Leave It to Me!: History and Key Facts

Leave It to Me! is a 1938 musical produced by Vinton Freedley with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book was a collaborative effort by Samuel and Bella Spewack, the former of whom also directed the Broadway production. The musical was based on the play Clear All Wires by the Spewacks, which was performed on Broadway for 93 performances in 1932, and which was filmed in 1933, starring Lee Tracy, Benita Hume, Una Merkel and James Gleason.

It was set in Stalinist Russia in the 1930s, with Stalin himself appearing at the end. But its comic treatment of Soviets and Nazis seemed misplaced during the Cold War, and the show was not revived until the late 1980s.

Mary Martin made her Broadway debut in this musical, which introduced the songs "Get Out of Town" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."

Source and attribution

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