What Lola Wants (1958)
"Damn Yankees!" (original title)

Film adaptation of the George Abbott Broadway musical about a Washington Senators fan who makes a pact with the Devil to help his baseball team win the league pennant.

Directors:

George Abbott, Stanley Donen

Writers:

George Abbott (screenplay), George Abbott (book),

Stars:

Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Tab Hunter	...	Joe Hardy
Gwen Verdon	...	Lola
Ray Walston	...	Mr. Applegate
Russ Brown	...	Benny Van Buren
Shannon Bolin	...	Mrs. Meg Boyd
Nathaniel Frey	...	Smokey
James Komack	...	Rocky
Rae Allen	...	Gloria Thorpe
Robert Shafer	...	Joe Boyd
Jean Stapleton	...	Sister Miller
Albert Linville	...	Vernon
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Adams	...	Yankees team owner
Roy Sievers	...	Joe Hardy - #2 - Washington Senators (archive footage)

Storyline

Film adaptation of the George Abbott Broadway musical about a Washington Senators fan who makes a pact with the Devil to help his baseball team win the league pennant.

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Plot Keywords:

devil | baseball | baseball comissioner | scandal | based on stage musical based on book | 

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Taglines:

It's a picture in a million! Starring that girl in a million, the red-headed darling of the Broadway show, Gwen Verdon!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Sport

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 1959 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Brincadeiras do Diabo

Filming Locations:

Stage 11, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, George Abbott and Stanley Donen Production, A

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Choreographer Bob Fosse appears, unbilled, in the film with his wife Gwen Verdon in a dance number. As he leaves the stage, Tab Hunter calls after him "thanks Fosse".

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Goofs

When Joe appears in his first game as a pinch-hitter, he hits a home run on an 0-1 pitch. As he rounds the bases, he is met at home by a few teammates. While shaking their hands, he clearly misses touching home plate.

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Quotes

Joe Boyd: What happens after I stop being a baseball player? Then where would I be?
Mr. Applegate: [laughs] Well now, of course that's fairly well known.
Joe Boyd: Yes, but I have...
Mr. Applegate: After all, there's nothing unusual about it. How do you suppose some of these politicians around town got started? And parking lot owners?

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Connections

Featured in Diamonds on the Silver Screen (1992)

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Soundtracks

"Six Months out of Every Year"
Music by Richard Adler
Lyrics by Jerry Ross
Performed by Shannon Bolin, Robert Shafer, and chorus

User Reviews

THE "OTHER" NAUGHTY LOLA (You GO, Gwen!)

All I'm going to do here is rave about a Broadway Legend. We have to be grateful for film, because otherwise some of the theater's greatest performers would exist only in memory. The film version of the 1955 Broadway smash is definitely Gwen Verdon's most memorable screen appearance - as the movie of CALL ME MADAM is probably the closest film approximation we have to what Ethel Merman was like on-stage, so DAMN YANKEES is for Gwen Verdon. No other film performance captures her presence and sparkle, the incredible movements her body was capable of

• she's at her best here, and viewers familiar only with the comic

roles she played later in her career will be amazed at this consummate musical comedy performer. She's completely infectious and delightful, even when she's not singing or dancing - the lady had PRESENCE, and she displays enough vulnerability to make us like a character who doesn't always do very likable things. She's elegant as she matter-of-factly explains her work methods in "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" and has a whopper of a dance duet with Bob Fosse called "Who's Got the Pain?" (they weren't married yet, but she was already becoming his favorite instrument of dance; his was a cameo appearance added to the film - on stage Verdon's partner was another of the show's characters - if you listen closely you'll hear Tab Hunter say "That was wonderful, Fosse!" at the number's conclusion). And she looks gorgeous in a series of colorful costumes, although in her signature number, "Whatever Lola Wants..." the costume grows skimpier and skimpier as she increases her efforts to seduce Tab Hunter. In THE BLUE ANGEL Marlene Dietrich's "Naughty Little Lola" used a chair as a prop to sing about "Falling in Love Again," (which would resonate decades later as Liza Minnelli sang about "Mein Herr")- in DAMN YANKEES Verdon uses a locker-room bench, and this "other Naughty Lola" ends up almost as scantily dressed! A word about Ray Walston's Mr. Applegate: He is NOT a nice guy!