How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying

This is a simple story of a young man who climbs to a position of great power and the girl who loyally hangs on during his climb and eventually wins him. In this wonderful musical satire on the Organization Man, his success is due neither to hard work nor any other ancient prescriptions for success. He gets ahead following the simple rules detailed in a book entitled How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying."

Our hero, J. Pierrepont Finch, runs into many obstacles and overcomes them like a modern, comic Siegfried: there's his rival (the boss's nephew), the mailroom trap, the office wolf, the office party, the dangerous secretary, the board meeting, jealous executives and, of course, the big boss himself.

From the first coffee break to the last elevator load on Friday night, office life is never the same once "Ponty" Finch settles in for the trip to the top."

The show opens with Finch on a scaffold suspended outside the New York headquarters of World Wide Wickets. He is dressed as a window washer. (I can't remember how this was staged in a tent in the round!) Finch is very ambitious as he reads from a guidebook called HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING:

Entering the building, Finch literally bumps into the company president, J.B. Biggley. Finch is also spotted by Rosemary, a secretary. Finch casually mentions "bumping into" Biggley to Mr. Bratt, head of personnel, and manages to land a job in the mailroom.

Bob Fosse created a very funny dance for and the singing and dancing ensemble to perform to this "ominous cha cha" about how addicted everyone is to coffee that when they can't get it, they go crazy. They scream, they faint; one dancer even falls into the orchestra pit (Fosse used this bit in the opening of SWEET CHARITY, as well, only this time it was the star, Gwen Verdon, who gets pushed into the pit which is meant to be the Central Park lake).

Mr. Twimble, head of the mail room, has worked for the company for 25 years; all of them in the mail room. Finch's book advises him the mailroom is a place from which to escape as soon as possible. When he is offered a mail room promotion, Finch turns it down, recommending Frump, the boss' unscrupulous nephew.

This number was originally written as a waltz for Rudy Vallee. During the out of town previews, this number wasn't going very well and Bob Fosse got the idea to restage it as a soft shoe for the dancing ensemble. Loesser was so impressed when Fosse demonstrated the revised staging, he wrote new lyrics. This number makes wonderful use of the sound of a typewriter and other percussive punctuation of the sort that occurs regularly in numbers choreographed by Bob Fosse (like the "ssst" sounds in STEAM HEAT and the finger snaps in RAZZLE DAZZLE). Biggley has arranged for his "close friend", the well built Hedy LaRue, to be hired as a secretary. The executives compete to have Hedy assigned to them, despite the warnings of Mr. Bratt.

Rosemary's friend, Smitty, helps her maneuver Finch into having dinner with Rosemary. Not included on the original cast LP is a reprise sung by Frump, Biggley and Hedy.

Finch has charmed Miss Jones, Biggley's dragon of a secretary, into revealing the boss's college affiliation. At the same time, he learns Biggley will be stopping by the office Saturday morning to pick up his golf clubs. Arriving seconds before the boss, Finch strews empty coffee cups and papers around and musses up himself, as if he had been working all night, then he pretends to be asleep at his desk. Biggley is suitably impressed that Finch is so dedicated. Finch hums the song from Biggley's college, and when this inspires the boss to sing it, Finch chimes in a beat behind, because he is really unfamiliar with the words.

Finch is given a small office and Hedy is assigned as his secretary, but he realizes from her lack of secretarial skills she is dangerous to be around; he arranges for her to cross paths with his skirt-chasing boss, Mr. Gatch. Soon Gatch is transferred to Venezuela and Finch is promoted to his job.

The employees are invited to a company dance to celebrate the appointment of a new Vice-President of Advertising. Hoping to entice Finch, Rosemary splurges on a Paris designer dress, but all the other female employees, including Miss Jones, attend wearing the same dress.

Frump, who views Finch as the main rival to his own ambitions, arranges for Hedy and Finch to be caught alone in Biggley's office. When Hedy kisses Finch, he suddenly realizes he loves Rosemary. Rosemary arrives and thinks the worst when she spots Hedy in a towel because she's used Biggley's shower, until Finch convinces her it is Rosemary he loves. Bobby Morse, who was so adorably boyish as Finch, does a wonderful mime in this number, of being hit by cupid's arrow and trying to tug it out. The second time Finch sings "what a crescendo", the orchestra plays nine bars of Grieg's piano concerto while Finch stands transfixed by the thought of kissing Rosemary.

Finch: Wait a minute, Rosemary. Hello, operator: give me the man who paints names on office doors. Hello, name painter? This is Mr. Finch. I want my name on my door in gold leaf. Yes, J. Pierrepont Finch. J. Pierrepont. No, no, all capitals. Block letters:

Biggley learns the new Vice-President of Advertising is from Old Ivy's rival college, a "chipmunk", so he fires him and gives Finch the job. Now Rosemary will be Finch's secretary. Rosemary is not very pleased that after Finch declares his love, he seems more excited about this promotion than interested in her; and Frump plots revenge as the first act ends.

As Vice-President of Advertising, Finch must come up with a "big idea" to promote the company. Frump, pretending to be friends, offers the idea of a giveaway game show. Rosemary and Finch make up.

Prior to the big boardroom meeting, the executives gather in the executive washroom to plot against Finch. Finch, meantime, looks into a mirror and gives himself a pep talk. This was very cleverly staged with Finch facing the audience while he talked to himself, but really playing directly to the audience; the orchestra played kazoos to mimic the sound of electric razors as the executives shaved their faces, while worrying about how to stop Finch.

It turns out that Biggley is well known to hate giveaway games shows, which Frump banked on, but Finch is able to persuade him to try the idea by featuring Hedy as the Treasure Hunt Girl at the presentation. The treasure is stock in the company and only Finch and Biggley are supposed to know where it is hidden. However, when Hedy is asked on TV to swear on a Bible she doesn't know where the prizes are hidden, she blurts out the ten locations. TV viewers watching the broadcast storm the buildings, causing a lot of destruction as they try to find the hidden loot. And all the blame goes to Finch, to the delight of Frump and the other executives.

At the meeting where Finch has been summoned to be chewed out and probably fired, Finch encounters Wally Womper, the Chairman. Finch is ready to sign his resignation and go back to his job as window washer; but it turns out Womper started as a window washer as well and is willing to hear Finch out. As they discuss the disaster, it emerges that the giveaway gameshow was all Frump's idea. Frump is now the one in disgrace, as Finch reminds Womper of the kinship with his fellow men:

Womper announces his retirement as Chairman; he and his new wife, the former Hedy LaRue, are leaving for a honeymoon trip around the world. Womper appoints Finch the new Chairman, but Finch first checks with his wife, Rosemary, before he accepts. Rosemary says she doesn't care if he's in the mailroom or the Chairman or President of the United States. Finch's ambition is fired by this last suggestion.

Frump appears outside, washing the windows as he reads his copy of the guidebook HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, as the executive sing about the "departed" Frump, for whom they shed a "mournful tear". (In its only improvement over the stage show, the last scene of the film shows Finch up to his old tricks, as a window washer at the White House, where the actor playing the President looks like LBJ.)