Guys and Dolls (Film)

1955

Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
Current Publisher: Frank Music Corp.

Guys and Dolls is a 1955 American musical film starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. The film was made by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is based on the 1950 Broadway musical by composer and lyricist Frank Loesser, with a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, which, in turn, was loosely based on “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” and “Blood Pressure”, two short stories by Damon Runyon.[1] Dances were choreographed by Michael Kidd, who had also staged the dances for the Broadway production.

At Samuel Goldwyn and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s request, Frank Loesser wrote three new songs for the film: “Pet Me Poppa”, “(Your Eyes Are the Eyes of) A Woman in Love”, and “Adelaide”, the last written specifically for Sinatra. Five songs in the stage musical were omitted from the movie: “A Bushel and a Peck”, “My Time of Day”, “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” (although portions of these three songs are heard instrumentally as background music), “More I Cannot Wish You” and “Marry the Man Today”.