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A History of Red, Hot & Blue
by John Pike and Robert Kimball

With the runaway success of 1934’s Anything Goes , producer Vinton Freedley was determined to make his good fortune repeat itself within a year. In order to do this, he wanted to reassemble both the creative team and the trio of stars that made the show work. And so he engaged immediately Cole Porter to write the score and Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse to write the book with Lindsay again directing the project. But most importantly, his new show would be constructed with three major starring roles – one for Ethel Merman, one for William Gaxton and one for Victor Moore.

But, by the spring of 1935, the best-laid plans came to a halt: Freedley had only signed Merman, and the other two thirds of the trio were unavailable. Names like Jack Benny, Bert Lahr, William Frawley and Jack Haley were considered for the other two roles. After much searching and even more rumors, Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope were finally contracted for the roles of Policy Pinkle and Bob Hale.

Originally called Wait For Baby and then But Millions before the show finally became Red, Hot & Blue! , Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse provided a free-wheeling revue-style book that poked fun at numerous targets of the day. Distrust of government, congress and the criminal justice system (which never seems to go out of fashion) were always good for a laugh during the 1930s when many socialist, communist and other anti-government movements arose out of the Depression. Lindsay and Crouse also managed to tweak many fads of the time. Lotteries and other get-rich-quick schemes were commonplace in the Depression Era and cross-country aviation was still a novelty.

The show’s most famous incident involved the issue over title billing. With the Gershwins’ Girl Crazy as well as Anything Goes to her credit, Ethel Merman was promised top billing. Conversely, beloved comedian Jimmy Durante had been guaranteed the same status. It was an ingenious press agent who came up with the idea of “cross billing.” Merman’s last name was placed higher on the bill, but Durante’s came first. This meant that each could reasonably claim that they were the production’s top star. Just to make sure that both performers remained happy, producer Freedley agreed to reverse the order of their names every week of the show’s run. Bob Hope had already been relegated to the third spot on the marquee ­ although known to the public from vaudeville, his star would not truly rise until he traveled to Hollywood a year later.

Cole Porter was at the height of his creativity during this period, contributing some of his finest lyrics to the production and was continually inspired by Merman’s vocal talent. However, Porter was becoming somewhat discouraged that his lyric writing was often too sophisticated for the average theatregoer. One particularly urbane lyric from “Down in the Depths,” which Porter wrote in Boston, referenced a “pet pailletted gown.” The phrase brought a demand from Merman that she perform the new song in just such a dress. The dress cost the unhappy producers $1,000 ­ but that was better than having an unhappy star.

And stars were what Red, Hot & Blue! was always about, which is why today it exists in a world somewhere between revue and musical comedy. Even though they did not always know which stars would fill the roles, authors Porter, Lindsay and Crouse wrote it for stars. The characters and plot often took a backseat to songs and burlesque routines that were crafted not for actors, but for larger than life personalities. Audiences came expecting these distinct personalities of its stars to shine through and the writers made sure they were not disappointed.

For the record Red, Hot & Blue! opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on October 29, 1936, and played 183 performances after engagements in Boston and New Haven. In addition to Merman, Durante and Hope, future I Love Lucy star Vivian Vance had a featured role.


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