Leave It to Me!

Leave It to Me! (1938), a musical comedy by Bella and Sam Spewack, Cole Porter (music, lyrics). [Imperial Theatre, 291 perf.] Mrs. Goodhue ( Sophie Tucker) has contributed so generously to Roosevelt's campaign coffers that the president makes her husband, “Stinky” ( Victor Moore), ambassador to Russia. There his undiplomatic behavior, like kicking a Nazi and shooting a counterrevolutionary, is brushed aside. But when Stinky proposes a plan for world peace, he is declared persona non grata. His problems are often compounded by a brash newspaperman, Buckley Thomas ( William Gaxton), who is courting a girl named Colette ( Tamara). Notable songs: Get Out of Town; Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love; My Heart Belongs to Daddy. Typical of the highly topical musical comedies of the period, the Vincent Freedley musical made a star of Mary Martin, who sang “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” as a genteel striptease. When the show went on tour the following season, the Stalin‐Hitler pact had been signed, so some of the characters and topical references were eliminated or changed. The musical was based on the Spewacks' 1932 comedy, Clear All Wires.