The Season - A Candid Look At Broadway

I have a friend who's been a performer and whose wife has been in a couple of Broadway shows, and he's recommended the book.

Re. Golden Rainbow, at the time some wit said about Steve and Edie being in the show, "Good. Now I can miss them both at the same time."

The Season is one of the best books about Broadway ever written.

The Season is great. The chapter on 'the homosexuals' is just a product of its time - if anything it's condescending towards gay people, rather than attacking them/the presence of gay themes on Broadway. It starts by looking at Judy's stint at the Palace.

Goldman's writing about snob hits still applies today. He writes a few fake summaries of plays and if I recall he includes them alongside summaries of Beckett's Endgame and Albee's The Zoo Story

It's a fast, easy read. Very gossipy, very homophobic.

I've read it a couple of times. It's a wonderfully bitchy, readable take on that season of Broadway, with some terrific insights as to why some shows succeeded and others failed.

As others noted, it's very much a product of its time, although the chapter specifically about homosexuality isn't as bad as it could have been. He makes a very good point about how being forced to be in the closet altered the way they worked. And he quoted that gay activist who correctly pointed out that anything he wrote about homosexuality was going to be incomplete because the research had not been done.

I've loved it for 30 years......

Two guys at intermission at Judy At The Palace:

1st Guy: I don't know.....is it theatre?

2nd Guy: It has to be.

1st Guy: What do you mean?

2nd Guy: It sure as hell ain't singin'!

I must read this!

It's really funny. It's worth reading just for his take on the charming but now forgotten musical "Henry, Sweet Henry," which had a weak run although the music and the performances by the actors playing the teenager and the choreography by Michael Bennett were phenomenal. He is really funny explaining how the phenomenal Alice Playten's breakout (and by this point legendary) performance in the secondary role of as the nasty teenage girl Kafritz, which seemed to embody all that is most hilariously awful in gay men (the greediness, the envy, the manipulativeness, the vindictiveness, the bitchiness), and that a gay audience recognized this and made the show a miniature cult favorite as a result--her two big numbers, "Nobody Steps on Kafritz" and "Poor Little Person" brought down the house every night. Even so, the show closed earlier than expected because it just seemed so out of date--in the late 60s, no one could buy that a contemporary teenage girl would have a crush on Charles Boyer (which is one of the misguided sociological details on the book) while "Hair" was the biggest success then simultaneously on Broadway.

The phenomenal Alice Playten belting out Poor Little Person on the Ed Sullivan show. Choreography by Michael Bennett. Among the girls are Pia Zadora and Baayork Lee.

Her face when she goes out in the audience and doesn't get any money gets me every time.....LOL.

A bit OT, but there was a Harold Prince autobiography that came out a couple years ago that I'm guessing is a good read.

Thanks R9, that made my day.

He really lets Eydie Gorme have it......from her plastic hair to her phony laughing break up to her out of town laryngitis predicted by the boys in the ensemble.......and he is right on point with it all.

The first chapter of a Garland performance at The Palace is spot on;

It's horribly homophobic and one of the best looks at Broadway I've ever read and I've read a lot of books on Broadway. His explanation of the system of ticket scalping (Ice....) is fascinating.

Horribly homophobic it is not. Brutally honest about how annoying theater queens can be it is.

Is this the book where he goes in on Sandy Dennis?

Yes, R17. It's the "Critics Darling" section.

Definitely worth getting.

Jesus....it ain't cheap. $40 for a 50+ year old book!!!

you can get it for $20 on kindle

it's also available to borrow on archive.org

You can also wait for a sale. I picked up the Kindle version a year ago for $10.

Yes one of the best books you can possibly read about Broadway. If only writers today were half as perceptive and funny.

His brief takedown of Streisand is unsparing and spot on and I'm a fan of hers. You wish he had written a book on several seasons of this period.

As dismal as this Broadway season in the book is it makes me nostalgic for such a time when it was for New Yorkers and a specific theater going audience that was going for much of the 20th century and was dying out.

Is this the one where he trashes George M? I've always hated that show.

Yes, R25. He's pretty unsparing in his criticism and most of it appears to be dead on. The cliches in George M; the chilliness of its star, Joel Grey, etc.

Some of the comments were really insightful, as when he discussed casting and talked about the essential quality you need to look for in the actors you select. And how that quality can change from one act to the next, which presents interesting challenges for the casting director.

I'd never heard of Alice Playten. Judging from r9's link I'm surprised she wasn't a bigger star.

Hilarious to see baby Pia Zadora next to her.

I had the weekend off from basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey. Several of us got discount tickets to Judy Garland at the Palace for that Saturday nights.

He must have been writing about opening night because I was surprised by his comments. Judy appeared last, talked about her life not as bad as people think, and sang about ten songs, none all the well. I enjoyed seeing her kids on stage. And glad I saw her in person. Next morning we saw Bonnie and Clyde and then back to Fort Dix.

R27 A few years later she became a star of sorts on a very popular TV commercial that was quoted a lot at the time though people still didn't know her name. That's how I knew of her and then saw her years later in the original cast of Papp's Penzance.

Sullivan's praise seems genuine and he'd probably seen most of the Broadway musicals since the 20's.

R28, your name wouldn't be Don, would it?

R28, I think he was talking about the closing night performance, but my memory might be failing me as it's been a couple of years since I last read the book.

I'm always surprised Alice Playten didn't do more musical theater, and I wonder if she blew her voice out on "Henry, Sweet Henry." She sounds a little horse in the numbers linked here, though she really has a powerful voice.

She was on a Saturday morning kid's show with Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors for two years in the mid Seventies, "The Lost saucer."

Playten was also Ermengarde in the original Broadway cast of "Hello, Dolly!"

I read the Garland piece first in magazine, perhaps Esquire before the book was published.. No, I am not Don, whoever he is.. Why would someone make up seeing Garland on a weekend pass from basic training?

I love watching Baayork Lee in the "Poor Little Person" number. She was dance captain for that show, which is how she got to be a favorite of Michael Bennett--of course he also cast for the big "Turkey Lurkey Time" dance number the next year in "Promises, Promises," and also gave her a good role in "A Chorus Line." She's so focused in her reactions during "Poor Little Person," and, unlike Pia Zadora, she's not trying to draw focus away from Playten by mugging incessantly.

I'll never forget going AWOL with a bunch of my fellow Navy SEALs from our base to see the divine Ruby Keeler in "No, No, Nanette." Our Commanding Officer was sure pissed, but he was so enchanted when we all re-created the choreography routines for "Tea for Two" for him that we avoided a court-martial.

I started to read it last year, but was so angered by the casual and cruel homophobia, that I stopped reading it. I picked it up again a few months later, determined to look past his atavistic views on gay men, and I'm glad I did. The book is very informative and insightful. And, if his homophobia was, indeed, typical of the time, it shows how far we have come. I do believe, though, that he had to be more homophobic than the average person working in theater.

There was a weird period in the late Sixties and early Seventies when many intellectuals tried to show how with-it they were by making fag jokes in their writings (they would even use the words "fag" and "faggot" almost incessantly). In some cases, like Norman Mailer's, it was due to internalized homophobia and hatred, but in some cases, like Pauline Kael's, it was a mistaken attempt to seem hip (she was horrified later in life by the flippant comments she had made back then). I'm not sure where Goldman's comments lie on that spectrum.

R35 I don't think the poster was doubting you - I think maybe he thought he knew you.....

Who will be doing Alice's role at Encores?

I like how he also follows ALL of the changes made in GOLDEN RAINBOW from the original source material - changes to enhance and build up Eydie's role - that screwed up the story and made it make no sense......and his writing about Robert Goulet in HAPPY TIME....

The back of the Golden Rainbow cast recording describes the photo on the right as "Eydie in the free-wheeling patio number".

I read the novel "Valley of the Dolls a year or two ago and at first was surprised at casually Neely used the work "fag" and "faggot". Of course, the book was written in the mid-60s and in the early chapters are in the 1940s... all of her dialogue and that of others is appropriate. None of it nice, but appropriate for the time.

Things change, it doesn't phase me in the least.

Definitely, R45. I also liked the chapter about Alfred Drake in that Spanish play, where it became clear that how they treated the material was the complete antithesis to what the play was about, fatally damaging the production.

Thanks for the posting R41. Lovely song, wonderful voice.

I splurged on the Kindle edition and am enjoying it thoroughly (thanks, OP), but I can see where some would be shocked by the casual, tossed-off homophobia of the time. This is on page 2 (in the lobby at Judy Garland's performance at the Palace):

[italic]"Another flutter of fags, half a dozen this time, and watching it all from the corner two heterosexual married couples. 'These fags,' the first man says. 'It's like Auschwitz -- some of them died along the way but a lot got here anyhow.' He turns to the other husband and shrugs. 'Tonight, no one goes to the bathroom.'"[/italic]

R42 is correct. Even Sondheim used the word 'fag' in Company to sound au courant. Noirman Lear made Archie Bunker say fag for the same reason.

Archie Bunker said "fag" disparagingly, not to sound hip.

Thanks, r26! This is a fascinating thread. r50's excerpt is shudder-inducing (Mary, I know, but just the layers of hatred in that asshole's commentary about the group of "fags" coming in). Auschwitz cracks, even. I'm glad that person is probably long dead.

But the thread makes me want to buy the book. Seems like an interesting piece of history.

To fair to the homo hating author, he is a good writer.

Also read his Adventures in the Screen Trade in case no one has yet.

And his chapter specifically on homosexuality is far more nuanced than the occasional quotes he tosses in here and there.

At the time of The Season and Valley of the Dolls to even acknowledge that homosexuality existed was sort of avant garde.

Exactly how is Goldman nuanced? I read the book in the late 1960s as a crude attack on homosexuals.

More Goldman bitchery ...

[italic]She did a dance; she introduced her daughter Lorna, who can't sing either ... As Liza goes back to her seat, Judy says, 'Liza, you've been marvelous all your life and so have Liza and Joey,' meaning either Lorna wasn't good enough to be worth mentioning or Liza was so good it bugged her.[/italic]

[italic]There are a lot of statements that will be made about homosexuals in this book. But I will save most of them for the chapter on Edward Albee.[/italic]

By the summer of 1967, Judy Garland had lost vocal power and nuance. But,she could still surprise. That does not seem to have happened at the Palace

So instead attack what the author believed was her core audience.

A LP was released of Judy at the Palace. Liza was not included, only the two younger children. What performance did the author of the book see. By '67, Liza had a career of her own.

R62, Liza was visiting her mother, sitting in the audience that night; she wasn't a part of the act. Her mother called her up on stage to perform a couple of numbers.

R52, Norman Lear was being hip by having his right-wing whipping post, Archie Bunker, say fag.

Also in the ensemble of that Poor Little Person number is Ryan's Hope original Delia, Ilene Kristen, when she was still using her real name Ilene Schatz.

You need to overlook his homophobic attitude. You're missing the forest for the trees. It was a victory for the era that homosexuals were being acknowledged at all. And the book is brilliant and fascinating.

The Auschwitz slur, is that also a reference to jews surviving and filling the Broadway theaters of the time? So kind of a killing two birds with one stone crack?

R67, the joke about Auschwitz was not an anti-Jewish crack, it was likely made by a Jewish man. The joke is that he is likening the fags in attendance to holocaust survivors, in the sense that every fag in the USA for the last twenty-five years would have died to see Judy Garland on opening night at the Palace, and while millions perished or fell short in the quest, a hearty band of survivors had the wherewithal to make it through.

A Kindle isn't a book.

What are you on about, R69?

So true R48.....and is there also a bit about Ray Bolger's show Come September?

I like the overture of Golden Rainbow and a couple of the songs....including Steve's "I've Gotta Be Me".....I found the LP at a thrift store....and bought it on CD a few years ago......

By 1967, Judy Garland was no longer a big deal at the box office, as the author of the book knew. Even queers were not interested, but tourists were interested because they saw her on tv.

Did you put your LP on and go free-wheeling on your patio, r71?

That homophobia was simply how gays were thought of and treated by "mainstream" society/writers/artists back then. And there WERE many annoying, stereotypical, cliched obnoxious queens hissing and lisping all over the place BECAUSE that is how the prism, the lense, the spotlight was set to VIEW them. It was a sociological construct, much like "people will live up or down to your expectations of them" kind of thing. Much like the fact that there WERE Uncle Toms and Stepinfetchits and "sassy" blacks and, then, militant blacks and all sorts of stereotypes who really DID exist because that is what they were ALLOWED to be by white people. Gay people had to fit into some VERY narrow boxes back then. Even Applause and The Boys in the Band only showed a certain "type" of homosexual. And they ALL were "peacocks," of a sort. No "regular" people EVER .

I saw Garland perform at Boston Garden when I was a college freshman. Yes their were gays in the audience, but not to extent Goldman writes about.

Sorry but what I find repellent about his homophobia is the way he seems to think that all gays look and act alike and they are just 1% of the population. It's actually incredibly naive and ill-informed, even for the times, IMO.

And I'm 70 and was an adult when he wrote the book.

[quote]By 1967, Judy Garland was no longer a big deal at the box office, as the author of the book knew. Even queers were not interested,

What a useless generalization. The "queers" certainly turned out for her funeral two years later.

Judy was appearing at summer theaters before someone (Sid Luft) thought of a return to the Palace in New York.

I agree with the person above about James Goldman and his views of a homo audience in the late 1960. Exaggerated.

William, R78, not James. James is his brother, the author of "The Lion in Winter."

And Follies! James Goldman wrote Follies!!!!

I have Judy at the Palace or whatever the 1967 recording is called on vinyl. Paid a dollar in a clear out bin over 40 years ago. It's very sad.

Very interesting.....may have to read this

It is worth ignoring the homophobia to read it, R82. I knew nothing about the majority of the plays he profiles, but it still kept my attention. I always loved Sandy Dennis, and it was interesting to read his complete and total take-down of her.

you fucking snowflakes aren't going to shrivel up and die over a few nasty comments, for fuck's sake. Jesus Christ.

Seriously, R84. This is what's wrong with kids today.

It's inconceivable to me that there's a whole generation that is only now discovering this book.

In my day, it was required reading. Both as a gay and as a theatre student.

Literally, required reading.

Yes I did R73......and I also used the Overture as the dance number when I directed a production of Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.....it's great for doing Laura Petrie steps.....starting at 1:23.....

I read THE SEASON when I was in college in the late 60s. I remember well Goldman’s homophobia, but also his remark that the gayest neighborhood in Manhattan was not Greenwich Village but the West 70s, because that was where all the dancers and actors lived in cheap studio apartments.

I put that bit of info under my hat and as soon as I graduated in 1973, moved right to the West 70s, into a cheap studio apartment up the block from the Continental Baths, and two blocks away from the infamous bushes of Central Park West. In those days you could barely make it to the corner without getting cruised.

[quote] I put that bit of info under my hat and as soon as I graduated in 1973, moved right to the West 70s, into a cheap studio apartment up the block from the Continental Baths, and two blocks away from the infamous bushes of Central Park West. In those days you could barely make it to the corner without getting cruised. —It was heaven on earth, while it lasted...

It is not like I will "shrivel up and die" from his homophobic comments, but I might choose to not read a book that is insulting and dismissive to gays. Why do you see the problem there?

Because A- It's a tiny part of an otherwise wonderful, fascinating and illuminating read. and B- It was written over 50 years ago. Have some fucking perspective.

The novel Auntie Mame is chock full of homophobic comments. It's also one of the gayest novels ever written. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

Gore Vidal was fond of putting loathsome homosexuals in his novels too.

Are these snowflakes REALLY so easily triggered?

Sad.

In Act Two of the original play Auntie Mame Patrick makes a disparaging reference to his aunt's "airy-fairy friends from Fire Island," a line that was deleted from both the film version and from the musical.

For all his supposed homophobia, Goldman argues that gay artists shouldn’t have to be in the closet because it’s artistically stifling to a lot of them. He points out how (some) gay playwrights have to dissemble and write about heteros and how he wishes they could shed that and write honestly. He even points out that a stupid sex comedy from that season would have been genuinely better had it been a gay play.

To me that counters the jabs and homophobic slurs that were simply the language and attitude of the day. Goldman is progressive, he’s just bitchy to everybody. It’s one of my all-time favorite books and I reread it often because it paints that time and place so vividly. It really brings to life a bygone Broadway that I wish I’d seen, as well as dissecting the industry as insightfully as I’ve ever read.

I've heard of this book but never got around to reading it. I'm going to see if I can get it from the library.

And see if I can borrow an emotional support animal lest it affront my beautiful mind.

R96, Stanley Kauffmann said it first.

Goldman’s chapter on “Mata Hari” with the gorgeous Marisa Mell was really interesting, too. “The Season” is a fascinating read.

Just make sure you read it in a safe space, R97.

There's nothing in the least remarkable about the HENRY SWEET HENRY score. It was like dozens of other pedestrian shows that flamed out in the 60s, the last played-out vestige of the Broadway dinosaur lumbering to its death. Little did we know, however, that anyone of those Grade B (and worse) shows would be heads-and-shoulders in craft than the critic-proof, award-winning amateur crap that passes itself off as entertainment today.

Purchased it yesterday for $20.00 on Amazon Kindle.

R102 I'll alert the media.

I thought the entire book was about "the homosexuals"?

Let's reprint this book. I'm not paying $50 for used nor well in the hundreds for a new (!!!) paperback.

How 'bout your public library, or an inter-branch loan? I haven't paid for a book since 1992...

Purchased it two days ago for $20.00 on Amazon Kindle.

We heard you the first time, R107

Straight male writers go out of their way to distance themselves from homosexuals, lest they be lumped in with them.

That said, I don't know how a man who identifies himself as a Children's Author gets laid.

Purchased it three days ago for $20.00 on Amazon Kindle.

Is there some device you can buy it on? If so, how much would it be?

Can I get it anywhere for $20?

Yes, on Amazon, in Kindle form. You can set up a "cloud reader" on any browser that Amazon will send the book to or you can dowload the Kindle app on any smartphone or tablet.

R113, Thanks for the tip.

I have not purchased it for $20.

R115, You should.

Is it available on Amazon Kindle?

[quote] Gore Vidal was fond of putting loathsome homosexuals in his novels too.

He also wrote [italic]Myra Breckinridge[/italic], the ultimate externalization of internalized homophobia.

R117 I believe so. I know of someone who said he bought it there for $20 three days ago, but he really doesn't like to talk about it.

HENRY's chorus also included the adorable Kim Milford, who died when he was 37. I knew him slightly, and he was a sweetheart.

Does anyone know if this book is available in any format?

The Season can be purchased cheaply in almost any used book store.

abebooks.com for all your out of print needs.

I bought my copy at the Strand circa 1998.

That's good, R47. But does it faze you?

Playten's other show stopper from "Henry Sweet Henry"

We bought the book used a few years ago only, of course, for the first story. It was about Judy's closing night at the Palace as we recall. "At eleven o'clock she allowed them to touch her........ It has a good analysis of why intelligent sensitive sisters have always adored and identified with Judy.

I read the first couple of chapters on-line and now I'm hooked. Now if I only had $20...and a Kindle.

You can get the app for free, R128. The $20, though ... you're on your own there. Put it in your shopping list and wait for a sale. I got it for $10 last year.

This sounds like it should be a Martin Scorsese film.

I haven't paid for a book since 1992...

Yes indeed

The man in the Alka seltzer commercial with Alice Playten is Terry Kiser, whose big claim to fame is playing a dead guy in "Weekend At Bernie's".

Excuse me?

[quote]r92 Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

You said it, sister.

[quote]R99 Goldman’s chapter on “Mata Hari” with the gorgeous Marisa Mell was really interesting, too.

TRIVIA: Costume designer Irene Sharaff said Marisa Mell had the most perfectly proportioned body she ever clothed.

Carry on -

Goldman’s observations on the failure of “Mata Hari” were quite interesting. He laid the blame on Superproducer David Merrick’s inexplicable decision to hire Vincente Minnelli as director. Minnelli hadn’t directed onstage since the early 40s and despite all indications of being ill-suited for the job, Merrick kept him on as director. After a chaotic pre-Broadway opening in Washington DC, Merrick closed the show. Too bad, because the score is good (I’ve heard a bootleg) Pernell Roberts and the stunning Mell sing well, and the show might have been a hit with a different director.

“Mata Hari” Trivia: Goop’s mother was also in the cast!

"the score is good"

It most certainly is not. One passable song, MAMAN, and that's it.

The chapter on Judy Garland is great to read in light of the new Renee Zellweger movie. It's at the beginning so you can read it for free as part of the "trial reading" on Amazon.

I just turned 22 on July 2 but first heard of “ The Golden Rainbow” a few months ago probably February - April and I am a huge researcher of plays and musicals to find the hidden gems that have been forgotten or that were not well received but were actually good shows and collect them. I really want to Listen to the soundtrack of “ The Golden Rainbow “ That Is Such A Beautiful Name!!!!

Goldman's piece on Judy Garland was published as an article first, perhaps in Esquire. Reading that article without knowing the rest of the book was perhaps an indication Goldman thought it would sell more books.

Garland was still alive when the article came out.

[quote]Among the girls are Pia Zadora and Baayork Lee.

Don’t forget me, r9!

[quote]I really want to Listen to the soundtrack of “ The Golden Rainbow “

Oh, DEAR!

I hope you realize you've just committed a cardinal sin among musical aficionados.

GOLDEN RAINBOW isn't actually "good," but it's lots and lots of fun.

I bought a paperback of The Season on Amazon 15 or so years ago for something like $5.00. It's been sitting on my bookshelf unread ever since...may pick it up now.

[quote] I hope you realize you've just committed a cardinal sin among musical aficionados.

I hope you realize no one else in the universe cares about what musical aficionados consider a cardinal sin.

He's not really negative about gays - much more the opposite - but he eviscerates the popular theater critics of the time.