Funny Face is a 1927 musical composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book by Fred Thompson and Paul Gerard Smith. It starred Fred Astaire and his sister Adele.
It was in this show that Astaire first danced in evening clothes and a top hat.
The show has the distinction of not only being partly set in Atlantic City, but also trying out there as well.
THE STORY: Jimmy Reeve is the legal guardian of three pretty sisters, Dora, June and Frankie, whose prize belongings he keeps in his safe. June’s pearl necklace is locked in there, and so is Frankie’s diary, after having been confiscated by Jimmy. However, the diary contains very incriminating things, so Frankie convinces the aviator Peter Thurston to steal it from the safe. But somehow he manages to steal the pearls instead, setting off a merry chase that takes the cast to Atlantic City.
The score includes such Gershwin classics as “’S Wonderful”, “He Loves and She Loves” and “What Am I Gonna Do?”
Originally called Smarty, it first premiered in Philadelphia on October 11, 1927, to poor reviews. This led to major rewrites and caused critic-humorist Robert Benchley, who had contributed to the script, to walk out. The rewrites and changes continued as the musical moved to Washington D.C. on October 31st.
It then arrived in Atlantic City on November 7th, playing at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre for one week.
There were still script problems and daily changes. Fred Astaire said to his sister and co-star,
“I hate flops, and this is one. We might as well face it. This damn turkey hasn’t got a prayer.”
The show had one more stop before heading to Broadway, in Wilmington, Delaware on November 14th. By now the show had been renamed Funny Face.
It opened on Broadway on November 22, 1927, as the first show performed in the newly-built Alvin Theatre, named for owners Alex Aarons and Vinton Freedley, who were also producers of Funny Face. It is now known as the Neil Simon Theatre.
It became a major Broadway hit, and after 244 performances, the whole company transferred it to London, where Fred and Adele Astaire had had a successful run of Lady, Be Good! just before starting the rehearsals of Smarty in Philadelphia.
The 1957 film musical Funny Face also features Astaire, but only four songs from the 1927 show survived, now in a totally different plot.
ATLANTIC CITY & NEW JERSEY
George Gershwin and Atlantic City were not strangers. When not there for professional reasons, he was also found there for personal ones.
“Atlantic City suits me to a ‘T’ right now and I am loathe to leave.” ~ 1919
His Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Of Thee I Sing (1931) is partly set in Atlantic City.
Funny Face played a week of out-of-town tryouts in Atlantic City at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre.
The plot of the musical takes us to an inn located in fictional Lake Wapatog, New Jersey, before visiting the very real seaside resort of Atlantic City.
Book writers Thompson and Smith give the locations names that are similar to, or pun on, actual places. Lake Wapatog, for example, may be a reference to the very real Lake Hopatcong, or any number of communities with names inspired by native American tribes.
Fred Astaire’s character, Jimmy, is said to be from Silver Brook, New Jersey. Except for a small body of water in Morris County, there is no town of Silver Brook in the Garden State. Late in Act Two of Funny Face, the Silver Brook Police Department follow Jimmy to Atlantic City. Silver Brook may be a reference to Green Brook, a real town in Somerset County NJ.
The Paymore Hotel in Atlantic City is likely a satirical name for the Traymore Hotel. The Traymore (located at Illinois Avenue and Boardwalk) catered to an upscale clientele, and was described in 1924 as “the Taj Mahal of Atlantic City” so the pun “pay more” was apt. The hotel was demolished in 1972.
The show is also set on the Two-Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, obviously a verbal swipe at the famous Million Dollar Pier (1906 to 1981). The pier was also known as Playground Pier, and later Ocean One, a shopping complex.
The 1983 Broadway musical My One and Only claimed to be a revival of the original musical, but contained only some of the songs and had a very different plot. It did, however, succeed in bringing Gershwin back to Atlantic City when the show was produced at the Claridge Hotel in 1985.
‘S wonderful when things come full circle!
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