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 Spe
wack 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
- ShrewMarch8,1964SantaCruzCA.jpg (68.01 KiB) Viewed 5200 times
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
- KissMeKate#10March11,1961NBC.jpg (92.37 KiB) Viewed 5200 times
July 29, 1962
- KissMeKate#9July29,1962.jpg (206.48 KiB) Viewed 5200 times