Present Arms, 1928

The run closed September 1, 1928

Opened

April 26, 1928

Closed

September 1, 1928

Performances

155

Previews

—

Theatre

Brooks Atkinson Theatre

Of the 2,148 productions we hold that opened in the 1920s and record a performance count, this is the 326th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.

Who was in it45 named

C

Charles King—

F

Flora Le Breton—

Busby Berkeley1895–1976

J

Joyce Barbour—

James H Beattie
Gaile Beverley
Milton Brodus
Dorothy Brown
Rachel Chester
Evelyn Crowell
William Culloo
Louis Delgado
Demaris Dore
Jack Douglas
Frank Gagen
Sherry Gale
Aline Green
Frances Hess
Florence Hunter
Louise Joyce
Henrietta Kay
Frank Kimball
Anthony Knilling
Charlotte la Rose
Richard Lane
Edward Larkin
Alexander Lewis
Frank Losee
Jerome Maxwell
Glenn Mccomas
Jock Mcgraw
Fuller Mellish
Beth Meredith
Walter Pharr
Polly Ray
Wilburn Riviere
Alma Ross
Patricia Ross
Sydney Smith
Robert Spencer
Thomas Sternfeld
Marion Stuart
Wanda Wood
Franker Woods
Jessica Worth

4 of these 45 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 41 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

Alexander Leftwich

Choreographer

Busby Berkeley

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

Present Arms is a Broadway musical comedy that opened April 26, 1928, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and the book by Herbert Fields. It was produced by Lew Fields, with musical numbers staged by Busby Berkeley. It ran for 155 performances at the Lew Fields' Mansfield Theatre, which is known as the Lena Horne Theatre today. Present Arms was filmed in 1930 with Irene Dunne, with its title changed to Leathernecking. The film is presumed lost.

'When I was walking down the street, I saw a little bird who called “tweet-tweet,” I shook my head and said instead, ‘Cause you took advantage of me. It was awful, but! got through it; I can still see poor Larry Hart running up and down in the wings, almost apoplectic.' Broadway To Hollywood Musicals From Stage To Screen Aylesworth Thomas G London U, p. 43

• Fields opened his new theater on October 26, 1928, with Rodgers and Hart’s Present Arms (10/26/28; 147 performances), and followed it with the same team’s Chee-Chee (9/25/28; 32 performances). Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 109
• For Hello Daddy! (12/26/28; 196 performances), Herbert wrote the libretto, father Lew produced and starred (in his last appearance on Broadway). Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 189
• '‘Atlantic Blues’”—see PRESENT ARMS [April 26, 1928] Show Tunes 1905 1985 the Songs Shows and Careers of Steven Suskin 1st Ed New Yor, p. 190
• That musical had a Navy motif; PRESENT ARMS! tried the Marines. Show Tunes 1905 1985 the Songs Shows and Careers of Steven Suskin 1st Ed New Yor, p. 196
• *Atlantic Blues—see PRESENT ARMS [April 26, 1928] Show Tunes the Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway S Suskin Steven Suskin Steven, p. 119

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 Present Arms at all.
• Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.