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 A strike is imminent in a pajama
factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa: The Union is seeking a wage raise
of seven and a half cents an hour. Hines, the factory manager,
keeps the girls on their toes by timing their production with
a stopwatch and the girls respond by working at white heat in
a race with the clock ("Hurry Up, Hurry Up, Hurry Up").
When Babe Williams, head of the Union grievance committee, comes
to the plant's new superintendent, Sid Sorokin, to state the
Union's case she finds herself attracted to him, even though
she realizes he is the enemy camp. Sid also finds Babe highly
appealing. When he tries to make a date with her, she rejects
him, reminding him that he is the superintendent of the plant
and she of the Grievance Comittee. When she leaves the office
Sid flips on his dictaphone and confides to it his feelings about
Babe ("Hey, There").
At a picnic for the factory workers Sid encounters Babe and
complains that he, too, has a grievance: He has been trying to
be a good fellow to a girl who is indifferent. Babe lightly explains
that, perhaps, the girl is hard-boiled, that perhaps if he came
to know her he would not care for her at all. But Sid remains
unconvinced by her suppositions. The first opportunity he finds,
he seizes Babe and kisses her ardently. Babe, caught unawares,
offers little resistance. All around them, the picnic goes into
high gear, with everyone in high spirits ("Once a Year Day").
A few days later, Sid visits Babe at her home. When he once
again tries to kiss her she pushes him away. The more he tries
to make some advances, the more she insists upon indulging in
small talk to deflect him. Finally, she explains that what is
really separating them is "seven and a half cents".
She insists she intends to fight as hard as she can for the Union,
regardless of how she feels about Sid personally. In the hallway
of the Union headquarters word is being circulated that the boss,
Hasler, is asking to see the Union officials; the feeling grows
that the Union is about to score a victory. As far as Sid and
Babe are concerned, their main interest is now each other --
as they take pains to explain when the Union members leave them
to themselves ("There Once Was a Man"). Back in the
shop, the Union members are glum: Hasler has given them a runaround.
In defiance, the Union leaders order the workers to return to
their jobs, but to "slow down" on their operations.
Sid belligerently demands from the help an "honest day's
work" and threatens to fire anybody who is a slacker. This
so outrages Babe that she kicks her foot into the machinery and
causes a general breakdown. Without a second thought, Sid fires
her; Babe storms angrily from the factory.
The second act opens in Eagle Hall, where the Union is conducting
a meeting. But first there is a bit of entertainment for the
members, including an engaging little routine entitled "Steam
Heat" performed by Gladys and two other union members, all
dressed in tight-fitting men's black suits and derby hats.
Meanwhile, Sid tries in vain to contact Babe in order to square
himself with her. He finally corners her at her home, where he
begs her to understand and sympathize with his position. But
Babe turns a deaf ear, rushes away from him and bursts into tears
in the privacy of her bedroom. This turn in his personal affairs
makes Sid determined to find some way to effect peace between
management and labour. He suspects that the key to this problem
is the one that opens the actual lock with which the company
ledgers are kept securely sealed. In an effort to get that key
from Gladys, the book-keeper, he invites her to a hot spot, Hernando's
Hideaway ("Hernando's Hideaway"). She accepts eagerly,
enjoys several drinks with him and then, being inebriated, all
too willingly turns over the key to Sid. As he had suspected,
the ledgers reveal that Hasler had long been adding the seven
and a half cents raise demanded by the workers to the factory
cost of his product. Thus caught red-handed, Hasler is compelled
to yield to the Union's demands.
At the Union headquarters the members are figuring out that
though seven and a half cents an hour raise is not much, over
a period of years it can amount to a great deal ("Seven
and a Half Cents"). Just then Sid arrives with the joyous
news that the Union has won out. A celebration erupts in which
even Hasler joins. Sid and Babe are particularly jubilant, for
the obstacle to their romance has been removed. They, too, celebrate
-- at Hernando's Hideaway.
The Pajama Game was mainly the work of fresh, untried
talent. The composer/lyricists -- Richard Adler and Jerry Ross,
whose collaboration involved both the music and the lyrics --
here wrote their first complete musical comedy score. Also new
to the Broadway stage were the producers, the choreographer and
Carol Haney, one of the stars. But these young people had the
courage of their inexperience -- for they were tackling a subject
long regarded as taboo for the popular musical stage: labour
problems involving factory workers, with a strike as a pivot
of the plot; a musical comedy without fancy costumes and with
comparatively little sex appeal. Yet, with the cards apparently
stacked against it, The Pajama Game went on to become
one of the greatest successes in the history of the Broadway
theatre: it was the eighth musical to achieve a run in excess
of a thousand performances. After that it was made into a highly
successful motion picture starring Doris Day, but otherwise utilizing
most of the members of the original stage cast.
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