BYE BYE BIRDIE

Bye Bye Birdie
Columbia, 1963, Color, 112 minutes, ****
Released April, 1963


Rock 'n' Roll superstar Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson) has been drafted. In honor of the event, a drawing is held to pick some lucky girl from America's heartland to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show with Birdie and - representing all the girls of the nation - give him "one last kiss" before he departs for boot camp. But things get complicated when tunesmith Albert Peterson (Dick Van Dyke) decides he wants Conrad to sing one of his songs on the Sullivan Show. Fun spoof of teenage (and adult) life of the late 1950s (think Elvis). Great song score includes "One Boy," "How Lovely to Be a Woman," "One Last Kiss" and the title tune. Wonderful music!

Produced by: Fred Kohlmar
Production Assistant: Milton Feldman
Directed by: George Sidney
Assistant Director: Dave Silver
Screen Play by: Irving Brecher
Based upon the Play "Bye, Bye, Birdie," Book by Michael Stewart, Music and Lyrics by Charles Strouse & Lee Adams
Produced on Broadway by Edward Padula in Association with L. Slade Brown
New York Play Production Directed and Choreographed by Gower Champion
Music by: Charles Strouse
Lyrics by: Lee Adams
Music Supervised, Arranged and Conducted by: Johnny Green
Music Co-Ordinator: Fred Karger
Orchestrations: Johnny Green & Al Woodbury
Choreographer: Onna White
Assistant Choreographer: Tommuy Panko
Miss Leigh's Costumes by: Pat Barto
Wardrobe Co-Ordinator: Marjorie B. Wahl
Make-Up Supervisor: Ben Lane
Teen-Age Make-Up Created by: Helena Rubinstein
Miss Leigh's Hair Styles by: Larry Germain
Production Designer: Paul Groesse
Set Decorator: Arthur Krams
Sound Supervisor: Charles J. Rice
Sound: James Z. Flaster
Director of Photography: Joseph Biroc
Filmed in Panavision
Film Editor: Charles Nelson

Awards: Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Score (John Green) and Best Sound (Charles Rice)

Cast: Janet Leigh [Rosie DeLeon], Dick Van Dyke [Albert Peterson], Ann-Margret [Kim McAfee], Maureen Stapleton [Mama], Bobby Rydell [Hugo Peabody], Jesse Pearson [Conrad Birdie], Ed Sullivan [Himself], Paul Lynde [Mr. McAfee], Mary LaRoche [Mrs. McAfee], Michael Evans [Claude Paisley], Robert Paige [Bob Precht], Gregory Morton [Borov], Bryan Russell [Randolph], Milton Frome [Mr. Maude], Ben Astar [Ballet Manager], Trudi Ames [Ursula], Cyril Delevanti [Mr. Nebbitt], Frank Albertson [Mayor], Beverly Yates [Mayor's Wife], Frank Sully [Bartender], Bo Peep Karlin [Ursula's Mother], The Ray Bloch Orchestra [Themselves]

Musical Program: [0:00] Bye Bye Birdie (sung before titles by Ann-Margret with Johnny Green and The Columbia Studio Orchestra and Chorus); [0:01] Bye Bye Birdie (instrumental arrangement played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:03] We Love You Conrad (sung a capella by Girls Chorus); [0:12] The Telephone Hour (sung and danced by the Sweet Apple Teenagers); [0:21] How Lovely to Be a Woman (sung by Ann-Margret); [0:26] We Love You Conrad (sung by Girls) / We Hate You Conrad (sung by Boys) (Bye Bye Birdie with special lyrics); [0:35] Honestly Sincere (sung by Jesse Pearson); [0:39] Battle Hymn of the Republic (played by Orchestra as the camera pans over the carnage on the lawn of the courthouse); [0:44] Hymn for a Sunday Evening (sung by Paul Lynde, Mary La Roche, Bryan Russell and Ann-Margret); [0:50] One Boy (sung by Ann-Margret and Bobby Rydell); [0:53] One Boy (sung by Janet Leigh and Ann-Margret); [0:57] Put on a Happy Face (sung and danced by Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh); [1:04] Kids (sung by Paul Lynde, Maureen Stapleton, Dick Van Dyke, Bryan Russell); [1:07] One Last Kiss (sung by Jesse Pearson in rehearsal); [1:12] A Lot of Livin' to Do (sung and danced by Jesse Pearson, Ann-Margret, Bobby Rydell and Ensemble); [1:28] The Shriner Ballet (danced by Janet Leigh and Ensemble at Shriner's meeting); [1:38] Rose Adagio (from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty) (danced by Ensemble [as the Moscow Ballet]); [1:45] One Last Kiss (sung by Jesse Pearson on the Ed Sullivan Show); [1:48] Rosie (sung and danced by Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh; picked up by Ann-Margret and Bobby Rydell with change of lyric); [1:50] Finale: Bye Bye Birdie (sung by Ann-Margret)