was hired to play Antony, and on January 22, 1962, both the filming of his scenes and his affair with Taylor started. Wanger observed in his journal: "There comes a time during the making of a movie when the actors become the characters they play... It was quiet, and you could almost feel the electricity between Liz and Burton."

It began the greatest "Couldn't live with each other, couldn't live without each other" story in the history of show business. By late February, word had reached the outside world. Laurence Olivier, whom Burton had started to rival for the title of the greatest living British actor, sent Burton a telegram: "Make up your mind, dear heart. Do you want to be a great actor or a household word?" Burton's response: "Both."

He got his wish. Bennifer? Brangelina? Kimye? In that era, before "ship names" -- no one ever called them "BurTay," or anything like that -- they became known as "Liz and Dick," and they were the biggest couple of all time, generating more press than any in history. More even than Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, mainly because, unlike DiMaggio, who was 2 years retired from baseball before he married Monroe, Burton and Taylor were both still in their prime.

Interestingly, this film had an actress named Jacqui Chan. Not "Jackie": Instead of the Hong Kong martial-arts star, this Jacqui Chan was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad to Chinese parents, and made her name dancing on Broadway. She played a character named Lotus.

Jacqui Chan as Lotus, with Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar

The cost of filming, including some scenes actually in Egypt, continued to rise. It almost brought the Fox studio down. On July 28, 1962, filming was finally finished. There was 5 hours and 20 minutes' worth of footage. This was going to make Gone with the Wind look like a short subject. By February 1963, Cleopatra had been cut down to 3 hours and 4 minutes, still over twice as long as most movies released in those days. Even historical epics tended to stay close to the 2-hour mark.

Total cost: $31.1 million, easily a record to that point. In 2022 money, a little over $300 million. It would take until 1978, when the 1st Christopher Reeve Superman move was released, for a movie to cost more in straight dollars: $55 million. The current record, in both straight and constant dollars, is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: When released in 2011, $378.5 million; with inflation, in 2022, $491.8 million.

Cleopatra premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York on June 12, 1963, with an estimated audience of 10,000 spectators congregated outside. Burton and Taylor were not in attendance: They were in London, where Burton was filming Becket, another historical epic. Ticket price: $5.50, a new record. (About $52.50 today. For a movie. A very long movie with very big stars, but a movie, not a live play.)

Reviews were mixed. Some greatly praised the film, others ripped it. A common complaint was that it was too big, that the huge sets and the huge cast dwarfed even those big performers. Perhaps the harshest criticism was this: "They had cut out the heart, the essence, the motivations, the very core, and tacked on all those battle scenes. It should have been about three large people, but it lacked reality and passion. I found it vulgar." The person who made this pronouncement? None other than Elizabeth Taylor.

Having obtained divorces from their respective spouses, Liz and Dick were married on March 15, 1964, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal. They made 11 films together. Other than Cleopatra, the most notable was a 1966 studio version of Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Their schedules, their egos (in each case, sometimes strong, sometimes fragile), and their copious drinking led to lots of fights. They divorced in 1974, remarried in 1975 -- making Burton both Taylor's 5th and her 6th husband -- and divorced again in 1976, always in the tabloids.

Burton married twice more, to British model Suzy Miller and British author Sally Hay, who is still alive as of June 12, 2022, and still calls herself Sally Burton. Dick died in 1984, only 58 years old, and Sally kept Taylor and his other ex-wives away from the funeral.

Taylor also married twice more, to Senator John Warner and construction worker Larry Fortensky, and lived until 2011, having won over a new generation of fans through her massive fundraising for research into AIDS treatment and her friendship with singer Michael Jackson -- whom, despite all her health difficulties, she outlived.

Warner died in 2021, the last survivor among Taylor's 8 husbands. Of her children: Michael Wilding Jr. became an actor, specializing in soap operas; Christopher Wilding became a film editor; and Liza Todd and Maria Burton, whom she adopted with Dick, have largely stayed out of the spotlight. Elizabeth Taylor had 10 grandchildren, some of whom have gone into show business.

Cleopatra made more money than any other film that was released in 1963. But it did not quite earn enough to make a profit. So it is widely considered a "bust." It, and the next year's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, helped end the era of historical epics "with a cast of thousands."

And while Cleopatra continues to be a subject explored in historical TV shows with smaller budgets, few films about her have been made since. Chilean actress Leonor Varela starred in an ABC TV-movie in 1999, and Italian superstar Monica Bellucci in a 2002 feature film.

In 1997, Gina Torres, a black New Yorker of Cuban descent, played Cleopatra in an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, before joining the starring cast of a show produced by the same people, the sci-fi dystopia Cleopatra 2525, but she did not play the character named Cleopatra, who shared a name with the ancient Egyptian queen, and little else.

As of 2022, Patty Jenkins, who directed Israeli actress Gal Gadot in the Wonder Woman films, is trying to put together a new Cleopatra film, to star Gadot.

UPDATE: In an August 2023 interview, Gadot said the project was still in the planning stage, with Jenkins to produce and Kari Skogland to direct: "It’s a beautiful script. We're not rushing ourselves, because you have to be responsible when you deal with such an incredible, iconic, legendary woman."

In March 2025, Universal Pictures announced that the film was still something they wanted to produce. Given everything that goes into making a film, don't expect filming to being prior to 2026, or a release before 2028. Gadot is already older than the real Cleopatra lived to be.

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, Angela Trimbur played Cleopatra, against Kimmy Gatewood playing Marilyn Monroe. A 2015 episode featured "Nice" Peter Shukoff as Julius Caesar, against early 19th Century South African Chief Shaka Zulu, played by DeStorm Power. The Cleopatra episode mentioned Caesar, and vice versa.

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June 12, 1963 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Roger Maris singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning, making Marshall Bridges a winner in relief of Ralph Terry. Mickey Mantle was injured, and did not play. Yogi Berra, in his last season with the Yankees, only appeared as a pinch-hitter, unsuccessfully.

* The New York Mets lost to the Milwaukee Braves, 9-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Lew Burdette pitched a 3-hit shutout. Hank Aaron and Del Crandall hit home runs. Duke Snider, playing out the string with the Mets, went 0-for-3, although he did draw a walk.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3 with a solo home run.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Jim O'Toole pitched a 3-hit shutout. Frank Robinson went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Rookie Pete Rose went 2-for-4. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 12-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs, but it wasn't enough.

* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Chicago White Sox won the opener, 3-1. The Los Angeles Angels won the nightcap, 5-0. Former Yankee Cy Young Award winner Bob Turley allowed only 1 hit, a 6th-inning single by Pete Ward.

* A doubleheader was split at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. As Harmon Killebrew went, so went the Minnesota Twins: In the 1st game, he went 0-for-4, and the Kansas City Athletics beat the Twins, 12-4; in the 2nd game, he went 1-for-3 with a home run, 2 walks and 2 RBIs, and the Twins won, 8-1.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. (It had been known as Sportsman's Park from 1909 to 1953.) Stan Musial went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Colt .45s, 9-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. (The Colts became the Houston Astros in 1965.)

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie McCovey hit 2 home runs, Willie Mays went 1-for-4, and Ernie Banks went 0-for-3.