- Annie Get Your Gun—1946 Broadway production—archival colour home-movie footage of scenes from the original Broadway production starring Ethel Merman, including ‘I’m an Indian Too’, Hotel ballroom scene into ‘I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning’, ‘Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better’ with Ray Middleton and Finale, which may be viewed on YouTube.
- Annie Get Your Gun (MGM) Produced by Arthur Freed; directed by George Sidney; music and lyrics by Irving Berlin; screenplay by Sidney Sheldon (based on the musical play by Herbert and Dorothy Fields); musical numbers staged by Robert Alton; musical direction by Adolph Deutsch; Cast included: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern, J. Carrol Naish, Edward Arnold, Keenan Wynn, Benay Venuta and Clinton Sundberg.
Following the success of the stage production the motion picture rights for Annie Get Your Gun were purchased by producer, Arthur Freed on behalf of MGM as a star vehicle for Judy Garland. The picture would reunite her with her Wizard of Oz co-star, Frank Morgan in the role of ‘Colonel Buffalo Bill’ and star her opposite newcomer, Howard Keel in the role of ‘Frank Butler’. Keel’s only previous film experience had been in a non-singing role in the minor British film The Small Voice in 1948, but he’d played the lead in the London stage production of Oklahoma! (billed as ‘Harold Keel’—his birth name) and Freed was sure that he would make an ideal leading man for Judy. However when production got underway in 1949, Judy’s physical and emotional condition was precarious due to her on-going battles with chemical dependency. Her professional confidence had also been badly shaken when she was replaced by Ginger Rogers in The Barkleys of Broadway at the studio, which had been intended to reunite her with her Easter Parade co-star, Fred Astaire and her marriage to Vincente Minelli began to deteriorate in the wake of her personal traumas. Nonetheless Judy began costume fittings, makeup tests and rehearsals and pre-recorded the entire musical score with her co-stars, including a new song specifically written for her by Irving Berlin entitled ‘Let’s Go West Again’. (With a few exceptions, it is standard practice in film musicals for the performers to mime to their pre-recorded vocals during the filming process in order to maintain a consistent vocal performance between individual takes of scenes.)
From the outset, Judy was unsure how to portray the character of ‘Annie Oakley’, which, unlike her previous film roles, wasn’t specifically tailored to her own personality and adding to her troubles was Freed’s assignment of his old friend, Busby Berkeley to direct the film. Berkeley’s skill at staging amazing production numbers was not quite matched by his ability to work with actors, thus further eroding Judy’s confidence, having experienced his tactics as a strict taskmaster during their earlier pictures together, For Me and My Gal and Girl Crazy. Two days into filming, which commenced on 4 April, Howard Keel fell of his horse breaking his ankle, which necessitated a three month layoff to recuperate and resulted in a more intensified shooting schedule for Judy’s scenes which did not involve Keel. After viewing the film footage from the first twelve days of shooting, Freed realised that Berkeley had no clear concept of how to handle the project and subsequently replaced him with director Charles Walters, but it was too little, too late. Judy could not handle the increased pressure and her over reliance on Benzedrine tablets to get her through resulted in the studio suspending her and her doctor booking her into a Boston hospital for a much needed rest, while the production shut down on 11 May.
Initially Betty Garrett was considered as a replacement for Judy Garland, but her contract with MGM had expired and her agent had asked for an exorbitant sum that was far too high to renegotiate. Arthur Freed then viewed the Paramount motion picture The Perils of Pauline and decided that the ebullient Betty Hutton would suit the part of ‘Annie’ and thus a contract was drawn up between MGM and Paramount on 21 June 1949 for the loan-out of Hutton for $150,000, contingent upon her availability no later than 30 September. As Charles Walters’ contract with MGM had also expired in the interim, George Sidney was assigned to direct the film in his stead, and Sidney and screenwriter, Sidney Sheldon set about revising the screenplay to stress the comedy instead of dance numbers in order to tailor it to Hutton’s strengths. Sadly, Frank Morgan had died in his sleep on 19 September, and so the role of ‘Colonel Buffalo Bill’ was recast with Louis Calhern and other cast changes included Benay Venuta replacing Geraldine Wall as ‘Dolly Tate’ and the replacement of the children playing Annie’s younger siblings.
Betty Hutton reported to MGM on 26 September and started work on preparing for the new pre-recorded vocals, for which the orchestrations had to be transposed to accommodate her range, as well as being available for costume fittings and rehearsals. With such preliminaries out of the way, production on Annie Get Your Gun resumed on 10 October. By then the picture had already cost $1,877,528 and the budget was now increased to $3,707,481.
The production closed on 16 December 1949, after forty-six days of shooting, four and a half days ahead of schedule, at a total cost of $3,768,785 ($61,304 over budget.) The picture was previewed on 29 January 1950 and went into general release on 23 May, grossing in excess of $8,010,000 (including box-office returns from its re-release in 1956–57.)
At the twenty-third Academy Awards held on 29 March, 1951, Annie Get Your Gun was nominated in four categories: ‘Best Scoring of a Musical Picture’; ‘Best Color Photography’; ‘Best Art and Set Direction’; and ‘Best Editing’, with Roger Edens and Adolph Deutsch taking home the Oscars for ‘Best Scoring’.
Despite its popularity, the film was unavailable in any form from 1973 until 2000 due to legal wrangling between Irving Berlin (and later his estate) and MGM (later Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros). It was finally re-released in 2000 after the 1998 Broadway revival of the stage show with Bernadette Peters renewed interest in viewing the film version again.
Film clips available on YouTube
- Judy Garland out-takes (1949)
Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly—Judy Garland and children
I’m an Indian Too—Judy Garland and chorus
- 1950 Movie clips
Opening credits and ‘Colonel Buffalo Bill’—Keenan Wynn, Benay Venuta, Howard Keel & Ensemble
Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly—Betty Hutton
The Girl That I Marry—Howard Keel
Annie Oakley and Frank Butler shooting match
You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun—Betty Hutton
There’s No Business Like Show Business—Howard Keel, Louis Calhern and Keenan Wynn with Betty Hutton
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better—Betty Hutton and Howard Keel
Letter scene with Betty Hutton and J. Carrol Naish.
Annie Oakley and Frank Butler shooting re-match—Finale.
- Annie Get Your Gun – 1957 US TV production
Directed by Vincent J. Donehue; Musical direction by Louis Adrian; Cast included Mary Martin, John Raitt and William O’Neal with Reta Shaw, Donald Burr, Norman Edwards, Susan Luckey, Zachary Charles, Robert Nash and John Eldredge.
Broadcast date: 27 November 1957 (United States) by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
The initial success of Mary Martin’s performance of the 1955 Broadway musical Peter Pan, with Cyril Ritchard in his dual role as Mr. Darling and Captain James Hook, telecast on NBC’s Producer’s Showcase, airing on 7 March 1955, and repeated 9 January 1956 as a NBC Producer’s Showcase Color broadcast special event, was the basis for NBC Events Division’s production of the Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun. The aim of the Producers' Showcase was to broadcast expensive colour spectaculars to promote the new colour television system developed by NBC’s parent company RCA. Peter Pan was the first major telecast of a Broadway musical for any network broadcasting company. The NBC Network's Producer’s Showcase Color special Mary Martin starring in Irving Berlin’s Broadway musical ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ was telecast live to New York from the NBC Burbank, California television facility, from colour studio #2 and adjacent studio #4, with a live studio audience seated on both stages. The production was expanded to incorporate actual horses on stage, with the studio’s central hall stage access corridor floors covered in a cushion of dirt, the hallway corridor dressed with trees, and shrubs, the walls hung with landscape and mountain scenic backings. The corridor ceilings were rigged with pipes enabling stage lighting rigged to focus on the live action of performers on horseback, staged in the 100 foot long access stage hall corridor. The audience in both studios #2 and #4 could watch overhead monitors of the staging when performers were on either stage and in the studio corridor located at the back-end of the adjacent stages. The large stage doors on both adjacent studio-stages were open for the corridor access. The 1957 NBC colour telecast of the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun was the second Broadway stage musical production for an NBC Color Special event.
This was the most popular single musical special of the season for NBC. It raked in a total of 60 million viewers. The show had a two-hour average Trendex rating of 35.1 and a 57.4 percent share of the total TV audience.
Mary Martin recreated her role as Annie Oakley that she played in the US national road show tour of Annie Get Your Gun, which commenced in Dallas, Texas on 3 October 1947, while Ethel Merman was still performing the role on Broadway. The National Tour played Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, with Mary Martin staying with the tour until mid-1948. The 1948 Tony Awards awarded Mary Martin a ‘Special Tony Award,’ cited for the National touring production of Annie Get Your Gun spreading theatre to the country while the original cast performed in New York City.
William O’Neal, who originated the role of ‘Buffalo Bill’ in the 1946 Broadway production with Ethel Merman, also reprised his original role for the 1957 NBC telecast.
Film clip
A Trailer for the official VAI-music DVD release of the 1957 TV production may be viewed on YouTube.
- Annie Get Your Gun – 1967 US TV version
Both Ethel Merman (as ‘Annie’) and Harry Bellaver (as ‘Sitting Bull’) reprised their original 1946 stage roles in this production, joined by Bruce Yarnell, Benay Venuta, Jerry Orbach, Ronn Carroll and Rufus Smith.
Broadcast date: 19 March 1967 (United States) by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
The production originated in 1966 as one of the series of summer musicals then being presented at Lincoln Center. It subsequently moved to Broadway before being videotaped in a 90-minute version for television. It is the only one of the series of Lincoln Center musicals presented at that time to have been adapted for television and presented in that medium with its stage cast.
Film clips
Ehel Merman’s rendition of ‘I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning’ from the TV version broadcast in 1967 may be viewed on YouTube.
A promotional appearance by Ethel Merman on The Ed Sullivan Show broadcast in the US on 13 February 1966 singing an ‘Annie Get Your Gun Medley’ may also be viewed on YouTube.
- Annie Get Your Gun—1965 West German TV version
Production by Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) in Hamburg, Germany. Directed by Sven Aarge Larsen; Musical direction by Peter Richter; Cast included Heidi Brühl, Robert Trehy, Edgar Walther, Brigitte Mira, Heidi Schaffrath, Hans-Jürgen Wehnert, Martin Rosen, Hanna Waage, Kurt Mühlhardt, Johannes Drath, Benno Hoffmann and Peter Rasch.
Broadcast date: 4 April 1965 (West Germany)
Sources
CastAlbums.org
Internet Movie Data Base, www.imdb.com
Hugh Fordin—M-G-M’s Greatest Musicals—The Arthur Freed Unit [Da Capo Press paperback edition, New York: 1996]
