50 Fun Facts About Guys and Dolls

In Guys and Dolls, Nathan Detroit bets that Sky Masterson cannot take Sarah Brown to dinner in which city?

Havana is where the strait-laced missionary lets her guard down, and a nightclub brawl sends the pair running. Nathan picked her because he was sure she would never go.

Which actor did his own singing as Sky Masterson in the 1955 film Guys and Dolls?

Marlon Brando sang every note himself, with no professional brought in to dub him. The producer wanted him because he was the world's biggest ticket-seller at the time.

Which singer played Nathan Detroit in the 1955 film Guys and Dolls after hoping to land the role of Sky?

Frank Sinatra coveted the romantic lead and resented losing it, which soured the mood on set. A new song was written for his character to give him more to sing.

In the Guys and Dolls song Adelaide's Lament, which ailment does Adelaide blame on her endless engagement?

A cold that never clears is, her medical book suggests, her body's protest at a fiancé who keeps putting off the wedding. The number is often called a perfect comic song.

Guys and Dolls is based on short stories about New York gamblers and hustlers by which writer?

Damon Runyon wrote his Broadway tales in the 1920s and 1930s in a comic dialect all his own. He also spent decades as a newspaper sports reporter.

Which Guys and Dolls song does Sky Masterson sing before a make-or-break roll of the dice among the gamblers?

Luck Be a Lady later became a signature tune for a star of the film who never sang it on screen. The American Film Institute ranked the movie version among its 100 greatest film songs.

The 46th Street Theatre, where Guys and Dolls premiered in 1950, later became the Broadway home of which hit musical?

Hamilton opened there in 2015, long after the building was renamed the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The house has hosted eleven Tony-winning productions.

Which screen star phoned the director to ask for the part of Adelaide in the 1955 film Guys and Dolls?

Marilyn Monroe wanted the role, but her call did not sway the director. He insisted on the actress who had created the part on Broadway.

In 1955 three original Broadway leads took a shortened Guys and Dolls to which city for six months?

Las Vegas saw the show twice a day at the Royal Nevada, the first time a Broadway musical was performed on the Strip.

Which TV series featured Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat from Guys and Dolls in its pilot episode?

Glee used the gospel-style number in its very first episode and brought it back for the season 3 finale. On stage a gambler sings it while describing a dream he invents on the spot.

Which songwriter wrote both the music and the lyrics for the 1950 Broadway musical Guys and Dolls?

Frank Loesser had spent most of his career writing lyrics for movie musicals before this score. He also won an Oscar for a wintry duet he first sang at parties with his wife.

What rank does Sarah Brown hold in the mission band that marches through Broadway in Guys and Dolls?

Sergeant Sarah Brown leads the band's call for Broadway's gamblers to repent. Her branch faces closure unless it can fill the seats at a revival gathering.

What does Sky Masterson offer to deliver to Sarah Brown's mission in return for a dinner date in Guys and Dolls?

A dozen sinners, all genuine, is the offer, and Sarah later pledges the same number to her General. Sky then has to gamble against his fellow crapshooters to make good on it.

How long have Nathan Detroit and Miss Adelaide been engaged when the story of Guys and Dolls begins?

14 years of waiting is the running joke of the show, and it ends only in the final scene. By then the bridegroom has shut down his dice game at her insistence.

How does Sarah Brown react when Sky Masterson first kisses her at the mission in Guys and Dolls?

She slaps him, moments after the two have argued in song about the kind of person each expects to fall for. Their next kiss comes later, and that one is her idea.

Which spirit is hidden in the 'milkshake' Sky Masterson buys Sarah Brown on their dinner date in Guys and Dolls?

Rum, specifically Bacardi, is what gives the drink its kick. A tipsy Sarah ends the evening fleeing a nightclub brawl and then kissing the gambler.

Which Guys and Dolls song does a tipsy Sarah Brown sing to Sky Masterson after their eventful dinner date?

If I Were a Bell became a jazz standard after trumpeter Miles Davis recorded it with a quintet that included John Coltrane. On stage it marks the moment the missionary lets go.

Where does Nathan Detroit move his floating crap game in the second act of Guys and Dolls to hide from the police?

A sewer keeps the game out of sight of the police lieutenant who has been hounding it all along. The dice have been rolling for twenty-four hours when Sky arrives.

What must the gamblers do if Sky Masterson wins his thousand-dollar-a-head dice roll in Guys and Dolls?

They must attend a prayer meeting at the mission, while a loss would have cost Sky a thousand dollars for every man present. An offhand remark about a soul gave him the idea.

What is the name of the nightclub where Miss Adelaide headlines with her chorus of dancers in Guys and Dolls?

The Hot Box is where Adelaide and her chorus perform a nightclub number in each act. After the first, she asks Nathan yet again to set a date.

Which film star played Sky Masterson in the 2005 West End revival of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre?

Ewan McGregor led the cast for director Michael Grandage, opposite Jane Krakowski as Adelaide. The production ran for almost two years.

Which Hollywood star took over as Nathan Detroit during the West End run of Guys and Dolls that opened in 2005?

Patrick Swayze was one of five replacements in the part, a list that also included Don Johnson and Neil Morrissey. The revival added a song first written for the 1955 film.

Which comic actor starred in the 1992 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls as a marriage-shy gambler?

Nathan Lane had taken his stage first name from the very character he played in that revival. Another actor called Joseph Lane was already registered with the actors' union.

Which film comedy star took over as Miss Adelaide in London's West End production of Guys and Dolls in June 2016?

Rebel Wilson joined the show after it had moved from the Savoy to the Phoenix Theatre. The staging had begun life two summers earlier in Chichester.

The author whose stories inspired Guys and Dolls was born in a Kansas town sharing its name with which New York borough?

Manhattan, Kansas, was where his father edited the town newspaper. The writer moved to New York City in 1910 and made Broadway's gamblers his subject.

The short stories behind Guys and Dolls use a comic dialect mixing slang with formal speech that lacks which feature?

Contractions are avoided throughout the stories, so small-time hustlers say every word in full while still talking in street slang. The show's writers kept that comic flavor for the stage.

What do the gamblers in Guys and Dolls tell Lt. Brannigan their gathering is, forcing Nathan Detroit to play along?

A bachelor party for Nathan is the alibi, which leaves him little choice but to agree to elope with Adelaide. The men were really waiting for his dice game to start.

What has Miss Adelaide been claiming for twelve years in letters to her mother in Guys and Dolls?

That she is married, with five children, is the story her mother has been reading all this time. Adelaide admits the invention to Nathan while pressing him to make it true.

Where does the 1955 film Guys and Dolls stage its closing double wedding, with Nicely-Nicely on bass drum?

Times Square hosts both couples at once in the film, with Sky and Sarah beside Nathan and Adelaide. On stage, only one of the two ceremonies is shown.

Which dancing star was an early pick for Sky in the film Guys and Dolls until his studio refused to loan him?

Gene Kelly was under contract to MGM, which would not release him to a rival producer. In an ironic twist, MGM ended up distributing the finished film anyway.

Which opening song of Guys and Dolls has three gamblers each insist that a different racehorse will win?

Fugue for Tinhorns began life under another title and was meant for the show's three leads, not three small-time gamblers. A trip to the racetrack years earlier had planted the idea.

Which duet, Nathan Detroit's only featured number in the stage Guys and Dolls, was written for a star who barely sang?

Sue Me was shaped around an actor with limited singing ability, so its two voices mostly take turns instead of blending. It remains the character's one featured number on stage.

Which hit song from the stage show was dropped from the 1955 film Guys and Dolls and replaced by Pet Me, Poppa?

A Bushel and a Peck had been a chart hit for Perry Como and Betty Hutton, peaking at number 3 on Billboard. The film's producer disliked it and said he wanted a new song in the picture.

Which British actress won a Golden Globe as Sarah Brown in the 1955 film Guys and Dolls, singing the role herself?

Jean Simmons was only the third choice for the part, yet the producer ended up delighted that his first pick had said no. She had already acted opposite her leading man in Désirée.

Which actress created Miss Adelaide in the 1950 Broadway cast of Guys and Dolls and repeated the role on film?

Vivian Blaine inspired the part itself, which was invented for her once the songwriter decided she was wrong for the prim missionary. She sang its big comic number at the 1971 Tony Awards.

Which actor played Nicely-Nicely Johnson on Broadway, in London and in the 1955 film Guys and Dolls?

Stubby Kaye introduced the gambler's show-stopping mock confession in all three versions. His final feature-film role was Marvin Acme in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Which actor won a Tony Award as Broadway's first Sky Masterson in the 1950 musical Guys and Dolls?

Robert Alda later made two guest appearances on M*A*S*H alongside his son Alan. Before Broadway, he had played George Gershwin in the film Rhapsody in Blue.

Which future Broadway composer, aged 25, reviewed the 1955 film Guys and Dolls and panned its Nathan Detroit?

Stephen Sondheim was writing for Films in Review at the time and called the performance lackadaisical. He preferred the stage original, who sang off pitch but acted while he sang.

Which television star made her Broadway debut as Miss Adelaide in the 2009 revival of Guys and Dolls?

Lauren Graham starred opposite Oliver Platt in a staging that added the stories' author as a silent character. It closed after 113 performances.

Which actor played Nathan Detroit in Richard Eyre's hit 1982 revival of Guys and Dolls at London's National Theatre?

Bob Hoskins led a neon-lit staging that ran for nearly four years and broke ticket-sales records. It won five of Britain's leading theatre awards, including Best Musical.

Which stage legend rehearsed Nathan Detroit for a 1971 London Guys and Dolls that his poor health then cancelled?

Laurence Olivier planned the revival for the National Theatre company, then based at the Old Vic. The 1955 film's director once joked that he was the one actor more miscast in the part than the movie's own Nathan.

Which non-singing actor created Nathan Detroit on Broadway in 1950 but lost the Guys and Dolls film role to a crooner?

Sam Levene signed on before a word of dialogue existed, and the role was shaped around the rhythm of his speech. The film's director wanted him too but was overruled.

Which radio comedy writer rewrote the book of Guys and Dolls after the first script was judged unusable?

Abe Burrows had to fit his new story around songs that were already finished, the reverse of the usual order. He credited his years on radio's Duffy's Tavern for the street characters.

Which writer of Marx Brothers stage hits directed the original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls in 1950?

George S. Kaufman won a Tony for his direction of the show. When the songwriter suggested repeating songs in the second act, he threatened to repeat the jokes as well.

Which choreographer of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers staged the dances for Guys and Dolls on stage and screen?

Michael Kidd won his second Tony for the show and went on to become the first choreographer to collect five. He later received an honorary Oscar for his film dances.

Which actress won a Tony Award as Miss Adelaide in the 1992 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls?

Faith Prince also took the Drama Desk Award for the role, which made her a Broadway star. She had played the part seven years earlier at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Which gentle song does Arvide Abernathy sing to his granddaughter Sarah Brown in the stage musical Guys and Dolls?

More I Cannot Wish You was first sung by Pat Rooney as the oldest character in the show. It was left out of the 1955 film.

What kind of business does a reformed Nathan Detroit own in the final scene of the stage musical Guys and Dolls?

A newsstand replaces the dice game, which he has shut down for good at Adelaide's insistence. Sky has changed too, and now plays in the mission band.

Which independent Hollywood producer made the 1955 film version of Guys and Dolls?

Samuel Goldwyn had left the company that bore his name three decades earlier and worked on his own ever since. He spent over $5 million on the picture.

Which filmmaker both wrote the screenplay and directed the 1955 film version of Guys and Dolls?

Joseph Mankiewicz wanted the stage's original Nathan for the film and was overruled by his producer. He also had three new songs written for the picture.