The Pajama Game is a delightful piece of fluff. They haven’t made movies like this since the mid-1960s – a light-hearted musical with a thin plot and plenty of opportunities to break into song. In the heyday of Hollywood musicals, they wrote them about everything. In this case, it’s labour troubles at the Sleeptite pajama factory. The plant superintendent (John Raitt) is romantically entangled with ‘Babe’ (Doris Day), a union activist. As a strike looms, their relationship is put under stress. This might not sound like something to sing about, but the musical team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross created a memorable group of songs, most notably Hernando’s Hideaway, Hey There and I’m Not at All in Love.
The actors are on top of this material, largely because most of them were part of the Broadway cast that performed the show well over 1,000 times over a two-and-a-half year period from 1954 to 1956. Doris Day is the big name who’s known for her movies, but the same can’t be said of the rest of the cast. Day’s co-star, John Raitt, is probably better known as singer-songwriter Bonny Raitt’s father than he is as a film actor. Similarly, many of the cast members in The Pajama Game are far better known for their work on the Broadway stage than they are for their movie roles. Their experience shows, as every song and dance number is performed confidently.
A single scene makes The Pajama Game worth the price of admission all by itself. It’s a song and dance number at the union picnic that looks chaotic at times, but is brilliantly choreographed by Bob Fosse and skilfully pulled off by the cast. And this one is no stage piece – it’s performed outdoors on varied terrain, with the dancers dashing around and over trees, flowerbeds, picnickers and other obstacles. You don’t need to be a dance expert, or even a fan, to appreciate this performance. Dance phenom Carol Haney isn’t much of an actor here, but she sure can move.
If you can’t stand a movie that lacks a substantial plot, you’ll want to skip this one. If you can’t handle what we know today as sexual harassment being played for laughs, you’ll also want to look elsewhere for your light entertainment. Otherwise, if you enjoy classic Broadway musicals brought to film, this is a good one.
