The run closed June 14, 1930
- Opened
- February 18, 1930
- Closed
- June 14, 1930
- Performances
- 135
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Ziegfeld Theatre
Of the 1,388 productions we hold that opened in the 1930s and record a performance count, this is the 195th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Other stagings of Simple Simon 1 more that season
| 1931 | Majestic Theatre Revival · Seymour Hicks | 16 perf. |
Who was in it44 named
Will Ahern
Pirkko Ahlquist
Mabel Baade
Elsie Behrens
Hugh Cameron
Ben Carswell
Marie Conwal
Mary Coyle
Frank Dewitt
Marion Dodge
Caja Eric
William J Ferry
Hazel Forbes
Agnes Franey
Dolores Grant
Anthony Hughes
Mildred Ivory
Alfred P James
Pete la della
Doree Leslie
Neva Lynn
Elaine Mann
Virginia Mcnaughton
Frieda Mierse
Villi Milli
Patsy O Day
Master George Offerman
Dorothy Patterson
Lennox Pawle
Georgia Payne
Lois Peck
Gladys Pender
Clementine Rigeau
Blanche Satchell
Joseph Schrode
Douglas Stanbury
Paul Stanton
Helen Walsh
Gil White
5 of these 44 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 39 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
- Zeke Colvan
- Choreographer
- Seymour Felix
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
Simple Simon is a Broadway musical with book by Guy Bolton, and Ed Wynn, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., and starring Ed Wynn. It originally played from February 18, 1930, to June 14, 1930, at the Ziegfeld Theatre, then reopened on March 9, 1931, at the Majestic Theatre. The play, a loose plot designed to show off Ed Wynn's fumbling, clowning, punning style, cast him as a newspaper vendor who spends his time in a fairy-tale land where bad news does not exist. The song "Ten Cents a Dance" was introduced by Ruth Etting in this show. "Love Me or Leave Me" by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson was interpolated into the show about two months after it…
Simple Simon Ziegfeld March 26 The Best Musicals From Show Boat To A Chorus Line By Arthur Jackson Foreword By , p. 161
- Also included were “Are You My Love?” (from Rodgers and Hart’s 1936 film musical Dancing Pirate ) and “I Still Believe in You” (from the team’s 1930 musical Simple Simon ; with a different lyric, the song had also been heard as “Singing a Love Song” in the team’s 1928 musical Chee-Chee ). Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 225
- RODGERS AND Hart wrote what is probably the most accurate description of the average hostess’s life in their 1930 musical Simple Simon. The song was “Ten Cents a Dance,” introduced by Ruth Etting. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 480
- Rodgers and Hart provided a fantasy for Ed Wynn in Simple Simon (2/18/30; 135 performances). The showstopper was Ruth Etting’s performance of the Rodgers and Hart classic, “Ten Cents a Dance.” Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 603
- Singing a Love Song and I Must Love You are quite pleasant, though, and were soon reused elsewhere. Herb soon found a new partner: FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMEN [Porter: November 27, 1929] was the first of seven-out-of-seven hits he wrote with Cole Porter. Show Tunes the Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway S Suskin Steven Suskin Steven, p. 122
- Dancing on the Ceiling—new title for He Dances on My Ceiling, originally used (cut) in SIMPLE SIMON [February 18, 1930] Show Tunes the Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway S Suskin Steven Suskin Steven, p. 124
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 Simple Simon at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.