Call Me Madam

Call Me Madam is a musical with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.

A satire on politics and foreign policy that spoofs America's penchant for lending billions of dollars to needy countries, it centers on Sally Adams, a well-meaning but ill-informed socialite widow who is appointed United States Ambassador to the fictional European country of Lichtenburg. While there, she charms the local gentry, especially Cosmo Constantine, while her press attaché Kenneth Gibson falls in love with Princess Maria.

Background

The lead character is based on Washington, D.C. hostess and Democratic Party fundraiser Perle Mesta, who was appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg in 1949. The Playbill distributed at each performance humorously noted that "neither the character of Mrs. Sally Adams nor Miss Ethel Merman resemble any person living or dead."

In 1949, Merman and her family were vacationing at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs with Howard Lindsay and his wife Dorothy Stickney. Watching Merman poolside while reading a magazine article about Mesta, Lindsay was struck by how typically "American" she was and immediately envisioned her portraying a colorful character similar to the newly appointed ambassador. When he proposed the idea to Merman, who had little interest in either society or political news, she responded, "Who's Perle Mesta?"

Call Me Madam (film)

Call Me Madam is a 1953 American Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with songs by Irving Berlin, based on the stage musical of the same name.

The film, with a screenplay by Arthur Sheekman, starred Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, Billy DeWolfe, George Sanders, and Walter Slezak. The film replaced "Washington Square Dance" with the older "International Rag", and interpolated "What Chance Have I With Love?" from Berlin's Louisiana Purchase (sung and danced by Donald O'Connor). A soundtrack album was released by Decca both as a 10-inch LP and as a set of three 7-inch EPs, and was released on CD in 2004 by Hallmark. The numbers "The Hostess with the Mostest'" and "You're Just in Love" are included on the Rhino Records CD set Irving Berlin in Hollywood. The film was out of circulation for many years but was issued on DVD in 2004.

Merman won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Alfred Newman won the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, and Irene Sharaff was nominated for her costume design. Lang was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures by the Directors Guild of America and the Grand Prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, and Sheekman's screenplay was nominated Best Written American Musical by the Writers Guild of America.