How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)

This post is part of the Fifth Broadway Bound Blogathon Hosted by Taking Up Room)

In the Sixties, as is still the case now, Broadway musicals were often adapted as films. As to the Broadway musicals themselves, they might spring from original concept (such as Stop the World I Want to Get Off), based on earlier play or plays (A Funny Thing Happened on the Forum, based on Plautus's  Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus, and Mostellaria), or a book (Oliver!, based on Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist). One would not expect to see a Broadway musical based on a parody of self-help books. Even so, that is exactly the case with How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

The musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying  was based on the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: The Dastard's Guide to Fame and Fortune by Shepherd Mead, published in 1952. It is a satire of self-help books, popular then as now. In the case of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: The Dastard's Guide to Fame and Fortune, it satirizes office work of the sort done for large companies by dishing out often outrageous advice on how to get ahead at work. To some degree How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: The Dastard's Guide to Fame and Fortune owes something to The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship: Or the Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating by Stephen Potter, a parody of self-help books which sought to advise the reader on how to win games. Stephen Potter would write further self-help book parodies, including Lifemanship: With a Summary of Recent Researches in Gamesmanship (1950) One-Upmanship: Being Some Account of the Activities and Teachings of the Lifemanship Correspondence College of One-Upness and Games Lifemastery (1954), and Christmas-ship; or, The Art of Giving and Receiving (1956).

Although it was a parody, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: The Dastard's Guide to Fame and Fortune did have some basis in reality. It was based on Stephen Mead's career at the advertising agency Benton & Bowles. He joined the agency in 1936, working in the mail room, and eventually became a vice president. It was while he was working at Benton & Bowles that he wrote the book in his spare time.  How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: The Dastard's Guide to Fame and Fortune proved to be a best seller. It attracted the attention of Willie Gilbert and Jack Weinstock, who wrote a play based on the work in 1955 that went unproduced for five years. It was talent agent Abe Newborn who came up with the idea of adapting the book as a musical. To this end, he brought his idea to producers  Cy Feuer and Ernest H. Martin, who had been responsible for Guys and Dolls. Abe Burrows worked on the musical's book with Willie Gilbert and Jack Weinstock. The legendary Frank Loesser, who had written "Once in Love with Amy" for Where's Charley? and several of the songs for Guys and Dolls, wrote the lyrics and music for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Willie Gilbert was the director, while Bob Fosse was responsible for the choreography, with the choreography in "Treasure Hunt" sequence having been created by an obscure choreographer named Hugh Lambert.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opened on October 14 1961 at the 46th Street Theatre. It proved to be highly successful. It opened to largely positive reviews and won eight Tony Awards (it was nominated for nine). It ultimately ran for 1417 performances, finally closing on March 6 1965.

As the original book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: The Dastard's Guide to Fame and Fortune was a parody of self-help books, it has neither plot nor characters. When Willie Gilbert and Jack Weinstock wrote their original play and then when they turned it into a musical with Abe Burrows, they had to provide it with both a plot and characters. To do so, they used author Shepherd Mead's career as inspiration. The plot centres on J. Pierrepont Finch, a young window washer who picks up the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Using the book as a guide, he then gets a job in the mail room of the World Wide Wicket Company and then proceeds to use the book to work his way up the corporate ladder.

Given the success of the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, it should come as no surprise that it would be adapted as a movie. United Artists paid $1 million dollars for the film rights to the musical. For the most part the movie version use the cast of the Broadway play. Robert Morse (J. Pierrepont Finch) Rudy Vallee (World Wide Wicket Company president J. B. Bigley), and Ruth Kobart (Mr. Bigley's secretary Miss Jones) all reprised their roles from the Broadway production. Michele Lee had replaced Bonnie Scott on Broadway as Finch's love interest, the secretary Rosemary Pilkington, and played the role in the film. Maureen Arthur replaced Virginia Martin as Mr. Bigley's mistress Hedy LaRue on Broadway, and played the role in the movie.

Some changes were made from the Broadway musical for the movie. In the original Broadway musical, J. Pierrepont Finch is a much edgier character, and so the character was softened a bit. The songs Love From a Heart of Gold," "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm," and "Cinderella Darling." were all cut for

the film. A portion of the song "Coffee Break" was included in the movie. As it appears on the movie's soundtrack album, some think the song may have been filmed, but the scene scrapped for whatever reason. In the case of "Paris Original," its music is simply heard in the background.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) was released on March 9 1967 to largely positive reviews. Unfortunately, it failed at the box office. It made its television debut on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies on November 25 1972. It would be through repeated showings on television that it would develop a following. It was released on DVD in 2003 and is available on various streaming services.

Even today How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) holds up well. Quite simply, the comedy in the movie is so good that it would work well even without the songs and musical sequences. Indeed, while most of the comedy in the film is centred on work in an office, it also takes shots at such things as college sports rivalries. And while many of the situations in the film are exaggerated for humorous effect, anyone who has worked in an office, particularly one for a large corporation, will recognize many of them as true to working in an office. The characters are also enjoyable. Even when J. Pierrepont Finch is at his most devious, one can't help but root for him.

One can see echoes of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in such workplace comedies as The Secret To my Success (1987) and Working Girl (1988) . And while How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a comedy with somewhat exaggerated situations, it may well have had an influence on the TV drama Mad Men. Indeed on Mad Men Robert Morse (J. Pierrepont Finch himself) played Bert Cooper, the senior partner of the advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Bert would recommend the works of Ayn Rand to others from time to time. One had to wonder if he didn't recommend the book How to Succeed in Business by Shepherd Mead as well....