The run closed July 4, 1942
- Opened
- October 1, 1941
- Closed
- July 4, 1942
- Performances
- 326
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Of the 890 productions we hold that opened in the 1940s and record a performance count, this is the 94th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Who was in it63 named
Buddy Allen
Van Atkins
John Balian
Wilbur Baron
Eileen Barton
Kenneth Bowers
Frances Bryan
Kenneth Buffett
Marianne Cude
Richard Dick
Dorothy Eden
Peggy Anne Ellis
Bee Farnum
Mary Ganly
Harvey Gould
Barbara Grant
Robert Griffith
Ann Guier
Kay Guier
Bobby Harrell
Roger Hewlett
Rhoda Hoffman
Carol Horton
Beverly Hosier
Gil Johnson
Jack Jordan Jr
Perry Jubelirer
Terry Kelly
Stuart Langley
Norma Lehn
Eugene Martin
Betty Mccloskey
Elaine Miller
Billy Parsons
Kaye Popp
Penny Porter
Lee Roberts
Renee Rochelle
Marilyn Ross
Rosemary Schaefer
Rose Marie Schiller
Audrey Sperling
George Staisey
Buddy Styles
Lenore Thomas
Elmer Vernon
Fleming Ward
Art Williams
Doris York
Vincent York
13 of these 63 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 50 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Creative team
- Director
- George Abbott
- Choreographer
- Gene Kelly
- Orchestrations
- Don Walker, Hans Spialek
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Around this production
- Bowers, Kenny Best Foot Forward, 114 Broadway Musicals Show By Show Green Stanley Green Kay 5th Ed Rev and Updated By, p. 353
- Best Foot Forward (10/1/41; 326 performances), which Abbott directed, produced, and co-authored with John Cecil Holm, opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 26
- During the war it took on new life as “Buckle Down, Buck Private.” Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical Volume 22 William A Everett Paul R, p. 68
- BEST FOOT FORWARD was a happy success, with the score featuring the hit “football” song Buckle down, Winsocki [by Blane] and Martin’s exquisitely poignant Ev’ry Time. Show Tunes the Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway S Suskin Steven Suskin Steven, p. 234
- This adaptation of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS never reached Broadway, but the new songs included yet another touchingly wistful beauty, You Are for Loving, as well as a rather novel novelty entitled If I Had an Igloo. Show Tunes the Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway S Suskin Steven Suskin Steven, p. 236
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
- No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
- No recording is held for Best Foot Forward at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.