Research Catalog

Title

Duke Ellington's Queenie Pie : a jazz operetta in the key of make believe / music and original story by Duke Ellington ; lyrics by Susan Birkenhead ; book by George C. Wolfe, 1988.

Author

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• McGettigan, Betty.
• Wolfe, George C.
• Birkenhead, Susan

Description

[1], 109 leaves; 28 cm.

Summary

Typescript, dated Dec. 22, 1988.

Alternative Title

Queenie Pie

Subjects

• Walker, C. J., Madam, 1867-1919 > Drama
• Scripts

Genre/Form

Scripts.

Note

• The character Queenie Pie is loosely based on Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919), a Harlem beautician who invented a preparation to straighten hair, and who is cited by the Guinness Book of Records as the first woman to become a millionaire through her own achievements.

Biography (note)

• Songs recorded in 2009 were: Overture, New York, New York , Queenie Pie, Bon voyage, Queenie Pie, Sure do miss New York, Soliloquy,,Second line, Hawk, Café au lait, Creole love call, Commercial A, Commercial medley, My father's island, Don't need nobody now, Woman,,Full moon at midnight, Won't you come into my boudoir, Oh, gee.
• Ellington proposed Queenie Pie to National Educational Television as a one-hour program in 1970, before he completed writing it. He was assisted with the libretto by Betty McGattigan, who worked for him as secretary and writer from 1969 until his death in 1974. A demo tape was budgeted to be made during the 1973/74 season; but after Ellington died, WNET found the project not worth pursuing. A conflict concerning rights to the piece developed between McGattigan and Ellington's son Mercer. No production was permitted until 1986, when it was performed at the Philadelphia Music Festival with a new book by George C. Wolfe and lyrics by George David Weiss. That version seems to have been lost.
• The 1988 version cataloged here, with another book by George C. Wolfe and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, was intended for a Broadway production starring Patti LaBelle which never materialized.
• Mercer Ellington arranged for a concert version of the songs, without the book, to be performed Dec. 3, 1993, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Duke Ellington's original lyrics were dismissed by The New York Times as "wooden."
• In April, 2009, Betty McGattigan collaborated with the University of Texas Butler School of Music on a 2-act production lasting 75 minutes. When the songs were recorded, McGattigan was credited as lyricist. Rights were found to be held by Sony Corp. Comparing the songs recorded in 2009 with the present script, only 4 songs have the same titles: Creole Love Call, Soliloquy, Cafe au Lait, and Oh, Gee. The other 13 songs on the recording have different titles.

Call Number

NCOF+ 12-2130

OCLC

811624419

Author

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974.

Title

Duke Ellington's Queenie Pie : a jazz operetta in the key of make believe / music and original story by Duke Ellington ; lyrics by Susan Birkenhead ; book by George C. Wolfe, 1988.

Biography

Songs recorded in 2009 were: Overture, New York, New York , Queenie Pie, Bon voyage, Queenie Pie, Sure do miss New York, Soliloquy,,Second line, Hawk, Café au lait, Creole love call, Commercial A, Commercial medley, My father's island, Don't need nobody now, Woman,,Full moon at midnight, Won't you come into my boudoir, Oh, gee.

Ellington proposed Queenie Pie to National Educational Television as a one-hour program in 1970, before he completed writing it. He was assisted with the libretto by Betty McGattigan, who worked for him as secretary and writer from 1969 until his death in 1974. A demo tape was budgeted to be made during the 1973/74 season; but after Ellington died, WNET found the project not worth pursuing. A conflict concerning rights to the piece developed between McGattigan and Ellington's son Mercer. No production was permitted until 1986, when it was performed at the Philadelphia Music Festival with a new book by George C. Wolfe and lyrics by George David Weiss. That version seems to have been lost.

The 1988 version cataloged here, with another book by George C. Wolfe and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, was intended for a Broadway production starring Patti LaBelle which never materialized.

Mercer Ellington arranged for a concert version of the songs, without the book, to be performed Dec. 3, 1993, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Duke Ellington's original lyrics were dismissed by The New York Times as "wooden."

In April, 2009, Betty McGattigan collaborated with the University of Texas Butler School of Music on a 2-act production lasting 75 minutes. When the songs were recorded, McGattigan was credited as lyricist. Rights were found to be held by Sony Corp. Comparing the songs recorded in 2009 with the present script, only 4 songs have the same titles: Creole Love Call, Soliloquy, Cafe au Lait, and Oh, Gee. The other 13 songs on the recording have different titles.

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Added Author

McGettigan, Betty.

Wolfe, George C., librettist.

Birkenhead, Susan, lyricist.

Research Call Number

NCOF+ 12-2130