OUT OF THE ‘RAIN’

June 15, 1944

In his Behind the Scenes: Hollywood column on June 15, 1944, Harrison Carroll reported that Lucille Ball was close to signing to play the lead in the Broadway musical based on the play Rain. 

The play version of Rain was written by John Colton and Clemence Randolph, based on the short story “Sadie Thompson” by W. Somerset Maugham. It opened on Broadway in November 1922.  It took the summer of 1924 off and re-opened at another theatre racking up more than 700 performances. There were Broadway revivals in 1926 and 1935. 

The first actress to play Sadie Thompson in 1922 (as well as in the 1926 revival) was Jeanne Eagels, a former Ziegfeld Girl. Eagels went on to great fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films. She posthumously was nominated for an Academy Award after dying suddenly in 1929 at the age of 39.  

The 1935 revival featured Tallulah Bankhead as Sadie Thompson.  Bankhead teamed with Lucille Ball in a December 1957 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” and was mentioned on “I Love Lucy.” 

Rain is one of the titles of plays and films that Ethel Mae blurts out when she is serving dinner at the Ricardos. 

When Rain was filmed in 1932, the prized role of Sadie Thompson went to Joan Crawford. 

Crawford teamed with Lucille Ball in a 1968 episode of “The Lucy Show” and was twice mentioned on “I Love Lucy.” 

Prior to that there was another adaptation of the Maugham short story, the 1928 silent film Sadie Thompson, starring Gloria Swanson.  This version featured Charles Lane, who often appeared on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.”  Swanson and Lucille Ball both appeared in the 1960 special “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood.” Coincidentally, Swanson was intended to star on “The Lucy Show” in the episode that eventually featured Joan Crawford. 

In 1946, just two years after this news item was published, the story was used as the basis for an all-black version titled Dirty Gertie from Harlem USA.  Francine Everett played the lead. Francine appeared in the most important films of Black Cinema.  

Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, Lucille Ball did not play Sadie Thompson in the musical version of Rain, although the project forged ahead without her.  It was titled Sadie Thompson, and featured music by Vernon Duke and lyrics by Howard Dietz. Billed as a ‘play with music’ it opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on November 16, 1944, and ran for 60 performances, closing on January 6, 1945.  

Ethel Merman was originally cast to play the role of Sadie Thompson. On September 29, 1944, a week and a half into rehearsals, she withdrew from the production. The role of  went to June Havoc. Broadway lovers may remember that she was later the inspiration for Gypsy Rose Lee’s sister, Baby June, in the 1959 musical Gypsy, which would star… Ethel Merman.  Ralph Dumke (the husband of the nervous new tenant in “Lucy and Superman”) was in the ensemble of Sadie Thompson.  Also in the cast was John (aka Jack) Cassidy, who would become a big Broadway star and even appear on a 1965 episode of “The Lucy Show” with a Hello, Dolly / spy theme. 

In 1953, when Lucille Ball was already two years into “I Love Lucy,” Rita Hayworth took on the character in the feature film remake Miss Sadie Thompson.  Robert Osborne, a protégé of Lucille Ball’s and the host of Turner Classic Movies, considered Hayworth to be “the definitive” Sadie Thompson. The film was initially released in 3-D!  It inserted several of the songs from the failed Broadway musical. 

It is no wonder that the character of Sadie had allure for Lucille Ball. She thought herself every bit as good a dramatic actress as Bankhead, Swanson, and Crawford. She was also continually looking for a vehicle to bring her back to Broadway, a venue denied her in her early career. Coincidentally, when she finally got to Broadway in a new musical also based on a hit play, it would be at the very same theatre that had briefly hosted Sadie Thompson. Lucy would just have to wait sixteen years to occupy the Alvin’s star dressing room, finally on the marquee in December 1960 with Wildcat.   

In 1997, the story was turned into an opera by Richard Owen. It was produced in New York City in 2003 and recorded. 

Sadie Thompson was not the only musical version of Rain. In 2016, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego premiered a new musical version adapted by Sybille Pearson with music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa. It starred Broadway powerhouse Eden Espinosa as Sadie Thompson. 

So what kept Lucille Ball from playing the role?  Perhaps she decided (like Merman) that the script or score were not good enough?  We already know that she was not a confident singer and was often dubbed in films.  Perhaps despite the allure, she was just not ready to play a gritty prostitute?  Or it might have been pressing radio and film commitments that kept her on the West Coast. Broadway runs are generally a six month commitment. We will never know for sure. But it sure would have been fascinating!