Paint Your Wagon

Paint Your Wagon is a 1951 Broadway musical comedy, with book and lyrics by Alan J. Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California. The original production starred James Barton, Olga San Juan, Tony Bavaar, James Mitchell, and Gemze de Lappe, with dances and musical ensembles by Agnes De Mille. The hit songs included "Wand'rin' Star," "I Talk to the Trees" and "They Call the Wind Maria." De Mille later restaged the dances as a stand-alone ballet, Gold Rush.

Synopsis

Act I is set in the California Wilderness in May of 1853. When crusty old miner Ben Rumson is conducting a make-shift funeral for a friend, his 16-year-old daughter Jennifer discovers gold dust. Ben claims the land and prospects start flocking to the brand new town of Rumson ("I'm On My Way"). Two months later Rumson has a population of 400, all of whom are men except for Jennifer. Prospector Jake Whippany is waiting to save enough money to send for Cherry and her Fandango girls ("Rumson"), while Jennifer senses the tension building in town ("What's Going On Here?"). Julio Valveras, a handsome young miner forced to live and work outside of town because he is Mexican comes to town with dirty laundry and runs into Jennifer, who volunteers to do his laundry. They also talk to each other ("I Talk to the Trees"). Steve Bulmarck and the other men ponder the lonely nomadic life they lead in the Celtic song ("They Call the Wind Maria").

Two months later the men want Ben to send Jennifer away, and he wishes her mother was still alive to help him ("I Still See Elisa"). Jennifer is in love with Julio ("How Can I Wait?"), and when Ben sees Jennifer dancing with Julio's clothes and decides to send her East on the next stage. Jacob Woodling, a Mormon man with two wives, Sarah and Elizabeth, arrives in Rumson where the men demand Jacob sell one of his wives. To his surprise, Ben finds himself wooing Elizabeth ("In Between") and wins her for $800 ("Whoop-Ti-Yay"). Jennifer is disgusted by her father's actions and runs away, telling Julio that she will be reunited with him in a year's time ("Carino Mio"). Cherry and her Fandango girls arrive ("There's a Coach Comin' In"). Julio learns his claim is running dry which means he has to move on to make a living and that he will not be there to greet Jennifer when she returns.

Act II a year later in October. The miners celebrate the high times in Rumson now that the Fandango girls are around ("Hand Me Down That Can o' Beans"). Edgar Crocker, a miner who has saved his money, falls for Elizabeth and she responds, although Ben does not notice since he thinks Raymond Janney is in love with her (he is). Another miner, Mike Mooney, tells Julio about a lake that has gold dust on the bottom and he considers looking for it ("Another Autumn"). Jennifer returns in December, having learned civilized ways back East ("All for Him"). Ben tells his daughter that he will soon be moving on since he was not meant to stay in one place for long ("Wand'rin' Star"). The next day as Cherry and the girls are packing to leave they tell her about Julio leaving to find the lake with a bottom of gold. Raymond Janney offers to buy Elizabeth from Ben for $3,000, but she runs off with Edgar Crocker.

Word comes of another strike 40 miles south of Rumson and the rest of the town packs up to leave except for Jennifer, who is waiting for Julio to return, and Ben, who suddenly realizes that Rumson is indeed his town. Late in April, Julio appears, a broken man. Ben welcomes him and Julio is amazed to see Jennifer is there. As they move toward each other, the wagons filled with people move on.

Film version

Paint Your Wagon was made into a big-budget film in 1969, adapted by Paddy Chayefsky who provided a significantly changed storyline: "Rumson" is now simply called "No Name City". Ben Rumson has no daughter. The former "Julio" is now an American (Clint Eastwood) and Ben's (Lee Marvin) partner in the gold claim. "No Name City" starts as a tent city with the men partying ("Hand Me Down That Can o' Beans") followed by bouts of melancholy ("They Call the Wind Maria"}. The arrival of a Morman with two wives is taken to be unfair to the miners. The miners convince Jacob Woodling to sell one of his wives to the highest bidder.

A drunken Ben winds up with the highest bid for Elizabeth (Jean Seberg). Ben is readied for the wedding by the other miners ("Whoop-Ti-Yay"). Elizabeth's presence comes to be a novelty in the area, causing Ben to become jealous of all the other miners. News comes of the pending arrival of "six french tarts" to a neighboring town and a plan is hatched to kidnap the women and bring them to "No Name City" ("There's a Coach Comin' In"). Ben heads up the mission and leaves Elizabeth in the care of Pardner. While Ben is gone, the two fall in love ("All For Him"?? by Elizabeth and "I Talk to the Trees" by Pardner). Elizbeth convinces them that if a Mormon man can have two wives, a wife can have two husbands.

As the town booms the arrangement with Ben, Pardner, and Elizabeth works well for a while until a group of settlers is rescued from the snow. A straight-laced family is invited to spend the winter with Elizabeth and Pardner is assumed to be her husband. Ben is left to fend for himself in town. As the gold begins to play out Ben and a group of miners discover that gold dust is dropping through the floor boards of many of the saloons. They hatch a plan to tunnel under all the businesses to get at the gold ("The Best Things in Life are Dirty").

This brings the story to its climax as during a bull and bear fight, in dramatic fashion, the streets collapse, one after another, the town is destroyed. At the end of the film Ben is thinking of moving on with the others ("Wand'rin' Star").

Eastwood and Marvin did their own singing while Seberg's songs were dubbed. The early incarnation of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had a cameo in the song "Hand Me Down That Can o' Beans". Some songs from the original musical were dropped and some were added, while others were used in a different contexts.

The film was made near Baker City, Oregon, with Joshua Logan directing.

The film was released at a time when movie musicals were going out of fashion, especially with younger audiences. Its overblown budget became notorious in the press.

Clint Eastwood was frustrated by the long delays in the making of the movie. According to Robert Osborne, Marvin was drinking heavily, which may have enhanced his screen appearance, but led to delays and many retakes.

Popular allusions

• The Smothers Brothers turned the Broadway version of "I Talk to the Trees" into one of their most popular routines, recording three different versions. As usual, they begin the song seriously, and then lampoon it. Tommy can't stop laughing over "this crazy guy who talks to trees!"
• Marvin's deep-voiced rendition of "(I Was Born Under a) Wand'rin' Star", accompanied by the film's choir, became a hit in the U.K. and Europe. His voice was described by Jean Seberg as "like rain gurgling down a rusty pipe". Interviewed on NPR, Marvin said that the song was a hit in Australia, and someone there described it as, "The first 33 1/3 recorded at 45."
• The Simpsons watch the movie at the beginning of the "clip show" episode All Singing, All Dancing. Homer and Bart rent the film, thinking it's a bloody western ala Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Western work but are horrified when they find out the film is a musical. None of the songs in the episode are found in the original stage musical or the film, and the musical numbers generally follow a scene where two of the characters are being confrontational, dashing Homer's hopes that the film will turn violent. In the episode, the movie is literally about the characters painting a wagon.
• The Kingston Trio, an early 1960's group that was part of the folk revolution, recorded "They Call the Wind Maria" on one of their first records.

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