"I Put My Hand In" from HELLO, DOLLY!

[markypoo]

Posted: 3/22/20 at 1:31pm

This song immediately describes the title character perfectly; telling us just about everything we need to know about her, so that the show can then forge ahead.
It's the one - in addition to the title number - that I always anticipated most.
I heard Channing do it (twice), Eve Arden, Pearl Bailey, and Betty Buckley.
How I wish Streisand had performed it in the film.
Mary Martin's rendition on the OLCR is great.
Anyone else feel a similar way about the song?
Anyone remember Ginger's version? Betty Grable etc.?

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 3/22/20 at 1:40pm

It’s my favorite song in the show!

[superiska123]

Posted: 3/22/20 at 3:10pm

It's the perfect first song for Dolly. When the song started, that was the moment I knew I was hooked when I first saw the show. It's so whimsical and tongue-in-cheek. Sure, other songs are perhaps more melodically interesting or more emotional, but that song perfectly captures the essence of the show — cheerful and playful and with some very clever lyrics.

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 3/22/20 at 4:47pm

Does anyone have the alternate lyrics, about the woman who Dolly fits with a corset?

There’s a really funny bit about her measurements after Dolly has finished. I used to have them somewhere but I can’t find them.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/22/20 at 10:05pm

Sarah Meahl joined the ensemble of the DOLLY revival a few months into the run. She told me that when Bernadette took over, she mouthed "You're beautiful" to her every night during "I Put My Hand In". It can be seen on the bootleg.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/22/20 at 10:06pm

I would love a video of the very last performance, where Gavin broke down in the docket scenr.

Updated On: 3/22/20 at 10:06 PM

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 3/22/20 at 10:51pm

I have a funny relationship with this song. I was in this show in high school and my director did what most Youtube versions of Hello Dolly do: have the entire chorus stand upstage and watch Dolly sing the song, and then have Dolly pull out whoever happened to be standing in a convenient spot to be a man with a timid tongue or a girl with a diffident air. I hated how that looks because it has that "you're just watching rehearsal" aspect to it so common in amateur theater. I hope that makes sense.....

Anyway, I stumbled upon the original staging with Carol Channing (from the 1994 tour) and I loved it. Pretty much the same that you see here with Bernadette: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wzao3urhzQ

I loved the idea of the chorus being offstage and the actors coming out for their little parts and there is something very cute about the little jig they do. So when I directed a high school Hello Dolly about 5 years ago, I was inspired by the original staging. Looking back, I would have said I copied it exactly but re-watching that video I realize mine was actually quite different, partly to avoid plagiarizing another director and partly because I was dealing with amateur kids not union actors.  

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/22/20 at 11:15pm

When the original production of DOLLY! closed on 12/27/70, Gower Champion joined the ensemble as they did that upstage "pump step" at the end of the number.

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 3/23/20 at 10:22pm

Such a great musical and such a great number.
I was watching the old Match Game show from the 70s with both Charles Nelson Reilly and Joann Worley on one episode. I know both were in the original production, but did Worley ever have to go on as Dolly as I know Channing only missed 1 performance. Is that true? And was Worley, as standby, the one who went on for her. I’ve always loved Worley and wonder if anyone has seen her in the role in summer stock or anywhere. She must be darned good in the role if she was picked by Herman as Channing’s standby.

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 3:58am

I love 1) the ensemble crossing en masse at the end, 2) the brief reprise after Dolly talks to Efrim, and 3) Julian’s facial expression and freeze movements during the “frump to trump” in the revival in NYC and on tour (though I saw him go on for Jess as Barnaby on tour and thought he was much better than Jess in the role). 

[markypoo]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 1:13pm

I love that jig!

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 1:22pm

I've grown to like this number more now that I've seen the show in my *ahem* later years. LOL! And I know I'll get drawn and quartered for this but, I actually prefer "Just Leave Everything to Me." Probably because I experienced the movie first so my ear got used to it. I think it sets up Barbra's version of Dolly way better than "Hand In" would have. The two songs both set up the character perfectly, but with a very different tone and "Just Leave" sets up Barbra's lightning fast, city on fire, Mae West characterization perfectly!

*I'm going to duck and cover now!*

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 3:55pm

Worley never went on for Channing. She left the production to do LAUGH-IN on television. At that point, Bibi Osterwald became the u/s.

To be correct: Channing only missed 1/2 a performance. She took ill with the flu during the first act and--despite her protestations--was replaced for Act Two. This was during her last revival/tour.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 4:12pm

I have to admit that I never loved this song.  It was great in setting up the character, but I did not particularly love listening to it every time I played the album, which was about a thousand times between 1964 and 1966.  I also got tired of It Only Takes a Moment, I have to admit.  

Sacrilege, I guess, but I preferred Streisand's Just Leave Everything to Me.  I don't think Channing could have sung that song, and I don't think that Streisand would have been as good as Channing was with the stage song.  

That said, I would've loved to see Donna Murphy sing Just Leave instead ofI Put.

[AADA81]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 4:49pm

I have always preferred 'Just Leave Everything to Me', the song that replaced it in the film version, and I love the way Streisand sings it.  In fact, I love her performance in the role and I have never thought she was miscast.

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 4:51pm

Dollypop said: "Worley never went on for Channing. She left the production to do LAUGH-IN on television. At that point, Bibi Osterwald became the u/s.

To be correct: Channing only missed 1/2 a performance. She took ill with the flu during the first act and--despite her protestations--was replaced for Act Two. This was during her last revival/tour."

Thank you for that, Dollypop.
Would like to hear her take. I always liked Worley and knowing her personality I think she would have really made it her own. And would have been a lot of fun. 
And 1/2 a performance. Wow!  All I know is seeing Channing in the ‘94 revival was a super special experience. No one played Dolly like her. 

[markypoo]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 7:54pm

I know that Worley played the role at the Milwaukee Melody Top Summer1980.
I saw 3 other productions there that summer, but not that one.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/25/20 at 1:13am

Well, as long as we're being brutally honest, I admit I've never liked the hook, "I put my hand in here, I put my hand in there." I realize it's period-correct (and probably comes from Wilder, though I'm too lazy to reread the play).

But it has always sounded like a weird double-entendre to me. (And, no, I'm not normally the Beavis or Butthead in the room.) Where exactly is she sticking her digits?!

Without comparing the two lyrics as a whole, I prefer the title/hook "Just Leave Everything to Me". I think it sets up Dolly as the "puppet master" who will more or less control everyone for the entire evening. (Yeah, I realize puppeteers put their hands in puppets, too, but there we come back to the creepy anatomical images.)

And as long as I'm being heretical, I agree with Jarethan on "It Only Takes a Moment". I think it is one of Herman's dullest ballads, no matter how well Gavin Creel sings it!

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 3/25/20 at 7:28am

Jarethan said: "I have to admit that I never loved this song. It was great in setting up thecharacter, but I did not particularly love listening to it every time I played the album, which was about a thousand times between 1964 and 1966. I also got tired of It Only Takes a Moment, I have to admit.

Sacrilege, I guess, but I preferred Streisand's Just Leave Everything to Me. I don't think Channing could have sung that song, and I don't think that Streisand would have been as good as Channing was with the stage song.

That said, I would've loved to see Donna Murphy sing Just Leave instead ofI Put."

Actually, as written Channing could totally have sung that song. It’s no more or less complicated than ‘I Put My Hand In’ it’s just the movie orchestration and Streisand’s embellishments make it seem so.

There is a recording of Joanne Worley singing it on Spotify that would give you a better idea of who it sounds stripped back :)

[markypoo]

Posted: 3/25/20 at 10:10am

In the Bernadette clip, who's playing Ambrose?

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 3/25/20 at 11:26am

GavestonPS said: "Well, as long as we're being brutally honest, I admit I've never liked the hook, "I put my hand in here, I put my hand in there." I realize it's period-correct (and probably comes from Wilder, though I'm too lazy to reread the play).

But it has always sounded like a weird double-entendre to me. (And, no, I'm not normally the Beavis or Butthead in the room.) Where exactly is she sticking her digits?!

Without comparing the two lyrics as a whole, I prefer the title/hook "Just Leave Everything to Me". I think it sets up Dolly as the "puppet master" who will more or less control everyone for the entire evening. (Yeah, I realize puppeteers put their hands in puppets, too, but there we come back to the creepy anatomical images.)

And as long as I'm being heretical, I agree with Jarethan on "It Only Takes a Moment". I think it is one of Herman's dullest ballads, no matter how well Gavin Creel sings it!"

I have never even come close to seeing a double entendre in the lyrics of “I put my hand in here...” 

I see it as being that she stirs the pot. She manipulates the situation to bring people together.

Always thought it was obvious, but maybe I’m missing something.

But then again, maybe the question was a joke and I fell for it, taking it seriously. 

Moving on.

 

 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/25/20 at 1:12pm

markypoo said: "In the Bernadette clip, who's playing Ambrose?"

 

 

The marvelous Will Burton

 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/25/20 at 2:25pm

Loopin’theloop said: "Jarethan said: "I have to admit that I never loved this song. It was great in setting up thecharacter, but I did not particularly love listening to it every time I played the album, which was about a thousand times between 1964 and 1966. I also got tired of It Only Takes a Moment, I have to admit.

Sacrilege, I guess, but I preferred Streisand's Just Leave Everything to Me. I don't think Channing could have sung that song, and I don't think that Streisand would have been as good as Channing was with the stage song.

That said, I would've loved to see Donna Murphy sing Just Leave instead ofI Put."

Actually, as written Channing could totally have sung that song. It’s no more or less complicated than ‘I Put My Hand In’ it’s just the movie orchestration and Streisand’s embellishments make it seem so.

There is a recording of Joanne Worley singing it on Spotify that would give you a better idea of who it sounds stripped back :)"

interesting.  I have to admit that I assumed that the speed of the song was decided by Jerry Herman or the film's orchestrator.  I never saw CC as a 'speed singer.'  She seemed to focus on each word individually.  While Streisand's diction was clear, you never felt she was focusing on individual words, but getting the entire thing out.  I don't know if that makes any sense, but I just don't see Carol Channing singing that song, at least the was it was paced in the movie.

PS -- I loved Carol Channing's Dolly and I actually enjoyed Streisand's Dolly, although i only liked the movie (whereas I LOVED the show).  It is impossible to capture the excitement / joy of seeing the title song or Sunday Clothes, two of the all-time great production numbers, live vs. on film.