Tickle Me (play)
Tickle Me was a Broadway musical comedy in two acts with book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel and music and musical direction provided by Herbert Stothart. Tickle Me was produced by Arthur Hammerstein and opened at the Selwyn Theater on August 17, 1920 and closed after 207 performances on February 12, 1921. The play then embarked on a successful road tour with a schedule that extending well into the spring of the following year.
Source:Burns and Mantle, 1921 and IBDB.com
Act I.
Scene 1 — Studio of Poisson Picture Corp., Hollywood.
Scene 2 — Customs House, Calcutta, India.
Scene 3 — Garden of Paradise, Tibet.
Scene 4 — The Veil of Mystery.
Scene 5 — Ceremony of the Sacred Bath.
Act II.
Scene 1 — The Bower of Temptation.
Scene 2 — Anywhere.
Scene 3 — Customs House at Calcutta.
Scene 4 — Aboard S. S. Tickle Me.
Tickle Me, that one writer described as a mélange of girls, jazz, novelties and Frank Tinney, was a musical tale that revolved around a Hollywood studio property man (comedian Frank Tinney) who is sent to remote Tibet for a movie shoot and the love story (Louise Allen) that ensued.
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Tinney, Life of Tickle Me.
All together the crowd seemed to like Tickle Me. It has nothing startling in the way of scenes or jokes or singing and at times it does move slowly, but it usually hits a bright spot before it really becomes dull – and, of course, there’s Frank Tinney. The New York Times, August 18, 1920.
Frank Tinney in Tickle Me at the Shubert Theatre.
Filled with melodies, life and spiritedly presented by cast and chorus, Arthur Hammerstein’s musigirl piece Tickle Me with Frank Tinney as chief tickler, is holding merry sway at the Shubert Theatre. After the opening scene Frank Tinney washes off the burn cork and appears in white face. His admirers agree he has never been more funny. Boston Globe September 18, 1921
Munsey's Magazine, 1921
Can you imagine a show in which the star's role gives him everything his heart could wish for, and yet which furnishes its audience with such varied entertainment in other directions that at times the hearers forget that there is a star at all? Such a production is " Tickle Me "—a name quite unworthy of the really meritorious medley of song, dance, comedy, spectacle, and novelty furnished by Arthur Hammerstein in order to blazon Frank Tinney's name in the electrics.
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