Customer Reviews

How Now, Dow Jones (1967 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This silly, frivolous show will never rank as more than mediocre, but don't miss some choice lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, one of only a few women to write Broadway musicals ("Wildcat" and "Little Me" were her other contributions, and she memorably wrote pop songs "Witchcraft," "The Best is Yet to Come" and "You Fascinate Me So" with Cy Coleman). She is frisky, smart and alert in "How Now" and recalls Lorenz Hart and Yip Harburg with her wordplay and her penchant for bending the language. When city women yearn for brutish men of yore instead of stock brokers in "They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore," they sing: "Where's my Henry? Where's Atilla? Where's that trusty ol' lusty gorilla? Where's that lovely Greek god among civilized men who'd come on now and then like Godzilla?" If Broadway lyricists interest you, this is a tiny treasure.

Yet another flop from the 1960s (a period when Broadway musicals were going through a major transition), HOW NOW, DOW JONES sounds like it was one of the big hits of the 1967-68 season, though it's performance tally - 220 performances - would mark it as a middling failure. Producer David Merrick might have been encouraged by the success of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying", but this Wall Street-bound musical--with a score by Elmer Bernstein no less--didn't grab the public's imagination or the box office with the same results.

Any cast album is guaranteed to be a memorable one when you have vivacious Marlyn Mason in the female lead. Toss in delicious Brenda Vaccaro and you've got a real treat! Alas, Marlyn Mason's Broadway career began and ended with her role of Kate in ...DOW JONES, but she makes the most of a dazzling tunestack (including the gorgeous ballad "Walk Away", which should have become a cabaret standard). The score for ...DOW JONES yielded at least one genuine hit, "Step to the Rear". Whoever is of the opinion that Broadway musicals of the 1960s are naive certainly hasn't paid attention to the cynical wordplay of "Shakespeare Lied" (can this really be the same Carolyn Leigh, the lyricist who helped Mary Martin to fly in "Peter Pan"?).

This bare-bones reissue of RCA's cast album doesn't come with any liner notes or additional information, but I'm glad it's in print again nevertheless.

HOW NOW DOW JONES harkens back to a time when shows werent prepackaged or premarketed. Instead, like its companions HELLO DOLLY, WILDCAT, and others of the era, it was meant as slight, frothy entertainment and nothing more. No serious message, no searing indictment of contemporary life -- just mindless entertainment.

I had the pleasure of seeing this messy bit of twaddle in Fort Worth in the 1960s, at Casa Manana, and fell in love. I thought the cast album was long gone and was pleasantly surprised to see it on CD. No, it's not earthshaking stuff, but I cant imagine a more diverting way of spending an hour. With songs like "Rich is Better" and "Shakespeare Lied", the lyrics have a wonderfully nasty bite that hasnt been equaled, save by Sondheim. The score isnt Bernstein's best by a long shot, but it's still far better than most of the mediocrity running today. And I would imagine that an enterprising producer could arrange a rewrite of the book to make it equal to Leigh's marvelous lyrics and have a hit today -- especially with everything that's been going on with the market.

Buy it. You wont go wrong doing so.

HOW NOW, DOW JONES is remembered if at all for one hit song, "Step To The Rear," which tune was popularized decades ago in a television commercial for a product. The cast isn't bad - Tony Roberts and Brenda Vaccaro starred - and Elmer Bernstein made a rare non-film contribution with the music to this show. However, the packaging of this particular release is some of the worst I've ever seen. The cover reproduces that of the original lp (which I have on hand), but there are no liner notes, cast listings, timings, pictures, etc. The back cover of the cd simply lists each song in order, followed by the statement "from 'How Now, Dow Jones'" after each song (certainly a major 'Well, duh!' moment). Inside the back cover material is simply repeated verbatim, followed by an advertisement for RCA's Legacy release series, of which this recording is a part. It's not that the information wasn't available to the folks at RCA - I can read the lengthy notes and other information on the original lp cover - so it's mystifying why the producers would allow this cast album to be reissued in this state. Purchase this reissue for the tunes, but you'll need to dig up everything about HNDJ elsewhere.

This is by any standards a remarkable recording, with caustic, witty lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and an inspired score by Elmer Bernstein. It's especially impressive that a composer nurtured on film scoring could master the idiomatic style of Broadway numbers so well. Though "Walk Away" is usually cited as the show's big ballad and "Step to the Rear" as its signature song and biggest hit, I'd put my money on "Big Trouble" as the musical's highlight in its pathos and audacious low-key style. Leigh's rhymes in this song are in every way the equal of Bernstein's music, with the inspired sequence, "Sit still / Until / Senil /ity /'s got / Me / That's not / Me." Other greats songs include the neglected "Just for the Moment." Yet this song is poorly sung on the recording, with, for some curious reason, every phrase enunciated to death, killing what would otherwise have been a standout number. In fact, good as the song is, it's misspelled on the record sleeve. "Touch and Go" is the album's great rhythm song, as good as it gets. I quickly checked on youtube to see if Sinatra had recorded the song, since it seems to have been tailored made for him. These highlight numbers are nicely balanced by the usual range of comedy songs ("He's Here" is a standout) and "Gawk, Tousle and Shucks," a song that might have become a standard like "Real Live Girl" had it had less affected lyrics, which sound just too clever by half. Curiously, the vocal in "They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore" obscures an effective rhyme on "that" by phrasing the song in such a way that that final intricate rhyme gets lost; the vocal should have given "that" a big punch but instead just passes over the word as if it were not part of an intricate rhyme scheme! Final mention must be made to the superb choral arrangement, in Renaissance style, of "Rich Is Better/Just for the Moment." Even a single listen to this great score will reveal its musical treasures, hardly limited to a single song, as some claim.

Mixed reviews for this old musical comedy that, in my opinion, is neither great nor awful as some reviewers assert. Some songs are very funny and the music - in most cases - is charming. It's not Kurt Weill or Andrew Lloyd Webber, but it has some really catchy moments and you listen to it pleasantly. I'm glad I got it.

I enjoyed this recording many times when I was a lot younger. I never saw the show, but I admired the album very much. I've seen and heard lots of shows since this one briefly appeared on Broadway, and I agree that it is a whole lot more listenable than most of the recent Broadway musicals, failure or success. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed seeing the show, but it makes for highly entertaining listening. And no, it is not Sondheim or Lloyd Webber, but that's maybe a good thing.

Yes, a B (or even C) show. And yet -- the lyrics are lyrics for an A show, hip, literate, funny. Not on the level of the Leigh/Coleman "Little Me" (an A show for sure), but how can you not love a beautiful opener like "May I present/To this old town/A Lochinvar/With his lances down"? Brilliant. It's a very, very cynical show (and if you're looking for a satiric explanation of the mess we're in today, the book of this show is not a bad place to look). Bernstein's music has its moments -- "Walk Away," is always mentioned as the show's best ballad, and it is quite haunting, but on the whole it sounds like music orchestrated for 100 kazoos, and that deserved such orchestration. Worst of all are the performances: all three leads sing very crassly, Marlyn Mason particularly limning what appears to be an extremely unpleasant character. On the whole, it's a pretty annoying listening experience -- but, oh, those lyrics! Where is Carolyn Leigh when we need her?

Look folks..this is a long dead item called the B-Show....Subways Are For Sleeping.....Skyscraper....Walking Happy.....I will think of more as I go on......

There was a time when B'way didn't deliver Dolly...Mame..La Mancha...Cabaret....Chorus Line....Les Miz..Phantom...Lion King...techno-trash TV star remakes of Grease......everytime at the plate...

B'way actually accomodated average shows.....OK shows...good, except for xyz.....shows....

That ain't the case now....

Dow Jones is not trash....it is slick...and totally unaudacious...if that word exists.....and it is clear that Abbott just ordered the troops to get in line...and deliver the mail.... some lovely tunes..Walk Away....some predictable rousers....Step to The Rear...some good comic lyircs by C.Leigh...some nice work by Elmer Bernstein....(but listen to his score for The Great Escape...so fine...but I am the kid of a WW II vet..and grew up on those films)...

I have seen the show done...by Tony Randall as Tony Roberts...it did not clarify the tale for me...and the book is a cut and paste affair....

BUT.....we don't have the luxury of seeing B'way just be B'way...as it was ...for so many years....until the 80s...so listen to the average out-put of highly accomplished folks...and enjoy what you can....it ain't awful...it is just...a B-show...enjoy an arcane item...you won't find it anywhere on B'way now....just completely guaranteeed crap...not average crap....enjoy it..it is gone now...if you want to argue...email me at: justact@earthlink.net....best, Michael Rothhaar

PS....If you want to learn about B'way as it was...then..during this time....read The Season ..by William Goldman...such a fine book

Don't believe the nay-sayers about this score. Indeed the script and idea were poor but this is the only existing Broadway score by the talented Elmer Bernstein and one of the few sets of lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. "How Now Dow Jones" falls somewhere between "How to Succeed" and "Promises, Promises." Neither of these shows have an outstanding score, but then how do you write musical comedy for the office set? And Carolyn Leigh was a superb lyricist. She worked with Cy Coleman on "Little Me" and should have worked with him on "Sweet Charity," because the latter show's score is another dreg up of hip 1960's New York and Broadway. What Elmer Bernstein brought to "How Now Dow Jones" was savvy and class. Here are some of the best songs for theatre written in that period. "Walk Away" is a luscious ballad and "He's Here" is a great comedy song. For a show stopper there's "Step To the Rear" and the chorale-like "Richer is Better." In fact, there are lots of fugal choral composition, two good duets for the leads "Live a Little" and "Touch and Go." They both are cock-eyed love duets of the late 60's. The theatre was about to experience a great upheaval with rock and the experimentation of Sondheim and Prince, and Bernstein and Leigh were really reaching for something new, something rather neo-classical on the Broadway stage.