November 30, 2022

The labor “Parade” that flopped

15 minutes

Two years before the pro-labor musical revue “Pins & Needles” became a big Broadway hit in 1937, “Parade”, another musical featuring pro-labor songs, flopped after just 40 performances and the Theatre Guild -- which did so well with “Pins & Needles” just a few years later -- lost $100,000 dollars.

In today’s brief bonus edition of Labor History Today, we bring you the fascinating prelude to the success of “Pins & Needles”, starting with workers social clubs in Europe and in the United States, and the Worker’s Theatre Movement. Michigan State University College of Music Professor Maria Cristina Fava’s talk, originally given in October 2012, was part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series sponsored by the Michigan State University School of Human Resources and Labor Relations and the MSU Museum. The series is organized by MSU professor John Beck. For Fava’s in-depth discussion of “Pins & Needles”, check out last Sunday’s edition of Labor History Today.

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Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

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