How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), a musical comedy by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, Willie Gilbert (book), Frank Loesser (music, lyrics). [46th Street Theatre, 1,417 perf.; Pulitzer Prize, Tony, NYDCC Awards.] Although J. Pierpont Finch ( Robert Morse) is only a window washer, he is determined that nothing will stop his rise to the top of the business world. Reading from his “How To” book, he proceeds to step over every obstacle (and fellow employees) at World Wide Wickets, including the boss's ambitious nephew, Bud Frump ( Charles Nelson Reilly), until all that stands in the way is the boss himself, J. B. Biggley ( Rudy Vallee). Even when one of Finch's promotional gimmicks backfires, he manages to come out on top, even marrying the secretary Rosemary ( Bonnie Scott), who loves him. Notable songs: I Believe in You; Coffee Break; Grand Old Ivy; Brotherhood of Man; The Company Way. Based on Shepherd Mead's satiric guide of the same name, the Feuer and Martin musical was praised by Walter Kerr in the Herald Tribune as “a sassy, gay and exhilarating evening.” It was Loesser's last show; and it made Morse a Broadway star. The highly satirical, unsentimental musical was marked by its cleverly iconoclastic placement of songs; even the show's hit love song, “I Believe in You,” was sung by the egomaniacal hero as he admired himself in a men's room mirror. A Broadway revival starring Matthew Broderick in 1995 was very popular.