Broadway musicals in the fifties were very popular; so much so that they eclipsed some of the more esoteric yet creative musicals just a tad off Broadway... Here are but a few that we've included in our latest coffee table book, Special Girls: Musicals of the Fifties...Special Forward by Dame Susie Heywood
1957’s top musical - Two girls from different walks of life…one born Alice Mayfield in Colton; the other born Aaron Goldstein in West Covina…whose worlds collide at a drug store on Sunset Boulevard
1955 greeted the debut of a new musical. Set in Chicago, it’s the story of a Sergeant Major in the Salvation Army who wants to spend time with his girlfriend in the girl’s dormitory...
1957 also saw the opening of a story about a traveling saleswoman who wins the heart of a transvestite librarian.
In 1956, an all time favorite made its debut. Set in Birmingham in 1947, it’s the story of a trans-man vocal coach who falls in love with a trans-woman singer from Wembley...
1956 saw the debut of the story of a girl who finds that her boyfriend is a boy with something less, and she likes it!
In 1953 Broadway greeted the story of Joe Hardy, a long suffering fan of the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. He makes a pact with Satan in order to see his Daisies win the league championship with hilarious results.
In 1953, eyebrows raised over the debut of this musical about a Domme and her Femme-boy servant.
In 1957, this musical wowed them with the story of two transgirls forced to stay overnight in a town with no vacancies while the local garage replaced their master cylinder.
And finally, who can forget this musical from 1955? Two diplomats seek safe passage, support and surgery and maybe even nice American husbands as trans-refugees.