Love O' Mike Explained

Love O' Mike
Lyrics:Harry B, Smith
Music:Jerome Kern

Love O' Mike is a musical comedy in two acts and a prologue with book by Thomas Sydney, lyrics by Harry B. Smith, and music by Jerome Kern. The show was produced by Elisabeth Marbury and Lee Shubert at the Shubert Theatre, and opened January 15, 1917.[1]

The musical director was Frank Tours and the music was orchestrated by Frank Saddler. The show was staged by J. H. Benrimo; scenic design by Robert McQuinn; and costume design by Faibsey. It had three runs. The closing date of the first run is not known. It played at the Maxine Elliott Theatre from March 19, 1917, until June 30, 1917, and then at the Casino Theatre from August 27, 1917, until September 29, 1917. It is considered to have run for 233 performances.[2]

Although the opening night leading actors were George Baldwin, Jack Bohn, Helen Clarke, Lillian Devere, Alan Edwards, Gloria Goodwin, and Rollin Grimes, Jr.,[3] Gerald Boardman says “Playgoers glancing at the program probably paid little attention to the names of several bit players – names like Luella Gear, Peggy Wood, and Clifton Webb, that would soon command their own glamour.”[4]

Plot

Setting: Bronxville, New York

The plot follows a boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back formula which critics found boringly predictable.[5]

Songs

Prologue

Act 1

Act 2

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Royalist IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information . ibdb.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131101161610/http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=5619 . 2013-11-01.
  2. http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/10634/Love-O-Mike
  3. Web site: The Royalist IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information . ibdb.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131101161610/http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=5619 . 2013-11-01.
  4. Boardman, Gerald, “Jerome Kern: His Life and Music,” Oxford University Press, New York, 1980, p. 139.
  5. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=LecZEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Love+O%27+Mike%22+dietz&pg=PA373. Love O' Mike. The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals. Dan Dietz. 2021. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 9781538150283. 372-373.