Bye Bye Birdie: From Stage to Screen

Janet Leigh .... Rosie DeLeon
Dick Van Dyke .... Albert Peterson
Ann-Margret .... Kim McAfee
Maureen Stapleton .... Mama Peterson
Paul Lynde .... Harry McAfee
Bobby Rydell .... Hugo Peabody
Jesse Pearson .... Conrad Birdie

Ed Sullivan .... Himself
Mary LaRoche .... Mrs. McAfee
Michael Evans .... Claude Paisley
John Daly .... Himself
Frank Albertson .... Mayor
Beverly Yates .... Mayor's Wife
Frank Sully .... Bartender
Robert Paige .... Bob Precht
Gregory Morton .... Borov

Lee Aaker .... Leader
Trudi Ames .... Ursula
Ben Astar .... Ballet Manager
Cyril Delevanti .... Mr. Nebbitt
Milton Frome .... Mr. Maude
Bo Peep Karlin .... Ursula's Mother
Gil Lamb .... Shriner
Donald Lawton .... Russian Consul
Melinda Marx .... Teenager
Bryan Russell .... Randolph McAfee
Hazel Shermet .... Marge
Yvonne White .... Telephone Operator
Dick Winslow .... Leader of the Fireman's Band

Directed by
George Sidney

Writing credits
Irving Brecher
Michael Stewart

Produced by
Fred Kohlmar

Original music by
Charles Strouse

Cinematography by
Joseph F. Biroc

Film Editing by
Charles Nelson

Stunts
Marvin Willens

Albert Bettcher .... first assistant camera
Johnny Green .... musical director
Igo Kantor .... music editor
Onna White .... choreographer

I have watched this opening number 20 times. Uh... you know, so I can understand the songs charm. Actually, its obvious where the song gets its charm, 22 year old Ann-Margret. Here she wears a yellow dress and flirts her song directly to the camera. The filmmakers knew what they had in their beautiful, charismatic young star and so left her alone in front of a blue screen. Aside from her beauty, she also has great charisma. She is prepared to walk away with this film under her arm.

The title song quickly establishes the tone for the show as the young siren bids farewell to the army bound, Conrad Birdie.

A heck of a way to start a movie! Heck, she'd keep me out of the army...

Conrad Birdie
Alma Mater

This satirical theme appears many times throughout the film. This time it is performed at a dirge pace. Several female protesters are outraged with the governments decision to draft their idol, Conrad Birdie. So they take their issue to the Capitol Building in Washington DC.

The Telephone
Hour

Did you hear that Hugo and Kim got pinned? For those of you who are out of the loop, that means they have a permanent understanding. Ursula, upon hearing the news calls her friends and they call their friends and so on and so on. Suddenly every teen in Sweet Apple, Ohio is on every phone. That is the premise for this cute number which incorporates split and multi-screen photography. It also introduces Hugo trying to convince his buddies that he isn't off his gourd getting hooked up. In all the ruckus though, my personal favorite is the suave fellah surrounded by several tennis babes... Heck, he's even on a car phone.

How Lovely to
be a Woman

It is a pleasure to watch Ann-Margaret. Here her song celebrates coming of age while changing her clothes. The voyeuristic camera never shuts off so her performance had to be perfectly staged... and it is. On top of it all, the song has a infectious melody line and in the end, it's a definite film highlight.

Conrad Birdie
Alma Mater

The Conrad Birdie fan club excitedly sing in preparation of their hero's arrival to the small little town of Sweet Apple. The boys in town, totally against the attentions the girls are showing Birdie, sing counterpoint about their hatred of Conrad. Their argument comes to a head when the two mobs meet together. In a clever bit of direction, Hugo and Kim quickly become the ambassadors for each side. Their story to come symbolizes the larger conflict.

Enter the beautiful, talented and charismatic Conrad Birdie... He sings this 'practical' number to the entire town. It culminates with most of the townsfolk passed out from excitement.

There is a Problem with the casting of Jesse Pearson as Birdie. He's not very talented. Not very beautiful. He's also not very charismatic. He is weak enough that we side with the boys and their anti-Birdie rhetoric.

If you look closely at the set, you'll see he's singing on the steps of the clock tower from BACK TO THE FUTURE.

Hymn for a
Sunday
Evening

Kim's father is totally against the whole Conrad deal until he is bribed with an appearance of the ED SULLIVAN show. He and his family appear in choir robes while singing this sacred song for their favorite human being, Ed. It's also nice to see the family unit as a support mechanism. They are happy to be singing together. Paul Lynde as the father is absolutely brilliant, finding comedy in the strangest places. One of the highlights of the film.

Trying to suppress Hugo's jealousy, Kim sings he is her "One Boy". Hugo (Bobby Rydell) breaks in and offers a nice harmony creating a very satisfying sound. Rosie, obviously satisfied with their performance as well, but not so satisfied with her own beau Albert, takes on a verse. Finally, Kim joins her in a cleverly photographed finale in which we see the similarity of each woman's plight.

This bouncy number is performed by the great Dick Van Dyke as Albert. Unfortunately, the filmmakers burdened it in excessive complexity. Albert's singing is supported by animated smiley faces, a ghostly dance partner and even one set of 'follow the bouncing ball' lyrics. These are cute elements on their own but have no added value to this song. This number should have been a high point, but it gets lost in distraction.

Paul Lynde is a natural for the role of Harry McAfee. His voice is laced with humor and KIDS receives great benefit. He is also joined by the very funny Maureen Stapleton as Albert's mother whose verse is lyrically clever, but a bit more stale in comparison. This seems to be the only moment where she is not over-the-top. The song sets up a conflict (a distrust of children) that for no apparent reason is totally resolved at the end of the song.

Conrad Birdie rehearses Albert's song. Jesse Pearson once again proves that even an Elvis-like rock idol can be boring and uninteresting.

Got a lot
of Livin'
to do

Conrad takes up some valuable screen time introducing this energetic group number. But, Ann-Margret and Bobby Rydell steal the number from him and save the moment. This is the most organized dance number in the film and showcases a dance duel between Hugo and Kim. Rydell as the preppy Hugo is unintentionally more 'cool' than Birdie.

After the preposterous 'super speed' ballet, Conrad Birdie croons this song to Kim McAfee on the Ed Sullivan Show. Fortunately for us, Hugo punches him out of the story.

All the problems have been resolved. Even Albert's mother issues are in the past so he can now move to his real love, Rosie. His first step to securing her love is finishing the love song he began to compose long before. "Rosie" is nicely and simply done.

And so we close out the movie the same way we opened, with Ann-Margret... This time she has literally let her hair down. I must admit that I find this bookend very effective. Kim display's her character's arc from 'Birdie groupie' to a beautiful grown woman. This number is worth watching at least 200 times a day.

The show Bye Bye Birdie hearkened back to a much simpler time. With its abundance of teenager's roles, it is often revised by high schools and community theater groups. The play is more responsible for that reputation than the film, but the film reaches a larger audience in a much shorter time.

The director is no stranger to musicals having helmed many including "Showboat", "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Kiss Me, Kate". But, that experience does not seem well utilized on film. A major flaw is in flat characterization. Most effected by that is the role of Rosie. Many times throughout the story she is dispicable All the viewer knows of her is she often flirts to make Albert jealous even going as far as stripping for a group of shriners... (Admittedly, the bit where the shriners are being dragged under the table is funny). Oh sure, she 'tells' us about the other, nicer side of her personality but we never see it. Similarly, Albert is so obsessed with his mother, we can not see what Rosie sees in him. This makes his sudden "Put on a Happy Face" seem shockingly out of character. On stage the number was more effective as he sang this earlier in the show to a young depressed girl. This showed he is able to offer selflessly. This message is lost when he only sings to his girlfriend. When Rosie and Albert finally get back together at the film's end it is because the "Birdie" distraction is over, not because either character had shown any growth. Conrad Birdie is so un-charismatic and untalented that it lead me to have poor thoughts about the time period... Was Elvis ever that boring?

On the positive side, even in a very small role, Bobby Rydell honestly and pleasantly plays the young Hugo. Ann-Margret, as mentioned earlier easily walks away with the film. Some of the choreography is very good, even taking into account the non-dancers with big dance numbers.

Outside of what was already mentioned, the show went through some serious revisions. Many songs were excised. The song "An English Teacher" went away when Albert's profession was switched to chemistry.

AN ENGLISH TEACHER

The song "A Healthy American Boy" was also cut.

A HEALTHY AMERICAN BOY

The song "What Did I ever See in Him?" was cut and that is a shame. It continued the relationship set up during the song "One Boy". Kim and Rosie lose the number and the viewers lose the comparison.

WHAT DID I EVER SEE IN HIM?

Rosie has an additional loss when most of the song "Spanish Rose" was replaced by dialogue and dance. In my opinion the biggest loss in the film is Albert's beautiful "Talk to me." His song pleads for Rosie's love and showed growth, but as mentioned earlier, that growth never happens in the film.

Talk to Me

For many, BYE BYE BIRDIE did not transfer well to the screen, but the film is not the only document of the show available. In 1995, a new production appeared that was a 'different', longer, possibly truer interpretation. Although it used all of the music and the basic storyline from the stage show, they attempted to make a new show.

They added several new songs including "Let's Settle Down", "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "A Giant Step."

They also hired an A-list cast: Jason Alexander, Chynna Phillips, George Wendt, Tyne Daly and Vanessa Williams. Alexander delivered but this version restored Rosie's story. Williams is very strong. The comic relief provided by Wendt and Daly falls far short of potential. Daly's nagging mother has a funny voice but is in a way hateful to the viewer. Wendt is actually boring and his vocals are poorly dubbed. Phillips took on the role of Kim McAfee. She is beautiful and has a gorgeous singing voice but in the end, her performance is slight compared to Ann-Margret. One area where this version towered over the film version was in the casting of Mark Kudisch as Conrad Birdie. He has the looks, singing voice and charisma that Jesse Pearson sorely lacked.

In the end, you have two sufficient outlets to see Bye Bye Birdie but, watch for any local or community theater productions in your area. That is still your best bet.

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the film or this website send an e-mail here.

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