TIP-TOES A Musical Comedy in 2 acts, 5 scenes. Music by George Gershwin; Book by Guy Bolton & Fred Thompson; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Liberty Theatre, New York - 28 December, 1925 (192 perfs) Winter Garden Theatre, London - 31 August, 1926 (182 perfs) The American cast included: Jeannette MacDonald, Robert Halliday, Amy Revere, Andrew Tombes, Harry Watson Jnr., Queenie Smith, Allen Kearns, Gertrude McDonald, Lovey Lee The London cast included: Peggy Beatty. Vera Bryer, Laddie Cliff, Dorothy Dickinson, Allan Kearns, John Kirby, Evan Thomas SYNOPSIS "The Three K's" are a vaudeville trio stranded in Palm Beach. Al and Hen, the two men in the group are the brother and uncle of its girl member, "Tip-Toes". They wangle a thousand dollars from one of Tip-Toes many admirers, dress her in style and set her on the trail of Steve Burton, the glue magnate. By the end of the evening, Tip Toes and Steve have fallen in love. (adapted from A Chronicle of American Theatre by Gerald Boardman) STORY It’s a busy day at the Palm Beach train station in 1925 where at the height of its frenzy, the land rush is on in the Sunshine State (“Florida”). In the crowd, Rollo Fish Metcalf, a dandy with a roving eye, unexpectedly runs into his wealthy socialite wife, Sylvia, who is in the midst of planning a party for her visiting brother, Steve, the glue-works scion worth “seven millions.” Rollo manages to convince his wife that he is “girl blind,” and the Metcalfs playfully express their affection for each other. Rollo offers to wait at the station for the three vaudevillians whom Sylvia has engaged to entertain at her soiree for Steve the next evening. After a long trip, the “Komical Kayes”—Al, Tip-Toes, and Uncle Hen—are thankful to disembark from the train, especially Tip-Toes, who, travelling frugally without a ticket, has spent most of the trip in their trunk dodging the porter. When, to his surprise, Rollo discovers that Tip-Toes is one of the performers, he pays off the troupe and sends them away. Once, Rollo had enjoyed a flirtation with Tip-Toes that ended when she discovered he was married, and naturally, he is afraid that she might let that piece of news slip to Sylvia. Properly recompensed by Rollo, the Kayes decide to remain in Palm Beach, hoping to snag a millionaire for Tip-Toes as a sort of retirement plan. As Al says, “The soles of my shoes are so thin, I can stand on a dime and tell whether it’s heads or tails.” While Al and Uncle Hen run off to find rooms, Tip-Toes is rescued from the porter who had been hounding her by Steve, who hopes he hasn’t been too “fresh.” As he leaves, she muses that some people aren’t “fresh” enough. At the Palm Beach Surf Club that afternoon, things are in full swing, especially at the gaming tables. Sylvia implements her plan to smooth some of the rough edges off the unsophisticated Steve by arranging for lessons in the finer things (bridge, dancing, music, golf, and elocution) from two awfully nice girls, Binnie and Denise. Meanwhile, the three Kayes make plans to pass Tip-Toes off as Roberta Van Renssalaer, an affluent character from their act.
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