Robinson Crusoe, Jr.

Robinson Crusoe, Jr.
Sheet music cover (cropped)
Music	Sigmund Romberg and James Hanley
Lyrics	Harold R. Atteridge
Book	Edgar Smith
Productions	1916 Broadway

Robinson Crusoe, Jr. is a musical with a book by Edgar Smith, lyrics by Harold R. Atteridge, and music by Sigmund Romberg and James Hanley.

Robinson Crusoe, Jr. was an extravaganza that opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on 17 February 1916. The original Broadway production was produced by Lee Shubert and Jacob J. Shubert, directed by J. C. Huffman and choreographed by Helen Tamiris. Music was by Sigmund Romberg and the book and lyrics were by Harold R. Atteridge. The show was the last major musical that Jacob J. Shubert staged during World War I, and he instructed Romberg to avoid any of his Austro-Hungarian musical idioms.

The cast included Al Jolson, Kitty Doner, Claude Flemming, and Mlle. Rodriguez. The show was built around Jolson, and was a vehicle for Jolson. A company of two hundred supported Al Jolson in ten major scenes. The show included songs from a number of sources, including some written by Jolson. He often added or removed songs from one show to another. Atteridge created a simple framing story that unified the acts. The show ran on Broadway for 139 performances. It then went on the road in the fall. Jolson sometimes performed twice or three times in one day in one city before moving on.

Hiram Westbury, a millionaire, is exhausted by some film makers who want to use his estate as a film location. He falls asleep. In his dream, he imagines he is Robinson Crusoe, Jr. His chauffeur, played by Al Jolson, is his Good Friday. Jolson played the chauffeur in blackface. The dreams make up most of the show. After the opening scene the pair travel to Crusoe's island, which is given a haunted forest, and to a pirate ship crewed by chorus girls. The "glittering galaxies of gorgeous, glorious, gladsome girlies mirthfully monopolized the mad, merry hours and the ten tremendous tumultuous scenes of Robinson Crusoe, Jr." At one point in the story trees woke up and began to sway to the music. Jolson has comic interactions with a goat and a crocodile. The shorter second act was set back in the millionaire's home.