About Calamity Jane

In 1949 Warner Brothers studios brought together two men with such contrasting personalities and backgrounds that the collaboration was either set to be disastrously explosive or brilliantly constructive. The resulting musical which they were commissioned to write proved to be one of the most well-loved of all time - Calamity Jane

Billed as a musical western, it was unusual as a Hollywood piece. For a start, it was written specifically for film (there was no stage version until 1962) - most musicals up until then had been massacred versions of existing stage shows. The lead characters were very strong and larger than life, although they were based on real life legends.

The film contains not much dance (very unusual for a musical), not much scenery, not much colour, not much in the way of special effects and relied on some strong narrative, strong characterisations and an even stronger, bold and brilliant musical score (the music being very rhythmic, lively and full of fun).

The film's musical director was nominated for an Oscar and the song 'My Secret Love', which became a chart-topping hit for its singer Doris Day, won an Academy Award.

So, who were Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster?

Sammy Fain was born in New York in 1902 and had a long career before working with 20th Century Fox on three successful films: The Big Pond, Foolish Parade and Dames. He wrote various hit songs and was renowned for his habit of writing anywhere, any time in his car on scraps of paper, drawing manuscript lines on which to write his music. He often wrote 24 hours a day, taking no breaks at all, regardless of whether or not he was paid to do so, just for the love of it - he was obsessed with music.

Paul Francis Webster, born New York 1907, was also obsessed, but with the need to be totally organised - everything in its place - writing neatly at his desk from 9 to 5. He was known as a regimented family man, a good craftsman and 'an absolute poet'. He divided his time between home, tennis club and the studios.

He was totally tone deaf (and knew it!) so he could not demonstrate his own songs. He lived next door to Doris Day and often relied on her to sing for him. It is no surprise that it is her tone of voice that is best suited to the songs in Calamity Jane. Webster began his career in Hollywood in 1935, writing for Shirley Tremple, then freelancing between studios. He worked on three hit musicals: Rose Marie, Lucky Me and the film of The Merry Widow. He also worked with jazz artists Duke Ellington and Hoagy Carmichael and various pop stars.

In 1949 Fain and Webster began their unusual partnership and, although they never became close friends, they worked very well together. Both wrote at the same time and then they pooled their ideas: an approach that could well lead to disaster but strangely enough worked extremely well.

Their first experimental review My LA was well loved by audiences and critics, but not a financial success. Calamity Jane followed shortly.

Collaborating in a string of other successful films, including April Love, Mardi Gras, I'll Remember Tomorrow, A Certain Smile and Love is a Many-Splendoured Thing, Fain and Webster also continued to work individually, their output being very varied and on the whole very successful.

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