Friday, July 20, 2007

FINANCIAL MILESTONE

Here is another “summer rerun” from October 2006, inspired by the fact that the CW11 this morning reported that the DOW JONES closed at 14,000 on the nose on Thursday.

So the Dow Jones Industrial Average has reached 12,000.

I recall seeing a Broadway musical in 1967 whose premise concerned the Dow Jones Average reaching 1,000.

The musical was HOW NOW DOW JONES, with book by Max Shulman (creator of Dobie Gillis), lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, music by Elmer Bernstein (the first Broadway musical for the composer of hundreds of famous music scores - perhaps his best known is the score for THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN), directed by Broadway legend George Abbott and produced by David Merrick. The show opened in December of 1967 and ran till June of 1968.

HNDJ starred Tony Roberts in his first musical role and introduced Marilyn Mason (who would become Mrs. Neil Simon). The cast also included Brenda Vacaro, Barnard Hughes, and, in a small role as a waiter, Tommy Tune.

Marilyn Mason played "The Voice of Dow Jones", who would announce the latest average each day. Her fiancé has promised to marry her when the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches 1,000. When she finds herself pregnant from a one-night stand with broker Tony Roberts she falsely announces to the world that the Dow Jones has topped 1,000!

The show-stopper was a song whose lyric instructed "Will everyone here kindly step to the rear and let a winner lead the way."

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