A CLOSER LOOK
THE PAJAMA GAME
WITH ADDITIONAL
SUPPORT FROM
Experience
the power of
musical theater
in the hands
of tomorrow’s
leaders.
PHOTOS BY: LAUREN WOLBAUM
Rising Star Project uses the resources
and professional knowledge that
exist at The 5th Avenue Theatre to
help young people achieve a fulfilling
career, a stronger sense of self and
confidence in their ability to inspire
positive change in the world.
Learn more:
www.risingstarproject.org
Welcome to The 5th Avenue Theatre!
Please remember to turn off cell phones and other electronic devices
before the start of the show. Photography or recording of any kind is
prohibited during the performance.
You are more than welcome to take pictures of our historic theater and in
the lobby before and after the show and during intermission… Especially
if you tag us: #RSPpajamagame or @5thavenueEDU
THE PAJAMA GAME
Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell
Music and Lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
Based on the novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell
Rising Star Project: The Pajama Game is a re-creation of Bill Berry’s
direction, Bob Richard’s choreography and Joel Fram’s music direction
for The 5th Avenue Theatre’s production of The Pajama Game.
Thank you to the creative designers: Scenic Design by Carol Wolfe
Clay, Costume Design by Rose Pederson, Lighting Design by Robert
J. Aguilar, Sound Design by Ken Travis and Hair & Makeup Design by
Mary Pyanowski Jones.
QUICK SYNOPSIS
TIME: 1954
PLACE: The Sleep Tite Pajama Factory, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Conditions at the Sleep Tite Pajama Factory are anything but peaceful as sparks fly between new superintendent, Sid Sorokin, and Babe
Williams, leader of the union grievance committee. Their stormy
relationship comes to a head when the workers strike for a 7½ cent
pay increase, setting off not only a conflict between management and
labor, but a battle of the sexes as well.
THEMES: American Capitalism, Labor & Unions, Gender Roles
LET’S TALK LABOR
WHAT IS A LABOR UNION?
A labor union is an organization of workers that is formed for the purpose
of protecting the rights and interests of its members with respect to wages,
benefits and working conditions.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES: MAJOR MILESTONES
Late 1800s – Labor unions first began
forming in the US.
1881 – The Federation of Organized
Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU) is
formed by workers.
1894 – Labor Day is established as a
federal holiday.
1911 – The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
fire kills 150 New York workers. Together
with the “Bread and Roses” strike in 1912,
helped garner
public support
for the protesting
workers by
highlighting the
devastating
working
conditions
in American
factories.
Factory Backdrop by Eden, Janine and Jim
is licensed under CC BY 2.0
1912 – The
“Bread and Roses” strike by immigrant
textile workers in Pennsylvania.
1919 – The Seattle General Strike was the
first general strike seen in the U.S. It lasted
four days, and 65,000 workers walked off
the job.
1963 – The passage of the Equal Pay
Act banning wage discrimination based
on gender.
1964 – The passage of the Civil Rights Act
banned institutional forms of racism.
1965 – Led by Cesar
Chavez, California
itinerant farm workers
formed the National
Farm Workers
Association (now the
United Farmworkers
Union, or UFW), and
went on strike against
grape growers.
“Huelga ‘Strike’ César Chávez” by Jay
Galvin is licensed under CC BY 2.0
1970-2000 – Organized labor groups
continued to raise their voices, including
the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists,
the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and
Pride at Work.
WHAT IS A STRIKE?
A strike is a decision by a group of workers
to walk out or stop work in an attempt to
force an employer to comply with workers’
demands. During a strike, workers do not
work and do not receive any pay. A strike
may last hours, days, weeks, months and
even years causing hardship for both the
worker and the employer. Strikes are often
last-ditch efforts in a negotiation process.
WE CAN THANK LABOR UNIONS FOR:
1947 – The Taft-Hartley Act is passed
to curtail certain types of union-driven
boycott activities.
1963 – The March on Washington for Jobs
and Justice takes place.
•The 8-hour work day
•Paid time off
•Overtime pay
•Child labor laws
•Federal minimum
wage
•Safe and healthy
workplaces
(This information is excerpted from a full article by Gretchen
Douma. For the full article, visit www.5thavenue.org/blog.)
“NPS 1957” by Ethan is licensed under CC BY 2.0
7½ CENTS DOES MEAN A THING
By Albert Evans, Artistic Associate
It’s 1954, and there’s trouble down at
the pajama factory. The union workers
are threatening to strike unless they
get a 7½ cent hike in their hourly
wage—and on that tiny sum hangs
the entire plot of The Pajama Game.
as it would be if we were looking at
the dollar-for-dollar purchasing value
comparison). On the other hand, a
1954 gallon of milk sold for $.92, yet
today’s gallon costs nowhere near the
$8.28 that inflation would suggest.
Not a big deal? Maybe. Even the
workers say (or sing — it is a musical):
“Seven and a half cents doesn’t buy
a helluva lot!” But then they add it up.
In 20 years —that’s 1,040 weeks…
times 40 hours per week...plus
overtime, etc., etc. — that 7½ cent
raise will come to exactly $3,411.96.
Some other typical 1954 prices:
postage stamp, $.03; gallon of gas,
$.21; semi-automatic washer, $154;
Ford car, between $1,548 and $2,415.
Still not a big deal? In 1954, a
college education (including tuition,
books, room and board) cost $6,000 or
less. That $3,411.96 would go a long
way toward making a factory worker’s
dream of upward mobility a reality.
A dollar in 1954 is roughly equivalent
to the purchasing value of nine dollars
today. But individual items don’t always
follow that rule. For example, a 1954
house cost $20,000, on average. Today
the median price of a house in Seattle
is about $600,000 (not $180,000,
“1954 Ford Crestline” by Don O’Brien is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Bear in mind that a 1954 family had
to pay all their expenses with an
average yearly income of $3,960.
How much money would you need
to save each day to purchase
a new smart phone in a year?
What would you need to give up
each day to achieve this goal?
THIS SHOW IS FULL OF SYMBOLISM
In one of The Pajama Game’s most famous
scenes, factory superintendent Sid Sorokin
sings his thoughts into a dictation machine.
Dictation machines (sometimes called
by the brand name, Dictaphone) were
in common use from the 1920s until
the 1990s. These machines were
used to record a person’s voice so that
the message could be written down
afterward. Dictation machines helped
to save time and to capture important
thoughts and ideas for later. The voice
recording app on many smart phones is a
descendant of these historic machines.
In many ways, Sid’s dictation
machine has a symbolic meaning.
SYMBOL – An object, animate
or inanimate, that represents or
stands for something else.
SYMBOLISM – The use of symbols
to represent an idea or meaning.
Musical theater, like so many other art
forms, relies on symbolism to communicate
ideas and to help tell a story. Every
element of a musical has the potential
to be symbolic—words that are spoken,
colors, set elements, props, melodies,
costumes, lighting, sound effects.
Theater artists strive to make every
instance of symbolism intentional—
regardless of whether or not every symbol
will be consciously noticed by an audience.
Brainstorm a list of things that a dictation machine or voice recorder can represent:
SPOTLIGHT ON…THE DICTAPHONE DUET
In a musical theater production,
characters often sing at the same time.
When two singers or musicians perform
together, it is referred to as a duet.
DUET - A piece of music that is
performed by two singers or musicians.
The Pajama Game features multiple
duets: “I’ll Never Be Jealous Again” is
sung by Mabel and Hines, and
“There Once Was a Man” is sung by Sid
and Babe. More often than not, a duet will
involve two characters singing in harmony.
HARMONY - The combination of different
musical notes played or sung at the same
time to produce a pleasing sound.
Songwriters and composer will carefully
choose to create a duet or create
harmony for two characters because
these musical forms can have symbolic
meaning. Pay attention to the specific
phrases that characters sing together.
How do the phrases overlap?
Brainstorm a list of things that singing in harmony can represent:
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
When Sid sings the song “Hey There,” something unique happens...He sings a
duet with his own voice with the help of a dictation machine.
•
How does this moment play with the traditional notion of a duet?
•
What does this unconventional duet tell us about the character of
Sid and his story?
•
If you were to write a musical, what kind of unconventional duet
could you create to tell your own story?
FOR EDUCATORS...
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS & MUSICAL THEATER
Whether performed, read, or experienced live or on film, musical
theater “texts” are inherently rich and interdisciplinary.
The Common Core Standards authors
assert that curriculum should be
comprised of a diverse array of classic
and contemporary literature as well as
challenging informational texts in a range
of subjects.
To this end, interaction with musical
theater performances and dramatic texts
can serve a vital role in preparing K-12
students to reach core learning objectives
while introducing students to an important
aspect of America’s cultural heritage.
DRAMATIC TEXT -The words and
dialogue that are used to tell the story.
Students can be asked to analyze not
only the literary aspects of a script
and text, but the manner in which
an actor delivers the text (analyzing
communicative and public speaking
skills). Song lyrics can be examined for
rhyme scheme, structure, and imagery.
The dramatic concepts of “character
objective,” “dramatic action,” and
“subtext” can serve as context for asking
students to make inferences based on
the text.
How does this character change over
the course of the play?
DANCE & MOVEMENT - Stage
directions, “blocking” (the intentional
positioning of actors on a stage),
choreography, and fight sequences can
be analyzed in terms of style, purpose,
and storytelling.
How was the actor able to express
sadness through movement? What
relationship do you see between the
two characters based on how they
are standing?
MISE-EN-SCÈNE - The visual
composition of a production involves
lighting, scenic design, costuming, hair,
and makeup. Each visual aspect of a
musical production is carefully designed
to serve the telling of a story. Students
can be asked to interpret the choices of
the designers.
How did this production use lighting
to reflect the character’s emotion?
How does this character’s costume
reveal aspects of her personality and
point-of-view?
MUSIC - A musical employs both songs
and instrumental music to move a story
forward. Students can be asked to
explain the purpose or effect of music in
specific moments of the story. Students
can analyze melody, style, mood, and
rhythm. Students could also be asked
to consider sound effects or the use of
“sound design.”
Why does this character begin
singing? Would the play be different
if she continued in spoken dialogue?
Does this character change her mind
during the song? How do you know?