''Make It Snappy'' was a

musical revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...

that ran for 96 performances at the

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...

in the 1922–23 Broadway season. It ran from 13 April to 1 July 1922. It starred

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

, who introduced the hit songs " Yes! We Have No Bananas" and " The Sheik of Araby".

Production

Harold R. Atteridge and

wrote the book. Harold Atteridge wrote the lyrics to music by

Jean Schwartz Jean Schwartz (November 4, 1878 – November 30, 1956) was a Hungarian-born American songwriter. Schwartz was born in Budapest, Hungary. His family moved to New York City when he was 13 years old. He took various music-related jobs including dem ...

. Alfred Bryan and

William B. Friedlander William Barr Friedlander (12 January 1884 – January 1968) was an American songwriter and theater producer who staged many Broadway shows in the 1920s and 1930s. Most of them were musical comedies. Early successes included ''Moonlight'' (1924) a ...

wrote additional lyrics, and Friedlander wrote additional music. The show was produced by The Winter Garden Company, with production supervised by Jacob J. Shubert and staged by Jesse C. Huffman. Louis Gress was musical director. Dell Lampe orchestrated the music and Allan K. Foster staged the musical numbers. The show ran at the Winter Garden from 13 April 1922 to 1 July 1922.

headlined with Nan Halperin,

J. Harold Murray J. Harold Murray (born Harry Rulten, February 17, 1891 – December 11, 1940) was an American baritone singer and actor. For more than a decade, during the Roaring Twenties and the Depression Thirties, he contributed to the development of musi ...

and

Lew Hearn Lew or LEW may refer to: People * Lew (given name) * Lew (surname) Places * Lew, Oxfordshire, England * River Lew, in Devon, England Transport * LEW Hennigsdorf, a rail vehicle factory in Hennigsdorf, Germany * Lew (locomotive), a British narro ...

. Shubert sent the show on tour after it had closed on Broadway. In Philadelphia, in the last week of the tour, Cantor introduced the song '' Yes! We Have No Bananas'', written by

Frank Silver Frank Silverstadt (September 8, 1892 – June 14, 1960), better known by his stage name Frank Silver, was an American songwriter, jazz drummer and vaudeville performer. He was best known for co-writing and co-composing the popular song "Yes! ...

and

Irving Cohn Irving Cohn (21 February 1898 in London – 12 July 1961 in Fort Lee, New Jersey) was a British- American songwriter, best known for "Yes! We Have No Bananas", which he co-wrote with Frank Silver Frank Silverstadt (September 8, 1892 &nda ...

. The song, later recorded by Cantor for the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

, became the most popular novelty hit of the 1920s.

Synopsis

The show has been described as a "collation of froth". Some material was reused from an earlier Shubert show ''The Midnight Rounders''. Eddie Cantor played a classic comedy sketch of "Max, the Tailor", a small man having to deal with an unreasonable customer who wanted a belt in the back – and in the end got a different type of belt from the one he expected. Cantor did other sketches as a taxi driver and a very timid police academy candidate. Cantor premiered the song '' The Sheik of Araby'', lyrics by

Harry B. Smith Harry Bache Smith (December 28, 1860 – January 1, 1936) was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works ...

and Francis Wheeler, music by Ted Snyder. This also became a major hit. The Eight Blue Devils put on a tumbling act. Act 2 opened with "Princess Beautiful (A Cleveland Bronner Ballet)". Ballet had been expected in all shows in the 1916–17 season, but by 1922 they were considered outdated. The show included various chorus spectacles. In one the girls were all costumed as pink roses. The girls used the runway to toss ice cream bricks to the audience in the orchestra seats.

Reception

The revue had a respectable run. It closed in July, as even the most popular New York shows did in the days before air conditioning. ''

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New Yor ...

'' said of Cantor's performance that "Al Jolson now has a rival".

Cast

The full cast was: *

* Nan Halperin *Salayman Ali *M. T. Bohannon *Cleveland Bronner *Lew Browne *Marie Burke *John Byam *Evelyn Campbell *Carlos and Inez *Nell Carrington *Helen Christie *Molly Christie *Harry Cressey *Betty Dair *Muriel De Forest *Alfred DeLoraine *Rose Devere *Mae Devereaux *The Eight Blue Devils *Flo Evers *Betty Fitch *Lillian Fitzgerald *Elsie Frank *Eva Fuller *Dolly Hackett *Georgie Hale *

*Lebanon Hoffa * Portland Hoffa *Hermose Jose *Marian Joy *Grace Langdon *Mildred Lee *Madeline Levine * Sally Long *Polly Lux *Betty Marshall *Evelyn Martin *Elsie May *Polly Mayer *Dorothy McCarthy *Margaret McCarthy *Peggy Mermont *Gladys Montgomery *

*Vivien Nolty *Bonna O'Dear *May O'Brien *Joe Opp *Betty Palmer *Cardinal Peaires *Elsa Peterson *Nan Phillips *Chonchita Piquer *Lucille Pryor *

Tot Qualters Tot Qualters (March 28, 1894 – March 27, 1974) was an American actress, dancer, and singer in musical theatre. Early life Marguerite (or Margaret) Qualters was born in 1894, in Detroit, the daughter of Jack Qualters and Anna Qualters. She and h ...

*Queene Queenen *Charlotte Schuette *Ingrid Solfeng *May Sullivan *Margaret Toomay *Marjorie Toomay *Alice Van Ryker *Alice Weaver *Teddy Webb *Vivien West *Margaret Wilson *Vera Zimeleva

References

Notes Citations Sources * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{IBDB show, 10484 Broadway musicals 1922 musicals Plays set in New York City