Chicago Spanking Review Forum

So 70 years ago, in 1947, Broadway producer Arnold Saint-Subber brought the initial treatment, some might say first draft, of what would soon be called Kiss Me, Kate to the writing team of spouses Bella and Sam Spewack and asked them to write "the book" for a stage production based on his concepts. Eventually the Spewack estate would claim that the backstage bickering between Lilli and Fred was strictly the idea of Bella and Sam. But if Saint-Subber, who was the stage manager when actors Lunt and Fontanne bickered their way through a 1935 Broadway production of The Taming Of The Shrew and claimed that couple's actual backstage feuding as the inspiration for KMK didn't bring the idea of married actors "brawling" to the Spewacks than what was his idea for a show? Did he simply say let's turn TTOTS into a musical? Given Saint-Subber's background it seems likely that the backstage story was initially his brainchild. But as for the spanking I have no idea who came up with that famous bit. Certainly we could even credit William Shakespeare himself and indeed, although spanking isn't directly mentioned in Bill's "script", it's sometimes included as part of the interplay between Kate and Petruchio in the so-called "wooing scene".
The Taming Of The Shrew March 8,1964 Santa Cruz, CA Fortunately for us though, a spanking is always included when the popular, award winning musical Kiss Me, Kate is presented in its entirety. Let's get right to the early 1960s where we find that more than several productions received free publicity from their friendly local newspaper.
NBC Presentation of March, 1961 July 29, 1962

Louisville, KY May 14, 1961 May 6,1960 Green Bay, WI January 21, 1962 New Brunswick New Jersey

November 11, 1964 Battle Creek, MI August 1, 1960 Pittsburgh, PA August 14, 1961

July 21, 1961 Fort Lauderdale, FL April 3, 1963 Lafayette, IN BONUS from The Taming of the Shrew [because this format allows me 3 inserts to a post].
June 30, 1963 Lansing, MI