The Pajama GAME

Ok, Meaghan stole my title.

Disclaimer: this was one of my favorite movies when I was about twelve and it was one of the first movies I ever bought for myself. Having said that, I think it's pretty cool to see the movie from my 12-year old standpoint, and then again 10 years later.

I capitalized the word game in my title, because that's what I think this story/film is: a political game, with Sid and Babe as the key players. The literally do a "song and dance" around each other and the issue of the 7 1/2 cent raise. When Sid first asks Babe out, she says no, and explains that her reasoning is simple: he is the superintendent and she is the grievance committee. It can't work. Later on, in the midst of the "Small Talk" number, Babe again pleads with Sid because she is scared that the strike will come between them. She's right. I like the addition of the scene where Sid fires Babe. She took a big risk jamming the line in the factory, and as the superintendent, Sid had every right to fire her. If felt as if Babe tried to play the odds, and in that instance, failed.

I know we haven't discussed it in class, but I think it's also interesting to look at the changes from the Broadway musical to the film. Censorship is obviously an aspect of adaptation for this film. In the song, "I'm Not At All in Love," Babe's line is changed from "All you gotta do is be polite with him, and they've got you spending the night with him," to the film's version, "All you gotta do it seems is work for him, and they've gotcha going berserk for him." It seems that the original Broadway version of that line would fit better with the original novel. There are also some small changes due to language. In "Small Talk," the line "What do you think they charge for ham now? Got so a buck ain't worth a damn now," is changed to "What do you think they charge for fruit now? Got so a buck ain't worth a hoot now." One of the most interesting changes to me, however, is that Prez, the president of the Union, has a larger role in the show. He has his own storyline in which he tries to woo Gladys, Hasler's secretary. There was a slight hint of it in the film when he says something like, "Her is the most beautiful girl" to Gladys while at Hernando's Hideaway (amazing number when seen live). "Her Is" is an number in the show that is sung in the first act and reprised in the second. So I am curious if Prez's storyline was cut because he was just a secondary character, or that giving him more screen time would thus give the union more screen time.