Show History
About CALL ME MADAM
By Robert Kimball
October 12, 1950. War was raging in Korea. The US Army had advanced north of the 38th parallel. Harry S. Truman
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Articles & Interviews
7/1/2004 Volume 11, Issue 3, Summer
CALL ME MADAM COMES TO DVDCitizens of Lichtenburg, rejoice! In April, Fox Home Entertainment released the long-awaited DVD edition of the 1953 movie version of CALL ME MADAM.
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7/1/1998 Volume 5, Issue 3, Summer
HE LIKED IKEThe letter was addressed to Irving Berlin. The date was March 24, 1969. The signatory was Dwight D. Eisenhower and four days after he wrote it, the former President was dead.
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11/11/2007
Grand Time in a Grand DuchyR&H's own Bert Fink recalls the first performances of Irving Berlin's CALL ME MADAM in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in November, 2007.
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Writer's Notes
Irving Berlin, Dear Ed:
Following is the story behind I Like Ike.
In 1948 when the talk of Eisenhower for President started, I wrote a chorus of a song called I Like Ike as a campaign number. The first version was a straight campaign song. I thought then that the traditional fear of a military man in the White House would be a big issue, so one of the couplets in that original version was --
'With so many treasures in our back yard/It's good to have a soldier standing guard'
Talk about Eisenhower for President died down and I forgot about the song.
When CALL ME MADAM came along I saw a spot in Lindsay and Crouse's script where we could use the Ike number as a comedy song. I then rewrote it and switched I to They. The rest of the story you know.
Ike came to the opening night and he seemed to enjoy it. I never dreamed it would be embarrassing to him.
In any event, the number started going better with each performance and I realized after a while that it was based on the warm feeling we all had for General Eisenhower.
After the convention, I had to change the lyrics and kept on changing them from then on to fit every change in the political situation.
If you do this Sunday night, I suggest having Pat Harrington, Ralph Chambers and Jay Velie do the version that they did the opening night at the Imperial Theater.
Good Luck and many thanks.
License this show
1. Overture 
2. Opening Act One 
