The run closed December 12, 1940
- Opened
- December 6, 1939
- Closed
- December 12, 1940
- Performances
- 408
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Richard Rodgers Theatre
Of the 1,388 productions we hold that opened in the 1930s and record a performance count, this is the 23rd longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Other stagings of Du Barry Was a Lady 3 more that season
| 1942 | Transfer Transfer | |
| 1993 | Transfer Transfer | |
| 2002 | Her Majesty's Theatre Transfer |
Who was in it65 named
Betty Allen
Gloria Arden
Walter Armin
Gene Ashley
Johnny Barnes
Helen Bennett
Evelyn Bonefine
Boris Butleroff
Hugh Cameron
Janice Carter
Virginia Cheneval
Stella Clauson
Harold Cromer
Mary Daniels
Jacqueline Franc
Joel Friend
Ronda Gale
Russell Georgiev
Anne Graham
Stanley Grill
Marion Harvey
Douglas Hawkins
Peter Holliday
Beverly Hosier
Dorothea Jackson
Adele Jergens
Mel Kacher
Patricia Knight
Nancy Knott
Frances Krell
Don Liberto
Gloria Martin
Jean Moorehead
Carl Nicholas
Audrey Palmer
Barbara Pond
Tito Renaldo
Roy Ross
David Shelly
Geraldine Spreckels
Jane Sproule
Jack Stanton
Paul Thorne
Edith Turgell
Lewis Turner
Marie Vannemen
Arlyne Varden
William Vaux
Nina Wayler
Bill Broder
Robert Herring
Billy Taft
Rose Tyrrell
12 of these 65 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 53 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
- Edgar MacGregor
- Choreographer
- Robert Alton
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
Du Barry Was a Lady is a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Herbert Fields and Buddy DeSylva. The musical starred Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman and Betty Grable, and the song "Friendship" was one of the highlights. The musical was made into the 1943 Technicolor film Du Barry Was a Lady, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, and Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra.
Cole Porter composing as he reclines on a couch in the Ritz Hotel during out-of-town tryouts for Du Barry Was a Lady (1939). George Karger / Getty Images. The Letters of Cole Porter Cole Porter Editor Cliff Eisen Editor Dominic Mchugh , p. 6
- The show was Du Barry Was a Lady (12/6/39; 408 performances), and Herbert collaborated with producer B. G. De Sylva on the hilarious book. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 189
- _Du Barry Was a Lady (12/6/39; 408 performances) was the singer’s next Broadway outing. Cole Porter supplied the lively score, and La Merm, as she was dubbed, was ably supported by co-stars Bert Lahr and the young Betty Grable. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 368
- CoLe Porter returned to the 46th Street Theatre with a zany show, Du Barry Was a Lady (12/6/39; 408 performances). Du Barry, the story of a washroom attendant who falls asleep on the job and dreams he is Louis XV, starred Bert Lahr and ErHEL MERMAN and featured Betty Grable, Benny Baker, Ronald Graham, Adele Jergens, a… Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 454
- Du Barry Was a Lady (1939). and Foxy (1964), you might chuckle once or twice. but in reality they were funny for the same reason that Sugar was—they were excellent vehicles for Bobby Clark, Eddie Cantor, and Bert Lahr, brilliant clowns all. Broadway Musicals the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time Bloom Ken 1949 Vlastnik Fra, p. 201
- Friendship Cole Porter Cole Porter Du Barry Was a Lady 1939 Encyclopedia of Theatre Music A Comprehensive Listing of Lewine Richard Simon Al, p. 54
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 Du Barry Was a Lady at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.